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Accounting (ACCT) 454
Decision Analysis (Revision 4)

Revision 4 closed, replaced by current version.

View previous syllabus.

Delivery mode: Individualized study online or
grouped study**

Credits: 3 - Applied Studies

Prerequisites: ACCT 355 and either MATH 215
or MGSC 301 and MGSC 312.

Centre: Faculty of Business

ACCT 454 is not available for challenge.

**Note: Students registering in grouped study, or grouped study international mode are advised that there may be some differences in the evaluation and course materials information indicated below. To obtain the most up-to-date information, contact the Faculty of Business Student Support Centre at 1-800-468-6531.

Overview

This course provides advanced coverage of accounting concepts and the use of accounting information for managerial decision-making. Lesson 1 provides an overview of the purpose of management accounting as compared with financial accounting, and traces the history of management accounting. It also outlines some of the uses of cost information. Part II of Lesson 1 discusses cost behaviour. Lessons 2 and 3 cover data analysis techniques­linear programming and regression analysis­as well as activity-based cost systems.

Lesson 4 provides a wide-ranging examination of activity­based management, including pricing and profitability analysis and the strategic cost management technique of target costing. Lesson 5 covers decentralization, discussing levels of decentralization and some of the benefits and conflicts it causes. Lesson 6 introduces the balanced scorecard as a total business unit performance measurement platform.

Lesson 7 covers financial measures of performance, including sales, profitability, and productivity variances, and it deals with transfer pricing techniques and issues. Part II of Lesson 7 continues coverage of financial performance measurement, dealing with return on investment and economic value added. Lesson 8 completes the study of the balanced scorecard with a discussion of the customer, internal business processes, and employee perspectives. Lesson 9 considers the role of management accounting in performance evaluation and incentive and compensation, including a discussion of the principal-agent paradigm. Lesson 10 concludes the course with a look at the ethical considerations related to agency theory and control.

Outline

Lesson 1: Management Accounting and Decision Analysis

  • Understanding Management Accounting
  • Understanding Cost Behaviour

Lesson 2: Resource Allocation, Capacity Cost and Assigning Resource Costs

  • Resource Allocation and Capacity Cost
  • Assigning Resource Costs to Production Centers

Lesson 3: Activity-Based Cost Systems and Cost Estimation

  • Activity-Based Costing
  • Cost Estimation and Regression Analysis

Lesson 4: Activity-Based Management and Cost-Based Decision Making

  • Activity-Based Management
  • Cost-Based Decision Making

Lesson 5: Decentralization

Lesson 6: Balanced Scorecard: Measuring Total Business Unit Performance

  • Measuring Total Business Unit Performance

Lesson 7: Financial Measures of Performance, Return On Investment (ROI) and Economic Value Added (EVA)

  • Financial Measure of Performance
  • ROI and EVA

Lesson 8: Nonfinancial Scorecard Perspective

  • Measuring Customer Internal Business Process and Employee Performance

Lesson 9: The Agency Theory Perspective on Managerial Accounting

  • Incentive and Compensation Systems
  • Formal Models in Budgeting and Incentive Contracts

Lesson 10: Ethical Considerations Related to Agency Theory and Control

  • Ethical Considerations
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Evaluation

To receive credit for ACCT 454, you must achieve a minimum grade of D (50%) on the Final Examination and an overall course grade of at least a “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% 20% 50% 100%

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.

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

Kaplan, R. S., & Atkinson, A. A. (1998). Advanced Management Accounting (3rd edition). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.
ISBN 0-13-262288-2

Other Materials

Students will access all other course materials online.

Software Requirement

Microsoft Office (Excel).

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