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This module develops students' understanding of the role of management accounting in monitoring, controlling and planning an organisation's activities. It covers decision making techniques from operational, tactical and strategic perspectives and places the continuing development of management accounting techniques in the context of wider organisational change.

Alternative methods of costing and financial evaluations; the role of each in the decision making process; the response of management accounting techniques to developments in information technology and production processes; the budget as a tool for monitoring, control and action; the place of management accounting information in determining individual accountability and the behavioural responses that it can give rise to in operational managers. Throughout the module the impact of external stakeholders on management accounting requirements is considered.

i  Knowledge and Understanding
By the end of the module students should be able to:
a) understand and evaluate the role played by management accounting in developing and maintaining an organisations strategic position;
b) interpret the nature and behaviour of costs and to apply their understanding to analyse and evaluate current and future organisational performance;
c) understand and apply a variety of costing techniques, critically evaluating them, and being able to identify and discuss the circumstances in which each would be most appropriately used;
d) question, discuss and evaluate the validity of traditional costing methods in the light of emerging management accounting techniques includind the role of MRP, ERP and the use of Throughput and backflush accounting;
e) evaluate capital investment proposals using a variety of techniques
f) Discuss the purpose and role of budgeting in organizations and prepare appropriate data.
g) Critically evaluate the alternative methods available of divisional performance measurement and control within an organisation and identify the approach most appropriate to a particular organisation's strategy management style

ii. Skills
By the end of the module students should have developed skills in:
Application of numerical techniques: The use of a wide range of accounting models and techniques;
Communication and literacy: Group based tutorial activities;
Problem Solving: Mini-case studies;
Working with others: Group based tutorial activities;
Information and communications technology: Use of spreadsheets, Internet and Intranet;
Specific vocational skills: This module is vocationally specific in that it introduces students to financial techniques that are commonly used in the workplace and exposes them to the types of financial decisions that they may be required to make in a future career.

Staff/student contact: approximately 20%
Student directed study: approximately 80%

The Library Catalogue contains full details of the current reading list for this module. Further details may also be found in the Module Guide.