Accounting (ACCT) 355

Cost Analysis (Revision 10)

ACCT 355

Revision 10 is closed for registrations, replaced by current version

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Delivery Mode: Individualized study online or grouped study** (check locations) - both options with eTextbook

Credits: 3

Area of Study: Applied Studies
(Business and Administrative Studies)

Prerequisite: ACCT 250 or ACCT 253.

Faculty: Faculty of Business

ACCT 355 has a Challenge for Credit option.

Télé-université du Québec equivalency: FIN 2005

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**Note: Students registering in grouped study mode are advised that there may be some differences in the evaluation and course materials information indicated below. To obtain the most up-to-date information, contact the Faculty of Business Student Support Centre at 1-800-468-6531.

Overview

ACCT 355 will take you through the details of cost accumulation and product costing, as well as the measurement and identification of relevant costs for managerial decision making, planning, control, and performance measurement.

Lesson 1 serves as a foundation for the course, providing a general perspective of management accounting and how it relates to financial accounting. The first part of the lesson discusses management accounting in a global business environment and describes how the ever-changing business environment has affected the practice of management accounting and the accountant's role in an organization. The second part of Lesson 1 looks at management accounting practices and terminology, and provides an overview of basic concepts in identifying and classifying costs.

Lessons 2 through 10 are organized according to three themes:

  • Lessons 2 to 4 focus on cost accumulation and product costing for inventory valuation and income determination. This theme focuses mainly on assigning costs to products and services to separate costs incurred during a period between costs of goods sold and inventories.
  • Lessons 5 to 7 discuss the measurement and identification of relevant costs for different types of managerial decisions.
  • Lessons 8 to 10 concentrate on the processes involved in planning, control, and performance measurement. The emphasis is on the accounting process as a means of providing information to help managers control the activities for which they are responsible.

Outline

  • Lesson 1: Accounting, Business, and Competitiveness
  • Lesson 2: Product Costing—Job Order Costing
  • Lesson 3: Process Costing
  • Lesson 4: Activity-Based and Service Department Costing
  • Lesson 5: Cost Behaviour and Cost-Volume-Profit (CVP) Analysis
  • Lesson 6: Absorption versus Variable Costing; Relevant Information for Decision Making
  • Lesson 7: Pricing and Inventory Decisions, JIT, and Backflush Costing
  • Lesson 8: The Master Budget
  • Lesson 9: Flexible Budget and Variance Analysis
  • Lesson 10: Management Control Systems, Transfer Pricing, and Multinational Considerations

Evaluation

To receive credit for ACCT 355, you must write a final examination and pass it with a grade of at least 50%. In addition, you must achieve a minimum overall course grade of “D” (50 percent). The following chart describes the credit weight associated with each course requirement:

Assignment 1 Assignment 2 Assignment 3 Final Exam Total
15% 15% 15% 55% 100%

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.

Your performance in ACCT 355 will be evaluated on the basis of the work conducted on assignments and on the results of the examination. Because the assignments and the examination have been designed to assess analytical skills, you will need to synthesize the concepts learned throughout the course.

Note: Students planning to transfer this course to a Professional Accounting designation (i.e., CMA, CGA, CA) are advised that they will be required to achieve a grade higher than the minimum passing grade. See the Professional Accounting Designation Web site for details.

Course Materials

Textbook

Registration in this course includes an electronic textbook. For more information on electronic textbooks, please refer to our eText Initiative site.

Horngren, C. T., Foster, G., Datar, S. M., & Gowring, M. P. (2013). Cost accounting: A managerial emphasis (6th Cdn. ed.). Toronto: Pearson Canada Inc. ISBN 9780133392883

A print version of the eText may be available for purchase from the publisher through a direct-to-student link provided on the course website; you can also acquire the textbook on your own if you wish.

Other Materials

Students will access all other course materials online.

Challenge for Credit Course Overview

The Challenge for Credit process allows students to demonstrate that they have acquired a command of the general subject matter, knowledge, intellectual and/or other skills that would normally be found in a university level course.

Full information for the Challenge for Credit can be found in the Undergraduate Calendar.

Challenge Evaluation

To receive credit for the ACCT 355 challenge registration, you must achieve a grade of at least “D” (50 percent) on the examination.

Paper Exam

Undergraduate Challenge for Credit Course Registration Form

Current Grouped Study Locations

Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized-study counterparts.

Opened in Revision 10, July 8, 2014.

View previous syllabus