00251 - Economics and Business Organisation

Academic Year 2020/2021

  • Docente: Silvia Gardini
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: ING-IND/35
  • Language: Italian

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will be able to understand main features of business systems through the acquirement of base quantitative techniques concerning both economic-financial analysis of business decisions and interpretation of management choices.

Course contents

A)      The context

a.       Business economics within economic disciplines

b.       Organisation and business as open systems

c.       A reference model for business competitive analysis

d.       The role of information in management and business decisions

e.       Introduction to the issue concerning performance and economic results assessment

 

B) Financial statement as an instruments for business management

a. The problem of recording and measuring of economic aspects of business management: role and framework of annual financial statement

b. Balance-sheet: existing relationship analysis between framework and items. Effects of management decisions on balance-sheet

c. Economic transactions, their recording and impact on balance-sheet

d. Introductory elements to the functioning of accounting methods

e. Measuring and representation of costs and revenues: income statement and its framework

f. Features and functions of financial statement in according with Italian civil law

g. Financial statement analysis

 

C) Cost analysis for managerial purposes

 

a.  The nature of managerial accounting

b.  Relationship between costs and decisions: cost typologies and cost breakdowns

c.  Cost-activity relationship: variable and fixed costs, break-even analysis and the operating leverage concept

d. Direct, indirect costs and allocation issues. Methods to define product costs

 

D) Short-term decisions among different alternatives

a. Differential Cost and revenues

b. Cost structures for different managerial issues

c.  Typical problems faced in decision procedures involving choices among different alternatives: differential cost and revenues analysis

d. Problems in alternative assessment: main steps in the analysis framework

e. Estimate of future and sunk costs 

 

E) Long-term decisions: subsequent steps in assessment analysis

a. The concept of investment and the various different typologies of possible investment

b. Future value and present value: elements in financial mathematics for corporate analysis

c. Net present value (NPV)

d. Phases of assessment process

e. Needed elements in order to make an analysis of an investment regarding: economic yield, economic life, relevant cash-flows

f. Common issues in the operating cash-flows calculation

g. Other widespread method adopted in order to assess investment alternatives:

 Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Payback period, Rate of return based on accounting data

h. assessment evaluation in common business practice

 

Readings/Bibliography

R.N. Anthony, D.F. Hawkins, D.M. Macrì, K.A. Merchant,  Analisi economiche per le decisioni e la comunicazione dellla performance (14th edition), McGraw-Hill, Milan 2016. (The whole volume except Chapter 10)

ISBN 978-88-386-6895-1

R.N. Anthony, D.F. Hawkins, D.M. Macrì, K.A. Merchant, Sistemi di controllo:  analisi economiche per le decisioni aziendali (14th edition), McGraw-Hill, Milan 2016. (The whole volume except Chapters 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19).

ISBN 978-88-386-6892-0

Teaching methods

Front-line lessons with theoretical explanations and written exercises. Analysis of business cases.

Assessment methods

The exam is a written test at the end of the course (not oral integration is allowed). The test may be consist in several typololgies of exercises (merely numerical exercises, numerical exercises with possible open-answer theorical question, multiple choice).

Teaching tools

Students' e-learing platform https://iol.unibo.it/

Links to further information

https://elearning-cds.unibo.it

Office hours

See the website of Silvia Gardini

SDGs

Quality education Decent work and economic growth Industry, innovation and infrastructure

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.