Accounting Principles

Unit Code:HBC606

Credit Points	Duration	Contact Hours	Campus	Prerequisite	Corequisite
12.5 Credit Points	One teaching period	36 hours	Hawthorn	None	None

Credit Points

Duration

Contact Hours

Campus

Prerequisite

Corequisite

12.5 Credit Points

One teaching period

36 hours

Hawthorn

None

Related Course/s:

A unit of study in the nested postgraduate Accounting suite and the Master of Professional Accounting Global Leadership Program and a unit of study in the Master of Finance and Banking suite.

Aims & Objectives:

To enhance student's ability to develop a sound understanding of the main accounting reports that are the output from accounting systems. To provide students with the skills and techniques to analyse and interpret accounting information together with the expertise to recognise and select financial information relevant to particular business and financial decisions.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

Discuss and critically evaluate the role that accounting inforamtion plays in practice within an environment of business decision making (PO5)
Demonstrate a critical understanding of the importance of revenue and costs in decision making (PO5)
Rank and decide on the allocation of financial resources for alternative courses of action (PO5)
Recognise and select financial information that is relevant to particular business decisions (PO7)
Explain and apply techniques related to operational (short-term) decision making (PO7)
Describe and apply the fundamental principles of accrual based accounting to a given transaction data set (PO7)
Construct a more complex balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement, and explain the relationships that underlie the prepartaion of these financial reports (PO7)
Analyse and interpret financial reports and calculate reatios in order to make meaningful comparisons between businesses and to analyse a business' performance (PO1)
Understand the role of financial and non-financial measures in performance evaluation (PO1).

Teaching Methods:

5 hours per week in block mode or 3 hours per week evening teaching. Student workload total is expected to be 120 hours.

Assessment:

Assessment task (Individual) 30-40%

Examination (Individual) 60-70%

Generic Skills Outcomes:

This unit aims to achieve the following in our students

Analysis skills
Problem solving skills
Communication skills
Ability to tackle unfamiliar problems
Ability to work independently and professionally

Content:

The role of accounting in business
Understanding costs and revenue in an entity - focus on cost behaviour, cost traceability and pricing issues
Business planning - budgeting and operational decision making
Transaction analysis and preperation of financial reports
Analysis & interpretation of financial reports - incorporating working capital management
Performance Evaluation of the business unit and its manager

Reading Materials:

Atrill, P, et al, 2008, Accounting: An Introduction, 4th edition, Pearson Education, Australia

Bazley, M. Hancock P, 2007, Contemporary Accounting, 6th edition, Thomson, Melbourne

Birt, J, et al, 2007, Accounting: Business Reporting for Decision Making, 2nd edition, John Wiley & Son, Brisbane

Fleet, W, et al, 2006, Communication Skills - Handbook for Accounting, 2nd edition, John Wiley & Son, Brisbane