Course Description
Understanding, interpreting and using accounting information is critical for making strategic and financial business decisions. The approach to accounting used in this module of the MSc Essentials course is therefore from the perspective of the manager who is required to create effective business policy under conditions of uncertainty. This accounting module will cover topics designed to make you a more effective business decision-maker including understanding financial statements, cash flows, cost behaviour, relevant costs, time value of money and concepts of business valuation. The course will also develop the fundamental skills required to analyze financial statements by considering accounting policy choice and the use of ratio analysis. This module is designed as a foundation to aid students in understanding the materials through the rest of the program. Accounting is not addressed as a challenge in and of itself, but as a complement to other functional areas of the program, with the goal of making you, the manager, a more effective decision-maker.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Understand and interpret the use of accounting and financial information by managers in creating value for their organizations;
- Analyze financial statements using ratios and other techniques;
- Recommend an appropriate course of action for improved financial performance;
- Differentiate between the various choices of accounting policies for revenue recognitions and basic financial accounting issues;
- Interpret the financial impact of management’s selection of policy;
- Classify expenditures according to their cost behavior;
- Develop reasoned recommendations and conclusions about a company’s profitability and strategic decisions;
- Demonstrate the ability to apply the concept of time value of money to complex business situations;
- Identify relevant costs for long-term investments and correctly use various evaluation techniques to assess quantitatively long-term investment opportunities; and,
- Understand the difference between various different definitions of costs/costing (e.g. full costs, process costing, standard costs, and variable costing systems) and use cost accounting information in a managerial context.
This content is subject to change.
Required