Accounting (ACCT) 355
Cost Analysis (Revision 6)

>> Overview | Outline | Evaluation | Course Materials | Course Fees | Course Availability

Overview

This course will take students through the details of cost behaviour, product costing, and budgeting.

Lesson 1 sets the context for the rest of the course. It introduces cost terms and discusses the accountant's role in an organization. Lesson 2 discusses cost-volume-profit relationships and the estimation of cost functions. Lesson 3 introduces cost systems and discusses job-costing systems and process costing. Specific examples are provided from the service, merchandising, and manufacturing sectors.

Lesson 4 introduces the concept of responsibility accounting and the master budget. Lesson 5 expands coverage of budgeting for operations to the flexible budget and variance analysis for performance appraisal. Lesson 6 introduces capital budgeting, which completes coverage of the budgeting cycle.

Lesson 7 presents a discussion of alternative inventory costing methods—absorption and variable costing. Lesson 8 returns to product costing with further coverage of cost allocation of overhead costs. Lesson 9 develops process costing systems and the treatment of spoilage and waste. Lesson 10 concludes the course with a discussion of hybrid costing systems, such as operation costing and backflush costing.

Outline

• Lesson 1 Accounting, Business, and Competitiveness
• Lesson 2 Cost Accounting and Cost Behaviour
• Lesson 3 Product Costing
• Lesson 4 Responsibility Accounting and the Master Budget
• Lesson 5 Flexible Budget and Variance Analysis
• Lesson 6 Capital Budgeting
• Lesson 7 Income Effects of Alternative Inventory Costing Methods
• Lesson 8 Cost Allocation
• Lesson 9 Process Costing and Spoilage
• Lesson 10 Operation Costing, JIT Systems, and Backflush Costing

Evaluation

To receive credit for ACCT 355, students must complete two written assignments, a mid-term examination, and a final examination. Students must receive a grade of at least 50 percent on each exam, and an overall course grade of at least a "D" (50 percent). Assignment 1 is worth 20 percent of the final grade and is to be completed following Lesson 3. Assignment 2 is also worth 20 percent and is to be completed following Lesson 8. The mid-term and final examinations are each worth 30 percent of the final grade for the course.

Students' performance in ACCT 355 will be evaluated on the basis of the work conducted on assignments and on the results of the exams. Because the assignments and the exams have been designed to assess analytical skills, students will need to synthesize the concepts they have learned throughout the course.

Note: Students planning to transfer this course to a Professional Accounting designation (i.e., CMA, CGA, CA) are advised that they will be required to achieve a grade higher than the minimum passing grade. See http://business.athabascau.ca/profAcct/ for details.

Course Materials

Textbook

Horngren, C.T., Foster, G., Datar, S.M., & Teall, H.D. 2000. Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis (2nd Canadian ed.). Scarborough ON: Prentice-Hall Canada Inc.

Other material

The course materials include a study guide, a student manual, and a solutions manual of even-numbered questions, exercises, and problems from the textbook.

Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice.
Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized-study counterparts.


Athabasca University
1 University Drive
Athabasca, AB T9S 3A3
(780) 675-6111, (800) 788-9041
To previous version of ACCT 355: Rev. 6, July 16, 2001.
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This page was updated by G. Zahara