Managerial Accounting

The module explores the role of accounting in the management of organisations and the development and application of managerial accounting concepts and techniques with emphasis on practical applications, critical appraisal, contemporary approaches and international perspectives.
Studying this module, you will learn and understand:

• The role of accountancy and financial management. Companies and management objectives. Developments in managerial accounting. Companies and not-for-profit organisations.

• Balance sheets and their interpretation.  The nature and significance of profit. Profit and Loss Accounts and their interpretation. Profit and Cash Flow. Accounting ratios: calculation, interpretation and limitations. Missions, objectives, goals, targets and evaluating the extent to which they are achieved. 

• The role of financial management and managerial accounting. Performance measurement and performance indicators. Balances Scorecard. Sources of finance for business. The Stock Market, the role of investors and their effects on company management. The profitable investment of funds: investment appraisal. Working capital management.

• The nature and role of budgetary control systems. The preparation and analysis of budgets including cash budgets; the management of cash flows. Behavioural aspects of budgeting.  Assessment of different approaches to budgeting in the public and private sectors including flexible, incremental, zero-based, PPBS, activity based budgets. Critical review of traditional approaches to budgeting and evaluation of the literature on behavioural aspects of budgeting.

• Traditional costing systems and cost classification; absorption costing; dealing with overheads.  Marginal costing and break even analysis. Costing and pricing. Activity based costing and cost management; behavioural aspects. Contribution analysis, relevant costs and decision making.

• Application and evaluation of the main methods used for project evaluation. Discounted cash flow. Cost of capital. Risk and uncertainty. Sensitivity analysis.

• Influences on current developments in management accounting including Information Technology, Quantitative Techniques, Behavioural Science, Political and Social Environments and the internationalisation of Business, Financial Accounting, and Stock Markets. Management and accounting practices in different countries (e.g. Japan) and their effects.