| Unit name | Accounting theory |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ACFIM0050 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Professor. Morales |
| 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 |
Why is this unit important?
This unit is going to give you an introduction to accounting theory that will be crucial to understand and evaluate the problems you will be faced with in the rest of the units in the programme. As sustainability becomes an increasingly important concern for organisations and societies, it also challenges traditional accounting practices – for instance, the focus on the ‘entity’ becomes problematic when faced with a global catastrophe – and professional expertise – as auditors are trying to develop a new expertise on sustainability reporting that has mostly developed from other bodies of expertise, such as climate science and more generally science and technology.
This unit therefore aims to provide you with advanced skills of analysis and evaluation to complete the critical scrutiny of contemporary accounting methods through the discussion of cutting-edge research. You will demonstrate advanced independent learning, critical reasoning and self-study skills. You will discover the most recent developments in accounting research through the discussion of interdisciplinary and critical perspectives on accounting that replace it within its social and institutional context. Overall, this unit aims to bring a more conceptual understanding of the practices that you have learnt in your undergraduate studies to move beyond the mere technical aspects of the craft and introduce you to the more advanced theories of how sustainability challenges accounting and to some real-life cases of how sustainability accounting and accountability work in practice.
How does this unit fit within your programme of study?
This unit covers a range of issues that are essential to gain more depth and analytic skills and be able to critically assess and discuss accounting, accountability and sustainability. This unit is essential to all the other units in the programme as well as the dissertation. You will be exposed to case studies that will enable you to understand and evaluate the empirical work in published academic papers. You will also be exposed to various theoretical frameworks that replace accounting and accountability in a broader social and institutional context. As such, the unit will question the technical perception of accounting and pave the way for discussion in other units that link it to sustainability.
An overview of content
This unit begins by introducing various theoretical frameworks used in accounting research. It will contrast various paradigms to encourage you to question common assumptions about accounting. In so doing, it considers the philosophical and ethical issues related to accounting. The unit then introduces cutting edge research and case studies to apply accounting theory to various contexts and settings.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
You will gain confidence in both analysing accounting practices and questioning common assumptions made around accounting. You will also develop critical thinking, being able to analyse, assess and discuss empirical material in connection to the theoretical assumptions made and frameworks used by researchers.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
Teaching will be delivered through a combination of lectures and tutorials. A range of theories that are essential knowledge to be able to critically read and evaluate accounting research will be presented in the lectures. In the tutorials, cutting edge research as well as some classics will be discussed. These will include case studies that will enable you to understand and evaluate the theoretical assumptions and their limitations in published academic papers. Overall, the lectures will provide a broad overview of theories that will then be applied in more interactive sessions in the tutorials. This will help you develop critical thinking and rigorous analytic skills that are crucial for the dissertation and, beyond the course, highly valued in heavily analytical accounting jobs.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
There will formative assessment that will consist of case studies and self-assessed practice questions.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
When assessment does not go to plan
If you fail the unit overall at the first attempt you will be expected to resit all the assessments that you were unsuccessful in. Reassessment of the individual coursework will take the form of written comment (2,500 words) on a research article or to answer a theoretical question chosen by the lecturer. Reassessment of the second assessment (30%) will be an individual written discussion of an article, of 1,000 words in length, which will require to both reflect on the group work experience and to address learning outcomes 1 to 5.
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. ACFIM0050).
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.
