Please note - Swinburne University of Technology

~ ~ 4 0 0 Accounting Honours
Students should seek advice from the appropriate
Accounting staff when formulating their discipline-specific
course of study and their research project proposal.
To encourage a multi-discipline approach, students may,
subject to approval, undertake selected honours-level
coursework subjects from other schools, divisions, or
institutions provided that they show the relevance of these
coursework subjects to their proposed area of research. Such
arrangements are subject to the student having any
necessary prerequisite studies and may be subject to any
quotas imposed on these subjects by the offering School.
Students must submit their proposal to the Accounting
Honours Convener for approval prior to the commencement
of their honours program. Approval for a student's disciplinespecific
course of study and research project proposal shall be
subject to the availability of any necessary resources and the
availability of appropriate staff supervision.
Advanced Accounting
This subject is designed to broaden the student's
understanding and awareness of contemporary issues in
accounting and to provide the student with an opportunity
to undertake in-depth study of the relevant theoretical
concepts and techniques in a variety of accounting areas.
Attention will be given to the application of accounting
developments in different sectors of the local and
international economy and to the impact of rapid
technological and organisational change on accounting.
Issues of current concern in the areas of finance,
management accounting, tax, auditing, reporting,
behavioural accounting and the profession may be included.
Students will be required, with guidance, to research
selected topics and make presentations to the class and to
attend and participate fully in a series of seminars conducted
by staff.
Accounting Honours Research Project
Students will be reauired to undertake a substantial research
project, with individual and group supervision, on a research
topic that is currently being reported and extended in the
accounting literature. Topics may be drawn from the areas of
management accounting, finance, tax, financial accounting,
auditing, accounting theory, corporate reporting and
computer accounting. Students will be required to make class
presentations at progressive stages in their research and will
be required to submit a written dissertation of approximately
15,000 words in length.
Students intending to complete their degree with honours
must apply for entry into the honours year by the end of their
three-year degree.
Note that entry into the honours year is competitive and the
number of places is subject to a quota.
BC~OI
Accounting for Management
No. of hours per week: two and a quarter hours
Prerequisites: nil
Instruction: lecture/class discussions
Assessment: four assignments
Subject aims
This is a one semester subject for students in the Graduate
Certificate in Business Administration.
The objectives of the subject are:
To develop a manager's ability to understand and apply
financial information in making business decisions and
assessing the performance of a business.
The subject will aim to produce a rnmgre gffective user of
accounting information. A minimym of f~hn&al~accounting
will be used but emphasis will beplacef$'on'understanding
sufficient accounting to be aware of the aqpropriate uses and
limitations of information produced by the accouqting
system.
Subject description
No prior knowledge of accounting is assumed.
Topics include:
general purpose financial statements
financial statement analysis
cash flow statements
business finance and investment decision analysis
cost - volume - profit analysis
costing products and services
segment performance evaluation
budgeting and profit planning
Textbook
Meredith, G., Accounting and Financial Management for Business
Decisions, Sydney, McGraw-Hill, 1994.
References
Bell, A. (ed) Introductory Accounting and Finance. Melbourne,
Nelson, 1990
Hoggett, J. and Edwards, L. Accounting in Australia. 2nd edn rev.
and updated, Brisbane, John Wiley & Sons, 1992
Horngren, C.T. and Foster. G. Cost Accounting: A Managerial
Emphasis. 8th edn, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice Hall, 1994
McDonald, R.C., Cooper, R.G. and Astill, 0.1. Accounting for the Non
Finance Executive. 2nd edn, Auckland, N.Z., iongman Paul, 1983
Smith, E. The Bottom Line. The Essential Guide for Non-Finance
Executives. Ringwood, Penguin, 1989
~ ~ 4 1 0 Introduction to Taxation
No. of hours per week: two and a quarter hours
Prerequisites: see Graduate Certificate in
Taxation and Finance
Instruction: lectures and class discussion of issues
and problems
~ssessment: class presentations 20%,
assignments 40%, examination 40%
Subject aims
The overall objective is to develop in students an
understanding of the Income Tax Assessment Act, 1936, as
amended, together with those acts which are complementary
to the Assessment Act.
Specifically, the subject will:
familiarise students with recent Court and Administrative
Appeals Tribunal decisions in the area of income
taxation;
develop research skills in students in relation to current
and landmark taxation cases; and
with the aid of income tax rulings and the
aforementioned tax cases, develop in students an
understanding of the basic concepts of income, capital
and rules governing deductions.