Dr Gulnaz Khamidullina (MAR 3.26) and Dr Per Ahblom (MAR 3.18)

This course is available on the BSc in Management, BSc in Mathematics, Statistics and Business and Diploma in Accounting and Finance. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

Please seek permission from the BSc in Accounting and Finance Programme Director.

This course is not capped.

Students must have completed either

(1) Elements of Accounting and Finance (AC100), or

(2) Elements of Financial Accounting (AC102) and Elements of Management Accounting, Financial Management and Financial Institutions (AC103), or

(3) equivalent.

This is a one-unit course that builds on the foundation laid by the first-year accounting courses. AC200 is also intended to provide students with the conceptual knowledge and technical skills necessary for final-year courses in accounting. The course considers the major theoretical and practical approaches to accounting and consists of two main components: financial accounting and management accounting.

Financial Accounting: The course begins with an evaluation of the regulatory environment in which financial accounting operates. This part of the course focuses on the preparation and analysis of the published financial statements of public interest entities operating on their own, or within group structures. The function and content of published financial statements, the issues posed by consolidated accounts, and the analysis of accounting information to evaluate corporate performance will also be examined. The course will delve into a range of specific financial accounting issues, such as accounting for revenue, intangible assets, and deferred taxation. However, the exact composition of the topics may vary from year to year driven by the latest developments in financial reporting, standard-setting and related debates.

Management Accounting: The course then explores theoretical concepts, practices, designs and wider issues of cost and management accounting. The characteristics and use of various systems and models, such as cost-driver analysis and activity-based costing, in organisational decision-making at both operating and strategic levels will be introduced and critically evaluated. This part of the course also considers ways in which non-financial information can be used to complement financial accounting information in order to enable a more holistic approach aimed at providing relevant and useful information to management for the purposes of planning, decision-making, and organisational control.

Teaching is delivered in two weekly one and a half hour seminars over 11 weeks across Autumn Term (AT Weeks 1-11) and Winter Term (WT Weeks 1-5, and Weeks 7-11 where Week 6 is a reading week).

There will be a two-hour revision session in Week 1 of the Spring Term. Seminars contain a variety of concept-focused content, practical exercises, and case analyses.

Students are expected to come to each seminar prepared where the assigned course materials have been read and attempted. There will also be several online quizzes to assess student’s knowledge and progress in both terms on a formative basis for feedback. Feedback on performance and progress will be provided during seminars, on selected written homework assignments, and during academic support and feedback hours.

Detailed course programmes and reading lists will be made available via Moodle and Reading List @ LSE (https://lse.rl.talis.com/courses/ac200.html) before the first seminar of each term. A range of academic papers, professional reports and news articles will be used in the course. 

Exam (70%, duration: 2 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the spring exam period.
Coursework (15%) in the AT.
Project (15%) in the WT.

Further details of all aspects of assessment and coursework, as well as feedback, will be made available on Moodle nearer the scheduled start time of the course and will be updated as the course progresses with specific instructions, guidance, and feedback.