Accounting (ACCT) 355
Cost Analysis (Revision 9)
Revision 9 is closed for registrations, replaced by current version
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Delivery Mode: Individualized study online or grouped study.**
Credits: 3
Area of Study: Applied Studies
(Business and Administrative Studies)
Prerequisite: ACCT 250 or ACCT 253.
Faculty: Faculty of Business
ACCT 355 has a Challenge for Credit option.
Télé-université du Québec equivalency: FIN 2005
Overview
ACCT 355 will take you through the details of cost accumulation and product costing, as well as the measurement and identification of relevant costs for managerial decision making, planning, control, and performance measurement.
Lesson 1 serves as a foundation for the course, providing a general perspective of management accounting and how it relates to financial accounting. The first part of the lesson discusses management accounting in a global business environment and describes how the ever-changing business environment has affected the practice of management accounting and the accountant's role in an organization. The second part of Lesson 1 looks at management accounting practices and terminology, and provides an overview of basic concepts in identifying and classifying costs.
Lessons 2 through 10 are organized according to three themes:
- Lessons 2 to 4 focus on cost accumulation and product costing for inventory valuation and income determination. This theme focuses mainly on assigning costs to products and services to separate costs incurred during a period between costs of goods sold and inventories.
- Lessons 5 to 7 discuss the measurement and identification of relevant costs for different types of managerial decisions.
- Lessons 8 to 10 concentrate on the processes involved in planning, control, and performance measurement. The emphasis is on the accounting process as a means of providing information to help managers control the activities for which they are responsible.
Outline
Lesson 1: Accounting, Business, and Competitiveness
Lesson 2: Product Costing—Job Order Costing
Lesson 3: Process Costing
Lesson 4: Activity-Based and Service Department Costing
Lesson 5: Cost Behaviour and Cost-Volume-Profit (CVP) Analysis
Lesson 6: Absorption versus Variable Costing; Relevant Information for Decision Making
Lesson 7: Pricing and Inventory Decisions, JIT, and Backflush Costing
Lesson 8: The Master Budget
Lesson 9: Flexible Budget and Variance Analysis
Lesson 10: Management Control Systems, Transfer Pricing, and Multinational Considerations
Evaluation
To receive credit for ACCT 355, you must write a final examination and pass it with a grade of at least 50%. In addition, you must achieve a minimum overall course grade of “D” (50 percent). The following chart describes the credit weight associated with each course requirement:
Assignment 1 | Assignment 2 | Assignment 3 | Final Exam | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
15% | 15% | 15% | 55% | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.
Your performance in ACCT 355 will be evaluated on the basis of the work conducted on assignments and on the results of the examination. Because the assignments and the examination have been designed to assess analytical skills, you will need to synthesize the concepts 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 the Professional Accounting Designation Web site for details.
Course Materials
Textbook
Horngren, C. T., Foster, G., Datar, S. M., & Gowring, M. P. (2010). Cost accounting: A managerial emphasis (5th Cdn. ed.). Toronto: Pearson Canada Inc. ISBN 9780132606363
OR
Horngren, C. T., Foster, G., Datar, S. M., & Gowring, M. P. (2012). Cost accounting: A managerial emphasis (Custom edition for Athabasca University ACCT 355). Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions. ISBN 978013306711
Other Materials
Students will access all other course materials online. The course materials for this course are shipped as a shrink-wrapped package. If the shrink wrap is broken, the materials are not returnable.
Challenge for Credit Course Overview
The Challenge for Credit process allows students to demonstrate that they have acquired a command of the general subject matter, knowledge, intellectual and/or other skills that would normally be found in a university level course.
Full information for the Challenge for Credit can be found in the Undergraduate Calendar.
- Undergraduate Challenge for Credit Policy
- Undergraduate Challenge for Credit Procedures
Challenge Evaluation
To receive credit for the ACCT 355 challenge registration, you must achieve a grade of at least “D” (50 percent) on the examination.
Paper Exam
Undergraduate Challenge for Credit Course Registration Form
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.
Opened in Revision 9, March 30, 2011.
View previous syllabus