University of Greenwich - ACCO1084: Introduction to Management Accounting

This module aims to take you from zero to a solid foundation in Management Accounting skills and knowledge. It is concerned with the analysis of costs, planning and control, and all internal operations within an organisation. However, Management Accounting is more than numbers; it forms the basis of decision-making which is heavily influenced by its organisational context. Analysing organisational behaviour and management accounting includes analysing the employees who operate within the organisation. When human beings are involved, it is not just the numbers deciding an organisation's success or failure. It is within a diversified business environment this module aims to enable students to understand and apply these management accounting techniques, to determine not only the "How", but also the "Why" of the approaches introduced. A further aim is for students near the beginning of their studies to develop conceptual frameworks that can be used throughout their degree programme as tools in which to analyse organisational activity.

Indicative Content:

• Definitions - Nature, purpose and context of cost and management accounting: Introduction to nature & structure of organisations; difference between financial and management accounting; purpose/role of management accounting and management accountant; different approaches to management in organisations; nature of management/leadership and team working; difference between strategic, tactical, and operational planning; planning for sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
• Cost classification and identification: Definition of cost; direct/indirect/variable/fixed cost.
• Cost and management accounting techniques: Measuring costing of the labour force (reward and motivation); accounting for overheads; marginal/absorption costing; activity-based costing; job/process costing.
• Planning: Budgeting; ethical behaviour of the management accountants.
• Control: Management control; standard costing; basic variance analysis.
• Short-term decision making: Cost-volume-profit analysis; decision-relevant costing/basic approaches for use in decision-making.