07573 - Management Control

Learning outcomes

This course provides students with knowledge and skills related to management control tools, here defined as the system that guides managers' behavior towards the pursuit of corporate objectives using accounting techniques and performance measurement models. At the end of the course, students will gain the ability to set up and manage a system for detecting and analyzing economic and financial information useful for governing organizations. Students will learn the usage of accounting-based methodologies useful to analyze problems and identify coherent solutions. Finally, students will be able to master the technical-economic vocabulary of the management control function

Course contents

The course deals with the tools and accounting systems used by managers to take effective and efficient decisions, which are based on the monitoring of management activities and financial performance and help managers towards the achievement of business objectives.

The main topics refer to the following:

Managerial activity and management control

Management accounting and cost measurement systems, cost classifications and cost configurations

Measuring the full product cost

The system of cost centers

Activity based costing

Job order costing and Process costing

Standard costs

Variance analysis

Assessing operational risk conditions through cost-volume-results analysis, safety margin and operational leverage

Short term decisions based on costs and revenues of different alternatives

 

Readings/Bibliography

Book: A.M. Arcari (2019) Programmazione e controllo, McGraw Hill Education, III edizione; chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8.

In addition, slides and exercices on https://virtuale.unibo.it

Slides do not substitue the book chapters.

To achive course knowledge and pass the exam, students are invited to carefully study the examples provided by the textbook in the chapters indicated above and to carry out the exercises provided at the end of each chapter

Teaching methods

The professor will give lectures in presence at Rimini Campus.

The lessons will be supported by power point slides.

During class, exercices will require the use of calculator or excel.

Where possible, seminars will be organized with testimonials / managers from the company world

Assessment methods

The final exam is a written exam

The written exam is made by multiple choice questions, open questions and exercises. The exam is designed to assess the knowledge of students and their ability to use the concepts to solve problems.  

Students have to enrol to the exam through Almaesami (this is compulsory).

Students might be organized in shifts on the same day, if their number exceed a certain threshold.

Attending classes in presence or not will not be evalutated by the professor.

Students will pass the exam with a grade of at least 18 out of 30.  The following structure indicates the range of possible grandes:

< 18: insufficient (not passed)

18-23: sufficient

24-27: good

28-30: very good

30 cum laude: excellent

If computer labs are available at the Rimini Campus, the exam will be held in a computer lab

 

Teaching tools

https://virtuale.unibo.it

Office hours

See the website of Selena Aureli