22107 Accounting for Business Decisions A (Review / assessment strategy / notes)
Accounting for Business Decisions A (Accounting A), is a core subject of UTS’ business degree, and a subject that it is very possible to do well in.
Accounting A is split into two complementary parts– financial accounting, and management accounting. The subject starts with financial accounting, with the reading and basic analysis of financial reports, and accounting journal entries. Around the mid-semester break, it progresses to management accounting, which is concerned with internal business decision making, such as breakeven analysis, and how to maximise profit with production constraints.
Lectures and tutorials
The subject was lectured by Jonathan Tyler, covering financial accounting, and James Wakefield, the subject coordinator at the time, presenting on management accounting. Tyler’s lecturers were a highlight, as his accountant-deprecating humour and engaging delivery led the theatre to laugh at least a few times per lecture. Wakefield was equally as knowledgeable and still engaging, though Tyler’s unique theatricality was hard to beat.
The lectures run quickly though, and at times I found myself flicking to previous slides on my laptop to keep up with taking notes.
In the tutorials, the class went over the pre-set homework questions, providing a good forum for asking questions and practicing and consolidating concepts from the tutorials. Wakefield was my tutor, and he was very helpful answering questions, and conducted the tutorials efficiently.
While it was strongly recommended, the lectures and tutorials were not compulsory to attend. This got interesting with the assessment options, discussed below.
Assessment strategy
The subject has two assessment options:
Option A
- Class mark (10%)
- Mid-sem exam (30%)
- Final exam (60%)
Option B
- Mid-sem exam (40%)
- Final exam (60%)
There’s also an optional screencast assignment wherein you make a video explaining an accounting concept, and can be awarded with up to 10 bonus marks (10%).
Option B is the default choice, with election for enrollment in option A opening in week three.
Option A lets you spread your risk of doing badly in one assessment, with the tradeoff of having to complete all homework to possibly be handed in at a few random tutorials in the semester. The majority of my tutorial class elected for option A. I stuck with option B because, after doing the first three weeks of homework and noticing duplication of concepts applied in practice questions, I decided I did not want to have to complete all the homework just to satisfy a potential collection, when doing just some of the homework was sufficient to understand the accounting concepts.
While the question of whether I made the right decision with option A loomed over me until the mid-semester exam, the gamble ultimately paid off.
Interestingly, in the lecture prior to the final exam, Wakefield announced that if the final exam mark was higher than the midsem exam mark, the subject will disregard your midsem result, and weight the final at 100%. While it applied to everyone, irrespective of assessment option, this, to some extent, provided an opportunity for redemption for people taking option A that may not have done as well in the midsem. Don’t rely on this to save you though, as it’s possible that it may not be done in the future. Confirm it with the subject coordinator in the session that you take the subject first.
Final exam
The final exam was a two-hour restricted open book paper. We could bring in the two textbooks that could be written in, however no external notes or sticky notes with writing. Tabs or bookmarks with no writing could also be used. I tabbed some of the back pages which had chapter summaries and key formulas. This was helpful as it meant I didn’t have to rote learn formulas, though flicking to the correct pages did take time.
The final exam was very time pressured. There were 70 (!) multiple choice questions, a financial statement to analyse, as well as a number of short answer word problem questions on management accounting. The final part was an extended response on earnings management that I ended up rushing through at the end.
Tips
- Take the assessment option that you think you will do the best with. If you are confident, and find the repetition in homework questions unhelpful or frustrating, stick with option A.
- Do (at least some of) the homework, even if you take option A. Each topic also has extra tutorial questions on UTS Online. Do them if you need further practice.
- Ask your tutor questions if you get stuck on anything or need clarification
- Attend U:PASS sessions if you need extra help. I didn’t, but it’s meant to be good.
- Do the screencast assignment. I rushed it in half an hour and got an extra six marks. It could be the difference between a C and a D, or a D and an HD.
- Do the midsem sample paper.
- If you didn’t take Business Studies for HSC, and want to start with some background, doing some of an online course like Diagnosing the Financial Health of a Business will teach you about financial statements. I did Business Studies, but did the first three modules of that online course during the break before starting uni out of interest anyway. It proved helpful.
- Memorise formulas and ratios if you can. It will save you time in the exam.
- Buy the correct edition textbook, if you can. While the concepts don’t change, the page numbers for homework are for the current edition, and they only allowed the current edition book into the exam.
