BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT FACULTY
Welcome to study at Regent’s University London and to the Business and Management Faculty and especially welcome to the unit ACC4A8 – Accounting and Finance
This module is designed to provide an introduction to the theory and practice of accounting and finance and emphasize its role in making business decisions. The module brings accounting, finance, quantitative skills and techniques to bear on problems of business planning, decision-making and operational control. Increasingly, managers need to be able to understand and use accounting and finance techniques. It is intended primarily for students who are pursuing a degree in any discipline within business and management.
By studying the Accounting and Finance module you will develop a conceptual and practical knowledge and understanding of accounting and finance. This covers the use, analysis and interpretation of accounting information both for external (financial) and for internal (managerial) accounting purposes; appropriate numeracy and quantitative skills to deal with modern global business challenges and expand their understanding of important financial management concepts.
On completion of this module, you should be able to apply theory to practice by analytically using accounting and finance techniques in financial problem solving within a business organization as well as analyze and evaluate the impact of financial decisions on the firm and formulate strategies that are appropriate for the short, the medium, and the longer term, within global or international business context.
Dr. Nnamdi Obiosa: Module Leader
2. Introduction to the Module
Financial Accounting is generally accepted as the adopted basis and language for communicating financial performance to those external parties who have a vested interest or stake in a business. Managerial Accounting introduces quantitative and qualitative skills and techniques to apply to problems of business forecasting, decision-making and operational control. Increasingly, managers need to be able to understand and use Management Accounting techniques to solve day-to-day global management issues. Principles of Financial Management will enable students to understand the basic principles and theories in financial management and essential financial products in financial markets as well as develop primary skills in managing financial assets. Acquiring these skills is fundamental for any student interested in global business management irrespective of their specialization as it offers basic skills to excel in modern business management.
2.1 Aims
This module provides you with a fundamental understanding of accounting information systems, with particular reference to external and internal reporting, the nature and implications of costs in business decision-making; and an understanding of the principles of financial management that will enable you to make standard investment and financial decisions both in the long- and short-term.
2.2 Learning Outcomes
- Knowledge and understanding
Upon successful completion of this module, you will be able to:
- Understand the basic principles and theories in financial management
- Use, analyse and interpret accounting information both for external (financial) and for internal (managerial) accounting purposes
- Describe the essential financial products in financial markets as well as develop primary skills in managing financial assets
- B) Skills
Upon successful completion of this module, you will be able to:
- Develop numeracy and quantitative skills to deal with modern global business challenges
- Develop the language for communicating financial performance to those external parties who have a vested interest or stake in a business
- Exercise the capacity to work in teams
2.3 Learning and teaching activities
The learning and teaching strategy for this module is designed to support you to understand fundamental concepts and issues in accounting and financial management and to grasp basic evaluation skills for financial assets with a view to applying them in the management of international and global business. The delivery of this module will draw upon two different learning approaches consisting of lectures and seminars for the duration of the module. There will be 3 hours per week scheduled, but you can make an appointment to see your tutor outside of these times. You will attend class sessions which will include a range of activities; interactive lectures and class discussions which are related to the module topics. During lectures, you will be introduced to theories, concepts and accounting and finance methods and techniques. Seminars are structured to enable you to learn by participation and to develop a practical approach to solving problems. Throughout the module there will be a consistent approach to theory and practice with emphasis on the key financial statements, international principles of planning and decision-making that are relevant in the world today. It will involve data collection, accounting and finance processes and problem-solving discussions.
The module will be supported by the Blackboard VLE where the student will find extra material.
