Lectures:
Tuesdays 1.10 pm to 4.00 pm
Napier 208 Lecture Theatre

Thursdays 1.10 pm to 4 pm
Napier 209 Lecture Theatre

1	Identify, measure, record and communicate financial information for the purpose of providing information in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards for economic decisions by users of financial statements.
2	Analyse and interpret financial statement information for decision making purposes.
3	Explain the purpose of, and factors which influence the content of, financial statements.
4	Compare and contrast different business structures and relevant accounting practices.
5	Communicate accounting information in a professional manner.
6	Critically reflect on own learning.

Text Books:
Hoggett, J., Medlin, J., Edwards, L., Chalmers, K., Hellmann, A., Beattie, C., and Maxfield, J. (2015), Financial Accounting, 9th Edition, John Wiley & Sons.

Accounting Manual Practice Sets – Further information will be provided at a later date.

Financial press:
In this course, we may use articles from the financial press to illustrate the concepts discussed and for the research assignment. All major newspapers have a business section and many are currently on the internet. The Australian Financial Review is the most comprehensive financial newspaper in Australia.

Use of the internet:
Accounting Concepts and Methods (M) will make use of various internet sites which are accounting related. Access to the internet can be via the library or various computer pools located within the university.

Many course resources are available on the course website: www.myuni.adelaide.edu.au, including:

• Lecture and tutorial documents;
• Sample mid-semester test with suggested answers; and
• Research Assignment and Manual Practice Set related documents.

In addition, students will be able to purchase access to WileyPLUS, an online resource accompanying the text book. Please note that this is an optional tool and students are not required to purchase the WileyPLUS version of the textbook.

Lectures

Each three hour session will provide students with accounting concepts that underpin all accounting procedures, and give explanations and examples of analysing, recording, and summarising accounting information in formats suitable for users to make economic decisions. The material presented will be expanded and reinforced with in-class questions and problems that can be done individually or in groups during the three hour session. This will be further reinforced with set homework that will be discussed prior to the start of the next topic. There are also self-study questions and problems for which the solutions will be available on MyUni. Students are encouraged to complete these questions in their own time and to check their answers. These will only be discussed if requested by students for clarification of specific issues.

The University expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. This means that you are expected to commit approximately 9 hours for a three-unit course or 13 hours for a four-unit course of private study outside of your regular classes.

Students in this course are expected to attend all lectures throughout the summer semester.

Accounting Concepts and Methods (M) covers the topics outlined below. Topics include: accounting information in its decision making context; accounting systems and the accounting cycle; external financial reports; accounting for assets; different organisational structures; and financial statement analysis.

The schedule of lecture topics for the course is as follows:

WEEK BEGINNING	TOPIC	READING - TEXT
Jan 5	Accounting and decision making, regulatory framework for external reports and forms of organisation and the conceptual framework.	Chapter 1, pp. 2 – 15; Chapter 2, pp. 34 – 35, 37 - 38 and 44 - 47; Chapter 8, pp. 343 – 347; Chapter 9, pp. 378 – 382; Chapter 10, pp. 430 – 436 and 438 - 448; and Chapter 17, pp. 717 – 722.
Jan 7	Statement of Financial Position and introduction to financial statement analysis.	Chapter 2, pp. 38 – 40; Chapter 10, pp. 449 – 451 and 452 - 453; Chapter 17, pp. 725 – 727; and Chapter 19, pp. 830 - 835, 840 - 841 and 843 - 844.
Jan 12	Measurement of profit, Statement of Comprehensive Income and Statement of Cash Flows and analysis and interpretation of the two statements.	Chapter 10, pp. 451 – 457; Chapter 17, pp. 723 – 725; Chapter 18, pp. 751 – 774 and 792 - 794, and Chapter 19, pp. 836 - 840, 842 - 843, and 844 - 846.
Jan 14	Recording financial transactions.	Chapter 2, pp. 48 – 52, Chapter 3, and Appendix Chapter 3, pp. 108-110.
Jan 19	Adjusting entries and the accounting cycle.	Chapter 4 and Chapter 5
Jan 21	Accounting for retailing.	Chapter 6
Jan 26	Manual and computerised accounting systems.	Chapter 7
Jan 28	Cash management and control.	Chapter 11
Feb 2	Accounting for receivables and Accounting for inventory.	Chapter 12 and Chapter 13
Feb 4	Accounting for non-current assets.	Chapter 14, pp. 601 - 621 and Chapter 15, pp 638-648 and pp.653-659.
Feb 9	Accounting for partnerships and companies.	Chapter 8, pp. 344 - 359 and Chapter 9, pp. 378 – 382, and 385 – 408.
Feb 11	Overview and summary
Feb 15 to Feb 19	Final Examination Period

Assessment	Due Date and time	Weighting	Related Learning Outcome
Research Project Part 1 Part 2   Summative	Friday January 15, 5 pm Friday February 12, 5 pm	7 % 8 %	1, 2, 12 and 15.
Test Summative	Held in lecture time. Thursday January 28	15 %	1,2,3,4,5,6,7,and 8
Practice Set:   Formative and Summative	Friday February 19, 5 pm	10 %	6,7,8,9,10
Final Examination 3 hours Summative	To be confirmed	60%	All
Total		100%

To gain a pass for this course, a mark of at least 50% must be obtained on the final examination as well as a total of at least 50% overall result.
Students not achieving the minimum final examination mark will be awarded no more than 49 for the course.

