Module ACCT40415: FINANCIAL PLANNING AND CONTROL

Department: Accounting

ACCT40415: FINANCIAL PLANNING AND CONTROL

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• The module aims to:
• develop students' knowledge and understanding of the financial planning and control processes of organisations;
• develop students' knowledge and understanding of key aspects of management accounting related to financial planning, control and decision-making in organisations;
• develop students' skills relevant to management accounting practice i.e. preparing, interpreting, and presenting essential financial information for management control and decision making;
• develop students' knowledge on current development that relates to financial planning and control of organisations.

Content

• Management accounting contextualised
• Cost terms, concepts, classifications and behaviour
• Cost-volume-profit relationships and analysis
• Profit reporting under absorption and marginal costing
• Activity-based costing (ABC)
• Relevant costs for decision making
• Flexible budgets and variances analysis
• Budgeting for planning and control
• Capital investment decisions
• Management control systems and performance
• Sustainable organisations and ethical issues
• Current developments in management accounting
• Strategic management accounting and the balanced scorecard

Learning Outcomes

• Understanding of the context of the information needs of management and the role of the management accountant in financial planning and control of organisations
• Knowledge of the behaviour of costs associated with the production of products and provision of services and ability to use this to determine prices
• Knowledge of budgeting and forecasting techniques for planning and control
• Knowledge of different management accounting decision-making techniques
• Appreciation of key performance measurement and management approaches

• Able to provide a breakeven analysis and illustrate how CVP analysis could assist in organisations' strategic planning
• Able to select appropriate budgeting approaches and methods, prepare budgets and evaluate the role of budgeting in effective management control
• Able to select appropriate performance measures and calculate differences between actual performance and standards or budgets
• Able to identify and calculate relevant data for use in management decision making
• Able to use management accounting information for organisations' decision making
• Able to identify other influencing factors in organisations' decision making

• Written and Oral 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 written examination will test students' knowledge and understanding of the material covered in the module, their analytical and problem-solving skills.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Online test. Additional formative assessment, and feedback, may take a number of forms such as oral feedback on work prepared by students for seminars; answers to questions either discussed during a seminar or posted online.

■ 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