Understanding Accounts and Costs

If you're new to management, or you need to develop your managerial abilities and understanding, the Professional Certificate in Management is for you. It provides a broad-based, practical introduction to the key ideas, techniques and overall competencies you need in order to manage effectively and productively in modern organisations in any part of the world.

The emphasis is on your own professional development. Everything you study is related to the management roles and responsibilities you exercise in the various functional areas of your company or organisation.

All the elements of the programme — study texts, activities and assignments, online resources, and personal and group support — ensure that you can immediately apply newly learned skills, knowledge and techniques in very practical ways. You can build on your experience and make direct links to your management development needs wherever you are in the world, whatever the size of your organisation and whether it is in the commercial, public or voluntary sector.

• Session 1 First Ideas
• Introduction
• 1.1 Resources, Values and Accounting
• Managers control resources
• What values — whose values?
• Accounting statements
• 1.2 Managing the Transformation of Resources
• 'Is this operation sustainable?'
• Money values
• 1.3 Transformation and the Cycle of Production
• 1.4 Your Own Inputs and Outputs
• Identifying your inputs
• Identifying your outputs
• Identifying your monetary inputs
• Identifying your monetary outputs
• Comparing money inputs and outputs
• 1.5 Video Activity
• Summary and objectives
• Session 2 Cash Flow
• Introduction
• 2.1 The Significance of Cash Flows
• Cash flows and core activities
• Cash flows arising from non-core activities
• Liquidity
• 2.2 Building Cash Flow Statements
• 2.3 Managing Cash Flows
• The cash, or working capital, cycle
• Working capital
• 2.4 Audio and PC Activities
• Summary and objectives
• Session 3 The Balance Sheet
• Introduction
• 3.1 What Does a Balance Sheet Show?
• Profit as a liability
• Assets and liabilities
• 3.2 Alternative Formats
• The vertical layout
• 3.3 The Accounting Balance
• The accounting equation
• Where is the working capital in the accounting equation?
• Summary and objectives
• Session 4 Accounting for Activities
• Introduction
• 4.1 Cash and Profit (Surplus)
• When profit is not the main goal
• 4.2 Profit Statement and Balance Sheets
• Extracting information
• 4.3 The Art of Accounting
• 'True and fair' depreciation
• True and fair valuation of stock
• The formal framework of accounting
• A self-governing community
• Accounting concepts
• 4.4 Video and PC Activities
• Summary and objectives
• Session 5 Costing Our Activities
• Introduction
• 5.1 Types of Cost
• Fixed and variable costs
• Direct and indirect costs
• 5.2 Apportioning and Absorbing Costs
• 5.3 Video, audio and PC Activities
• Summary and objectives
• Session 6 Contribution Costing
• Introduction
• 6.1 Understanding Contribution
• Operating leverage
• 6.2 Breaking Even
• The contribution margin
• 6.3 Alternatives to Absorption Costing
• Activity-based costing
• 6.4 Video and PC Activities
• Summary and objectives
• Session 7 Financial Aspects of Decisions
• Introduction
• 7.1 Relevant and Irrelevant Costs
• 7.2 Costing in Decisions
• Assessing product or service profitability
• The internal/external dilemma
• Utilising scarce resources
• 7.3 Costing in Pricing Decisions
• Cost-plus and rate of return pricing
• Summary and objectives

MBA material, what do you expect?