General provisions

The course is offered within the Bachelor's Programme in Business and Economics and as a single subject course. The course syllabus was approved by the board of the Department of Business Studies on delegation from the Faculty of Social Sciences and takes effects as of 2009-08-31.

Entry requirements

Completed courses in Business Studies: Basic Course A, 30 credits, and a minimum 15 credits from Intermediate Course B.

Learning outcomes

The course aims at providing the student with advanced specialisation as well as interdisciplinary knowledge and skills in financial accounting, management accounting and corporate finance. It will also provide a basis for the student to independently and critically use accounting and finance models.

Upon completing the course, the student will be able to:

- apply accounting and corporate finance models when analysing problems

- summarise and conduct comparative and critical analyses of different models within the chosen field of specialisation

- lead seminar discussions

- present findings verbally as well as in writing

- use acquired specialisation knowledge and skills when facing and solving problems on the job

- use acquired interdisciplinary knowledge from financial accounting, management accounting and corporate finance when analysing company-specific problems

- critically reflect on both specialisation knowledge and interdisciplinary knowledge acquired in this course

- communicate principles, problems, and research results with specialists and non-specialists in questions which are within the boundaries of this course

Content

What is right and wrong in accounting is not given and it changes as time goes by. This is especially obvious when we focus on, for example, the regulation of financial accounting and what is considered modern management accounting. This also remains true in corporate finance as the choice of what is an appropriate valuation model changes over time. Since there are few if any objective truths in this topic, this course instead focuses on providing a deeper understanding of the topic so that the student can independently and critically apply and evaluate this course's models, principles, and assumptions.

The course consists of lectures on accounting theory and the intersection between the topics of financial accounting, management accounting and corporate finance. It includes specialisation tracks within each of its three topics. At the beginning of the course, each student will choose a specialisation topic. In addition to the above, the course contains an extensive interdisciplinary project which students will present and discuss individually in specialisation seminars and as a group in plenary meetings.

The course is partially integrated with students' thesis projects; therefore literature studies and critical analysis thereof constitutes an important part of the course.

Instruction

The course is taught in English. It consists of lectures, seminars, an extensive project assignment and individual study and is partially integrated with the thesis course.

Assessment

Course examination includes written and oral assignments as well as a written exam. Examination includes both individual and team-work elements. The course consists of obligatory parts. The final grade of the course is determined after taking into consideration the different parts of the examination. Grading criteria are presented in the study guide provided at the start of the course. Grades will be given in accordance with the Swedish grading system. The following grades will be used: VG (pass with distinction), G (pass), and U (fail). Assignments and exams handed in late will not be graded except in special circumstances. In addition, any remaining assignments and supplemental work must be completed and handed in within two weeks after the end of the course; otherwise, the entire course (all assignments included) must be redone the following semester, provided there is space in the course.

Uppsala University does not accept cheating and plagiarism. Suspected incidents of cheating or plagiarism are reported to the Disciplinary Committee of the University, which may issue a formal warning to the student or expel the student from the university for six months.

NOTE: Only completed courses can be recognised in your degree.

Transitional provisions

The course substitutes/overlaps among others Financial Accounting (Externredovisning) 2FE402, 2FE625, Accounting for Business Combinations (Koncernredovisning) 2FE403, 2FE624.