Unit information: Introduction to Accounting in 2025/26

Unit name	Introduction to Accounting
Unit code	ACCG10052
Credit points	20
Level of study	C/4
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Ronald Lui
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	At least Level 7 in GCSE Mathematics (or equivalent).
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

Unit Directors:

• Dr. Ronald Lui
• Dr. Richard Zeng

Why is this unit important?

This unit, covering financial accounting, management accounting, and investment appraisal topics, enables students to understand and apply the basic techniques of accounting and investment appraisal that would serve them well in decision-making roles in their careers ahead.

The first part (Financial Accounting) provides an introduction to the preparation and analysis of financial statements and evaluation of the financial well-being of a business. The second part (Management Accounting and Investment Appraisal) provides an introduction to the production and uses of financial information for the internal management of a business. By the end of the unit, participants should be able to apply and comment on a range of techniques for product costing and investment appraisal.

How does this unit fit into your programme of study

This unit is mandatory on BSc Finance, BSc Economics and Management, and BSc Business Analytics; and optional for BSc Economics and some other programmes.

For BSc Finance: a well-rounded finance professional must be able to read financial statements. This unit provides the opportunity to “look under the hood” of the financial statements and of organisations’ operational and strategic decision-making, providing a context for understanding performance reporting and its relevance to corporate finance and asset pricing.

For BSc Economics and Management, it can support your understanding of both disciplines:

• Economics seeks to understand decision-making regarding resource allocation; Introduction to Accounting “operationalises” this by exploring how, in practice, we measure performance and use investment appraisal techniques to optimise decisions;

• In Management, including BSc Business Analytics, this unit can support your general understanding of management decision-making, as one of the key themes involved in development of a business plan (the three themes being operations, finance, and marketing).

For all the degrees mentioned, this unit can open up the possibility to study accounting or finance in more depth later on, according to which units have been selected as appropriate options for your specific degree programme. At level 5 (second year), this includes some or all of the following:

• ACCG20011 Management Accounting;
• EFIM20007 Financial Accounting;
• EFIM20012 Taxation; and
• EFIM20044 Principles of Finance.

Your learning on this unit

An Overview of Content

The first half of the unit focuses on financial accounting. The topics include:

• An introduction to what accounting is, and its role in organisations.
• Financial statements, namely the statement of financial position, statement of comprehensive income, statement of changes in equity, and statement of cash flows.

The second half of the unit focuses on management accounting and investment appraisal. The topics include:

• An introduction to management accounting, which includes relevant costing techniques and cost behaviours.
• Financial management and capital investment decisions.

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

You will be able to:

• Understand and interpret financial information;
• Synthesise, drawing together varied information to report an overall picture of, for example, the position and performance of organisations;
• Apply important techniques for financial decision-making.

Consequently, you will be better equipped to make informed financial decisions in both your career and personal life.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the unit students should be able to:

1. Use appropriate tools and techniques to Prepare Financial Statements from information about transactions and balances, including from incomplete records;
2. Analyse financial statements and comment on the financial position, performance, and financial adaptability of an organisation;
3. Explain the concepts of “Contribution” and “Relevant Costing”, and their significance for decision-making;
4. Apply Cost-Volume-Profit analysis to inform organisational decisions;
5. Use Marginal Costing and Absorption Costing to prepare profit statements and provide appropriate advice to decision-makers within the organisation, appreciating the benefits and drawbacks of those approaches;
6. Prepare budgets;
7. Analyse project viability using multiple investment appraisal methods, including Discounted Cash Flow techniques in the presence of taxation and inflation; and
8. Explain, in simple broad terms, the implications of the nature of different sources of finance

How you will learn

Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous sessions including lectures, tutorials, drop-in sessions, discussion boards and other online learning opportunities

How you will be assessed

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

• Weekly Tutorial Questions;
• Weekly Exercises for Exercise Lectures

Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):

This unit will be assessed by 100% exam (3 hours) which covers ILO1, ILO2, ILO3, ILO4, ILO5. ILO6. ILO7 and ILO8.

When assessment does not go to plan:

This will be a 3-hour invigilated, closed-book examination, accounting for 100% of your re-assessment grade for the unit (like for like assessment).

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. ACCG10052).

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 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.