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B5734 - PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE

Academic Year 2026/2027

                
                        Docente:
                        Federica Farneti
                    
                        Credits:
                        6
                    
                        SSD:
                        ECON-06/A
                    
                        Language:
                        English
                    
                        Moduli:
                        
                            Federica Farneti
                            (Modulo 1)
                        
                            Federica Farneti
                            (Modulo 2)
                        
                        Teaching Mode:
                        
                                    In-person learning (entirely or partially) (Modulo 1); 
                                
                                    In-person learning (entirely or partially) (Modulo 2)
                                
                            Campus:
                            Bologna
                        
                            Corso:
                            Second cycle degree programme (LM) in
                            Law, Economics and Governance (cod. 6829)

                                        Course Timetable
                                    
from Sep 14, 2026 to Sep 28, 2026

                                        Course Timetable
                                    
from Oct 01, 2026 to Oct 19, 2026

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will: • understand the different documents part of a full financial disclosure and the related key information they provide; • use the main figures and information that can be drawn from a company’s annual report, in order to understand and analyse company's performance, and measure company’s market value; • be able to read and understand a report estimating the value of a company, knowing how to identify its most significant and characterising items, as well as its assumptions and possible criticalities.

Course contents

The Principles of Accounting and Finance course provides students with an understanding of accounting and highlights its usefulness for both internal management and external stakeholders. It offers a comprehensive overview of the role of accounting within an organization and its relationship with corporate strategies.

The course focuses on financial accounting, covering the preparation, analysis (through ratio analysis), and interpretation of financial statements, emphasizing their role in reporting the economic and financial performance of a company's business activities.

The course also aims to demonstrate that value creation extends beyond a company's economic performance to include its social and environmental impact, with particular reference to corporate sustainability and business ethics.

Finally, the course introduces the fundamental principles of business valuation.

Readings/Bibliography

Marshall, McManus and Viele, (2022), Accounting. What the numbers mean, 13th Edition, McGraw-Hill International Edition. Few chapters.

Further material will be comunicated during classes

Teaching methods

The pedagogical approach is based on a combination of lectures (presentations and related explanations), interactive classes, e learning, seminars, exercises, discussion questions and accounting game. National and international guests might give specific seminars.

Assessment methods

A final written examination will be held and will consist of multiple choices questions related to different elements of the course programme, as well as exercises and open questions. Students who are not satisfied with their grade can refuse the grade only once.

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 in presence. The exam involves exercises, multiple choice questions where the correct answer/s can be more than one for each question, discussion questions and open questions. During the exam the EOL platform can be used.