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22754 Corporate Accounting

UTS: Business: Accounting
Credit points: 6 cp

Subject level: Postgraduate

Result Type: Grade and marks

Requisite(s): 22747 Accounting for Managerial Decisions OR 22784 Accounting: Concepts and Applications
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses.
There are also course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.

Handbook description

This subject examines the institutional and legal framework of modern Australian accounting including reference to international accounting standards and local and overseas standards and exposure drafts. The main topics include: accounting for acquisition of assets including business enterprises; valuation and goodwill; consolidated accounts of complex economic entities; accounting for associate companies and joint ventures; accounting for financial instruments; corporate restructuring and liquidation.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students will be able to:

  1. apply relevant research skills in assessing economic entities
  2. understand and apply the range of local, overseas and international regulations that determine this accounting and reporting
  3. understand the rationale behind these standards so that application can be done in unseen situations
  4. examine the political nature of accounting regulation and the consequences for the quality of accounting standards and financial information
  5. able to argue for and communicate verbally and in writing an opinion as to the appropriate accounting treatment applicable in the circumstances.

Contribution to graduate profile

This subject is concerned with external reporting by companies and the theoretical and practical issues relating to the formation of those reports. It emphasises the conceptual issues relating to the application of particular accounting techniques. This subject is a specialist subject addressing professional issues about accounting and disclosure by corporations. Its aim is to impart the ability to prepare company and consolidated financial statements, and, as a consequence, understand the published results of corporate combinations.

Teaching and learning strategies

Lectures will be employed to outline the ideas and concepts underlying each topic. Illustrations of the application of these ideas and concepts will be integrated into the lecture through discussion questions as well as exercises and problems relating to each topic. Videos will be used to foster discussion of current issues.

Additional readings and handouts will be provided from time to time. Case studies of relevant investigations in current financial press coverage will be used extensively.

Students will undertake syndicate projects and be involved in presentations to the student body and the subject coordinator.

Content

  • Overview of the nature and regulation of companies
  • Accounting for the acquisition of assets and revaluations
  • Consolidations
  • The concept of control and the principles underlying a consolidation
  • Accounting for intercompany transactions
  • Direct and indirect outside equity interests
  • Disclosure requirements
  • Accounting for investments in associates
  • Significant interest and the equity method
  • Required note disclosure
  • Accounting for interests in joint ventures
  • Joint venture entities and joint venture operations
  • Methods of accounting for joint venture operations
  • Statutory disclosure requirements
  • Accounting for financial instruments, corporate restructuring and liquidation
  • Applicable regulations, accounting and disclosure requirements for forfeiture and reissue of shares, redeemable preference shares, share buybacks
  • Winding up, priority of payments, rights of contributories, accounting for liquidation
  • Corporate disclosure
  • Legal requirements and accounting policies, financial performance and financial position, segments, additional notes.

Assessment

Assessment item 1: Mid-semester exam (Individual)

Objective(s): 1, 3, 5
Weighting: 25%
Task: This is an open-book examination designed to give students feedback as to how they are progressing. It has application to objectives 1, 3 and 5.

Assessment item 2: Case study (Group)

Objective(s): 1-5
Weighting: 20%
Task:
    Students are asked to undertake in groups an in-depth analysis of one listed corporation and to present those findings in writing and in a class presentation. This component addresses objectives 1-5.

    A case study is to be undertaken on a topic covered by this course. The topics will be given out in week 3 of the semester and groups will be allocated their focus corporation then. Part of the assignment is the completion of a library-based component that will assist your research skills. We will be having a library session early in the semester (in Week 3) to look at the available resources in detail.

    The case study is to be done on a group basis (in groups of no more than 5). Each group will prepare a written report not to exceed 15 typed A4 pages double spaced including tables, charts, references, footnotes etc. Marks will be deducted for going over this limit. The report should have a title page that includes a listing of group members (this title page is provided for you in the materials on Online). It is due at the beginning of the class of the week beginning the 26th May, 2008.

Assessment item 3: End-of-semester examination (Individual)

Objective(s): 1-5
Weighting: 55%
Task:
    The examination covers the major theoretical and technical issues relating to the subject content. It covers course objectives 1-5.

    A 3-hour examination at the end of the semester will consist of practical and theoretical questions covering all topics of the course. This is a formal examination. No course materials except the Accounting Handbook will be allowed to be brought into this examination. Any Accounting Handbooks found to have written notes in will be taken and handed back at the end of the exam.

Recommended text(s)

Arthur N, Grose R, Campbell J and Luff, L, Accounting for Corporate Combinations and Associations, 6th edn, Prentice Hall.

Jubb, P, Langfield-Smith, I and Haswell, S, 2005, Company Accounting, 4th edn, Thomson

Accounting Handbook, 2008, Prentice Hall

Indicative references

Alfredson, K., Leo, K., Picker R, Pacter, P., and Radford, J, Applying International Accounting Standards 2005 Wiley.

Baker, Richard E., Valdean C. Lembke, Thomas E. King. Advanced financial accounting, Boston : McGraw-Hill, 2007.

George J. Benston, et al, Worldwide financial reporting : the development and future of accounting standards. New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.

Deegan, C., 2005 Australian Financial Accounting 4th Edition, Irwin/McGraw-Hill, Sydney.

Hamilton, Stewart and Alicia Micklethwait. Greed and corporate failure : the lessons from recent disasters. Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

Henderson, S. and G. Peirson, 2002, Issues in Financial Accounting, 10th edition, Longman Cheshire

Hey-Cunningham, David. Financial statements demystified. Crows Nest, N.S.W. Allen and Unwin, 2006.

Lee, T. A. Financial reporting and corporate governance, Chichester, England; Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2006.

Leo, K., Hoggett, J, Sweeting, J. and Radford, J.,2005, Company Accounting in Australia, 6th edition, Wiley.

Markham, Jerry W. A financial history of modern U.S. corporate scandals: from Enron to reform. Armonk, N.Y. M.E. Sharpe, 2006.

Thomsett, Michael C. Annual reports 101 . New York : American Management Association, 2007.

Trotman, K. T., Gibbins, M. 2003 Financial accounting: an integrated approach, 2nd ed., Thomson Learning, 2003.

Walton, Peter J. and Walter A,Global financial accounting and reporting: principles and analysis, London, Thomson Learning, 2006.

Comparative international accounting [edited by] Christopher Nobes and Robert Parker, New York: Financial Times, 2006.

Student guide to accompany accounting for corporate combinations and associations / prepared by Brian Booth. Frenchs Forest, NSW, Pearson Education Australia, 2007

Other resources

Faculty of Business: Guide to Writing Assignments (available online)

Course materials (Announcements, Lecture Outlines etc.) will regularly be posted on UTSOnline. Please check for announcements consistently and, if you wish to use them, there will be lecture outlines available for you to take to the lecture with you. These outlines can help to minimise the amount of writing you do in lectures, but printing them out is your option.