N1551: Advanced Management Accounting
Individual coursework for A1 Sit
Weight: 40% of total marks.
Word count: 2,000 words excluding references and appendices.
Advanced Management Accounting considers planning, control and decision making at a strategic, company-wide level. Performance is measured and managed using financial and non-financial metrics.
The purpose of this assignment is for students to demonstrate an ability to critically engage with academic literature that covers strategic performance management and consider how the same is applied in contemporary practice.
In addition to the above, this assignment requires students to critically consider how the same example from contemporary practice above meets Managerial accountability as defined by Sinclair (1995).
Requirement:
Write an essay which critically examines a recent, publicly available report detailing financial and non-financial performance measures. The report can be for a company or not-for-profit organisation. Particular attention should be paid to how the measurement approach fits in with the organisation’s strategy and if it succeeds in holding organisation to account.
Your essay must draw on the relevant literature on strategy, accountability and financial/non-financial performance measures.
Guidance notes:
1. Very broadly, the ideal essay approach would be to discuss the literature on strategy, performance measurement and accountability, then consider how this aligns with the report you have identified as an contemporary practice.
ESG factors are not explicitly required, but are likely to feature prominently in your work.
2. You are advised to thoroughly read, draw on, and refer to relevant articles related to strategy, performance measurement and accountability. These have been discussed in Week 1 (Strategy & Management Accounting), Week 4 (Strategic Cost Accounting & the BSC) and Week 5 (Accountability 1). A selection of articles is available on Canvas. The relevant Drury chapters are Chapter 21, 22, and 23.
3. Your selected company report should be recent (less than five years old) and publicly available. Most annual reports of large companies will discuss the company’s performance measures in great detail, but it does not necessarily have to be from an annual report. Any public facing document will suffice. A URL to the original source is required.
4. A key part of your essay should be the discussion of strategy using the concepts discussed in the lectures. You need to examine and explicitly articulate whether the metrics fit the company’s strategy and why.
5. Ideally, your essay should refer to industry-specific characteristics, and you are welcome to support some of your arguments by reports from the organisation’s competitors/peers.
6. Any report that demonstrates how the organisation uses a collection of key performance indicators (or metrics), some of which should be non-financial, is allowed.
7. It will not be sufficient to simply list the elements of the report and describe them without any personal value judgement. We will need you to critically engage with the selected report, and discuss its advantages and disadvantages, acknowledging previously made arguments from the literature.
8. Your essay should ideally be structured as follows:
o Introduction
o Main body:
§ Introduce the report and organisation of your choice.
§ Drawing on literature discussing strategy theory, explain how the measures help the development and implementation of the strategy of the organisation.
§ Explain aspects of the industry sector of the company that have helped inform. the development of the metrics being used.
§ Drawing on literature, explain how the metrics discussed meets managerial accountability as defined by Sinclair (1995)
§ With clear use of strategic management accounting theory (eg BSC), explain potential issues with the measures and discuss how these might be overcome.
o Conclusion
o A list of references you have used.
Learning outcomes to be assessed
1. Demonstrate a knowledge of management accounting systems and advanced techniques in their broader context.
2. Demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate the effectiveness of management accounting techniques and systems.
3. Evaluate and apply contemporary theory and evidence to management practice.
4. Understand the importance of both ethical and methodological assumptions for framing accounting knowledge and practice.
Please see the next page for frequently asked questions about the coursework.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Coursework
Q. Can I use the same report as my friend or another fellow student?
A. No, we expect all students to come up with their own example. You should not use an example that you know is used by one of your fellow students.
Q. It says in the brief that we can use reports from other organisations in the same industry to illustrate some points. Do these have to be unique as well?
A. No these do not have to be unique.
Q. What companies do you recommend I look for instead?
A. We would suggest looking at companies that are smaller, but still publicly listed, for example those listed on FTSE 250, AIM or NASDAQ. The company needs to manage operations, have customers, and employ staff, otherwise a BSC or similar would not be suitable. UK companies are required to include a strategic report with their annual report, and this should probably be your first port of call.
Q. I've found a company and they have what looks like a BSC but is not actually called a BSC.
A. Yes this is fine. There are different names for the BSC. Look out for terms such as 'dashboard', 'strategy map', 'strategy prism', 'strategic performance framework', etc. As long as the company has a set of grouped non-financial performance indicators you should be fine.
Q. I think I found a good report but I'm still not sure.
A. Please feel free to check it with the course convenor.
Q. The BSC I have found has more than 4 perspectives, and they don't quite look like the ones that were discussed in class.
A. Yes this is entirely expected because companies tailor their BSC to their strategies and their challenges, which are potentially industry-specific. This should form. the basis of your essay.
Q. Do I need to contact the company to obtain extra information?
No, this is not required or expected, and will not lead to extra marks. All information should be available to the general public.
Q. Is there a 10% leeway with respect to the word count?
Yes this is School policy. However, please stay as close to the 2,000 words as you possibly can. Respecting the word limit provides evidence that you are able to succinctly convey your arguments without being overly wordy.
Q. What referencing style. should I use?
Please use the Harvard style. (Author Date). The Sussex Skills Hub explains it in detail.
Q. Are tables included in the word count?
Yes tables are included in the word count. Please present them in-line in your essay, not at the end.
Q. Are my cover page, references, and appendices included in the word count?
No, your cover page, your references and your appendices (if any) are all excluded from the word count.