22800 Understanding Accounting and Financial Reports

Notes

MBA students (including C11008 Graduate Certificate and C06009 Graduate Diploma) who intend to complete the MBA with Professional Accounting specialisation to meet CPA Australia and ICAA accreditation must substitute 22747 Accounting for Managerial Decisions in place of 22800 Understanding Accounting and Financial Reports via an e-Request.

Professional Accounting specialisation in the MBA includes the Professional Accounting (MAJ08988) major and Professional Accounting Extension (SMJ10161) sub-major.

Description

This subject prepares students to be able to read and analyse accounting reports enabling the evaluation of historical business operations as well as facilitating the planning of a future business activity. Accounting information provides information for decision support to a diverse range of stakeholders, both inside the organisation (being management and board) and external (comprising shareholders, finance providers, government, customers, unions etc).

An understanding of accounting and the many information products generated by the accounting system is a fundamental requirement for business professionals as:

• Accounting is the language of business and provides the financial measurement processes used in all forms of business, including for-profit, government and the not-for-profit sector.
• Accounting processes are governed by a formal set of rules and regulations in the form of standards as well as legislative pronouncements that underpin the preparation and presentation of financial reports.
• Knowledge of accounting enables the extraction and analysis of the information content of financial reports and provides the tools for the measurement and analysis of the operating, investing and financing activities of the business
• Accounting information provides the foundation for analytical tools used to predict the future via the preparation of forecasts and budgets of future business activity.