JSBP9110 Introduction to Accounting and Financial Management (LITO) (5 cr)

· Financial management: An overall view

· The concept of accounting and what it means for companies and society

· The substance of and differences in management and financial accounting

· Basic functions of Excel

· Financial accounting

• Goals, content and structure of statements; central accounting principles; the basics of bookkeeping
• Balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements and their connections
• International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS); the principles of group accounts
• Connections between income statements and taxation
• Financial statement analysis

· Management accounting

• Accounting for strategic management; implementing strategy; scorecards
• The management of a profit centre organisation (including economic value added and WACC)
• Budgeting and budgetary systems
• Cost accounting tasks and cost concepts; product, service and customer profitability
• Ad hoc calculations; cost-volume-profit analysis and pricing
• Estimating the profitability of investments

· The key concepts of corporate governance and corporate finance

• Key issues in corporate governance (incl. ownership, the board of directors, rewarding systems)
• Key issues in managing capital structure (equity and non-equity capital, capital cost)
• Key issues in managing working capital (inventory and cash management, sales receivables and accounts payable)

After completing the course, students will be able to:

• identify the role of accounting in organisations and society
• understand the content and structure of financial statements and the purposes for which the statements can be used
• read financial statements and calculate and interpret key financial ratios
• understand the key role of accounting systems in providing information for decision-making within organisations and understand how this information can be used to manage both the organisation and the behaviour of individuals within the organisation
• evaluate and assess the financial profitability of products, services, customers and investments and make sound business decisions based on this information
• identify the role of corporate governance in organisations and society
• comprehend the basic questions of corporate finance and able to identify the answers to these questions
• use the basic functions of Excel.

Students should have Microsoft Excel software at their disposal during the course.

The latest information about the course is updated and published at www.lito.fi.