BUU33522 Management Accounting for Business Decisions II

(5 ECTS)

Lecturer: Dr. Ranadeva Jayasekera         

E-mail: Jayasekr@tcd.ie 
Contact Hours: By appointment (use email to arrange an online appointment)

Pre-Requisite(s): 

BUU22530 - Introduction to Accounting

BUU33521 - Management Accounting for Business Decisions I (or equivalent)

Available to Exchange students

Module Description

The module builds on previous experience in management accounting, measuring costs and revenues for the decision making process. The module aims to examine and understand the role of budgeting; transfer pricing; variance analysis; divisional performance and strategic financial planning as a critical financial management tools. There is also a focus on the importance of non-financial performance measures.

Learning & Teaching Approach:

Lectures will involve a mixture of lectures, group discussion, worked-through examples and questions. We will review scenarios and compare theory to real life examples. Active participation will be required, i.e. preparation in and attendance at lectures, contribution to class discussions and involvement in group work. Practice problems have been assigned for each topic in the syllabus, and students are recommended to do these before each lecture. This module is an applied field, it is difficult to understand without practicing and applying the knowledge, and therefore examinations will be based on applied knowledge, not general recall. Students will be encouraged to explore and develop their business and personal potential throughout this module.

Module-Level Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module, the student should be able to:

• Possess an up-to-date understanding of the various budgeting techniques available to an organisation.
• Acquire an understanding of management control issues.
• Calculate, analyse and apply variances as an aid to decision-making, and explain the importance of qualitative factors in this area.
• Gain a sound knowledge of the concept of divisionalisation, various divisional performance measures available to an organisation, whilst addressing the problem of short-termism
• Advise senior management on optimal transfer pricing strategies.
• Distinguish between a traditional management accounting system and strategic cost management and understand and apply Life-cycle costing, Environmental accounting in a variety of practical business contexts
• Measure and optimise organisational performance through the use of appropriate strategic performance measurement techniques.
• Distinguish between and critically evaluate traditional performance measurement systems and strategic performance measurement systems.
• Further developed the technical, analytical and evaluative skills required in the field of management accounting.

Relation to Degree

This module supports a number of the learning outcomes of the overall degree programme. Specifically, it enables students to:

• Possess a systematic understanding of financial information informed by best practise and contemporary developments.
• Demonstrate a critical awareness of current problems with Performance Measurement techniques and new insights in financial management theory and practice.
• Apply a range of complex and advanced financial skills to various commercial scenarios.
• Act in a wide and often unpredictable variety of financial and ethical contexts.
• Scrutinise and reflect on the norms and relationships within management accounting and related fields.

Workload

Recommended Texts/Key Reading:

Required Core Course Textbook

Drury (2016), Management Accounting for Business (6th edition), South Western Cengage Learning

General Supplemental Readings

http://www.accaglobal.com/ie/en/student/exam-support-resources/fundamentals-exams-study-resources/f5/technical-articles.html

Hofstede, G. (1981). Management control of public and not-for-profit activities. Accounting, Organizations and society, 6(3), 193-211.

Theodore H. Poister (2003); measuring performance in public
and nonprofit organizations, Wiley.

It is also recommended that students maintain an awareness of financial matters through regular use of the FT website, and sources such as investopedia.com and finance.yahoo.com.

Student preparation for the module 

Students are expected to have read the relevant chapters and lecture notes (provided on Blackboard) before each class.

The lecturer will provide an explanation/discussion of the issues relevant to each topic on the module. This will be followed, where relevant, by practical illustrations using the core text. Students are expected to research and read additional materials on each topic in their own private study time and to attempt the assigned questions for each topic.

Course Communication

Administrative information and relevant changes (e.g., dates, times, venues, group membership, deadlines, etc.) will be posted on the course Blackboard page.

Students taking this course are responsible for

• checking their College email regularly
• checking the course Blackboard page regularly
• assuring that they have access to the course Blackboard page

Please note that all course related email communication must be sent from your official TCD email address. Emails sent from other addresses will not be attended to.

Assessment:

The assessments for this module will test critical understanding and appropriate application of topics covered in the module and will consist of a:

• Final Examination [100%]: During the Trinity Term assessment period commencing from May 2023. Precise date, time and venue to be announced.

Biographical Note

Ranadeva Jayasekera is a Professor in Accounting at the Trinity Business School, University of Dublin. Ranadeva completed an MPhil in Finance at the University of Cambridge and was awarded a full scholarship to continue his research to a doctoral level. He obtained his PhD from Cambridge in Accounting and Finance and his thesis is a combination of three interrelated papers based on the US airline industry branching in to the areas of modelling corporate distress, real options analysis and the implications of the anomalies of the US bankruptcy code. He joined the quantitative finance team of Deloitte in London at a senior capacity in 2007 and has been involved in the Valuation, structuring and modelling of complex financial instruments of major investment banks.  He moved back into academia in 2009, joining the faculty at the University of Southampon as a lecturer and then became a senior lecturer at the Cranfiled University prior to joining Trinity College Dublin as an assoicate professor in 2015. Ranadeva has got several publications in reputed international journals. His current research interests are in the areas of Capital Structure, real options, financial flexibility, Market efficiency, and bankruptcy prediction.