Swinburne Business School
Faculty of Business and Law
Unit Outline
ACC80008
Managerial Accounting
Semester 1, 2017
Convenor:
Dr. Evangeline Elijido-Ten Room: BA1230 ? 9214 4471
Email: EElijidoten@swin.edu.au
Please read this Unit Outline carefully. It includes:
PART A Unit summary
PART B Your Unit in more detail PART C Further information
It is the responsibility of each student to be aware of the content of this document.
PART A: Unit Summary
Page 1 of 10
Aims
This unit is designed to provide students with skills and practice that are critical to building their planning, decision making and performance evaluation capability to assist managers in making informed judgements. The unit aims to provide an understanding of the relevant management and cost accounting concepts necessary to evaluate a problem, source and use relevant information (both financial and non-financial) and make valid decisions to achieve sustainable value creation for the firm. Primarily, the thrust of this unit is to enhance the students critical and analytical ability through exposure to practical accounting problems and case studies. In so doing, the unit also aims to encourage students to develop the skills necessary for lifelong learning.
Unit Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete this Unit should be able to:
1 Critically evaluate cost classifications and apply appropriate cost allocation methods and other key managerial accounting techniques
2 Demonstrate a critical understanding and apply various performance measurement techniques/models in different business environments
3 Apply appropriate management accounting techniques to a range of complex business situations to enhance accountability within organisations and with different stakeholder groups using a variety of presentation media.
4 Solve a range of structured and unstructured problems/case studies including sourcing and applying the research processes both individually and in teams.
Key Generic Skills
This unit provides an educational experience that promotes an attitude of life-long learning. Specifically, our goal is to develop the following generic skills in our students:
• Teamwork skills
• Analytical and problem solving skills
• Communications skills
• Ability to tackle unfamiliar problems, and
• Ability to work independently
Content
• Strategic decision-making and cost concepts
• Cost volume profit analysis
• Cost allocation, Activity Based Costing and Activity Based Management
• Balanced Scorecard, Performance measurement and Reward system
• Relevant costing & tactical decision analysis
• Planning & Budgeting
• Flexible Budgets, Standard costing & Variance analysis • Transfer Pricing
PART B: Your Unit in more detail
Unit Improvements
Recent improvements resulting from students’ feedback through the Student Survey include:
• In-class quizzes & case analysis to test student understanding of topics covered.
Unit Teaching Staff
Name Role Room Phone Email Consultation Times
Dr. Evangeline Elijido-Ten Convenor & Lecturer BA1230
9214 4471 eelijidoten@swin.edu.au
TBA (as required)
Dr Dina Wahyuni Lecturer BA1222 9214 5256 dwahyuni@swin.edu.au TBA (as required)
Learning and Teaching Structure
Activity Total Hours Hours per Week Teaching Period Weeks
Weekly Class 36 hours 3 hours Weeks 1 to 12
One three-hour class: Lecture materials will be presented followed by tutorials working through assigned questions. It is the student’s responsibility to work through all tutorial problems. In a Semester, you should normally expect to spend, on average, twelve and a half hours of total time (formal contact time plus independent study time) a week on a 12.5 credit point unit of study.
ACC80008 Week by Week Schedule & Tutorial Questions
Week Week beginning Staff Lecture Topic Tutorial Topic Class Activity &Tutorial Work
1 27
February Eva 1. Intro to Management
Acctg & Business
Strategy
2. Cost Concepts No tutorial Nil
2 6 March Eva No lecture Intro to Mgt Acctg &
Business Strategy
Cost Concepts Quiz1&2; Case Analysis1
Tute1 Q’s: Hand-out Qs
PLUS 1.18; 1.28 1.30;
2.18; 2.28; 2.36; 2.37
3 13 March
Eva 3. Cost Volume Profit
4. Cost alloc’n & ABC No tutorial Quiz 3 & 4
4 20 March Eva
No lecture Cost Volume Profit
Cost allocation and
Activity Based Costing Case Analysis2; Tute2 Q’s:
3.21;3.22;3.25;3.42;3.45;
4.17; 4.39; 5.25; 5.39
5 27 March Eva 5. SPMS: Balanced Scorecard No tutorial Quiz 5;
Assignment Discussion
6 3 April Eva
6. Financial Performance
Measures Balanced Scorecard
Quiz 6: Case Analysis3
Tute3 Q’s: 12.16; 12.34;
12.37 PLUS Add’l Q on
Handout
7 10 April
&
