Programme Description

Fundamentals of Accounting and Finance

·    Fundamentals of financial accounting

·    Accounting equation and the system of double entry

·    The basic financial statements

·    Fundamental concepts and frameworks

·    Financial reporting issues and disclosures

·    The components of financial statements: revenue, inventories, fixed tangible assets,

·    intangible assets, provisions, taxation, and foreign exchange transactions.

·    The impacts of changes in accounting policies on financial statements

·    The impacts of creative accounting on financial information, and ethical issues

·    Segment reporting and earnings per share

·    The role of the financial manager and time value of money

·    Investment appraisal: NPV/IRR/Payback

·    Investment appraisal: Relevant cash flows, tax and risk in investment appraisal

·    Working capital: stock, cash and credit management

·    Cash flow forecasts and introduction to budget

·    Sources of Finance: Debt, equity, retained earnings, short-term and long-term. finance

·    Cost of equity, valuation of debt and WACC

·    WACC and introduction to capital structure

·    Overview of financial management and the finance function.

·    Financial markets and institutions

Financial Statement Analysis

·    Introduction to the fundamental analysis approach to investment and the nature of financial statement information prepared under IFRS

·    Structured financial statement analysis, exploring how to analyse the key financial.

·    statements (income statement, statement of financial position and statement of cash flows)

·    Analysis of the wider information in the annual report, including the narrative sections

·    Evaluation of key financial statement items including inventories, non-current assets, and liabilities

·    Financial analysis techniques including ratio analysis, focusing upon profitability, investment, liquidity, gearing, and efficiency ratios

·    Structured macroeconomic and industry analysis, considering how to understand the

·    environmental impact upon the firm’s current and potential future performance and position

·    Equity analysts' reports and the role of equity analysts

·    Equity valuation techniques, including dividend models, multiples models and free cash flow models.

·    Financial statement modelling using Excel to arrive at sensible equity values and then to engage in sensitivity analyses.

 Corporate Governance and Strategy

This module aims to develop students’ knowledge and understanding of the process and practice of strategic management and governance within companies. They will critically assess and examine a range of topics, theories and issues pertaining to strategic management covering the development of strategic plans to achieve and sustain competitive advantage and how corporations deal with critical issues such as governance, globalization and innovation. 

The module will, above all, give students on this course an overall, strategic and organizational context within which to better understand the contribution of accounting and financial practice.

Strategic Management Accounting

Strategic Management Accounting is concerned with the evaluation of external information to determine an appropriate strategic response to improve an organisation’s competitive performance. In this module, you will examine the concepts underpinning strategic management accounting, particularly the emphasis on analysing information regarding competitors, suppliers, markets, prices and costs. 

Key strategic management techniques such as customer profitability analysis, competitor analysis and benchmarking will be explored.

 Advanced Corporate Reporting

·   Measurement approach and asset valuation models: i. Measurement issues in the conceptual framework; ii. Historical cost accounting, current value accounting, economic income, and residual income models 

·    Use of financial statement information by capital providers

·    Financial reporting issues:

·    The impact of structural changes within a group situation

·    Reporting financial instruments and hedging strategies

·    Reporting lease contracts

·    Accounting for employee benefits and share-based payment

·    Impairment and disposal of non-current assets

·    The analysis of accounting policies, disclosures and strategies

Research Methods – Accounting and Finance

This module prepares students for carrying out structured research projects, addressing research design, methodological approaches, critical literature review, statistical data analysis and information retrieval and management.

Contemporary Issues in Accounting and Finance

·    History of accounting and finance

·    Theoretical perspectives on accounting and financial management

·    Corporate governance

·    International and globalisation issues

·    Trends in the operation and influence of financial markets

·    Public sector financial management issues

·    Professional institutes, the corpus of knowledge and its transmission

·    Accounting and society

·    Contemporary issues and future trends in financial management

Dissertation Accounting and Finance

The module will provide students the opportunity to integrate and apply the learning and skills acquired through the programme by writing a substantial piece of individual research which is relevant to practitioners and/or researchers in the field of accounting and financial management. This might involve the testing of hypotheses, developing theory, or the provision of logically supported practitioner recommendations. Students will be encouraged to use the full range of data sources and analysis tools provided for Accounting and Finance postgraduate students.

The student will determine his or her own learning pattern. Each student will be guided by a suitably qualified supervisor. Once a student has been allocated a supervisor, he/she will agree upon a dissertation type and topic with their supervisor. 

There will then be periodic contact with that supervisor, during which time the student will report on the development of the research proposal into a formal plan of research, the review of existing literature and other information sources, data acquisition and analysis, and the development of discussions and a conclusion (or recommendations).