Summer University Course

The course will provide a complete overview of insights that can be gained from accounting information. The course is intended to review the management accounting concepts and to teach students variety of techniques of using accounting information for key managerial task, i.e. planning, decision making and controlling.

Learning outcomes

• understand the link between accounting information and managerial decisions 
• evaluate the management’s information needs from a controlling point of view, applying budgeting, costing, variance analysis and performance evaluation
• apply relevant techniques of using financial information for planning, decision making, and controlling
• use costing techniques for different purposes in real life business situations.

Topics - Case-based focus

• Cost Terms and Classifications: essentials for complex, real-life tasks
  • types of businesses, produce and period costs, variable and fixed costs, indirect costs and direct costs
• Variable vs. Absorption Costing:
  • variable costing and breakeven analysis
  • target profit and margin of safety calculations
  • determining the absorption cost of products
  • usefulness and limitations of absorption costing
• Activity-Based Costing:
  • principles and usefulness of ABC
  • comparison with the traditional methods
  • practical, real life cases for ABC
• Relevant Financial Information for Decision Making:
  • relevant and irrelevant costs, quantifying the relevant cost of decisions, giving advice based on relevant costing 
• Short term decision-making, Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis:
  • discontinuation decision, outsourcing decision, one-off contracts, scarce resources from the manager’s point of view
• Budgeting Process:
  • budgets and their context
  • types of budgets with special emphasis on financial budgets
  • static and flexible budgets, standard setting
  • limitations of budgeting
• Standard Costing, Variance analysis
  • calculation of (sub)variances and illustration of the relationships between variances
  • based on the results of the variance analysis, corrective actions, feedback taking the management’s point of view
• Performance appraisal:
  • responsibility accounting
  • performance management

Assessment

Students planning to obtain ECTS credits for the course will write a 60-minute in-class examination. Grading is based on the examination (80%) and contribution to class work (20%).

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. 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.