Handbook

The aim of this course is to show how the effective use of financial information can improve organisational decision-making. The course provides a broad introduction to the accounting function. The language of accounting and financial management is exacting. Our aim is to increase your familiarity with key components of this language.

This course examines the design and operation of accounting systems. Users of accounting information are typically classified as either external users, such as investors, or internal users, such as managers. Different users have different interests and different decisions to make. Accordingly, their supporting accounting systems also differ. This course deals with the needs of these two main user groups.

Effective decision-making by investors and managers often depends on being able to determine what something is worth and/or what something costs, respectively. The overall aim of this course is to help you use financial information to improve your decisions as investors and/or as managers. We assume that you have little prior knowledge of accounting and financial management. Our central aim is to cut a path through myriad accounting techniques and terminology, equipping you with sufficient conceptual and practical skills to make you, and any professional who may advise you, confident in your ability to understand complex financial strategies.