Unit information: Contemporary Issues in Accounting in 2026/27

Unit name	Contemporary Issues in Accounting
Unit code	ACFIM0038
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Mariano Scapin
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	None
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	None
Units you may not take alongside this one	None
School/department	School of Accounting and Finance - Business School
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Unit Information

Why is this unit important?

This unit covers a range of important contemporary issues and topics in financial accounting, accountability and sustainability reporting, and management accounting. It is designed to develop students’ appreciation of important academic and regulatory debates, drawing on the empirical and theoretical accounting literature on the complexities and conceptual antecedents and consequences of the issues covered.

How does this Unit fit into your programme of study

This is a specialist mandatory unit in TB1 for MSc Accounting and Finance students. The aim of this unit is to build on the material that students will have covered in their undergraduate studies with a view to illustrating the major conceptual and technical accounting issues of the day.

Your learning on this unit

An overview of content

The unit covers a range of current research on contemporary issues and topics in accounting. Such issues include, but are not confined to, the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting, capital markets-based accounting research, accountability, fair value accounting and financial instruments, theorising management control systems, controlling strategy and managing costs. The unit considers the economic and social consequences of these issues and discusses relevant contemporary accounting literature drawn from a variety of sources, based on both qualitative and quantitative research designs.

How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit.

Students will be expected to develop their ability to think critically. They will be expected to demonstrate this through their ability to critically evaluate and discuss the purpose of financial reporting; the role of economic incentives on financial reporting decisions; the role of accountability and sustainability reporting on modern corporations; and the role of internal control mechanisms for managers, strategy and costs. Students will be expected to develop their awareness of the economic and social consequences of these issues.

Learning outcomes:

1. To enable students to understand and critically evaluate some of the main accounting issues faced by accounting researchers, businesses, accounting professionals and standard setters.
2. Critically evaluate some of the important concepts and technical complexities underlying the issues studied in both financial and management accounting.
3. To discuss and critically evaluate the academic evidence on the contemporary issues covered in the unit.
4. To enable students to discuss the social and economic consequences of the issued covered, drawing on appropriate theoretical and empirical evidence.

How you will learn

How you will learn

The unit provides a mix of synchronous and asynchronous activities:

• Each week starts with a spark activity that provides students with an initial practical, real-world example to open a discussion on the issues that are going to be covered on the different activities of the week.
• Students are offered one hour of pre-recorded material that covers the basics of the topic of the week.
• Students will have an in-person Lecture that moves forward the issues discussed on the pre-recorded videos, with a special focus on current research papers and their implications for real-world problems.
• Finally, students will attend tutorials that will cover one or two pieces of academic research that links to the topics discussed in the Lecture, with the purpose of critically assess the importance of these topics from a practitioner’s lens.
• Students will be offered extra advice and support during the feedback and advice hours.

How you will be assessed

How you will be assessed (requirements for the award of credit)

This unit has formative and summative assessments.

Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):

The unit has two formative assessments that will be available on the first weeks of the financial reporting and management accounting sections of the Unit, respectively. Feedback will be provided on both formative assessments. Students are expected to follow specific format guidelines on each report. Students will also be required to discuss during tutorial selective academic papers that provides a critical discussion of the issues covered on the weekly lectures. The objective of the feedback provided for the formative assessments and class discussion will aim to assist students to develop their critical assessment of the topics being covered that are essential for the final, summative assessment. Formative assessments cover ILO1, ILO2, ILO3 and ILO4.

Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):

The unit mark (summative) consists of an individual coursework assignment (100%) that requires students to provide a report on an academic paper on the financial reporting part of the unit, and one report on the sustainability/accountability and management accounting part of the Unit. Each report should follow specific guidelines in terms of formatting and should not exceed three pages per report. Each report should provide evidence of the student’s ability to provide a critical assessment of the paper being reviewed, as well as understanding of the broader area of research, implications for practitioners and regulators, and how the paper contributes to the role of accounting in society. Summative assessments are designed to cover ILO1, ILO2, ILO3 and ILO4.

When assessment does not go to plan

Students that require to be re-assessed will receive support in terms of advice and office hours to discuss their final summative assessment work and will be required to re-submit a similar assessment during the resit period that will cover the same learning outcomes.

The format of the resit assessment will be the same as the format of the final assessment, i.e. reassessments are designed on a like-for-like basis.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. ACFIM0038).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.

The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.