Postgraduate Course: Management Control for Risk and Uncertainty (ACCN11003)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 15 |
ECTS Credits | 7.5 |
| Summary | Too often accounting is seen as a mere tool which delivers neutral calculations. This is never the case, especially in situations where the link between information and decision making is difficult to establish. The course draws on this assumption to equip participants with a critical understanding of the functioning and use of financial data and metrics in real business situations. It will enable students to acquire and articulate new forms of designing management control systems which enable managers to cope with organizational complexities. |
| Course description |
The course draws on this assumption to equip participants with a critical understanding of the functioning and use of financial data and metrics in complex organizations and projects. It will do so by combining business with insights from history, science and technology studies, literature and sociology to make course participants view familiar accounting and management reports under a new light and from a different perspective. This will allow them to conceive of, and design, management control systems as platform and interfaces to devise expert governance and wise leadership.
The course aims to provide participants with an adequate understanding of how technical tools are utilised in decision making (e.g. price setting), in project management (e.g. performance evaluation and programme mobilisation) and for external reporting exercises (e.g. stakeholders¿ management through financial reporting).
SYLLABUS
Financial management and controls in managing large projects
The roles of accounting in organizations
Sources of risk and uncertainty when dealing with complex decision making processes
Transparency, objectivity and independence in decision making
On decision making under uncertainty (I): tools, principles and issues
On decision making under uncertainty (II): mapping risks?
How to manage under uncertainty
Building effective management control systems for managing risk and uncertainty (I)
Identifying principles for good management control system design
Building effective management control systems for managing risk and uncertainty (II): Issues of wisdom, visibility and governance
Re-defining wisdom, visibility and governance in making decisions under uncertainty
Designing the architecture of effective reporting, governance and leadership systems
STUDENT LEARNING EXPERIENCE
Participants are required to do a substantial amount of work before coming to class. They will be assigned to study groups before the commencement of the module and group members are encouraged to share their impressions on the readings/case material. The module convener will also ask participants to share their knowledge on management control and risk management and link this knowledge to the cases and readings outlined in this course outline.
The role of the module leader will often be that of a facilitator of debates rather than a traditional lecturer that transmits pre-packaged knowledge. Thus, once in class, participants will be asked to bring their own experience in financial management issues. Class participation will be a key feature of the learning experience. Cases and readings will be thus utilised for developing a critical attitude towards ready-made managing solutions rather than as providing ¿instructions¿ or definite ¿guidelines¿ on how to deal with cost control, planning and monitoring of in complex organizations.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | For Business School PG students only, or by special permission of the School. Please contact the course secretary. |
| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
150
(
Lecture Hours 16,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 9,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 3,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
122 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
65 %,
Coursework
35 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Class Participation 10%
Group Assignment 25%
Degree Examination 65% |
| Feedback |
All students will be given at least one formative feedback or feedforward event for every course they undertake, provided during the semester in which the course is taken and in time to be useful in the completion of summative work on the course. Such feedback may be at course or programme level, but must include input of relevance to each course in the latter case.
Feedback will be provided on the final group work. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
|
| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | Management Control for Risk and Uncertainty | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and critically discuss the use in practice and limitations of basic financial techniques to assess the viability of projects, major programmes and complex organisations.
- Critically apply evaluation techniques to value large investments in infrastructure and be aware of the limitation of such techniques.
- Design financial metrics to monitor performance and risk.
- Utilise performance measurement and control techniques to mobilise change, increase chances of success and avoid failure
- Critically evaluate the organisational, political and social role that accounting figures can play in practical settings and in managing complex stakeholders relationships.
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Reading List
Required:
Macintosh, N. Quattrone, P., (2010). Management Accounting and Control Systems: An Organizational and Sociological Approach. New York: John Wiley (ISBN:978-0-470-71447-8): Chapters 3, 8, 9, 10, 11.
Advised Preparatory Work:
Finnerty, JD., (2013). Project financing: asset-based financial engineering. New York: John Wiley. Chapters 4, 5, 7, 8, 9. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Students will conceive of, and design, management control systems as platform and interfaces to devise expert governance and wise leadership.
Participants will gain an adequate understanding of how technical tools are utilised in decision making (e.g. price setting), in project management (e.g. performance evaluation and programme mobilisation) and for external reporting exercises (e.g. stakeholders¿ management through financial reporting).
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| Keywords | finManagementControlforRiskandUncertainty |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Paulo Quattrone
Tel: (0131 6)51 5541
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Rachel Allan
Tel: (0131 6)51 3757
Email: |
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