| Unit name | Fundamentals of Accounting and Finance |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ACFI10003 |
| Credit points | 40 |
| Level of study | C/4 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Wang |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | School of Accounting and Finance - Business School |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Why is this unit important?
This unit introduces core principles and concepts in accounting and finance to students, most of whom will have no or limited prior exposure to these principles. It establishes a foundation for further study and equips students with understanding of the basic techniques which underpin the disciplines of accounting and finance. The Unit will introduce awareness and discussion around how enterprises use financial data for decision making and producing annual financial statements and start to support students in understanding how accounting and finance support critical business outcomes.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
This unit is mandatory on degrees with “Accounting” in the title, plus BSc Economics and Finance.
For Accounting, it introduces the areas of Financial Accounting and Management Accounting, paving the way for deeper study of those disciplines in later years of the programmes.
In terms of Finance, it introduces fundamental concepts in finance and is pre-requisite for study of second-year mandatory finance.
Its focussed contribution to your understanding of finance in your degree programme is in Investment Appraisal, while later mandatory finance units will develop your understanding of asset pricing and corporate finance.
An overview of content
Component 1: Fundamentals of Financial Accounting
This component introduces and encourages proficiency in the basics of financial accounting, including preparation of simple accounting statements from the Trial Balance to the Income Statement and the Statement of Financial Position. This includes an introduction to core adjustments such as depreciation, bad and doubtful debts, and accruals and prepayments. Our experience has shown that first term students find financial accounting the biggest challenge and broadening out these basics and greater depth to support the pre-requisite for year 2 is addressed in Component 3.
Component 2: Fundamentals of Management Accounting
The emphasis shifts to how accounting information may be used in a different context, such as management strategy and decision making, and cost analysis. It is vital that students understand at an early stage that numerical ‘right answers’ are not the sole purpose of their studies and that, for accounting and finance professionals, analysis and non-numerical advice is critical. Some concepts learned in Component 1 are necessary as stepping stones to support this different context. Completion of this Component provides the pre-requisite understanding for the Management Accounting unit in year 2.
Component 3: Developing Financial Accounting
Component 3 builds on the foundations of Component 1 (which is designed to give time and space to assimilate the basic building blocks of financial accounting whilst students are settling in) and introduce further concepts to build on those basics. This includes more complexity and depth in financial statement preparation and analysis, now also including cashflow statements. Together with Component 1 it provides the pre-requisite understanding for the Financial Accounting unit in year 2.
Component 4: Introduction to Finance
This component introduces the use of financial techniques such as Investment Appraisal and Capital Structures. These are major areas of the ‘finance’ discipline that are built on throughout the degree programmes served by this unit, providing the pre-requisite understanding for the Principles of Finance and Strategic Finance Units in Year 2. Business issues around capital investment are also explored, including risk and uncertainty, capital constraints, and the potential impact of inflation and tax.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit?
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the unit, students will be able to:
Content delivery is through:
Extensive and rigorous student independent study and preparation for classes is expected and an essential part of the learning experience. Attending classes is critical to success but without serious independent learning, the classes alone cannot be sufficient to master the necessary material to give a solid base for successful progression.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
Formative assessment is by way of Tutorial Questions and Exercises for Exercise Lectures, as well as, for example, multiple choice tests, and in-class diagnostic tests.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
When assessment does not go to plan
Like-for-like reassessment of the failed component if a student fails the unit overall
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. ACFI10003).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
