Online Accounting & Finance BA Top-Up (Hons)

The Financial Strategy module will focus on the advanced aspects of the investment decision (capital budgeting) and the way in which the organisation’s capital structure can be strategically adjusted to ensure the maximisation of shareholder wealth/added value.

The module will introduce relevant theory and models, practical financial tools and techniques, with appropriate references to real-life organisations. A strategic approach to critically analysing and evaluating financial information is encouraged, with a view to advancing your knowledge and understanding of capital budgeting, capital structure and dividend policy. In addition, it is vital you can confidently and effectively communicate the rationale behind your decisions.

With this in mind, the Financial Strategy module will utilise every opportunity to expose you to situations where you will be required to lead a seminar, facilitate a workshop, chair a meeting and/or present a report. The relevance of the Financial Strategy module as part of an undergraduate Accounting and Finance programme is further supported by the fact that it aligns to the syllabus requirements of professional accounting bodies such as CIMA, CPA (Certified Practising Accountants) Australia, IFA (Institute of Financial Accountants) and ACCA. It will also equip you to enter the work environment with knowledge and competencies that will enable you to critically analyse, evaluate and communicate the financial decisions that will help transform the organisation to address its key priorities.

Module learning outcomes:

On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:

Critically evaluate and analyse a business situation from a strategically financial perspective

Accurately apply relevant accounting tools and techniques to support strategic decisions

Explore and critically assess the implications of pursuing various courses of actions available to a company

Module content:

You will learn advanced capital budgeting to build on the basic methods of appraising a project/investment by building in real-life considerations such as tax, limited capital and inflation. Practical applications of advanced investment appraisal through mini case studies will be used in the seminar sessions. Reference to real-life scenarios will be informed by research in this area, relating to what real life companies actually do.

Capital structure will be explored by considering theoretical models and the empirical evidence that has been put forward in this area of finance. Key ratios will be referred to in order to analyse the impact of various sources of finance on the performance and position of the company.

The relevance of accounting information available in the organisation and how it can help evaluate implications of a decision will begin to become apparent. The concept of the cost of capital will be explored and its relationship with the investment appraisal process will be discussed. The dividend policy of the organisation will be explored by considering theoretical models and the empirical evidence that has been put forward in this area of finance. The impact this has on shareholder wealth and the capital budgeting and capital structure decision is further explored.

At this level, you will begin to appreciate the need to be able to communicate the derivation and implications of strategic decisions. The analysis and evaluation is just one aspect of financial strategy, the delivery and communication of this strategy followed by the ability to reflect on the outcomes is what completes the strategy.

20 Credits

This module is intended to allow you the opportunity to extend aspects of your final and previous year modules to more depth, along with refining your research skills by means of an Independent Study dissertation.

Your Independent Study dissertation allows you to analyse and test the theories, principles and concepts addressed in the classroom environment in the reality of a private, public or community sector organisation by means of a pathway-related report. The independent study represents an individual piece of research completed under the guidance of an academic supervisor. It may be a research study which makes a contribution to the body of knowledge in your discipline area or professional background, or a study in which you critically analyse and evaluate existing knowledge and produces observations and conclusions of relevance to the particular field of study.

Module learning outcomes:

On completion of this module, you should be able to:

• Prepare and critically articulate a research ethics-approved proposal and translate this into a feasible research plan relevant to your overall programme of study, which for some students will be within a named pathway
• Identify and critically review literature and other appropriate contextual sources pertinent to the issue, theme, subject or applied problem as identified within the proposal submission
• Critically evaluate a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods and to select data collection and analysis tools and techniques appropriate to their Independent Study
• Working independently present a substantive piece of research in an applied aspect of business and management critically articulating; evaluating and reflecting upon the outcomes to an appropriate critical depth

Module content:

The module will seek to equip students with the necessary skills to prepare, design and carry out complex business research projects using a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods.

The nature of the independent study will vary from student to student and from programme to programme. The study could take the form of a critical case study or a dissertation on a subject of the student’s choice, with the supervision of a member of staff. The content will include an elaboration of the background factors involved in the situation, an evaluation of the relevant theories and concepts from the programme pathway, and a critical analysis of the subject selected.

This module will cover the following:

• Introducing business research
• Developing research skills
• Understanding research philosophy
• Understanding research ethics
• Reviewing the literature
• Understanding research methodology and design
• Developing a research proposal
• Understanding research methods, populations and sampling
• Using secondary data and archival sources
• Using observation
• Using interviews and focus groups
• Using questionnaires and scales
• Managing data and introducing data analysis
• Analysing quantitative data
• Analysing qualitative data
• Drawing conclusions and presenting research

40 Credits

This module expands on the knowledge and understanding you have gained on previous management accounting modules. Management accountants require a good understanding in management accounting concepts and techniques in order to provide managers with useful information.

You will need to be able to present this information clearly to employees and managers at all levels in a business, especially those without any financial knowledge. You will learn how to critically evaluate tools and techniques and then apply them to scenarios. The main areas of study will be control, performance measurement and strategic management accounting.

This module runs over one semester and consists of lectures, including guest lecturers from industry and seminars. Be prepared to join in with group work during the seminars as we discuss many of the current issues in management accounting. At this level, the focus of your work will be on the communication of the information and not the creation of the numbers.

Module learning outcomes:

On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:

Demonstrate the ability to apply concepts in management accounting control and performance measurement to various business scenarios and case studies

Investigate, critically analyse and present an appropriate management accounting response to a current or modern business problem or issue

Module content:

Firstly, you will look at how a business is controlled, investigating both the financial controls and the behavioural controls that are available. You will then move on to budgeting and how to calculate and interpret budgeted numbers so you can improve the performance of the business. This will include some analysis using advanced variances.

This leads on to performance-measurement tools and also the challenges that multi-divisional companies have with managing their performance along with transfer pricing issues, how companies compare to each other with benchmarking and how this is also useful within the not for profit sectors.

You will also learn about incentives and rewards and how, if these are not set correctly, can have dysfunctional consequences for your organisation, which also links into some ethical dilemmas. You will discuss the current issues in strategic management accounting and review some of the main cost-management theories. Pricing is discussed along with the different methods of calculating a cost plus base as well as looking at the market environment.

20 Credits