Introductory description

This module is the first of two finance modules. It aims to provide a basic understanding of financial management of a business, developing on that to give students the ability to analyse critically the financial data produced by a business, and relate this to the underlying operations of the business.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

-Control of business resources.
-Financial reports.

• the balance sheet.
• assessment and reporting of profit.
• cash flow statements.
  -Structured approach to ratio analysis and its interpretation
  -Cash flow - its control and implications to the business.
  -Profit/volume relationships and the calculation and interpretation of performance indicators, including contribution
  Costing and techniques to ascertain, recover and control costs.
  Budgetary control systems and techniques.
  Capital expenditure evaluation and financial evaluation of projects including net present value.
  Evaluation of different sources of finance available to business

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• 1. Interpret the basic business accounting statements
• 2. Differentiate between the different methods of measuring financial performance within a business
• 3. Critically analyse financial data to generate further information
• 4. Provide a critical interpretation of the relationship between the operational performance of a business and the financial measures of the business
• 5. Critically appraise the financing decisions made by business

Indicative reading list

Atrill, P, and McLaney, E., (2017) Accounting and Finance for Non-Specialists, Tenth Edition Harlow, England: Pearson.
Bamber, M., and Parry, S., (2018) Accounting and Finance for Managers, Second edition London: KoganPage.
Dyson, J.R.,(2010) Accounting for Non-Accounting Students, Eighth edition, Harlow, England: FT Prentice Hall.
McKenzie, W, (2010) FT Guide to Using and Interpreting Company Accounts, Harlow, England: FT Prentice Hall.

Subject specific skills

Financial accounts analysis, basic accounting, costing, budgeting, project financial appraisal

Transferable skills

Teamwork, communication, numeracy, negotiation