Accounting and Management (Industry)

This module provides an overview of the design and main features of accounting information systems (AIS). It introduces methods used by business to meet the financial information needs of external parties and management and includes systems used for collecting, recording and storing transactions data, internal controls and effective design of AIS. It also provides an introduction to auditing, explaining why audit independence is a key factor in this profession. The module also examines some specific topics in auditing and relates these to the AIS syllabus, including materiality, going concern and the formulation of audit opinions.

This module provides an introduction to the use of management accounting information for management purposes. This includes an examination of cost-volume profit analysis, the concepts of direct and indirect costs, and various costing methods. The importance of budgets to organisations and their impact on performance are also discussed.

This module covers project evaluation methods, risk, return and the cost of capital (including the capital asset pricing model), corporate financing (including dividend policy and capital structure) and an introduction to options.

This module examines some of the main features of financial reporting by UK companies, the associated regulatory requirements and the conceptual bases of these (UK Companies Acts and international accounting standards). Also examined are specific reporting topics of current interest and concern, including the basics of consolidated accounting.

At the heart of many real management problems are data that needs to be described, analysed and interpreted. Statistical methods are important across the range of Management School subject areas (e.g. accounting and finance, marketing, economics, operations management and operational research). This module develops your ability to describe, analyse and interpret data soundly, making effective use of computer software.

Developing these skills will also help you demonstrate to prospective employers that you have practical skills that can immediately be put to good use to solve problems for organisations either in the public or private sector.

The lecture materials, and the problems you are asked to solve in workshops, reflect the problems that organisations have to solve in practical situations where data analysis skills are required.

The dissertation is an extended academic piece of work that aims to allow students to explore an issue that may arise on their placement or which they may have become interested in as a result of their academic studies at Lancaster. The specification is deliberately flexible to allow for the varying placement experiences and resulting dissertation ideas which might arise.

This module aims to extend students’ understanding of management accounting, focusing on three distinct approaches to the discipline: conceptual, practical and applied. The conceptual material in the course will seek to develop critical thinking skills for students by inviting them to consider the wide range of philosophical and economic theories that fit with the management accounting paradigm. The practical element of the course will introduce students to new management accounting techniques, including the role of uncertainty in management accounting, management control systems and the use of transfer pricing. The applied material will centre on a series of case study classes in which students will be required to engage with case study material and articulate their ideas about how to help the case organisation solve the particular problems that it faces.

This course equips students with the knowledge to apply corporate finance theory to real-world situations. It builds on and extends the concepts covered in the basic financial management courses and introduces advanced topics in Corporate Finance. The major topics covered include capital budgeting, capital structure, corporate valuation, real options, equity financing for startups, IPOs, leasing, short term financing, merger and acquisitions, and corporate governance

This module deals with accounting for complex entities, addressing concepts, issues and techniques.

It examines accounting for business combinations, goodwill and strategic investments (associates and joint ventures), and other aspects of consolidation, foreign currency translation, accounting for leases, all within the context of modern accounting theory.

This module develops students' critical evaluation of advanced financial accounting issues and places this within the international accounting context. Topics covered include the accounting treatments of taxation, pensions and share-based payments. The module also introduces theoretical foundations and empirical research on issues of relevance to accounting practitioners and accounting regulators in topic areas such as earnings management, building on and extending the basics introduced in other modules

This module investigates the role of ethics in business life. The course looks at this topic from multiple perspectives, considering various theories and models that help to unpack both individual and corporate ethics. The syllabus includes stakeholder analysis and management, corporate social responsibility, different forms of ethical reporting, various codes of governance and conduct, and some ethics-related aspects of UK law.

This module gives you an understanding of the economic and social impact of taxation and how these impacts influence the formation of tax policy. It covers the basic principles of UK income tax, corporation tax and other taxes, and teaches you the skills needed to perform basic tax computations.