Entry requirements

Accepted to the Master Programme in Applied Biotechnology

Learning outcomes

The major goal with this course is that the students shall obtain knowledge of basic accounting and control issues in relation to the biotech industry.

In order to pass the course the student will be able to:

• account for the impact business and financial issues have on a biotech company.
• identify the possibilities and difficulties in a companies' control process, including planning, performance measurement and evaluation.
• interpret companies' external and internal accounting and reporting
• understand and assess capital budgeting techniques
• account for basic issues relating to project management and control as well as for how national culture influence management control

Content

Every company has to deal with technical issues related to developing and producing a product or service, as well as business, financial and control issues. Even the most technically sophisticated product is of little use if the financial support required to back it up is missing or if it fails to bring in revenues. In order to understand the situation of a company it is therefore important to be able to interpret accounting information, used for both external and management purposes. It is also important to have an insight in the control process of a company to understand what makes the company profitable and what motivates the employees.

This course is an introduction to the aspects mentioned above and the ambition is to link these aspects to the biotech industry as much as possible. This is done in two ways. The first way is by using a real biotech case that we relate the lectures, seminars and assignments to. The second way is to focus on aspects that are particularly important in this industry. One such aspect is the management and control of project work. Another aspect is the importance of national culture when controlling organisations, given the international character of the biotech industry.

Instruction

The teaching will consist of lectures and seminars. The seminars will require all students to participate in the discussions. The students will also work together in groups where they will write papers for the seminars. Both practitioners and researchers with special insight in the biotech industry will appear as guest lecturers. Through the use of cases and examples from real companies, all the teaching will have a strong link to the practical world.

Assessment

The course will be examined through a written exam, papers written for the seminars as well as active participation on the seminars. The final grade of the course is determined after taken into consideration the different parts of the examination.