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COST ACCOUNTING, PLANNING AND CONTROL

Syllabus

EN IT

Learning Objectives

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
After attending the course students will be able to:
1. illustrate various issues of corporate control and developments in management control guidelines;
2. know and use management accounting tools to meet information needs in different business situations;
3. be confident with the methods of analysis and cost management to support the decision-making
process by placing them in the context of the Cost & Management Accounting evolution;
4. to develop their ability to use quantitative determination tools to support decision-making processes
through the analysis and discussion of case studies.
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
Students will acquire the knowledge and understanding of management control systems, from the point
of view of its structural components (organizational structure of management and management
accounting) and process. In particular, they must know and understand the role of the programming and
control function; the design criteria for an effective management control system, whose main tool is profit
planning; the links with the strategic planning system; the contents of the modern strategic management
approaches aimed at facing and managing strategic change in conditions of environmental turbulence
and at solving the problems of alignment between the strategies and the managerial and organizational
skills of the company. The didactic work methods with which these results will be achieved will consist of:
lectures, internal seminars and testimonies, analysis of business cases.
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
Students will be able to apply their knowledge and understanding in the activities that they will be able
to perform in the different professional fields.
In particular, students will be able to appropriately apply the acquired knowledge to effectively design a
budget control system suitable for companies of various sizes and operating in different sectors, as well
as to analyze and understand the development dynamics of modern production organizations in the
current competitive environment. Finally, the limits of the planned approach must also be understood in
a context in which the scenarios change in an unpredictable and sudden way that cannot be addressed
with planned answers.
MAKING JUDGEMENTS:
Students will develop the ability to connect accounting tools (mainly the budget, but also the goals and
contents of the analytical accounting systems) with the planning and control process and with the
organizational aspects of management, to connect and investigate in a single vision. notions and concepts
typical of the Economia Aziendale, acquiring a proactive mentality in solving problems. Students will also
have acquired the ability to collect and interpret data deemed useful to determine independent judgments.
It will therefore be able to select suitable analysis tools and methodologies in the context of decisional
problems typical of managerial accounting. They will be aware of the potential and limits connected to the
instruments used, of rules behavior to be adopted in complex situations, of the aspects linked to the
evolution and problems of management control as well as of the main elements characterizing the
profession of controller in different companies.
COMMUNICATION SKILLS.
Student will be able to: effectively communicate information, ideas, and results related to the topics of
study, adapting language to the context and the audience; and present and discuss their arguments in a
clear, logical, and well-reasoned manner. Discusses budget matters with full autonomy and command,
combining the ability to synthesize information and think critically with the skill to adapt
communication to complex audiences and contexts. In this regard, the comparison between students in
classroom work groups and in the preparation of mandatory final group work on the budget will be
extremely relevant.
LEARNING SKILLS
Students will develop the learning skills that are necessary for them to undertake further studies or
professional paths with a high degree of autonomy. They will be able to read and understand budgets
and management reports, scientific publications for dissemination and/or research. They will be able
to select and correlate topics and formulate questions pertaining to the topics of the course.

Prerequisites

Adequate knowledge of the contents of the courses of Fundamental of Business, Accounting and financial statements

Program

Section I: Concepts and Fundamentals of Management Accounting (6 hrs)
Section II: Cost Accounting Systems and Cost Analysis (18 hrs)
Section III: Relevant Costs for Decision Making and Control (8 hrs)
Section IV: Budgeting Process for Planning and Controlling (8 hrs)
Section V: Segment Reporting, Decentralization and the Balanced Scorecard (4
hrs)
Section VI: Managerial Accounting in practice: cases study discussion (10 hrs)

Books

R.H. Garrison, E.W. Noreen, Managerial Accounting (17Th Edition) McGraw–Hill International Edition, 2021.

Bibliography

Recommended Texts:
A. Bhimani, S. Datar, C. Horngren, Management and Cost Accounting, Pearson Education
Limited, 2023.
Optional Texts:
M. Charifzadeh, A. Taschner, Management Accounting and Control: Tools and Concepts
in a Central European Context, Wiley, 2017
T. Groot, F. Selto, Advanced Management Accounting, Pearson Education Limited, 2013.

Teaching methods

The course is structured in lectures. Teaching focuses on the combination of theoretical arguments with practical exercises and case studies in order to obtain a full understanding of the topics covered in the course.
The frequency of practical applications integrative course’ is strongly recommended.

Exam Rules

The exam is made up of three parts: written exam + oral exam + budget case study discussion.
I° - Written exam) The format will be the follow:
Part A: multiple choice quizzes and true/false quizzes;
Part B: exercises (“Managerial Accounting in practice”);
Part C: open questions (from 1 to 3).
Each section will be evaluated up to a maximum of 10 points, for a total of 30 points.
The exam will be passed only if a score of at least 6/10 is achieved in each section. A maximum time limit of one hour and half will be allowed.
The written and oral exams take place in the same session.
II° - Oral exam) Students may be asked to discuss their written answers and to focus on some specific theoretical issues. The oral exam will be graded on a scale of thirty.
III° Budget case study - To pass the exam, students are required to prepare and subsequently discuss a budget case study based on self-selected data. Discussion of budget case study is mandatory for all students. This case study can be prepared by working in groups or individually.
This assignment is graded on a scale of thirty.
The student's final grade will be the average of the three assessments mentioned before.
In particular, the exam will be assessed according to the following criteria:
Not suitable: important deficiencies and/or inaccuracies in the knowledge and understanding of the topics; limited capacity for analysis and synthesis, frequent generalizations and limited critical and judgment skills, the arguments are presented in an inconsistent way and with inappropriate language;
18-20: just sufficient knowledge and understanding of the topics with possible generalizations and imperfections; sufficient capacity for analysis, synthesis and autonomy of judgment, the topics are frequently exposed in an inconsistent way and with inappropriate language;
21-23: Routine knowledge and understanding of topics; Ability to correct analysis and synthesis with sufficiently coherent logical argument and appropriate language
24-26: Fair knowledge and understanding of the topics; good analysis and synthesis skills with rigorously expressed arguments but with a language that is not always appropriate.
27-29: Complete knowledge and understanding of the topics; remarkable abilities of analysis and synthesis. Good autonomy of judgment. Topics exposed rigorously and with appropriate language
30-30L: Excellent level of knowledge and in-depth understanding of the topics. Excellent skills of analysis, synthesis and autonomy of judgment. Arguments expressed in an original way and with technical language.

Attendance Rules

Attendance at the course is highly recommended given the presence of practical applications aimed at illustrating the course contents from a practical point of view.