Management Accounting

Course overview:

This course gives you practical, hands-on skills in management accounting, focusing on real challenges faced by international businesses. You’ll learn how to use essential tools like cost analysis, budgeting, and performance measurement to make informed decisions in a global market. Through real-world case studies, you’ll discover how to assess company performance, allocate costs, and analyze financial data to understand profitability and efficiency across different economic environments. By the end of the course, you will be able to clearly communicate complex accounting insights, delivering meaningful value in an international business context.

Topics covered:

• Relevant costs and benefits for decision making
• Cost-volume-profit analysis
• Full costing
• Costing and cost management in a competitive environment
• Budgeting
• Accounting for control
• Making capital investment decisions
• Managing risk
• Strategic management accounting: performance evaluation and pricing in a competitive environment
• Measuring divisional performance
• Managing working capital

Learning outcomes:

• to describe key management accounting concepts and techniques, such as cost-volume-profit analysis, budgeting, and variance analysis;
• to explain how different management accounting tools, such as activity-based costing and standard costing, are used to make informed business decisions in global markets;
• to apply cost allocation methods and financial models to real-world international business case studies;
• to analyze financial statements and cost structures of international firms to assess profitability, operational efficiency, and cost behavior in different economic environments;
• to evaluate the effectiveness of different management accounting techniques (e.g., transfer pricing, budgeting, and performance measurement) in improving decision-making for international business strategy;
• to effectively communicate complex management accounting analyses, including financial performance reports, cost allocation methods, and budgeting strategies, to both financial and non-financial stakeholders in a multinational business environment.

Teaching and Pedagogical methods: Lectures, guest lectures, quizzes and discussions, tasks and exercises. Students have the responsibility to come well prepared to class and participate actively in classroom discussions. Students should be prepared to discuss suggested assignment solutions in class.

Mandatory Activities: Class attendance is mandatory. Students are expected to be present at every class including visiting speakers. Permission for absence for personal reasons may be granted. A student missing 20% of the course lectures (including external speakers) will fail the course. The students may establish student groups. The groups can be organised at semester start by students themselves or lecturer (random).

Mandatory attendance applies to all the lectures. However, during the first 3 lectures we can grant a grace period such that students can decide the major they want to pursue. In such a case students must send a request to the course responsible within the first week after the semester starts.

The course is given on campus and requires students to be physically present in the class. Digital sessions can take place at the discretion of the course responsible. The lectures will not be recorded.