Postgraduate Course: Communication, Governance and Control (CMSE11365)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| 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 reports, management control and governance systems which enable managers to cope with organizational complexities. |
| Course description |
The course aims to equip course 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 platforms and interfaces to facilitate internal and external communication, devise expert governance and exercise 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 reporting exercises (e.g. stakeholders¿ management).
Students will be required to do a substantial amount of reading and to share their impressions on the readings/case material via the online discussion forums. The course lecturer 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 course lecturer will often be that of a facilitator of debates rather than a traditional lecturer who transmits pre-packaged knowledge. Thus participants will be asked to bring their own experience in financial management issues to the online discussion forums and participation in these will be a key feature of the learning experience. Cases and readings will be thus utilised for developing a critical attitude towards ready-made management 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 | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
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
Principal textbook:
Management Accounting and Control Systems: An Organizational and Sociological Approach, 2nd Edition (2010), Macintosh, N. Quattrone, P.,
Publisher: John Wiley, ISBN: 978-0-470-71447-8 (Paperback), Chapters 3, 8, 9, 10, 11.
ISBN: 978-0-470-97929-7 (e-text), Chapters 3, 8, 9, 10, 11.
The selected book chapters introduce a different approach to management control in situations where the link between information and action is not clear or opaque. This helps to set the scene for discussing various roles that accounting and control play in organizations and could play in order to manage risk and uncertainty.
Advised Preparatory Work:
No preparatory work is required. Students who are not familiar with NPV analysis may want to look at:
Project Financing: Asset-Based Financial Engineering (2013), Finnerty, JD.,
Publisher: John Wiley, ISBN: 978-1-118-39410-6 (Paperback), Chapters 4, 5, 7, 8, 9.
Any other source dealing with NPV and investment valuations will also be acceptable.
Details of any additional readings for each topic will be given in the weekly study plan released on Blackboard Learn. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- Participants will conceive of, and design, management control systems as platforms 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).
- Enhancement of technology skills through use of online tools and resources for student learning. |
| Keywords | CGC |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Paolo Quattrone
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Kelly-Ann De Wet
Tel: (0131 6)50 8071
Email: |
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