Module ECON42815: FINANCIAL PLANNING AND CONTROL (MSC)

Department: Economics, Finance and Business (Economics and Finance)

ECON42815: FINANCIAL PLANNING AND CONTROL (MSC)

Tied To

• L1K209: Accounting and Finance
• N1KL07: Financial Management

Pre-requisites

Corequisites

Excluded Combinations

Aims

• The module aims to: develop to an advanced level students’ understanding of the financial control processes of business and their systems context; provide students with the ability to evaluate alternative mechanisms to deliver information for management control and decision making; provide students with a critical understanding of the centrality of management accounting information to wealth creation.

Content

• 1. Understanding Cost Behaviour. 2. Short term Budgeting. 3. Resource Allocation and Capacity Costs. 4. Activity Based Costing Systems and Activity Based Management. 5. Financial Measures of Performance, International Dimensions. 6. Balanced Scorecard. 7. Incentive Measures and Performance.

Learning Outcomes

• Have an advanced knowledge of the behaviour of costs;
• Have a critical understanding of the context of the information needs of management;
• Have an appreciation of recent academic literature and its implications for current management practice;
• Have a critical understanding of the impact of management accounting on key strategic issues faced by organisations;
• Have an appreciation of the limitations in application of wealth creation models.

• Have the ability to critically evaluate the role of budgeting in effective management control.

• Written Communication;
• Planning, Organising and Time Management;
• Problem Solving and Analysis;
• Using Initiative;
• Numeracy;
• Computer Literacy.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The module will be delivered by a combination of lectures, seminars/workshops, case studies and guided reading appropriate for conveying the specialist knowledge and skills set out in the learning outcomes.
• The summative assessment, by written assignment, is designed to test students’ ability to apply the advanced knowledge, understanding and techniques they have learned by analysing a particular case study.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment

Work prepared by students for seminars; answers to questions either discussed during a seminar, or posted on DUO; feedback on discussions with teaching staff during consultation hours, or via e-mail.