Learning objectives
The aim of the course is to give the students higher insights to apply various management accounting techniques to all types of organizations for planning, decision making and control purposes in practical situations and to strengthen their theoretical knowledge and critical skills. Hence, a suggested prerequisite is to have successfully completed a course of Management Accounting at Bachelor degree level.
At the end of the course, the students will be able to:
a. Comprehend the contents (Knowledge and understanding) of advanced costing methodologies (such as Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing, Resource Consumption Accounting and GPK), and decision-making and planning in contexts characterized by first-best conditions and business risk (such as linear programming and probabilistic forecasting, including the application of Markov processes to management accounting), then the knowledge concerning the use of some softwares aimed at optimizing company objectives, such as Solver and @Risk;
b. The ability to apply the acquired knowledge and understanding to prepare an analysis of production costs or, more generally, to determine the value of a 'cost object' through the use of advanced costing systems such as Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing and the RCA Likewise, students will have acquired the ability to apply and use some softwares (MSExcel, Solver and @Risk) to facilitate decision-making and business planning processes and, therefore, to solve business decision-making problems (income optimization, definition of the optimal production mix, of budgeting subject to production and market constraints) through an analytical approach.
c. The autonomy of judgment in the evaluation of the opportunity to apply the multiple methodologies in the processes of cost evaluation and therefore to critically evaluate in comparative terms the quantitative consequences of the application of Activity-Based Costing, TD-ABC, RCA and traditional quantitative techniques for determining the value of the ‘cost object’. Likewise, students will have acquired independent judgment in evaluating the multiple analytical approaches to company forecasts and decision-making (linear and probabilistic optimization) and the quantitative consequences given their application.
d. The communication skills consisting in the ability to deal with experts in the field (internal controllers, management accountants, chartered accountants and administrative managers) on the preparation of management accounting reports (for determining the value of production costs, analysis of business budgets in contexts characterized by multiple constraints) as well as reading and interpretation of the same.
e. The ability to learn through the use of multiple sources (not just textbooks) but also through the direct use of Management Accounting Principles of IMA and CIMA.
Prerequisites
It is assumed in this course that students have an appreciation and good understanding of the basic cost accounting and budgeting concepts and techniques. Hence suggested prerequisites are Basic Financial Accounting, Basic Management Accounting, Basic Statistics and Spreadsheet software.
Course unit content
The contents of the course are related to the "Strategic Management Accounting", then to specific advanced management accounting topics, in compliance with the Institute of Management Accountants, IMA and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, CIMA.
In particular, the contents include the following topics:
1. Business planning systems, i.e. budgeting subject to various constraints under conditions that can be represented through the use of linear programming and stochastic analysis (including Markov processes). Therefore, two management software are introduced.
2. Software to support planning and "Business Decision Making": Solver (MS-Excel add-in) and @Risk.
3. Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing.
4. The Resources Consumption Accounting, RCA and the Granzplennung Kostenrechnung, GPK.
Full programme
1) Business Ferecasting, Business Simulation and related software.
2) Time Driven Activity Based Costing.
3) Markov Chains with stationary tradition probabilities applied to Management Accounting Decision Making.
4) GPK & Resources Consumption Accounting.
Bibliography
1) Slides available on the Elly portal of the course. The teaching materials used during the lessons (slides) are uploaded to the Elly portal weekly.
2) Professor's lecture notes and Readings available on the Elly portal of the course.
Teaching methods
The didactic activities will be carried out favoring active learning methodology, with lectures characterized by a high practical connotation, also through the frequent recourse to case studies pertaining to the advanced management accounting. Attending students have the opportunity to carry out a project work based on a case study related to the management accounting of companies, in order to immediately apply the acquired knowledge; the cases to be analyzed in the project work are assigned to the students during the first two weeks of the course. The project work is optional and ends with a presentation.
Acquisition of knowledge: frontal lessons, lectures.
Acquisition of capability in applying knowledge: exercises based on case studies of different degrees of complexity, optional project work.
Acquisition of autonomy in judgment: during the course students will be stimulated to analyze critically the advanced techniques of strategic costing and of decision making also though the optional project works.
Acquisition of learning skills: for each topic the problem to be solved will be illustrated and the solutions adopted will critically analyzed.
Acquisition of technical language: during the course will be illustrated the meaning of the main management accounting register.
The teaching materials used during the lessons (slides) are uploaded to the Elly portal weekly. Registration on Elly is required to download the slides. The slides used are considered an integral part of educational material. Professor reminds students not attending classes to check the available teaching materials and the indications provided by the teacher through the Elly platform.
Assessment methods and criteria
Students will be examined and assessed on knowledge and skills taught directly on class materials covered during Lectures through a Final Written Exam.
More specifically, to assess knowledge of topics, communication skills, appropriate use of terminology and independence of judgment, students will be required to:
a) answer 1 extended open question (10 points);
b) answer 5 short questions (2 points each).
As regards the applied perspective, knowledge and skills will be assessed through an exercise (10 points). A Final Evaluation is scheduled on April 6, 2020.
The duration of the final examinations is 90 minutes.
The Mark evaluation range is in thirtieths (range 0-30). To be evaluated with a mark of 30 cum laude (with honor) students should get the maximum score on each part of the final exam and have to demonstrate a mastery of the covered topics.
Marks will be published on the University website Esse3.
During the written exam student may use a calculator and the English-Italian Dictionary.
No interim exams will take place due to the duration of the course.
Students attending classes have the possibility to integrate the vote of the examination with a project work, to be managed in groups of 4 people, on a case study and/or MA Readings. The professor, during the first and second week of lesson, defines the groups and attributes the cases study to analyze. Particularly is assigned to each group a management accounting topics on advanced either costing or decision making techniques, to analyze on the base of the indications furnished by the teacher in the classroom and written in the vademecum upload on the Elly website.
The participants are required to present the project work to the class following the deadlines defined in the vademecum. The Professor, once the presentations will be completed will publish the marks on Elly (the marks will be published once the student enrollment at the exam. The score range of the project work is 0-4 points on the final mark of examination, i.e. the score achieved in the project work is added to the score achieved in the examination. If the sum of the mark of the final exam and of project work is higher than 30/30 the score 30 cum laude is obtain given an evaluation of the written exam equal to 30/30.
Other information
Disability Support: any student with a documented disability condition (e.g. physical, learning, psychiatric, vision, hearing, etc.) who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations should contact me as soon as possible at the beginning of the semester. Students with special needs should also contact Disability Support Services on campus.
