ACCTING 7025 - Accounting Essentials for Decision Makers (M)

North Terrace Campus - Trimester 1 - 2020

This course introduces students to both financial accounting and management accounting. It provides an overview of accounting concepts and principles, the major external financial accounting reports and accounting systems and the accounting cycle. Management accounting tools of costing and budgeting are introduced, as well as performance analysis and capital investment decisions. Students are also provided with the tools for analysing and interpreting the financial statements of an organisation and managing the working capital and long term financing of the business.

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Course Details

Course Code	ACCTING 7025
Course	Accounting Essentials for Decision Makers (M)
Coordinating Unit	Adelaide Business School
Term	Trimester 1
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Assessment	Exam/assignments/tests/tutorial work as prescribed at first lecture

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Professor Paul Coram

Email: david.joy@adelaide.edu.au

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Course Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. explain accounting concepts and the structure and purpose of financial statements.
2. analyse and apply accounting information to facilitate decision making.
3. explain and apply the concept of relevant costing to a range of decision making situations.
4. explain and apply flexible budgeting as a means of exercising control and assist in decision making in a business.
5. create and evaluate investment proposals within a business environment.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Deep discipline knowledge informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1 accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)	1 - 5
Critical thinking and problem solving steeped in research methods and rigor based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment	1 - 5
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	2
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	1 - 5

Learning Resources

Required Resources

Text Book:

Accounting for Non-Specialists 7th edition, Atrill P, McLaney EJ, Harvey D, 2018, Pearson, Melbourne (ISBN: 9781488612589)

Recommended Resources

The financial press – both newspapers and business magazines cover a wide range of business topics.

Websites such as those provided by ASIC, ASX, CPA and CA.

Online Learning

Course resources available on the course website: www.myuni.adelaide.edu.au include:

Lecture documents and related material.
In class exercises and discussion questions.
Assignment related documents.
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

Classes will provide students with material that covers both financial and management accounting. In addition, there will be questions and problems that students will be asked to complete. These will be two categories:

1. In-class questions
These questions are done during the class. They complement material covered in the topic. No extra preparation is required.

2. Self-study questions
Solutions to self-study questions are provided on MyUni. These questions will only be discussed if requested by students for clarification of specific issues.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

The University expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. This means that you are expected to commit approximately 9 hours for a three-unit course or 13 hours for a four-unit course of private study outside of your regular classes.

Students in this course are expected to attend all classes throughout the trimester.

Learning Activities Summary

Outlined below are the topics for each week of the course.

Week 1 - Introduction to Accounting

Week 2 - Measuring and Reporting Financial Position

Week 3/4 - Measuring and Reporting Financial Performance

Week 5 - Cash Flow Statements

Week 6 - Corporate Social Responsibility

Week 7 - Analysis and Interpretation of Financial Statements

Week 8 - CVP Analysis

Week 9 - Full Product Costing

Week 10 - Budgeting

Week 11 - Capital Investment Decisions

Week 12 - Exam preparation and revision

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Mid-semester test - 25%

Group assignment - 25%

Final Exam - 50%

Assessment Detail

Final Examination

An examination will be held at the end of the course. It will be an open book examination and will cover most of the course material. A minimum mark of 40% is required in the examination in order to pass the course.

Submission

Presentation and Submission of Assignments

· Retain a copy of all assignments submitted.

· All group assignments must be attached to a ‘Group Assignment Cover Sheet’, which must be signed and dated by all group
members before submission. All team members are expected to contribute approximately equally to a group assignment.

Assignments, which do not have a signed acknowledgement of the University’s policy on plagiarism, may be refused.

In preparing any written piece of assessment for your postgraduate studies it is important to draw on the relevant ‘literature’ to support critical analysis. Also essential is to reference the literature used. Correct referencing is important because it identifies the source of the ideas and arguments that you present, and sometimes the source of the actual words you use, and helps to avoid the problem of plagiarism. (Further information on plagiarism is provided later in this course outline.)

The Harvard system is the preferred style of referencing for this course. Guidelines for the use of this style of referencing can be found in the Communication Skills Guide. Further assistance with referencing is available from the Faculty’s Learning Support Advisors. The contact details are provided on page 6 of the Communication Skills Guide.

Guidance for assignments (including referencing information) may be obtained from the Writing Skills Centre, details of which are available at https://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/resources/

Late Assignment Submission

Students are expected to submit their work by the due date to maintain a fair and equitable system. Extensions will generally only be given for medical or other serious reasons. Other assignments or too much work are considered not to be valid reasons.
All requests for extensions must be emailed to the lecturer in charge of the course before the due date. Each request will be assessed on its merits.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator