Module Directory

The module extends the financial accounting component of the first year accounting module, BE100, to the preparation and analysis of the published financial statements of limited companies operating on their own, or within group structures. The module is complete in itself, but is also intended to provide students with the conceptual knowledge and technical skills necessary for third year modules in financial accounting.

The aims of this module are:

• To foster in students an inquiring and critical attitude in respect to the subject of financial accounting.


• To broaden and deepen students' knowledge of certain topics in financial accounting.


• To provide students with a sufficient background in financial accounting that they can assess and evaluate competing claims as to the appropriate treatment in respect of certain accounting issues discussed in the module.


• To introduce students to work related learning (WRL) by providing them with opportunities to engage with accounting professionals in practice.


• To provide students with a firm foundation for their third year studies in financial reporting.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Understand and critical evaluate some of the key debates in modern financial reporting.


2. Explain and critical evaluate the role of financial reporting in corporate governance.


3. Prepare a set of published financial statements, including consolidated accounts, in accordance with the requirements of the regulators and specified accounting standards.


4. Understand the practice of some accounting issues (e.g., preparation of the published annual report, accounting for taxes) in the real-world via engagement with accounting practitioners and use of real-life case studies.


5. Apply theory and practice in evaluating the performance, prospects and reporting practices of companies using publicly available information and making recommendations for improvements.

Skills for your professional life (Transferable Skills)

Specifically, the module seeks to support students to:

1. Identify and critically evaluate key features and arguments covered in texts.


2. Communicate effectively orally and in writing, in presentations and essays.


3. Develop problem solving skills relating to financial accounting issues.


4. Work effectively as part of a team (team working skills in developing a poster).


5. Work under pressure independently and effectively to meet deadlines (time keeping skills).


6. Gather, evaluate, structure and present information (poster session).


7. Develop coherent and well-structured lines of argument supported by relevant analysis and concepts.

The content includes the regulation of financial reporting, the function and content of the main published statements, the problems posed by consolidated statements, the analysis of financial statements to assess company/group performance, and problems connected with the treatment of taxation, depreciation, and specific aspects of the asset-expense distinction.

This module will be delivered via:

• One 2-hour lecture per week.
• One 1-hour class fortnightly.

Lectures

The lectures will explore the main areas and themes covered in the module. The workshops will be used flexibly depending on the topic covered in the lecture to elaborate or expand on the lecture material or to demonstrate the solution to problems or questions. The material covered in the classes will be drawn from a wide variety of sources such as textbooks, journal articles, learning materials for professional exams, past exam papers etc. As such, the class question for each week will be uploaded on Moodle the week before.

Classes

Students are expected to read the references in the reading list and prepare problems and exercises as specified in advance of the classes, so that they can take an active part in discussing the various issues that will be considered in the classes.