89945 - Financial Reporting and Analysis

Learning outcomes

The course focuses on the basic concepts of financial accounting, which involves the preparation of financial statements. Students will be able to analyze and interpret three key financial statements ( the Income Statement, the Balance Sheet and the Cash Flow Statement) and other financial information like ratios and key performance indicators used by managers and investors in their decision making process. In addition, students will be able to detect differences in annual reports due to national and international accounting standards to better compare company financial performance

Course contents

The course will focus on the following topics:

1) Financial Accounting vs Managerial Accounting

2) Basic accounting concepts (e.g. accrual accounting, going concern, materiality)

3) Financial Statements: The Balance Sheet

4) Common Size analysis and comparative analysis of company balance sheets; ratios of liquidity and solvency

5) Financial Statements: The Income Statement

6) Analysis of the income statetement; margins and profitability ratios

7) Financial Statements: The Cash Flow Statement

8) Reporting and Disclosure: IAS/IFRS (IAS framework and some selected standards, e.g. IAS 16, IAS 36 )

9) Disclosure of Non-financial information (environmental, social and governance aspects) in light of EU Directive 2014/95/UE

Readings/Bibliography

Selected chapters of the following book that will be listed by the professor during the first day of class and reported in the online teaching material :

"Accounting : what the numbers mean" by David H. Marshall, Wayne W. McManus, Daniel F. Viele - 10. ed, New York : McGraw-Hill, 2014

And

Teaching material (ppt slides and pdf files) distributed by the teacher and downloadable from the Unibo repository:VIRTUALE

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures, online classes, case studies, ongoing tests and problem sheets.

When applicable, students will have the possibility to interact with company managers and visiting professor.

The professor will give lectures in presence and/or online. The lessons will take place in hybrid mode (both in presence and online, through the Microsoft Teams application) if the current health situation related to covid does not change and unless otherwise indicated by the university bodies.

The lessons will be supported by power point slides.

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

Assessment methods

Final exam is a written test.

Either in presence or online, the written exam is always 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.

The online exam will take place through eol.unibo.it

No files can be uploaded. Students have to write their answers on the online platform. The exam has to a time limit.

Students are required to use Microsoft Teams (better if you download the app) on a device with good internet connection. We are talking about a university exam, in which it is mandatory to use the webcam. Students will have to show a valid ID/passport. No other people are allowed to be present in the room and there must be no books, notebooks or notes on the desk.

Students have to enrol to the exam through Almaesami (this is compulsory). One day before the exam students will receive the link for the room on Microsoft Teams.

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

Teaching tools

https://virtuale.unibo.it

Office hours

See the website of Selena Aureli