Course Resources Archive

This module aims to support the student's development of his/her ability to select and apply relevant financial techniques in supporting the management of a business or non-business organisation, and to interpret and explain the results. It aims to facilitate the acquisition by students of a balance of skills and knowledge including skills in applying quantitative techniques; the ability to interpret and explain the results of these calculations; the ability to critically evaluate the techniques; and a recognition that management accounting, like other areas of management, is context-dependent, and has to be put into the context of the particular organisation and its own strategy, culture and management style.

Application of financial information in decision support; capital investment appraisals; risk and sensitivity analysis; divisional performance measurement and control; transfer pricing, cross-charging and internal markets; multi-dimensional performance measurement; recent and current developments in management accounting.

i. Knowledge and Understanding
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
a) Appraise the objectives of management accounting, its role as part of a business information system and its link to the strategy of the organisation.
b) Identify relevant costs and apply appropriate techniques for decision-making to a wide range of management decision situations including those involving uncertainty and conflicting demands for resources.
c) Discuss and evaluate the various pricing strategies which may be adopted by organizations and their effects.
d) Critically evaluate the alternative methods available of transfer pricing within a divisionalised organisation and evaluate their respective strengths and weaknesses on a range of alternative scenarios.
e) Identify potential multi-dimensional performance measures appropriate to a variety of business situations and recommend methods of implementation.
f) Evaluate the suefulness of cost management techniques in furthering the strategy of the organization
g) Assess the main recent and current developments in management accounting and relate these to the wider business environment.

ii. Skills
By the end of the module students should have developed skills in:
Application of numerical techniques: discounting future cash flows, classification and collation of numerical data.
Problem solving: mini case studies, interpretive and evaluative reviews of relevance and application of numeric data to business scenarios.
Specific vocational skills: this module has been designed to be relevant for both students who may after graduation enrol as students of one of the professional accountancy institutes and for students aiming to develop competences in management accounting and financial management relevant to other areas of management.

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.