Management Science and Innovation

MSIN6004 - Accounting for Business

This module provides an introduction to those key aspects of accounting any manager – employed or business owner/manager, should be aware of and understand. Part of the focus is on Financial Accounting and part on Cost and Management Accounting. Financial Accounting is concerned with accounting for the transactions and financial activities of a business, and the subsequent construction and publication of Balance Sheets, Income Statements, and Cash Flow Statements. These statements are then analysed through the use of financial ratios. Cost and Management Accounting focuses on the internal activities of a business. Here, approaches to determining the cost of products, services and activities are important ingredients of cost management. This focus also covers planning through budgeting, and ideas to help in financial decision making, including break even analysis and simple long term investment appraisal. There is no prerequisite for this module and prior accounting studies are not presumed. Successful completion of this module will result in having made sense of matters financial.

This module is offered in Term 1 as an option/elective (as appropriate) to all students across UCL (pending parent department approval). Year 2 Maths with Management students must choose between this module or MSIN7001 Managing Information and Control in term 1. (Students on the IMB programme and most ‘with Management’ programmes study MSIN1004 Accounting for Business in Term 2).

The module organiser is Dr Alan Parkinson from Department of Management Science and Innovation, UCL. (Please note: subject to new staff appointments, this module may be shared with another member of staff.)

Lectures & Seminars

Lectures: 10 lectures x 2 hours Tuesdays 16.00 – 18.00. Lectures commence on 5 October 2010.

Seminars: 9 seminars x 1 hour Thursdays between 10.00 and 15.00. Seminars commence on 14 October 2010.

Module Assessment Summary

70% of the marks are awarded on the basis of examination result. The examination is held in the Summer Term and is unseen, and of 3 hours duration. 30% of the marks are awarded for coursework. There is one piece of coursework, part financial accounting and part cost/management accounting

Outcomes

A successful student will have gained an appropriate knowledge and understanding of:

  •  Conceptual underpinning of and frameworks for financial accounting
  •  Nature and purpose of income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets
  •  Revenue /expense recognition, depreciation, asset/liability valuation liabilities
  •  Purpose and application of double entry bookkeeping
  •  Accounting for limited companies
  •  Financial ratio analysis: calculation and interpretation
  •  The nature of full costing and associated issues in cost recognition
  •  Planning through break-even analyses, budgeting, and simple investment appraisal.

Module Textbook

For 2011/12 there is a new Custom textbook for this module. The book is:

Making Sense of Accounting for Business, Edited by Alan Parkinson and Lynsie Chew, Pearson, ISBN 978-1-780-86256-9. It is only available for purchase from Waterstones in Torrington Place opposite UCL's Engineering Front Building.

The new Custom text will form an integral part of the module. Accordingly, please do not buy any other text books. Please note the textbook used in

2010/11 is now invalid for this module.