- Academic Registry
Programme & Unit Catalogues


MN30170: Fundamentals of accounting and financial management

[Page last updated: 05 August 2021]

Academic Year: 2021/2
Owning Department/School: School of Management
Credits: 6 [equivalent to 12 CATS credits]
Notional Study Hours: 120
Level: Honours (FHEQ level 6)
Period:
Semester 1
Assessment Summary: EX 100%
Assessment Detail:
  • Examination (EX 100%)
Supplementary Assessment:
Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations)
Requisites:
Aims: The objectives of this module are to give students:
* A framework to allow understanding of the structure and contents of the key financial statements of business organisations;
* An understanding of the basic principles of financial accounting;
* An understanding of the basic techniques of preparation of such statements;
* The ability to analyse firm performance and position using financial ratios;
* An understanding of basic costing techniques in order to facilitate managerial decision making;
* Comprehension of the role and structure of budgets in an organisation;
* The ability to apply various investment appraisal techniques in order to make capital investment decisions.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the module students will be able to:
* explain the nature and roles of accounting and finance;
* identify the main users of accounting and discuss their needs;
* distinguish between financial and management accounting;
* explain the nature and purpose of the three major financial statements;
* prepare simple balance sheets, cashflow statements and profit and loss accounts from relevant financial information;
* use ratios to analyse the financial performance and position of a business;
* explain the relationship between costs, volume and profit and conduct break-even analysis;
* deduce the full cost of a unit of output in a single-product environment;
* define a budget and show how budgets, corporate objectives and long-term plans are related;
* construct simple budgets from relevant information; and identify and apply the four main investment appraisal methods used in practice.

Skills: 1. A level of numeracy which will enable fairly basic mathematical calculations in the context of preparing and using accounting and financial information - T&A
2. A generally well directed approach to the analysis and interpretation of information - F

Content: The accounting process; the format and content of a profit and loss account, balance sheet and cash flow statements; techniques of financial analysis; fixed and variable costs; break even and contribution analysis; full costing; budgeting; capital investment appraisal.

Programme availability:

MN30170 is Compulsory on the following programmes:

School of Management

MN30170 is Optional on the following programmes:

School of Management

Notes:

  • This unit catalogue is applicable for the 2021/22 academic year only. Students continuing their studies into 2022/23 and beyond should not assume that this unit will be available in future years in the format displayed here for 2021/22.
  • Programmes and units are subject to change in accordance with normal University procedures.
  • Availability of units will be subject to constraints such as staff availability, minimum and maximum group sizes, and timetabling factors as well as a student's ability to meet any pre-requisite rules.
  • Find out more about these and other important University terms and conditions here.