17 April ASSIGNMENT DUE DATE: 12th April, 2017 at 12:00 noon
Eva
7. Relevant Costing
Fin’l Performance Measures Quiz 7; Tute4 Q’s: 23.17;
23.22; 23.31; 23.34
EASTER BREAK: From 13th April (Thursday) to 19th April (Wednesday)
8 24 April Eva
8. Planning & Budgeting
Relevant Costing Quiz 8;
Tute5 Q’s: 11.19; 11.20;
11.28; 11.38
9 1 May Eva 9. Flexible Budgets and
Variance analysis Planning & budgeting Quiz 9; Case Analysis4
Tute6 Q’s: 6.22; 6.25;
6.29; 6.37
10 8 May Eva 10. Transfer Pricing
Flexible Budgets and Variance analysis Quiz 10
Tute7 Q’s: 7.31; 7.36;
8.26; 8.29
11 15 May Eva Test Transfer Pricing Tute8 Q’s: 22.25; 22.27; 22.31; Add’l Handout Qs
12 22 May Eva 11. Revision Case Analysis5 Questions – TBA
SWOTVAC & EXAM PERIOD
Assessment
a) Assessment Overview
Tasks and Details Individual or Group Weighting Unit Learning Outcomes that this assessment task relates to Assessment Due Date
Research Assignment Group 25% 2,3,4 12th April @ 12 nn
Quizzes & Test Individual 20% 1,2,3,4 Ten quizzes worth 1% each for each lecture topic and one test worth 10% held in Week 11.
Case Analysis Group 5% 1,2,3,4 Five case analysis held throughout the semester
Examination Individual 50% 1,2,3,4 During Formal Exam Period
Assessment Task 1: Major Research Assignment (25%)
Details of the assignment are provided on pages 8 to 10 of this unit outline. Please ensure that the answers are presented in the required format, appropriately structured with headings and all detailed calculations and/or additional diagrams (if any) in appendices. Both hard copy and electronic submissions are required (refer to p. 5 of this document).
Assessment Task 2: Quizzes and Test (20%)
There will be 10 quizzes (total weight of 10%) corresponding to the ten topics covered in this unit. Class quizzes are designed to encourage students to pre-read the lecture materials. As such, quizzes will be held right after the lecture except for Topics 1 & 2 (refer to your weekly schedule). Each quiz will consist of 10 questions, a combination of MCQs (multiple-choice questions) and T/F (True or False) statements.
The class test will be for one hour and fifteen minutes to be held in Week 11. It will be a mixture of MCQs and problem-solving type of questions. The coverage of the test will be announced closer to the designated date.
Assessment Task 3: Case Analysis (5%)
There will be five Case Analysis sessions to be done throughout the semester (refer to your weekly schedule). Students need to BE PRESENT and work in a group to reasonably attempt ALL questions in each selected cases to be handed-in during tutorial classes. Written answers from each group must be submitted to the tutor. The tutor may award a mark of 0, 0.25, 0.5 or 1.0 for the submitted answers and ALL members of the group will receive the same mark. The tutor reserves the right to assign students to a group when necessary.
b) Minimum requirements to pass this Unit
To pass this unit, you must achieve an aggregate mark for the subject of 50% or more. There is no Conceded Pass (CP) in this unit.
c) Examinations
As this unit has an official examination, you are expected to be available for the entire examination period including any Special Exam period.
Materials Allowed in the Exam:
The following materials/ equipment may be taken into the examination venue:
• Calculators
• Writing materials
Students are not permitted to take foreign language or translation dictionaries into an exam venue.
Exam Answering Instructions:
1. Answer ALL questions in the separate examination answer booklet provided.
a) Start each question on a new page.
b) Clearly label each question answered.
d) Team Assignment Submission Requirements
Both hard copy and electronic submission are due on 12th April. Hard copy must be submitted on or before 12:00 noon in the designated assignment box (the location of which will be advised closer to the due date). An Assessment Cover Sheet must be submitted with your assignment. The standard Assessment Cover Sheet is available from the Current Students web site (see Part C). The electronic version of your assignment must be submitted through the Blackboard assessment submission system (Turnitin) on the same day but you have until to 8 pm to do so. Only one member of the team needs to make an electronic submission.
Please ensure you keep a copy of all submitted assessments and backup any electronic data.
e) Extensions and Late Submission
There will be no extensions. Late assignment will incur a penalty of 5% per day, up to a maximum of 5 working days. After 5 working days, a zero result will be recorded.
