FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTING FOR DECISION-MAKING - 2023/4

Module Overview

This module explores the use of financial information in strategic decision-making. 

Appropriate use of financial information is critical to successful decision-making by managers, investors and other stakeholders.  

In this module, students will explore the 'language' of business by focusing on the dimension that is common to all operations in an organisation, their contribution to adding strategic value. 

Students will also learn how to analyse the current situation and performance of an organisation and understand, evaluate, select and apply financial based models to support managerial decision-making in the context of strategic corporate aims, including sustainability. 

Module provider

Surrey Business School

Module Leader

SOPP Rachel (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

None

Module content

The indicative content of the module includes: 

Financial accounting: 

• 
  Informational content of financial statements, including usefulness and limitations  
  


• 
  Interpretation of financial information including analysis of financial position and performance in light of their strategic goals 
  

Management accounting 

• 
  Analyse and apply costing and revenue data in operational and strategic decision-making and critically evaluate the results 
  


• 
  Strategic budgeting and financial planning to help ensure the sustainability of a business 
  

Financial Management 

• 
  Theory and practice of investing decisions and financing decisions 
  


• 
  Theory and practice of fixed interest and share valuation 
  

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Alternative assessment for Group Coursework is Individual coursework 

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of the learning outcomes, including demonstrating ability to carry out financial analysis and valuation in a case study context and critically evaluate the results obtained. 

  Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of: 

1. An individual written assignment to meet learning outcomes 2 and 4  


2. A group written assignment to meet learning outcomes 1 and 3 

Formative assessment 

Students will undertake practice tasks during the module that support completion of the summative assessments.  Formative feedback will be provided throughout these tasks and additionally during assessment-focused sessions during the module. 

Feedback 

Students will receive the following feedback for each piece of summative assessment: 

• 
  An individual grade 
  


• 
  A breakdown of marks achieved for each assessment criteria via a marking rubric 
  


• 
  Individual focused feedback comments 
  


• 
  An overall cohort analysis of the summative assessment performance including areas of strength and opportunities for future development 
  

Module aims

• Evaluate financial performance and investment value in a scenario context using financial analysis and modelling tools.
• Enable students to support responsible and value-adding strategic, operational and financial management decisions based on an analysis of financial information.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to cover both theoretical concepts and modelling techniques with practical application to case study scenarios. 

The module is delivered through highly interactive lectures, which resemble seminars for the most part, where the students' participation is elicited, and their previous experience brought to the fore and built upon. 

Learning and teaching follows a student-focused combination of activities including lectures, classroom-based tasks and case studies, complemented by online guided learning activities.  Students are expected to undertake substantial independent study to further build on the classroom and online content. 

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: MANM364

Other information

Digital Capabilities:  Students will be expected to use Excel in classroom activities and in written assignments. 

Global Capabilities:  The module is based on international financial reporting standards (IRFS) which are widely used globally.  Students will also gain an understanding of global financial markets. 

Employability:  Students will gain important understanding of financial terminology and apply a range of analytical and modelling techniques to analyse financial information for use in strategic business decision-making.  

Sustainability:  Students will explore how strategic corporate aims, budgeting and financial reporting help promote the environmental, social and governance aspects of a business.   

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 2023/4 academic year.