The aim of the module is to develop knowledge and skills in the application and understanding of management accounting techniques to both quantitative and qualitative information for planning, decision-making, performance evaluation and control.

Demonstrate a broad conceptual understanding of the uses and limitations of accounting information as a decision support tool and as an aid to planning and controlling the performance of an organisation.

A. Knowledge and Understanding

• Distinguish between financial and management accounting in terms of their functions and intended audiences and show understanding of the importance of non-financial information to businesses in the 21st century;
• Display, both through written discussion of principles and through solving numerical problems, a clear understanding of traditional and innovative techniques and concepts in planning, cost determination, pricing decisions, and management control;
• Recognise the importance to organisations of the management of short and long term sources of finance; including management of working capital, and an understanding of the organisations weighted average cost of capital;
• Demonstrate awareness, both by problem-solving based on numerical case studies and by written discussion, of the uses and limitations of techniques for capital and project investment appraisal and of the range of competing sources from which businesses may obtain long-term finance;
• Show understanding of the tensions inherent in managing and measuring the performance of organisations and be able to evaluate performance using both financial and non-financial performance measures;
• Demonstrate awareness of the importance of qualitative, judgmental and commercial factors in decision-making, and the use of accounting techniques and information as tools to support and influence such decisions, rather than as decision-making techniques in their own right.

B. Intellectual Skills: 

• Demonstrate the ability to apply and comprehend accounting and financial management techniques.

C. Discipline Specific Skills: 

• Evaluate the financial and behavioural aspects of management techniques for planning, decision making and organisational control.

D. Transferable Skills

• Develop the ability to use and interpret quantitative financial data
• Develop analytical and study skills through discussion and presentations at feedback sessions 

The module will be delivered through a mix of large & small group face-to-face sessions, including, where relevant, supporting digital learning activities and/or recordings

Formative assessment is provided throughout the programme through feedback sessions, which are designed to test and reinforce students’ base of knowledge and comprehension of individual syllabus topics and to assess their ability to apply this knowledge and comprehension in a range of contexts. Self-study and revision pack material is designed for self-assessment, and is supplied with detailed model answers to assist students’ analysis of examination technique and presentation as well as to support independent learning. Students are encouraged throughout the module to consult the module coordinator and other teaching staff involved if additional help or guidance is required and to make active use of the Learning Central system and office hours provided.

Summative assessment consists of two elements: one examination at the end of each semester (see table).  Each paper respectively covers material from each semester.  Questions require a combination of numerical and written answers designed to test intellectual, communication, number and reasoning skills as well as subject-specific knowledge.

Background to Management Accounting The nature and role of management accounting and its relationship to the collection and distribution of both financial and qualitative data in organisations; the uses of cost information and its multifaceted nature dependent on the purposes of the end-user.

Cost/Volume Profit (CVP) Analysis The relationship between business activity and the behaviour of different categories of cost, as evidenced in cost-volume-profit applications; the limitations and assumptions behind this widespread technique.

Product Costing The identification of cost for product valuation and pricing purposes; the need to reconsider traditional, simplistic techniques of cost and overhead allocation in the light of the changing pace and technologies of modern manufacturing and service organisations.

Short-term Decisions Short-term operating decisions involving scarce resources, including relevant and opportunity cost for decision-making and the need to base short-term decisions on only those aspects of cost and income which are relevant to the options available.

Pricing: Theoretical and practical aspects of pricing decisions

Budgeting and Budgetary Control: The planning and control process, including financial and behavioural aspects of budgeting; the identification and analysis of variances between expected and actual outcomes.

Developments in Management Accounting Recent developments in theory and practice affecting the uses of management accounting.

Performance Evaluation: Analysis of profitability,liquidity efficiency, financing, investment and non-financial performance indicators in both manufacturing and service businesses

Working Capital Management: The management and planning of short-term working capital and its importance to business survival; forecasting working capital requirements and evaluating the impact of changes in working capital management policy; inventory, receivables, payables and cash management.

Investment Appraisal: Techniques both non discounted cash flow techniques (Accounting Rate of Return and Payback Period) and discounted cash flow techniques (Internal Rate of Return and Net Present Value), of project and capital investment appraisal.

Corporate Funding: The cost of long-term capital; sources of long-term business funding and their respective benefits and drawbacks.