Undergraduate Course: Financial Statement Analysis (ACCN10023)

Course Outline
School	Business School	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate)	Availability	Available to all students
SCQF Credits	20	ECTS Credits	10
Summary	The course will allow students to develop an understanding of the conduct of financial statement analysis, the application of theory in financial statement analysis and current and formative issues in financial statement analysis. Foundational concepts: pertinent theoretical issues relating to financial analysis including market structure, information asymmetry, corporate strategy, behavioural finance, efficient markets hypothesis, portfolio theory. Strategies employed by the investment profession, financial statements and financial statement analysis as rhetorical constructions. Model use and development: critical appraisal of value and risk modelling techniques, developing "what-if?" accounting models. Acquisition and construction of information: performance and state ratios, use of conventional and novel accounting-based performance metrics.
Course description	Not entered

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites	Students MUST have passed: Principles of Finance (BUST08003) AND Accountancy 2A (ACCN08009) AND Accountancy 2B (ACCN08010)	Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites	Students must have passed Principles of Finance (BUST08003) AND Accountancy 2A (ACCN08009) AND Accountancy 2B (ACCN08010) equivalents. Visiting students should have at least 3 Business/Accountancy related courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses.

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2014/15, Available to all students (SV1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Semester 1
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 20, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 176 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 60 %, Coursework 25 %, Practical Exam 15 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	The course will be assessed by means of a group presentation of a group-work analysis case counting for 30% of the overall marks awarded. For the final examination (70%) students will be examined on an individual basis (based on a case study). Visiting Student Variant Assessment: The course will be assessed by means of a group presentation of a group-work analysis case counting for 30% of the overall marks awarded and an individual case study of approximately 2,500 words will account for the remaining 70%.
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Exam Information
Exam Diet	Paper Name		Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)			2:00

Academic year 2014/15, Part-year visiting students only (VV1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Semester 1
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 20, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 176 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 85 %, Practical Exam 15 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	The course will be assessed by means of a group presentation of a group-work analysis case counting for 30% of the overall marks awarded. For the final examination (70%) students will be examined on an individual basis (based on a case study). Visiting Student Variant Assessment: The course will be assessed by means of a group presentation of a group-work analysis case counting for 30% of the overall marks awarded and an individual case study of approximately 2,500 words will account for the remaining 70%.
Feedback	Not entered
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
Subject specific skills: development of a critical approach to the consumption of financial accounting and to the construction of financial statement analyses, the application of rhetorical techniques by corporate management in their presentation of financial accounting. The use of a variety of model types in analysis and the further development of models. Articulation of the forms of information required and the development of appropriate novel metrics. On completion of this course students should be able to conduct useful financial statement analysis. Knowledge and Understanding: on completion of this course students will understand the theoretical underpinnings of the subject area but will also gain an appreciation of the principal theoretical inconsistencies that arise. They will also develop an understanding of the political nature of accounting information generation and interpretation. Working in groups, students will undertake several analyses themselves which they will present to their peers and to the course instructor and will gain a practice based understanding of the analysis process. Cognitive Skills: students will develop critical and reflective understanding of the analysis of accounting narrative and will also develop skills in model design. Students will also be required to assimilate the, sometimes paradoxical, theories of different theoretical schools. Key skills: critical analysis, model development, rhetorical analysis, an understanding of the impact of strategic decision making on financial accounting outcomes, the role of novel information in the investment/disinvestment decision.

Reading List
None

Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills	Not entered
Keywords	FSA

Contacts
Course organiser	Ms Tatiana Rodionova Tel: (0131 6)50 3789 Email: Tatiana.Rodionova@ed.ac.uk	Course secretary	Miss Jen Wood Tel: (0131 6)50 8335 Email: J.Wood@ed.ac.uk