Advanced Diploma in Cost and Management Accounting

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1:

• Evaluate and apply costing methods and their results.
• Explain and interpret the role of Material Requirements Planning and Enterprise Resource Planning systems.
• Understand and apply the principles of environmental costing and the purposes of forecasts, plans, and budgets.
• Prepare information to support project appraisal, forecasts of financial results, and budgets based on those forecasts.
• Evaluate project proposals and analyze the information to assess the impact on decisions of variables with uncertain values.
• Identify the working capital position of an enterprise, short-term funding, and investment opportunities and areas for improvement.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 2:

• Explain the accounting rules for current and deferred taxation and the principles that underlie the use of budgets in control.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 3:

• Prepare full consolidated statements of a single company and the financial position and comprehensive income for a simple group.
• Research and apply the principles of accounting for capital schemes and foreign exchange rate changes.
• Understand and discuss accounting principles and their relevance to accounting issues of contemporary interest.
• Research and apply ratio analysis from financial statements and supporting information.
• Evaluate performance and position.
• Understand and discuss contemporary developments in financial and non-financial reporting.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 4:

• Evaluate and apply long-term capital investment decisions and capital budgeting techniques.
• Evaluate the leasing decision and alternative sources of finance.
• Identify and use the appropriate sources of long-term corporate capital.
• Evaluate and understand the dividend policy of a company and recommendations regarding the optimum pay-out and retention ratios.
• Calculate and interpret a company or a division's performance using ratio analysis.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 5:

• Discuss and apply concepts of cost and revenue relevant to pricing and product decisions.
• Analyze short-term pricing, pricing strategies, and product decisions.
• Evaluate and apply the techniques for analyzing and managing costs for a competitive advantage.
• Understand and apply the principles that underlie the use of budgets in control.
• Evaluate performance using budgets, alternative approaches, and sensitivity to variable factors.
• Discuss the broader managerial issues arising from the use of budgets in control.
• Evaluate and understand the purpose of responsibility centers in devising organizational structure and management.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 6:

• Formulate the organization's mission, goals, aims, and critical success factors.
• Identify and evaluate long and short-term objectives for the organization and possible conflict between objectives.
• Differentiate between formal and less formal approaches to strategy formulation.
• Outline the process of strategy formulation.
• Explain the importance of competitive factors in reviewing the position of the organization.
• Explain the international influences on the organization and preparing Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) and Political, Economic, Social and Technological (PEST) analysis.
• Identify and evaluate international factors affecting the marketplace e.g. Porter's 5 forces model.
• Prepare reports to management on organizational resources.
• Benchmark performance against best practice organizations.
• Explain value chain analysis and its implications for the organization.
• Explain the problems of strategic performance, the use of profit and cash measures.
• Explain non-financial measures and the interaction with financial measures.
• Explain multidimensional models of performance including the balanced scorecard.
• Explain strategic business performance: transfer pricing and reward systems.
• Explain the consequences of short and long-term planning concerning research and development, changing technology, outsourcing, and capital investment.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 7:

• Define the research and explain the research process.
• Analyze various research approaches and understand the types of research methods that are understood.
• Identify the research problem in an Accounting discipline.
• Develop a research design in terms of the type of research that will be conducted.
• Apply the format of the research report in terms of standard norms and requirements.
• State the research objectives in the research report.
• State the methodology used to collect information in the report.
• State the research findings and recommendations in the report.

Integrated Assessment:

• The institutional assessment policy requires four assessments per year for year courses and two assessments for semester modules.
• Formative assessment has a minimum of two assessments per course per semester where the assessment can either be two written tests or one written test and an assignment which contributes to the final examination mark.
• Summative assessment takes the form of a three-hour examination paper at the end of the semester or year, and this contributes to the final examination.