School of Management, Unit Catalogue 2007/08 |
MN50318 Financial accounting I |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Masters |
| Semester: 1 |
| Assessment: EX 100% |
| Requisites: |
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Aims: The aim is to provide students with a systematic and comprehensive understanding of:
* the nature of accounting and accounting theory, including approaches to the formulation of accounting theory, * conceptual frameworks for financial accounting and reporting, * the accounting methods and techniques required to prepare the financial statements of a limited liability company, including the more commonly encountered elements, * the role and mechanisms of regulation for financial reporting, including the role of corporate governance in ensuring the integrity of reported information, * corporate tax principles, for both direct and indirect taxes using the UK system as a model, and their impact on financial reporting, and * the role and nature of the external audit and its relationship to internal controls, and equip students with the ability to apply their understanding in creative problem solving and appraising relevant current issues in academic and practical contexts. Learning Outcomes: By the end of this unit, the student should be able to: * critically discuss the nature of accounting and approaches to accounting theory formulation, * evaluate and discuss current theories of accounting, * based on provided information and exercising judgement in the application of appropriate accounting methods and standards, prepare the financial statements and relevant account notes for a company in a form suitable for publication consistent with extant regulatory requirements, * discuss issues of judgement and scope in the application of accounting standards, * explain regulatory mechanisms in a UK context and critically discuss their effectiveness, * evaluate a company's procedures for complying with the regulatory system for financial reporting and advise on changes where necessary, * explain the underlying rationale for and principles of the direct and indirect tax systems as they affect corporates in the UK and estimate current and deferred tax provisions, and * explain the purpose, nature and scope of the audit process, including the concepts of risk identification, materiality and compliance and substantive testing. 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 Professional Practical skills * the ability to prepare financial reporting information in a form suitable for publication in compliance with regulatory requirements; TFA * sensitivity to tax and audit issues. 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 represent business activities as financial information in a form understandable to users of such information. FA Content: * Nature and formulation of accounting theory. * Conceptual frameworks for financial reporting. * Double-entry accounting and accounting system records. * Extraction of the trial balance and preparation of the principal financial statements (Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss Account and Cash Flow Statement) in statutory form. * Accounting standards and guidance (principally from IFRS's) relating to the more commonly encountered items, e.g. tangible fixed assets, and to the preparation and presentation of single company accounts - their rationale and issues in their application. * The role and process of the regulatory framework in accounting, including the nature and role of corporate governance. * Principles of the UK corporation tax and value added tax systems, including the principal adjustments to the accounting result in computing taxable profit or loss. Reliefs for losses. The scope for the incidence of foreign taxation. Accounting for current and deferred taxation. * The purpose and basis of the audit process: the audit trail and types of audit evidence. Developing auditt evidence; consideration of the concepts of materiality and audit risk. The nature of substantive testing. Evaluation of internal controls. |