Dr Gulnaz Khamidullina MAR.3.14

This course is compulsory on the BSc in Accounting and Finance. 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 capped at 195 students. 

Students must have completed either

(1) Introduction to Financial Accounting (AC105), or

(2) Elements of Financial Accounting (AC102) or

(3) equivalent.

This is a half-unit course that builds on the foundation laid by the first-year financial accounting course. AC205 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 financial accounting.

The course begins with an evaluation of the regulatory environment in which financial accounting operates. Then 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. A range of specific areas of financial accounting issues will be looked at, for example, segmental reporting, issues in foreign-currency translations, how corporations report their provision of pension for employees, and problems associated with the treatment of 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.

Teaching is delivered in two weekly one and a half hour seminars over 11 weeks in the Winter 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 before the first seminar of each term. A range of textbook chapters, academic papers and professional reports will be used in the course.

Exam (70%, duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes, reading time: 15 minutes) in the spring exam period.
Project (30%) 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.