Module ECON2241: MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING

Department: Economics and Finance

ECON2241: MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING

Prerequisites

• Introduction to Management Accounting (ECON1111)

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• Give students a grasp of major techniques of modern management accountancy.
• Instil an appreciation of the theoretical underpinnings of these practices.
• Develop a critical awareness of the limitations of management accounting techniques.

Content

• Introduction; corporate goals; objectives of management accounting in the organisational context. Value of information.
• Information for Decision-Making: Activity-Based Costing (ABC); Activity-Based Management [ABM]; Cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis: sensitivity analysis and multi product cost volume profit analysis.
• Relevant information for decision making; limiting factor analysis (single scarce resources).
• Linear programming: application to managerial decision problems. Pricing decisions (customer profitability & target costing).
• Appraising Risk: decision-making under conditions of risk and uncertainty; decision tree analysis.
• Capital budgeting in making management decisions.
• Information for Planning and Control: Budgetary control and planning. Standard costing and variance analysis. Variance investigation models; behavioural aspects of budgeting.
• Quality costs and concerns.
• Accounting for Just In Time (JIT) technique.
• Management control systems and performance measurement.

Learning Outcomes

• Recognise the importance of organisational goals in the choice and design of management accounting information systems.
• Able to apply management accounting information in decision making.
• Able to assess the mechanics of limiting factor analysis.
• Able to use accounting information in pricing and target costing.
• Able to evaluate the impact of uncertainty and risk on breakeven analysis (CVP model).
• Able to construct standard costing and provide critical analysis of the reported variance.
• Recognise the behavioural aspects of management accounting information, and be able to organise possible methods of ensuring goal congruence and preventing dysfunctional behaviour.
• Able to assess issues on quality cost and concerns.
• Able to illustrate the different techniques of performance measurement and management control.

• Evaluation the relevance of costs in the decision process.
• Employ the linear programming approach to scarce resource allocation.
• Making use of spreadsheet software.

• Written Communication -e.g. through preparation of seminar tasks and summative assessment.
• Interpersonal Communication – e.g. using e-mail to communicate with other students and tutors; discussing solutions to exercises in workshop meetings with both the workshop leader and other students in the group, for example, working as a group to prepare the case study analysis and report required for certain seminar tasks.
• Planning and Organising - e.g. preparing for fortnightly workshops; preparing the relevant material before lectures. Large amounts of information need to be organised in a meaningful manner for students to be successful in this module.
• Problem Solving - e.g. by applying the necessary analytical and quantitative skills, to make use of the taught material.
• Initiative – e.g. by searching relevant literature and information sources in preparation of summative assignment.
• Computer Literacy - e.g. by word-processing and spreadsheet applications in tackling workshop questions; accessing, and downloading information from the module's web pages; using e-mail to communicate with tutors and other students.

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

• Lecture delivery will cover the technical material underpinning the course as preparation for seminars which will enable students to develop appropriate skills and understanding of concepts.
• The formative assessment seeks to ensure basic technical outcomes are achieved early in the module to enable the development of more advanced skills in later sessions.
• Summative assessment consists of an examination which addresses the students' understanding of the key concepts introduced in the module.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Online Multiple Choice Test.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University