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2014/2015  BA-BHAAI1017U  Principles of management accounting

English Title
Principles of management accounting

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Bachelor
Duration Summer
Course period Summer
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for BSc in Economics and Business Administration
Course coordinator
  • Course instructor - Dr. Jayce Naidoo, Victoria University
    Patricia Plackett - MPP
Main academic disciplines
  • Management
  • Management of Information and Knowledge Management
  • Financial and management accounting
  • Corporate and Business Strategy
Last updated on 02-07-2014
Learning objectives
At the end of this course students should be able to:
  • Prepare management reports that assist senior management to control routine and non-routine business performance;
  • Communicate the information contained in the management reports and make suggestions about possible corrective action;
  • Demonstrate the technical skills necessary to record and report financial information.
  • Identify the different costing systems in an organisation and understand why conventional systems are being replaced by contemporary systems.
  • Use standard costs in the controlling process.
  • Identify performance measurement issues and their resolution using Balanced Scorecard.
Course prerequisites
An interest in providing information and preparing reports for managers in a business.
Prerequisites for registering for the exam
Number of mandatory activities: 1
Compulsory assignments (assessed approved/not approved)
Mandatory Mid-term Assignment: This assignment is to be completed in groups of four students, each of which will be assigned a relevant company on which to carry out an analysis of environmental management accounting. Each group will prepare a report and present its findings in class.
Examination
4 hours written exam:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Written sit-in exam
Individual or group exam Individual
Assignment type Multiple choice
Duration 4 hours
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Summer Term
Aids allowed to bring to the exam Limited aids, see the list below and the exam plan/guidelines for further information:
  • Allowed calculators
  • Allowed dictionaries
  • Books and compendia brought by the examinee
  • Notes brought by the examinee
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
If the number of registered candidates for the make-up examination/re-take examination warrants that it may most appropriately be held as an oral examination, the programme office will inform the students that the make-up examination/re-take examination will be held as an oral examination instead.
Description of the exam procedure
Extra note about help aids: printed notes and articles (not electronic files) are allowed
Course content and structure
Principles of Management Accountingis a foundational course for students who will pursue advanced studies in accounting and will provide students specializing in other business studies subjects with a valuable addition to their theoretical and applied knowledge. The course introduces students to the discipline of management accounting and explains its purpose and basic concepts. The volatile business world has created a greater demand for information leading to increases in the needs of managers for information that includes financial, production, marketing, legal and environmental data in order for them to meet their management objectives. Management accounting information helps to meet the information needs of managers so that they can effectively and efficiently use organisational resources to enhance both customer value and shareholder value.
The aim of this course is to provide students with an understanding of management accounting concepts, costs and costing systems, management of resources and value creation. The course will cover the following main areas:
  • Product costing systems, process costing systems and activity based costing systems
  • Standard costing and measuring and managing of performance
  • Sustainability and Management Accounting
  • Cost volume profit analysis, decision making and capital expenditure decisions
Students will develop skills in the preparation of reports for internal use within an organisation to be used by managers from all facets of the organisation. Internal reports are generated according to the needs and culture of the organisation and as such are custom-made for different parts of organizations so that managers can make informed decisions to increase the likelihood of achieving organizational objectives,
The course will assist students in developing analytical and presentation skills. The Preliminary Assignment for the course will require a group of four students to research a company’s sustainability report with a focus on its recording of resource usage.
The Mandatory Mid-term Assignment is to be completed in groups of four students, who will use the company chosen in their Preliminary Assignment and focus on their sustainability reports and aspects that are currently reported and those that should be reported. They will make use of PowerPoint slides to present their findings.

Class Schedule
ClassTopicChapter
Class 1Introduction and concepts and Accounting concepts1;2;3
Class 2Sustainability17
Class 3Allocation of overheads
Preliminary Assignment		4;
Class 4Job and Process costing5;7
Class 5Activity Based Costing
Mandatory Mid-term Assignment		8
Class 6Standard Costing10;11
Class 7CVP analysis18
Class 8Information for decision making19
Class 9Capital budgeting21
Class 10Performance Measurement Systems14
Class 11Comprehensive Review 
Teaching methods
Multiple teaching methods will be used, including lectures, tutorials, and seminars.
Further Information
Preliminary Assignment: To help students get maximum value from ISUP courses, instructors provide a reading or a small number of readings or video clips to be read or viewed before the start of classes with a related task scheduled for class 3 in order to 'jump-start' the learning process.
Expected literature
The following prescribed text to be used:
Langfield-Smith, K, Thorne, H. and Hilton, W.R., Management accounting:
information for creating and managing value &Connect Plus–9th Editions, McGraw Hill, ISBN: 9780071315906.
Last updated on 02-07-2014