2.4 Expected study time
3. Contact Details
4. Module Content and Design
4.1 Planned Term Dates:
Please note these dates are correct at time of publication – please check for updates at:
Undergraduate (including Foundation) programmes –
Autumn 2019
| Event | Start date | End date |
| Induction | 23-Sep-19 | 27-Sep-19 |
| Classes | 30-Sep-19 | 20-Dec-19 |
| Break/Self Study/Revision | 23-Dec-19 | 10-Jan-20 |
| Final Assessments/Exam Week | 13-Jan-20 | 24-Jan-20 |
|
Undergraduate (including Foundation) programmes – Spring 2020 |
||
| Event | Start date | End date |
| Classes | 27-Jan-20 | 3-Apr-20 |
| Break/Self Study/Revision | 6-Apr-20 | 17-Apr- 20 |
| Classes | 20-Apr-20 | 1-May-20 |
|
Break/Self Study/Revision |
4-May-20 | 8-May-20 |
|
Final Assessment/Exam Week 11-May-20 22-May-20
|
||
4.2 Session Plan
| AUTUMN Term | ||
| Week Beginning | Lecture | Seminar
Reading or tasks to to complete/prepare (if relevant) |
| 30/09/2019 | Induction | |
| 1
|
Induction to Accounting and Finance; Accounting Equation and recording transactions. | |
| 2
|
Trial balance, Statement of comprehensive income and Statement of financial position. | |
| 3
|
Provisions, Accruals & Prepayments. | |
| 4
|
Depreciation of Non-Current Assets. | |
| 5
|
Limited Liability Companies. | |
| 6
|
Ratio Analysis and Annual Report. | |
| 7
|
Statement of cash flows. | |
| 8
|
Mid-term test | |
| 9
|
Cost & Management Accounting terms & concepts; cost classification | |
| 10
|
Introduction to Budgeting | |
| 11
|
Budgeting Cont’d | |
| 12
|
Cost behaviour & Break-Even Analysis | |
| SPRING Term | ||
| Week Beginning
27/01/2020 |
Lecture | Seminar
Reading or tasks to to complete/prepare (if relevant) |
| 1 | Limiting Factors in decision-making
|
|
| 2
|
Relevant cash flows in decision-making | |
| 3
|
Budgeting Assignment Workshop | |
| 4
|
Standard Cost | |
| 5
|
The Role of Finance & Financial Markets | |
| 6
|
The Time Value of Money | |
| 7
|
Interest Rates and Bond Valuation | |
| 8
|
Equity Valuation | |
| 9
|
Risk & Return | |
| 10
|
The Cost of Capital | |
| 11
|
Capital Budgeting Techniques | |
| 12
|
Revision | |
4.3 Session Required Reading
| Recommended Reading |
| Atrill P. and McLaney E. (2013) Accounting and Finance for Non-Specialists. 8th ed, Pearson, ISBN-13: 9780273778165 |
| Gitman L. and Zutter C. (2015) Principles of Managerial Finance. 14th ed, London: Pearson Education, ISBN-13: 9780133507690 |
5. Assessment Details
| Assessment is both formative, to provide you with constructive feedback and summative to provide a grade for your work. Formative assessment occurs regularly in the sessions and through specific tasks.
Summative Assessment;
· Mid-Term Test 30% TMM
|
- Group Coursework 30% TMM
- Final Exam: 40% TMM
5.1 Summary of assessment
| Assessment Title | Weight towards final grade % | Length | Due Date | Anticipated Return Date |
| Mid-Term Test | 30% | 1 hr. | 18-Nov-19 – 22 Nov-19
|
27-Jan – 20 |
| Group Coursework | 30% | 14- Feb – 20 | 20-Apr – 20 | |
| Final Exam | 40% | 2 hrs. | 11-May-20 – 22 May-20
|
5.2 Detailed description of assessment
5.2.1 Mid-term test
This will be unseen one-hour mid-term examination comprising mainly of multiple choice, multiple answer, fill-in-the-blank, matching and rank questions.
5.2.2 Budgeting Group Coursework
Scenario
Your team of five students (in seminar) are planning to start up your own business venture, making and marketing a single product using at least two types of both materials & labour; however as you only have £100,000 in cash personally to use towards this, you will need to prepare a summary business plan and supporting budgets in order to raise the additional finance required to meet your budgeted operations. You may assume that you can apply for the funds needed from a bank at their prevailing market interest rate.
Your team must initially submit a proposal via email by 6th December 2019 with the names of members of your group.
A major task involves drawing up the following budgets for one year to resource your proposed activities and to persuade potential lenders to contribute finance to your business venture:
- Table of Assumptions
- Any and all assumptions made in estimating figures must be researched, referenced, reasonable & clearly stated in this table
- Budgeted Contribution Statement, Total contribution & C/S ratio
- Capital Expenditure (Fixed Assets) Budget
- Sales Budget
- Production Budget
- Purchases
- Direct Labour Budget
- Overheads Budget
- Cash Budget
**It is Imperative that budgets 4 – 9 include a total column for the 12- months**
- Budgeted (Annual) Income Statement
- Budgeted (Annual) Balance Sheet
- Calculations showing the Break-Even Point in units, £ of sales & percentage
- Calculations showing the Margin of Safety in units, £ of sales & percentage
- You must use spreadsheets in Appendices with formulae correctly applied for each of the budgets 2 – 13 above
Other Instructions
- Your groups’ names, your seminar tutor’s name & module code must appear on your cover page
- Indicate your names in the section each member of the group produced.
- Your business plan must be word processed and spell checked, showing the word count, with a maximum of 1,000 words, excluding Appendices
- Your group assignment in words, excel spreadsheets and individual reflections must be submitted through Blackboard by Friday 14th February 2020 before 23:59hrs, clearly labelled with your groups’ names.
Note there are penalties for late submission which will reduce your marks
Mark Allocation Guide
- Proposal 5%
- Table of Assumptions based on GAAP, research & business acumen 5%
- Budgeted Contribution Statement Total contribution & C/S ratio 5%
- Capital Expenditure Budget 5%
- Sales Budget 4%
- Production Budget 4%
- Purchases Budget 6%
- Direct Labour Budget 4%
- Cash Budget 10%
- Budgeted Annual Income Statement 10%
- Budgeted Annual Balance Sheet 10%
- & 13. Break-Even & Margin of Safety calculations 5%
- Quality of Presentation and the use of Spreadsheet Formulae 4%
- Consistency of the Inter-relationships between all Budgets 4%
- Word count/Referencing/academic & research-based Bibliography 4%
85%
- Individually, you will write to maximum of 500 words on your
personal experience of participating in this coursework and the area
of the work you did – difficulties encountered and your learning. 15%
TOTAL 100%
For each of the components above, the maximum mark will only be awarded if all of your calculations are consistent, complete, accurate & appropriately presented.
Please also refer to the further guidance posted to Blackboard. Advice & guidance tutorials are always available, just ask via email.
5.2.3 Final Exam
This is an unseen and comprehensive two-hour final examination that requires you to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of accounting and finance theories, concepts and techniques in addition to carrying out numerical calculations. Furthermore, you will be expected to apply these skills and their knowledge to solving practical accounting and finance issues with the use of some fundamental formulas and equations.
The scale consists of eight different numeric bands (0-8) with their matching descriptors of students’ performance. In order to award a final mark, first a numeric band will be given to the assessed piece, according to the descriptors that suit each piece of work. After this process, and following the conversion table below, academics will decide the most suitable percentage within the range proposed for the band awarded.
| Bands | Generic descriptors |
| 8
(90-100%) |
· All learning outcomes and task specifications have been achieved to an exceptionally high standard (according to the level of study).
· The outcome of the assessment task is presentable in a professional context and may extend practical or theoretical knowledge in the field. It displays an exceptionally high level of understanding, evaluation, insight, analysis, reflection and/or criticality (according to the level of study), and connections are developed both within and beyond the task set. · The work’s organisation, structure and presentation are developed to an exceptionally high standard. |
| 7
(80-89%) |
· All learning outcomes and task specifications have been achieved to an outstanding standard (according to the level of study).
· The outcome of the assessment demonstrates an outstanding display of understanding, exploration, evaluation, insight, analysis, reflection, criticality and/or research (according to the level of study). Connections are developed both within and beyond the task set. · The work’s organisation, structure and presentation are developed to an outstanding standard. |
| 6
(70-79%) |
· All learning outcomes and task specifications have been achieved to high standard (according to the level of study).
· The outcome of the assessment demonstrates an excellent display of understanding, exploration, evaluation, insight analysis, reflection, criticality and/or research (according to the level of study), and connections are developed both within and beyond the task set. · The work’s organisation, structure and presentation may be developed to an excellent standard. |
| 5
(60-69%) |
· All learning outcomes have been achieved at a good and some to a very good standard (according to the level of study).
· The outcome of the assessment demonstrates a very good level of understanding, exploration, evaluation, analysis, reflection, criticality, some insight and/or very good research (according to the level of study), and connections are established within the task set, and in some cases reaching beyond. · The work’s organisation, structure and presentation may be developed to a very good standard. |
| 4
(50-59%) |
· Most learning outcomes have been met at a good standard (according to the level of study).
· The outcome of the assessment demonstrates a good understanding, exploration, evaluation, analysis, and some reflection, criticality and/or appropriate research. (According to the level of study) · The work’s organisation, structure and presentation may be appropriately developed. |
| 3
(40-49%) |
· All learning outcomes have been met to a minimum satisfactory standard (according to the level of study).
· The outcome of the assessment shows an adequate understanding, of major ideas, with little insight and basic research. Limited level of analysis, reflection and/or criticality (according to the level of study). · The outcome of the task shows ability to paraphrase concepts and theories, with limited ability to make connections. · The work may be disorganised, and the structure and presentation may be barely adequate. |
| 2
(30-39%) |
· Most learning outcomes have almost been met, whilst the rest have not (according to the level of study).
· The outcome of the assessment shows a limited understanding of major ideas, with little insight, very basic research, and very limited ability to make connections. No analysis, reflection and/or criticality (according to the level of study) · The work may be disorganised, and the structure and presentation may be barely adequate. |
| 1
(11-29%) |
· The majority of the learning outcomes have not been met (according to the Level). The outcome of the assessment task is incomplete, flawed, very limited and/or presents significant inaccuracies.
· The outcome of the assessment shows very limited understanding with no insight, and very limited ability to make connections within basic ideas in the field, very fragmented. Lacks research. No analysis, reflection or criticality (according to the level of study) · The work is disorganised, and unstructured. Presentation is barely adequate. |
| 0
(0-10%) |
· None of the learning outcomes have been met. The task has not been addressed by the student, or there is no assessable task.
· The outcome of the assessment shows no understanding of basic ideas, with no insight and shows no ability to make connections within basic ideas in the field, or the connections are completely irrelevant. Lacks research. No understanding, analysis, reflection nor criticality. · The work completely lacks organisation and structure. Presentation is completely inadequate. |
