To introduce the student to the main principles of company accounting and financial reporting, and to give the student an overview of the activities of the accountancy profession in the UK and the main challenges which it faces.
Module learning outcomes
On completing the module a student should:
Be aware of the main activities of the accountancy profession, including the activities and duties of company auditors and the main problems which surround the role of the auditor
Be familiar with the main accounting and legal entities in the private sector and their relative advantages and accounting obligations, and with the main items to be found in a typical Annual Report of a public limited company (PLC), and the reasons for this content
Understand the process of accounting standards setting in the UK and related accounting concepts and desirable attributes of financial statements
Understand the main sources of capital for a company and how these and other main accounting items make up the content of a Balance Sheet or Statement of Financial Position for a company and understand the meaning of each of these items and the valuation issues which arise in the context of items such as stock/inventories
Understand the meaning of, and main differences between, accruals accounting and cash-flow accounting, and their relationship to the recording of business transactions; understand the relevance of accruals accounting to profit measurement and the concept of depreciation; and understand the meaning and nature of the main entries in a company's income statement or profit and loss account, and its statement of changes in equity
Understand the role of the cash-flow statement in company accounting, the differences between solvency and profitability and the required content of a company's cash-flow statement and its meaning
Understand who the potential users of company accounts are, their respective user needs and how the different concepts of ratio analysis and trend analysis can help to satisfy these needs, and how the existence of inflation and other limitations can distort these analyses
Understand the main sources of tax revenue in the UK, the main features of income tax, capital gains tax and corporation tax in the UK, and the role of the accountancy profession in relation to the tax system, including the differences between tax compliance and tax planning
Be able to draw up basic company Statements of Financial Position, Income Statements and Statements of Changes in Equity, and carry out detailed ratio analysis on them and carry out basic corporation tax computations, from raw data on company transactions.
Assessment
Task
Length
% of module mark
Online Exam -less than 24hrs (Centrally scheduled) Introduction to Accountancy
2 hours
100
Special assessment rules
None
Reassessment
Task
Length
% of module mark
Online Exam -less than 24hrs (Centrally scheduled) Introduction to Accountancy