Assessment due dates are published in Unit Outlines at the start of the teaching period and will not normally be extended except where students had their studies adversely affected by acute illness, misadventure or other extraordinary cause or circumstance reasonably beyond their control. Students who need to request an extension of time to the due date for a piece of assessment (excluding end of teaching period final examinations) should contact their Unit Convenor directly to discuss their circumstances.
f) Referencing
To avoid plagiarism, you are required to provide a reference whenever you include information from other sources in your work. Further details regarding plagiarism are available in Section C of this document.
Referencing conventions required for this unit should follow Harvard referencing style.
Helpful information on referencing can be found at
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/lib/studyhelp/harvard-quick-guide.pdf
g) Teamwork Guidelines
A team assignment is the collective responsibility of the entire team, and if one member is temporarily unable to contribute, the team should be able to reallocate responsibilities to keep to schedule. In the event of longer-term illness or other serious problems involving a team member, it is the responsibility of the other members to immediately notify the Unit Convenor or relevant tutor. Team submissions must be submitted with an Assignment Cover Sheet, signed by all members of the group. All team members must be satisfied that the work has been correctly submitted. Any penalties for late submission will generally apply to all team members, not just the person who submitted.
Required Textbook(s):
Textbook: Horngren, Datar, and Rajan; Cost Accounting A Managerial Emphasis, 15th edition, Prentice Hall, New Jersey. 2015. (Note: Tutorial Problems will predominantly come from this text.)
Recommended Reading Materials
Porter, M. E. 1980, Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, The Free Press, New York.
Pearce, J.A. and Robinson, R. B. (2007), Strategic Management, 10th edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin (or later editions).
Other Resources
The library has a large collection of resource materials, both texts and current journal. If you are having difficulties with a particular topic, browse in the library at call number 657, you will find many of the texts in this section of the library include chapters on the topics covered in this unit. Also, the world wide web (WWW) has a vast amount of resources: simply Google the topic that you don’t understand. It is highly recommended that you explore other sources to broaden your understanding.
PART C: FURTHER INFORMATION
Student Charter
Please familiarise yourself with Swinburne’s Student Charter. The charter describes what students can reasonably expect from Swinburne in order to enjoy a quality learning experience. As students contribute to their own learning experience to that of their fellow students, the charter also defines the Universitys expectations of students.
Student behaviour and wellbeing
Swinburne has a range of policies and procedures that govern how students are expected to conduct themselves throughout the course of their relationship with the University. These include policies on expected standards of behaviour and conduct which cover interaction with fellow students, staff and the wider University community, in addition to following the health and safety requirements in the course of their studies and whilst using University facilities.
All students are expected to familiarise themselves with University regulations, policies and procedures and have an obligation to abide by the expected guidelines. Any student found to be in breach may be subject to relevant disciplinary processes. Some examples of relevant expected behaviours are:
• Not engaging in student misconduct
• Ensuring compliance with the University’s Anti-Discrimination, Bullying and Violence and Sexual Harassment requirements
• Complying with all Swinburne occupational health and safety requirements, including following emergency and evacuation procedures and following instructions given by staff/wardens or emergency response.
In teaching areas, it is expected that students conduct themselves in a manner that is professional and not disruptive to others. In all Swinburne laboratories, there are specific safety procedures which must be followed, such as wearing appropriate footwear and safety equipment, not acting in a manner which is dangerous or disruptive (e.g. playing computer games), and not bringing in food or drink.
Blackboard
You should regularly access the Swinburne Course Management System (Blackboard) available via http://ilearn.swin.edu.au. Blackboard is regularly updated with important Unit information and communications.
Communication
All communication will be via your Swinburne email address. If you access your email through a provider other than Swinburne, then it is your responsibility to ensure that your Swinburne email is redirected to your private email address.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the action or practice of taking and submitting or presenting the thoughts, writings or other work of someone else as though it is your own work. Plagiarism includes any of the following, without full and appropriate acknowledgment to the original source(s):
• The use of the whole or part of a computer program written by another person;
• the use, in essays or other assessable work, of the whole or part of a written work from any source including but not limited to a book, journal, newspaper article, set of lecture notes, current or past student’s work, any other person’s work, a website or database;
• The paraphrasing of another’s work;
• The use of musical composition, audio, visual, graphic and photographic models, • The use of realia that is objects, artefacts, costumes, models and the like.
Plagiarism also includes the preparation or production and submission or presentation of assignments or other work in conjunction with another person or other people when that work should be your own independent work. This remains plagiarism whether or not it is with the knowledge or consent of the other person or people. It should be noted that Swinburne encourages its students to talk to staff, fellow students and other people who may be able to contribute to a student’s academic work but that where independent assignment is required, submitted or presented work must be the student’s own.
