Management Accounting

The course is offered at the first-cycle level and is part of the first semester of the Bachelor’s Programme in Business and Economics. It is not available as a freestanding course. The course is open to incoming exchange students.

Department of Business Administration

Business administration in general, and management control and accounting in particular, is about creating, understanding and applying different models for decision making. The models are expected to support the economically rational decision making of managers and co-workers.

The control instruments discussed during the course are intended to contribute to the implementation of organisational strategies. In management accounting, basic concepts and models are used to evaluate the profitability of organisational units, products and services. The focus of the course is on formal policy instruments, such as different models for control via performance measures/key ratios, product calculation and budgeting. The students will be trained in the use of formal control instruments, but also in understanding management accounting as a part of the management of an organisation.

In the course, strong emphasis is placed on communicating central concepts and models that constitute the nucleus of formal financial control, but also the relationships that prevail between them. Students will practice their ability to understand financial relationships through a case study.

After passing the course, students shall be able to:

1. describe management accounting, with respect to formal basic concepts, models and relationships,

2. explain the different situations where the use of different formal control instruments is appropriate,

3. explain basic concepts, models and relationships, in order to independently identify, problematise and formulate solutions,

4. demonstrate the ability to, in a smaller working group, apply knowledge of the formal tools of management accounting, and in writing present a solution to a problem that has been given in advance,

5. apply a computer-based calculation tool in business and organisational contexts.

Lectures, lessons, Q&A sessions, videos, and case studies. Skills in computer-based calculation are acquired through self-study as outlined in the course study guide.

Language of instruction: English

Objectives 1-3 are assessed via a written examination.

Objectives 4-5 are assessed via a case study.

Students can only carry out the case study during the duration of the course instance they are registered on. Students who do not participate case study work are offered the opportunity to complete the case study during the next instance of the course.

Individual assignments and exams shall be written individually. Cooperation in formulating text, tables, figures and the like is not allowed.

If a student who has been failed twice for the same examination element wishes to change examiner before the next examination session, such a request is to be granted unless there are specific reasons to the contrary (Chapter 6 Section 22 HF).

If a student has received a certificate of disability study support from the University of Gothenburg with a recommendation of adapted examination and/or adapted forms of assessment, an examiner may decide, if this is consistent with the course’s intended learning outcomes and provided that no unreasonable resources would be needed, to grant the student adapted examination and/or adapted forms of assessment.

If a course has been discontinued or undergone major changes, the student must be offered at least two examination sessions in addition to ordinary examination sessions. These sessions are to be spread over a period of at least one year but no more than two years after the course has been discontinued/changed.

If a student has been notified that they fulfil the requirements for being a student at Riksidrottsuniversitetet (RIU student), to combine elite sports activities with studies, the examiner is entitled to decide on adaptation of examinations if this is done in accordance with the Local Rules Regarding RIU Students at the University of Gothenburg.

The grading scale comprises: Excellent (A), Very good (B), Good (C), Satisfactory (D), Sufficient (E) and Fail (F).

To obtain a passing course grade, passing grades on the individual written examination and the case study are required. To determine the final grade, points from the written examination are combined with the points received from the case study.

Upon completion, the course will be subject to a course evaluation in accordance with the procedures established for the Bachelor's Programme in Business and Economics. The results of the evaluation, along with any resulting changes to the course, will be communicated to both the students who participated in the evaluation and those enrolled in the subsequent offering of the course.