Accounting & Financial Reporting (Course Code: 618)

Overview:

This course is the first part of 'Accounting & Financial Management' course.
By taking this short course you will be able to understand how accounting and financial systems work, be introduced to financial statements and how to interpret them, compare cost accounting to activity based accounting, and prepare financial budgets.

This is an essential course for non-accounting professionals involved in designing business systems involving integration with accounting systems.

This short course also teaches sound skills in accounting and financial management without having to commit to a 3-year business degree. At the end of the course you will have gained substantial knowledge in accounting empowering you with the confidence to not only communicate more effectively with your commercial stakeholders, but also give you the ability to prepare effective business proposals.

Areas covered include:

• Accounting terms and the accounting process
• Preparation and interpretation of financial statements – profit/loss statements, balance sheet statements, and cash flow forecasts
• Analysis and evaluation of financial statements
• Cash versus Profit
• ‘Cost Accounting’ versus ‘Activity Based Costing’
• Budgeting and the Planning Process

Learning Method:

The course will be presented in lecture/tutorial sessions using a combination of lectures and practical exercises. Each student will be provided with a full set of course notes, will have access to accounting tools and the Internet, and will have the opportunity to work in our state-of-the-art computer labs during class and outside class time.

Who will benefit from this course?

This course is open to those who have either an interest in learning about accounting, need to understand accounting processes for upcoming projects, or for those seeking to advance their careers into more senior managerial positions.

In particular, we highly recommend this course for:

• Business Analysts
• Project Managers
• System Engineers
• Software Architects

Pre-requisites:

There are no pre-requisites for this course.

What can you expect to gain from this course?

The objective of this course is to help participants gain greater knowledge and experience in how accounting processes work, how to prepare and analyse financial statements, and how to evaluate the financial performance of an organisation, or a project.

You will also learn about cost accounting, how to prepare the financial component of a business or project proposal, and how to prepare budgets and business plans.

At the completion of this course participants will have gained the necessary knowledge and hands-on experience in the core aspects of accounting and financial management to be able to confidently understand and contribute to the design and development of projects that have financial components. You will also be able to prepare financial proposals, prepare budgets, business plans, and interpret and evaluate business proposals.

You will not only learn all the theory behind accounting and financial management techniques, but also gain hands-on experience through applying what you have learned in the practical exercises and case studies.

Course Content: