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ACC41000

Academic Year 2025/2026

Management Accounting (Mod) (ACC41000)

Subject:
Accountancy
College:
Business
School:
Business
Level:
4 (Masters)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Jack Massey
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
Blended
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

Management accounting involves the preparation and use of information for internal management purposes. It guides management decision-making. In addition, through appropriate measures and performance management processes, it can drive behaviour that improves an organisation’s ability to implement its strategy. These purposes are quite different from those of financial accounting and reporting.

The first part of the module (topics 1 – 5) lays out foundations, key concepts, and terminology, particularly in relation to ‘cost’. It highlights how costs appropriate for one purpose may be completely inappropriate for a different purpose. The challenge of indirect costs (not directly traceable to a product or service) is examined, alongside pros and cons of related accounting systems.

Topics 6 and 7 focus on decision-making, including Cost Volume Profit Analysis and the correct financial information for a range of common decisions such as discontinuing a product, outsourcing and pricing. Topic 8 addresses financial planning through budgets.

Finally, topics 9 to 12 focus on decentralisation, including divisional performance measurement, transfer pricing, and management accounting tools that improve an organisation’s ability to implement strategy (including Sustainability focussed strategies).

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

On completing this module, you should:
- have mastered management accounting concepts and tools that support the successful implementation of strategy;
- be able to develop management accounting information that motivate the right organisational behaviours;
- be able to develop the correct management accounting information for different types of decision-making;
- be able to design and modify management accounting systems to support better decision making, and planning and control.

Indicative Module Content:

- Management accounting and performance management
- Cost concepts and behaviour
- Costing systems
- Support cost allocation and Activity-Based Costing
- Relevant costs and decision-making
- Cost-volume-profit analysis, and operating leverage
- Decision making (product discontinuation, sales prioritisation, minimum quotes, outsourcing, pricing)
- Budgetary planning and control
- Decentralisation and evaluation of investment centres
- Transfer pricing
- Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Maps
- Sustainability strategies and application of management accounting tools

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

24
Autonomous Student Learning

77
Lectures

24
Total

125

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Textbook and article readings.
Lectures.
Problem material, preparation and class discussion.
Case studies, preparation and class discussion.

You may use AI for background research on questions/exercises but should not ‘cut and paste’ questions into AI to source solutions.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Exam (In-person): Closed book exam after the conclusion of the module End of trimester
Duration:
2 hr(s)
 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
75
 No
Quizzes/Short Exercises: Preparation of assigned cases/exercises via Brightspace quiz submissions due on 22 Jan, 10 Feb and 11 Feb, plus participation in class.

 Week 1, Week 4 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
25
 No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Summer No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Online automated feedback

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback will be given in a timely manner. For exercises/assignments submitted via Brightspace quizzes, a solution and mark will be delivered the day after the submission deadline. Qualitative aspects of the exercises will be discussed in class with further opportunity for questions and feedback.

The required textbook is:

JIAMBALVO, James (2020). Managerial Accounting, 7th edition, EMEA edition (available also as an ebook), John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
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