Accounting and Financial Management

Convenor: Dr Pierre Nadeau

Aims

The aim of this module is to provide a solid understanding of the concepts of financial management for non accountants. At the end of this module, students are expected to:

• Appreciate the use of accounting numbers in managing a company's performance (financial statement analysis)
• Understand corporate financial decision making through standard techniques such as Project appraisal, Risk and return and cost of capital
• Be aware of issues such as corporate long term survivability through the management of its capital structure

Learning Objectives

On successful completion of this module students will be expected to be able to:

• Read and understand financial reports and company accounts;
• Comprehend the fundamental ideas and concepts of finance;
• Appreciate the usefulness and limitations of accounting in aiding financial management decisions; and
• Critically appraise key issues in accounting and finance raised in the media.
• Develop a logical approach in dealing with complex issues; and
• Compute and solve numerical problems.
• Extent their knowledge on IT skills such as excel, word processing and simple statistical software;
• Research company’s related information via the library resources and on the internet.
• Enhance personal ability to work independently; and
• Continue to improve social skills through interaction during the seminars.

Content

• Introduction to financial reports and statements (simple explanation of profit and loss accounts and balance sheets)
• Cash flow statements and financial ratio analysis
• Financial project appraisals (discounted cash-flow techniques, internal rate of return and payback period) and valuation of business
• Risk and return (including the Portfolio Theory)
• Cost of capitals and Capital Assets Pricing Model
• Capital structure theory
• Dividend policy
• Introduction to Management Accounting issues (budgeting; financial decision-making; Break-even concepts)

Assessment

This course will be assessed by an exam paper which will account for 100% of the marks.

Background Reading

• Gitman, L J (2009), Principles of Managerial Finance (12th Edition), Pearson Addison Wesley