The assessment components are as follows:

Research Assignment: 15%

The research assignment consists of two parts and forms the basis of the overall research component of the Masters degree. The focus of the research assignment is financial statement analysis. An introduction to the research project will be given in the first lecture. Various elements of financial statement analysis will be included in both lectures and set questions and problems. Additional essential reading material will be available on MyUni.

The research project requires students to demonstrate research and analysis skills in their assignments.

The first part of the research assignment is an individual assignment; the second part is conducted as a group assignment. All documents must be submitted via Turnitin.

For more detail about the research project, please refer to material provided to you throughout the semester.

Test: 15%

A one and half hour class test will be held during Topic 8 (Thursday, January 28). The test will be held in lecture time. It will cover Topics 1 to 5. A sample test with suggested answers will be available on MyUni.

As part of the test, students must explain underlying accounting concepts and apply these concepts to practical problems. Part of the test includes a short answer question. This must be answered using the short answer format as specified in the Business School 'Communication Skills Guide' guidelines:

https://business.adelaide.edu.au/documents/CSG_business_Web_final.pdf

During the lecture on Topic 2 guidelines on answering short answer questions will be discussed. 

Practice Set: 10%

The Practice Set requires students to record transactions for a period of one month for a fictitious company, and prepare financial statements at the end of the month. It involves the manual recording of the transactions. This assignment will be required to be completed online.

Final Exam: 60%
There will be a three (3) hour examination. The examination covers all of the topics studied in the course. A sample examination and the suggested answers will be available on MyUni. Please note that a minimum mark of 50% for the examination needs to be obtained in addition to an overall mark of 50% to gain a pass for this course.

Notes on Assessment

In this course, students’ continuing assessment will be assessed using specific guidelines and marking criteria determined by the lecturers-in-charge. The marking criteria will be discussed prior to the commencement of marking. Before the assessment is returned to students, a sample of students' assessment will be reviewed to determine if moderation is needed.

Legible hand-writing and the quality of English expression are considered to be integral parts of the assessment process. Marks may be deducted in the mid-semester test and the final examination because of poor hand-writing.

Students in this course are not permitted to take a DICTIONARY (English or English-Foreign) into the examination. In this course, the use of a calculator that is incapable of storing text is permitted in the examination.

Assignment Guidelines including Referencing Details

A copy of the Postgraduate Programs: Communication Skills Guide will have been given to you at the beginning of your program. This guide will assist you structure your assignments. A copy of the guide can also be downloaded from:
http://business.adelaide.edu.au/documents/CSG_business_Web_final.pdf

This publication also provides guidelines on a range of other important communication skills including writing essays and management reports, making oral presentations etc.

In preparing any written piece of assessment for your postgraduate studies, it is important to draw on the relevant ‘literature’ to support critical analysis. Also essential is to reference the literature used. Correct referencing is important because it identifies the source of the ideas and arguments that you present, and sometimes the source of the actual words you use, and helps to avoid the problem of plagiarism. (Further information on plagiarism is provided later in this course outline.)
The Harvard system is widely used in the Business School. Guidelines for the use of this style of referencing can be found in the Communication Skills Guide.

Further assistance with referencing is available from the Faculty’s Learning Support Advisors. The contact details are provided on page 6 of the Communication Skills Guide.

Presentation of Assignments

Please retain a copy of all assignments submitted.

All components of the research assignment need to be submitted via Turnitin.

Lecturers can refuse to accept assignments, which do not have a signed acknowledgement of the University’s policy on plagiarism (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/230).

Students must not submit work for an assignment that has previously been submitted for this course or any other course without prior approval from the lecturer-in-charge.

Late Assignment Submission

Students are expected to submit their work by the due date to maintain a fair and equitable system. Extensions will generally only be given for medical or other serious reasons.

All requests for extensions must be emailed to the lecturers-in-charge of the course a minimum of 5 days before the due date. Each request will be assessed on its merits. A late assignment (without prior arrangement) will be penalised by 20% of the total assignment mark for each day that it is late.

Return of Assignments

Markers aim to mark and return assignments to students within two (2) weeks of the due date with written feedback. Marked research assignments will be returned to students via MyUni.