Mr Lukas Löhlein OLD 3.34, Dr Tommaso Palermo KSW 3.07, Dr David Twardowski 3.08

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

Please seek permission from the Accounting Department tutor. It is also an option for students taking the Diploma in Accounting and Finance.

Students must have completed Elements of Accounting and Finance (AC100) or Elements of Management Accounting and Financial Management (AC103) or Elements of Accounting, Financial Institutions and Financial Management (AC104).

The course analyses the roles and applications of management accounting practices and concepts in contemporary organisations and enterprises. Management accounting is extensively involved in the planning, coordination and control of complex organisations and networks of organisations competing on a global scale. The course explores key management accounting concepts and tools, and their economic, strategic, behavioural and organisational underpinnings

The course is organised in four modules.

Management Accounting for Decision Making examines how management accounting information can be used in the context of a variety of short- and long-term decision problems, ranging from costing to pricing, outsourcing and investment appraisal.

Management Accounting and Strategy looks at management accounting change and at the emerging role of management accounting in strategy making. 

Management Accounting and Organisational Control examines intra-organisational planning and control issues, focusing on how managerial action is guided by practices such as budgeting, variance analysis and transfer pricing.

Performance Measurement addresses the use of financial and non-financial performance measures in complex organisational and managerial settings, with particular emphasis on their behavioural consequences and the limits of quantification.

20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the MT. 20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the LT.

2 hour revision lecture in week 11 of LT.

Students will be required to complete written assignments before each class. Four of these assignments, one per module, will be collected and graded by class teachers. Course work may take the form of an essay, a case analysis or a numerical exercise and may also include in-class presentation and team-based work. All students will be expected to contribute to class discussions. Feedback on performance and progress will be provided during class, on written homework assignments, and during office hours.

Detailed course programmes and reading lists will be distributed before the first lecture of each module. Illustrative texts and articles include: Bhimani A, Horngren CT, Datar SM and Rajan MV (2012), Management and cost accounting, 5th edition, FT/Prentice Hall; Shank JK (1996), Analysing technology investments – From NPV to strategic cost management, Management Accounting Research 7, 185 – 197; Van der Stede, WA and Palermo, T (2011), Scenario budgeting: Integrating risk and performance, Finance & Management 184(1), 10–13; Eccles, GE (1983), Control with fairness in transfer pricing, Harvard Business Review (November/December), 149-161; Hall, M (2010). Accounting information and managerial work. Accounting, Organizations and Society 35, 301-315.

Exam (100%, duration: 3 hours) in the main exam period.