THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2020/2021

Information in the Degree Programme Tables may still be subject to change in response to Covid-19

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Business School : Common Courses (Management School)

Postgraduate Course: Accounting and Financial Management (CMSE11104)

Course Outline
SchoolBusiness School CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits15 ECTS Credits7.5
SummaryThis is an introductory course on accounting and finance with a particular emphasis on understanding accounting information and financial management. Its objective is to provide the accounting and financial background desirable for any intending business manager, and an introduction to those analytical tools necessary to understand the financial management of an organisation and the interrelationship between the organisation's accounting results, financing and decision-making. Specifically we focus on the following topics: the accounting process, basic financial statements and their interpretation, capital investment decisions, and basic managerial decision-making techniques. The introductory nature of the course implies that it is very appropriate for students with no or minimum level of accounting knowledge and computation skills. Students with knowledge of accounting and/or financial management at intermediate levels or higher will not find the course suitable for their needs.
Course description Accounting is described as the "process of identifying, measuring and communicating economic information to permit informed judgements and decisions by users of the information" (American Accounting Association). As described, accounting is involved with the generation of both financial and non-financial information that will be utilised by decision-makers to make good. Similarly, financial management is mainly about making decision relating to assets, liabilities, cash management, investing and financing activities.
Together, accounting and financial management are related to the decisions that organisations make with the resources they have as well as communicating the information to interested parties.
This course aims to provide students with an understanding of the basic areas of accounting and financial management to enable them to function as members of the management decision-making team in their organisation. The particular emphasis is on the application of techniques and interpretation of financial information.

Student Learning Experience:
The initial topics in the course provide opportunities to apply individual understanding and knowledge in weekly end-of-lecture exercises to an analysis of financial statements in a group setting. Learning will take place throughout the course via a combination of formal lectures, in-class exercises, discussion and assessments (group work and a final examination).

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements For Business School PG students only, or by special permission of the School. Please contact the course secretary.
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2020/21, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  None
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 150 ( Lecture Hours 30, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 3, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 115 )
Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) 60hrs in advance of lectures, 35hrs on groupwork and essay, 20hrs on exam revision.
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 70 %, Coursework 30 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Group Coursework 30% including peer review (learning outcomes 1,3)
Exam 70% (learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Feedback All students will be given at least one formative feedback or feed-forward event for every course they undertake, provided during the semester in which the course is taken and in time to be useful in the completion of summative work on the course. Such feedback may be at course or programme level, but must include input of relevance to each course in the latter case.
Feedback on formative assessed work will be provided within 15 working days of submission, or in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course, whichever is sooner. Summative marks will be returned on a published timetable, which has been made clear to students at the start of the academic year.
Students will gain feedback on their understanding of the material when they discuss their answers to the tutorial questions in class when needed. Students may also ask questions during lectures to assess their knowledge.

Weeks 1-11 (less reading week) - Feedback on end-of-lecture exercises during lecture
Grading and feedback of group reports
Grading and generic feedback for course examination
Exam Information
Exam Diet Paper Name Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S1 (December)Accounting and Financial Management2:00
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Understand and critically evaluate the roles of accounting information and financial management in helping managers make decisions in organizations
  2. Discuss how information in budgets and transfer pricing approaches can promote planning, control and divisional performance in organizations
  3. Review financial statements and evaluate the performance of a firm in operations and capital investment
  4. Critically evaluate developments in cost management and strategic management accounting
  5. Critically evaluate the ethical issues in accounting/ management decision areas
Reading List
Financial & Management Accounting by Pauline Weetman (2013), 6th Edition

Drury, C. Management and Cost Accounting (9th edition)

A good source of FREE information for background reading would be from:
www.bookboon.com
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills On completion of the course students should have demonstrated that they are able to:

Demonstrate skills and abilities in personal effectiveness via communication and working effectively with others as well as demonstrating skills in time management and planning to ensure timely submission of assigned group project.

Understand the basic concepts in accounting and financial management.

Evaluate the critical issues relating to performance of companies and capital budgeting decisions.

Apply accounting information for planning and control as well as the use of cost data in decision making.

After completing this course, students should be able to understand and interpret reported financial statements and to apply basic costing and financial management techniques to generate information to aid decision making.
KeywordsMGMT-AFM
Contacts
Course organiserDr Yew-Ming Chia
Tel: (0131 6)51 3024
Email: Yew.Ming.Chia@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Fionna Ogilvie
Tel: (0131 6)51 3028
Email: Fionna.Ogilvie@ed.ac.uk
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