Summer University Course

Prerequisites

Management Accounting

Course Description

The syllabus for Performance Management, builds on sound understanding of Management Accounting and seeks to examine participants’ understanding of how to manage the performance of a business. The course introduces more specialized costing and other management accounting topic. 

Topics

• Advanced cost accounting techniques
  • Activity based costing, Life cycle costing, Target Costing, Throughput Accounting, Environmental Costing
• Decision making techniques
  • Pricing decisions, dealing with risk and uncertainty
• Budgeting and control
  • Standard costing and basic variances, Material mix and yield variances, Sales mix and quantity variances, Planning and operational variances, Performance analysis based on standard costing
• Performance analysis
  • Performance analysis in the private sector, Financial Performance Analysis, Non-financial performance measures, Divisional performance measures, Transfer pricing

Learning Outcomes

Upon the successful completion of the course students will be able to:

• effectively implement advanced cost accounting and cost management techniques in business various decisions;
• identify and describe different pricing strategies and find the most suitable pricing approach that can be successfully applied in different business scenarios (e.g. market-entry, differentiation, cost leadership etc.);
• appreciate business risk and uncertainty involved in decision-making and implement techniques that can manage those risks;
• successfully coordinate and manage the budgeting process within the organization and fit budget into the overall control cycle of the company;
• apply standard costing in setting targets and measuring operational performance of organizations with a special emphasis on advanced variances (e.g. mix and yield variances, planning and operational variances);
• understand the controlling and performance management problems of decentralized organizations and apply the appropriate performance measures;
• understand the role of transfer pricing systems in the performance management of decentralized organizations and select the most appropriate transfer pricing technique that resolves the conflict between decision-making and performance evaluation objectives;
• evaluate the financial and non-financial performance of for-profit and not-for profit organizations.

Assessment

Students planning to obtain ECTS credits for the course will write an in-class examination. Grading will be based on the written examination (80%) and contribution to class work (20%). 

Reading Materials

Course notes distributed on the sessions.

Judit Fortvingler is an assistant professor at the Department of Finance and Accounting. Member and qualified tutor of the Hungarian Chamber of Auditors. She obtained DipIFR (Diploma in International Financial Reporting) qualification. She has been teaching both financial accounting, management accounting, and auditing for 13 years, in different programs accredited by British or Hungarian institutions. She has helped managers understand their businesses from accounting point of view. 

László Szívós is an assistant professor at the Department of Finance and Accounting. Fellow member of ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), with a REFA international controlling certificate. Within the framework of ACCA, he has been preparing auditors for financial accounting and performance management examinations in English in several countries in Europe. He has actively participated in the development of corporate controlling systems and management information systems as a consultant for several clients in several industries.

Zoltán Büdy is a lecturer at the Department of Finance and Accounting. Mr. Büdy has gathered extended industry experience for over 30 years in the public and private sectors. He assumed managerial responsibilities in financial reporting and internal audit. His expertise includes IFRS, US GAAP, corporate risk management and internal controls. Mr. Büdy is a fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).