98565 - Business Administration and Accounting

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course, students are able to use basic accounting skills related to the purposes, object and method of accounting as the fulcrum of the entire corporate information system, also with reference to current legislation on the matter. Students are also able to identify the distinctive characteristics of different types of organisations, such as for-profit and not-for-profit organisations, and discuss their accountability.

Course contents

The course is designed to prepare tomorrow’s managers providing them with a broad overview of management and accounting, giving them the necessary tools to deal effectively with these subjects in the international arena. The course exposes you to the theories and principles that are important for successfully managing organizations. Thus, the course focuses on management, financial, managerial, social and environmental accounting. By the end of the course students will understand and develop skills on: double-entry bookkeeping rules; prepare and understand financial statements (income statements, balance sheets, and statements of cash flows); understand the disclosure of non-financial information; and use managerial accounting techniques for decision making.

Upon completion of this course, students will understand basic theories and insights drawn from the field of management and will be able to relate that knowledge to organizational settings including but not limited to the following: 1. How to develop bookkeeping and understand financial statements 2. Describe basic managerial functions (planning, leading, organizing & controlling). 3. Understand the importance of ethical decision-making and social responsibility as well as develop non-financial information disclosure 4. Develop management accounting.

 

The course is divided into two parts:

Part 1 (60 hours)

Professor Federica Farneti will teach during September, October and November.

The course focuses on (i) providing knowledge on management and accounting. Students learn to manage the bookkeeping process, read and develop financial statements: they understand that financial statements are the product of financial accounting processes. They represent the means of communicating financial information about an organization to stakeholders who want to make decisions and informed judgments about the entity's financial position; (ii) understanding essential managerial functions, which are related to planning, leading, organizing & controlling; (iii) developing non-financial disclosure, studying Directive 95/2014 (and related updates such as the proposal issued during April 2021) and understanding corporate social responsibility; integrating skills and knowledge on sustainability reports, students will examine and use the standards (guidelines) for sustainability reporting and its measures for guiding organizations towards a more sustainable future, understanding their economic, environmental, and social impacts (as well as their related consequences). Related to (i) point exercises will be developed, as well as a game activity related to point (iii) and multiple choices on point (ii).

Week 1-2: Introduction, syllabus, schedule, and exam. What are management and accounting, what is financial accounting, what is social and environmental Accounting and what is managerial Accounting. Financial statements and accounting concepts and principles (Chapter 1-2 Marshall et al, 2020).

Week 3-5: The bookkeeping process, transaction analysis, financial statements (Chapter 4 Marshall et al, 2020). Social and Environmental Accounting.

Week 6-8: The role of management within organizations and society (Chapter 1 Kinicki and Breaux Soignet, 2022). Relevant ethical and social issues and understand the complexity of those issues (Chapter 3 Kinicki and Breaux Soignet, 2022). The importance of planning and strategic management for identifying a business problem, developing alternative solutions and criteria for evaluating those alternatives, and assessing the outcomes (Chapters 5 Kinicki and Breaux Soignet, 2022); The importance of organizational culture, structure, and design (Chapter 8 Kinicki and Breaux Soignet, 2022); Leadership (Chapters 14); The key feature of controlling (Chapter 16).

 

Part 2 (30 hours)

Professor Gian Filippo Galletti will teach during October, November and December.

The course focuses on (i) developing exercises on bookkeeping and financial statements (exercises provided by the Professor), students learn the bookkeeping process in practice; (ii) introducing aspects related to managerial accounting; (iii) the students understand the major differences between financial accounting and managerial accounting; (iv) describing the difference between variable and fixed cost behavior patterns; student will study the different types of costs; (v) describing the meaning and significance of breakeven point; calculation of breakeven point; (vi) describing how cost management plays a strategic role in the organization’s value chain; (vii) the students understand the difference between direct and indirect costs; (vii) studying Activity based costing (ABC); (viii) introducing the budgeting process

Managerial accounting (Chapter 12-15 Marshall et al, 2020)

Readings/Bibliography

Marshall, McManus and Viele, (2019), Accounting. What the numbers mean, 12th Edition, McGraw-Hill International Edition. Few chapters.

Kinicki, A., Breaux Soignet, D., (2022), Management. A practical introduction, 10^th Edition, McGraw-Hill International Edition. Few chapters.

The Directive 95/2014: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32014L0095&from=EN

The proposal for CSR: EU (2021). Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Directive 2013/34/EU, Directive 2004/109/EC, Directive 2006/43/EC and Regulation (EU) No 537/2014, as regards corporate sustainability reporting, COM/2021/189 final: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52021PC0189

Further reading, articles and documents can be provided during the course.

Teaching methods

The pedagogical approach is based on a combination of lectures (presentations and related explanations), interactive classes, seminars, exercises, and discussion questions. International guests will give specific seminars. Accounting games will be used.

Assessment methods

A final written examination will be held at the end of each term and will consist of multiple choices questions related to different elements of the course programme, as well as exercises and open questions. A partial exam is also scheduled during October 2022. Students who are not satisfied with their grade can refuse the grade once. Changes to the exam could be needed related to the development of the pandemic.

The assessment of the preparation will be based on the following evaluation judgment scale:

- <18 insufficient

- 18-23: sufficient preparation but relating to a limited/or generic number of the course contents;
- 24-27: satisfactory preparation but with some gaps with respect to the course contents;
- 28-30: very in-depth knowledge of all the course contents;
- 30L: excellent knowledge of the course contents.

Enrolment is required to set the exam. Students must enrol via Almaesami platform: https://almaesami.unibo.it/almaesami/welcome.htm, where rules and deadlines to enrol to each exam are indicated.

The exam is written. The exam involves exercises, multiple choice questions where the correct answer/s can be more than one for each question, and open questions.

Assessment methods may change due to the future Covid19 situation. If the pandemic continues the exam will be written - online, carried out through the EOL and ZOOM platforms, outlined mainly in multiple choices.

Teaching tools

Books

Exercises

E-learning

Case study method

Discussion questions

International Seminar

International articles

Business game, in teams

Some of the teaching material is online on the Virtuale website.

Office hours

See the website of Federica Farneti

See the website of Gian Filippo Galletti