School of Management, Unit Catalogue 2007/08 |
MN30315 Advanced financial accounting |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Honours |
| Semester: 1 |
| Assessment: EX100 |
| Requisites: |
| Before taking this unit you must take MN20018 |
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Aims: The aim is to provide students with an understanding of:
* the accounting methods and techniques required to prepare and analyse the financial statements of groups of companies, reflecting the full range of elements encountered in the accounts of public companies, e.g. intangibles, foreign exchange and derivative instruments, and * current debates and issues in financial accounting that are likely to shape its future development. Learning Outcomes: By the end of this unit, the student should be able to: * prepare the financial statements and relevant account notes for a group of companies in a form suitable for publication in the annual report consistent with existing regulatory requirements and based on provided information, * conduct an analysis of financial information provided by a company or its group in order to comment on financial performance and position, and other business-relevant matters, and * discuss current debates and issues in financial accounting. Skills: Intellectual skills * the ability to appropriately apply a framework of rules, regulations and principles to financial information; TFA * the ability to interpret financial information; TFA * the ability to identify issues of controversy in financial accounting and discuss them. TFA Professional Practical skills * the ability to prepare financial reporting information in a form suitable for publication in compliance with regulatory requirements; TFA * the ability to analyse financial information and draw business-relevant conclusions; TFA * sensitivity to potential accounting issues deriving from future developments in business practice and transactions. FA Transferable/Key skills * the ability to manipulate financial data to achieve a specified objective in accordance with rules, regulations and principles. FA Personal/Interpersonal * the ability to communicate relatively complex financial information in a form understandable to users of such information. FA Content: * Treatment of investments, requirements for consolidation and treatment of associates and joint ventures. * Preparation of consolidated financial statements, including the statement of total recognised gains and losses, and reconciliations of movements in shareholders funds and of operating profit to operating cash flow. * Accounting standards and related interpretative statements extant at the time of running in relation to the following: current and deferred taxation, revenue recognition, profit recognition in long-term contracts, employee benefits, foreign exchange, related parties, financial instruments, intangible assets and impairment analysis. * Financial ratio analysis. * Current debates and issues in financial accounting relevant at the time of running, e.g. international variation in GAAP and progress towards harmonisation. |