STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING - 2020/1

Module Overview

The module builds on management accounting techniques covered in Principles of Accounting used by management to make certain key managerial decisions in business.

Module provider

Surrey Business School

Module Leader

SOONUCKSING Atish (SBS)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

Principles of Accounting (semester 1)

Module content

Indicative content includes:
Classification of costs, cost behaviour and identification of cost objects
Absorption and marginal costing and comparisons between them
Activity based costing
External pricing strategies
CVP analysis relating to short term decision making
Relevant cost and revenues relating to short term decision making
Preparation of budgets
Principles of standard costing
Variance analysis
Divisional financial performance measures
International transfer pricing
Strategic cost management (including life cycle and target costing)
Balanced scorecard
International management accounting issues and developments

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge in cost classification for a product or service, in applying management accounting techniques for effective decision making and in business planning, which includes preparation of different budgets, calculation and interpretation of variances and management reporting.  
Students’ understanding will be assessed on an ongoing basis through the weekly homework and tutorial questions set. Students will be challenged with questions when deemed appropriate and constantly encouraged to ask questions. In answering certain questions, students will sometimes be drawn into discussions either individually or in groups. Elements of self-assessment are also built into the questions for students to take ownership of their studies. This will enable the tutor to assess whether the students have achieved the required level of understanding and achieved the learning outcomes. This should ensure students are well prepared for the summative assessments.
The summative assessment for this module consists of a 50 minute class test (30% of final grade) and 2 hour final examination (70% of final grade). Both assessments are designed to test students’ ability to apply basic and advanced management accounting techniques in order to make economic managerial decisions. These are the types of decisions that students will encounter in a managerial position in an international business.Formative assessment and feedback
The class test will be marked by the tutor and the most appropriate way to provide feedback to students on this assessment will be by uploading the answers on Surrey Learn as well as the marks distribution for the whole class. Some descriptive statistics and charts and general feedback on how the cohort has performed will also be included. This will allow students to see how they performed against their peers and in relation to the class as a whole.
Students will also have the opportunity to attempt sample exam papers, on which general formative feedback will be provided.

Module aims

• Use and analyse data from management information systems for planning, decision-making, control and performance management.
• Select and apply suitable management accounting concepts and techniques for decision-making purposes.
• Evaluate organisational performance using both financial and non-financial data

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy:
The teaching and learning strategy is designed to provide a module that contains many of the advanced elements of management accounting and shows how they apply in an international context. Students will be guided to appreciate and apply the theoretical aspect as well as the practical relevance of the module and for that purpose, students will be exposed to various models and industry practices where necessary.
 
The teaching and learning include:
• Two hour weekly tutorials and two hour weekly drop-in classes to explain the theory and allow students to apply this to a range of questions
• Surrey-learn will be used as an information portal and will contain lecture notes, practical exercises, solutions to practical exercises, past exam papers and class tests.
The learning and teaching methods:
The learning and teaching methods include the use of weekly two-hour tutorials to illustrate theories and provide examples of the practical application of such theories. Tutorial materials will be supported by directed reading and weekly homework exercises. Weekly two hour optional drop-in workshops will further provide students with the opportunity to apply knowledge gained during the tutorials and from independent research by tackling further questions.
Students will also have the opportunity in both the tutorials and drop-ins to ask questions in regards to topics that have not been well understood or that need further clarification.
Model answers for the exercises and past exam paper will be provided. General formative feedback will be given on an on-going basis and students will be encouraged to take responsibility for their own work.

Independent learning
Students are expected to work independently for a considerable amount of the semester.  There is weekly reading – which should be completed before the lecture from the core text for the course and each week students are expected to do a broad selection of multiple choice questions to test their learning and some longer questions to evaluate their understanding.

Remember this course requires action:
• Take the initiative in finding out what needs to be done, drawing up weekly plans and implementing them.
• Take the appropriate time to do the work set each week be systematic
• Assess your situation regularly are you understanding the processes if not seek advice early.
• Be reflective. Learn from your experiences. Review your study activities regularly and consider whether our strategies are working well.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MANM401

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2020/1 academic year.