Enabling plagiarism contributes to plagiarism and therefore will be treated as a form of plagiarism by the University. Enabling plagiarism means allowing or otherwise assisting another student to copy or otherwise plagiarise work by, for example, allowing access to a draft or completed assignment or other work.
Swinburne University uses plagiarism detection software (such as Turnitin) for assignments submitted electronically via Blackboard. Your Convenor will provide further details.
The penalties for plagiarism can be severe ranging from a zero grade for an assessment task through to expulsion from the unit and in the extreme, exclusion from Swinburne. Consequently, you need to avoid plagiarism by providing a reference whenever you include information from other sources in your work.
Student support
You should talk to your Unit Convenor or Student Services, for information on academic support services available for Swinburne students.
Special consideration
If your studies have been adversely affected due to serious and unavoidable circumstances outside of your control (e.g. severe illness or unavoidable obligation) you may be able to apply for special consideration (SPC).
Applications for Special Consideration will be submitted via the SPC online tool normally no later than 5.00pm on the third working day after the submission/sitting date for the relevant assessment component.
Special needs
Sometimes students with a disability, a mental health or medical condition or significant carer responsibilities require reasonable adjustments to enable full access to and participation in education. Your special needs can be addressed by Swinburnes Disability Services, who can negotiate and distribute an Education Access Plan that outlines recommendations for university teaching and examination staff. You must notify the University Disability Liaison Officer of your disability or condition within one week after the commencement of a unit of study to allow the University to make reasonable adjustments.
Review of marks
An independent marker reviews all fail grades for major assessment tasks. In addition, a review of assessment is undertaken if your final result is a marginal fail (45-49) or within 2 marks of a grade threshold.
If you are not satisfied with the result of an assessment you can ask the Unit Convenor to review the result. Your request must be made in writing within 10 working days of receiving the result. The Unit Convenor will review your result to determine if your result is appropriate.
If you are dissatisfied with the outcomes of the review you can lodge a formal complaint.
Feedback, complaints and suggestions
In the first instance you may discuss any issues with your Unit Convenor. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the discussions with the Unit Convenor or would prefer not to deal with your Unit Convenor, then you can complete a feedback form.
Advocacy
You are advised to seek advice from the staff at the Swinburne Student Amenities Association (SSAA) if you require assistance with any academic issues.
ACC80008:
Managerial Accounting
Team Assignment: TEAM OF 5
Weighting: 25%
Due Date: 12th April, 2016 @ 12:00 nn
In order to succeed, organisations must learn to respond and adapt quickly to the challenges in today’s rapidly changing business environment. Horngren, Datar and Rajan (2012, p. 467) stated that “In formulating its strategy, an organisation must thoroughly understand its industry”. Understanding the firm’s industry is important but learning to deal with changing circumstances and competing demands posed by various stakeholders such as shareholders, customers, employees as well as the government and the media (just to name a few) is possibly more challenging. The latter could sway the firm to adopt one or both the strategies of product differentiation and/or cost leadership.
Specific Requirements:
COMPANY RESEARCH (40%):
1. Company Profile
You are required to select ONE company that has introduced a new product or service in the past twelve months (i.e. from January 2016). Conduct an extensive research on the profile of the company chosen. Your research should include an analysis of the products and/or services provided by the firm before the launch of the new product/service. Clearly discuss the launch of the new product/service and identify the circumstances leading to the launch of the new product/service.
2. Company Performance
Considering the knowledge you gained from your prior studies and other related topics covered/to be covered in this unit (e.g. Business Performance Measures, Balanced Scorecard, SWOT analysis, etc.), analyse and discuss the overall economic and/or social and environmental performance of the company for the past two years before the launch of the new product/service. Your analysis and discussion should explain how the company has either succeeded or failed to strengthen its competitive advantage as a result of the new product/service launched.
INDUSTRY & STRATEGY RESEARCH (40%):
1. Industry and Generic Strategy
From the point of view of your chosen firm, prepare a Five-Force Analysis (Porter, 1980; 1985) of the industry to which your company belongs. Considering the two generic strategies of product differentiation and cost leadership, identify and explain whether your chosen firm is likely to adopt one or a combination of these strategies. Your analysis and explanation must be supported by research (e.g. media releases, statistics, industry report) and the relevant literature on strategic management and competitive advantage.
2. Strategic Recommendation
Taking the role of a team of management accountants employed by the chosen company, provide recommendation/s on how the company could better adapt to changing circumstances to maintain its competitive advantage. Your recommendation must be supported by research (e.g. media releases, statistics, industry report) and, where necessary, the relevant literature on strategic management and competitive advantage.
PRESENTATION (20%)
• Present your research in an essay/report format with approximate word length of 4,000-4,500 words (from Introduction to Conclusion). Please ensure that you put the word count in your hard copy submission on top of the page where your Introduction is located.
• You are expected to use a combination of books, journals/newspaper articles and company annual reports. An examination of between 20 – 40 articles is a guide to the level of research required.
• Use Harvard referencing style throughout your report.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
• Students are advised to form their team of 5 as early as possible (latest by Week 3 of the semester). Ideally, it’s better to form teams with students in your respective classes. However, you are allowed to find teammates from other classes. If you are having difficulty finding teammates, please post a message on Blackboard’s Discussion Board and inform your lecturers as early as possible. This is a team assignment. Under no circumstances would an individual assignment submission be accepted.
• This assignment will be marked as a team effort (i.e. all team members will receive the same mark overall). In case of dispute among team members, it is possible to mobilise the “teamwork-dispute option” (see Part D of the Assignment Feedback Sheet on p. 10).
• There will be no extension allowed. Late submission will be penalised at the rate of 5% per day. Late penalty will apply to ALL hard copy submissions received after 12 noon on 12th April, 2017.
• Important Sources of Information:
o For Section A, useful references can be found from numerous sources such as Annual Reports, Sustainability Reports, Shareholder Reviews, company website and through various library electronic databases such as DatAnalysis and Factiva, among others. (An examination of between 10 to 20 articles is a guide to the level of research required.)
o For Section B, you may use industry reports that can be sourced from databases such as IBISWorld, Factiva and Marketline (formerly known as DataMonitor). To find relevant literature on strategic management and competitive advantage, you are required to consult the academic literature, which can be found on library databases such as Elsevier, Emerald, Ebscohost and Google Scholar would be useful. (Another 10 to 20 articles are expected.)
ACC80008: ASSIGNMENT FEEDBACK SHEET
STUDENT NUMBER STUDENT NAMES:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
CRITERIA / REQUIREMENT MARK
(Max) 0
No
Attempt 1
Very Limited
Attempt 2
Limited
Attempt 3
Adequate
Attempt 4
More than
Adequate
Attempt 5
Excellent
Attempt
A. Company Research 40
1) Brief & succinct discussion of company profile
2) Analysis of products/services prior to launch
3) Clear discussion of new product/service
4) Clear identification of possible circumstances leading to launch
5) Students should attempt to use around three or more analytical tools (e.g. ROI, BSC, SWOT, etc.) to comment on companies overall economic performance
= for the past 2 years before the launch
6) Discussion on whether the firm succeeded/failed to strengthen competitive advantage because of new product launch
7) Proper references used (cite as you write) 5
5
4
4
12
6
4
B. Industry-specific research 40
1) Five-Force industry analysis supported by industry reports/statistics/media releases, etc
2) Identification and justification of generic strategy/strategies
3) Recommendation on how the company can strengthen its competitive advantage
4) Proper references used (cite as you write) 15
5
16
4
C. Overall structure and presentation 20
1) Overall readability: flow/links/grammar/ spelling 2) Proper report format including:
a. Executive Summary;
b. Table of Contents;
c. Introduction;
d. Body – appropriately divided into sub-topics;
e. Proper use of tables, figures (labelled);
f. Conclusion – clear and succinct;
3) References (must use Harvard style)
4)Appendices (should be clearly labelled & referred to) 8
1
1
1
3
1
1
2
2
D. Teamwork-Dispute Option (Note: As a team assignment, it is expected that the overall assignment mark is awarded to all team members. However, in case of disputes, each member’s work may be marked separately.) In the interest of transparency and full disclosure, the following conditions must be met: a) The convenor must be informed prior to submission deadline of the reason for dispute and provide documentary evidence (e.g. emails, schedule of meetings attended/not attended, etc.)
b) A “Teamwork Feedback Sheet” must be submitted together with hard copy assignment submission. ALL
TEAM MEMBERS SHOULD SIGN THE TEAMWORK
FEEDBACK SHEET providing details of:
? Who wrote which part of the assignment
AND, WHERE APPLICABLE, mark each other on the: ? Quality of research content
? Team meeting attendance (state total number of meetings & number attended by each member) ? Cooperation/willingness to help teammates
? Proper references provided in correct format.

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