Course Number:
AC325
Course Title: Cost
Accounting
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
General
This course covers the cost accounting system output relevant to
managerial decision-making, planning and control and builds on the foundation
already established by the managerial accounting course. The course takes the
student beyond determination of cost for financial statement valuation purposes:
1) The
student is expected to develop a deeper understanding of managerial information
needs and processes in an organization.
2) The
student will also be able to describe the role of cost accounting in providing
planning, controlling, decision-making and
performance evaluation information
needed by the organization.
Specific
Students will be able to:
1. Identify and
calculate
a)
cost accumulation / cost
presentation
b)
absorption / variable costing
c)
product / period costs
d)
cost-volume-profit analysis
e)
contribution margin in units and
dollar
f)
break-even point in unit dollars
g)
sale, cost of goods sold, gross
profit and net income
h)
profit before and after taxes based
on fixed cost
i)
incremental analysis
j)
degree of operating leverage
2. Explain the concept of
relevance and sunk costs by:
a)
association with decision
b)
importance to decision maker
c)
bearing on the future
d)
outsourcing, scarce resources, sales
mix and product line decisions
3. Describe the Master Budget
and prepare the various component budgets.
a) operating /
financial
b) sales /
production
c) personnel
d) capital
e) cash
f) budgeted
financial statements
4. Explain the purpose of
capital budgeting and calculate:
a) cash flow
using time-lines and payback period
b) discounted
cash flow using NPV, profitability index, and IRR
c) the effect of
depreciation on after-tax cash flows
5. Identify and describe the
various elements of cost control:
a) cost control
systems and cost changes
b) committed vs.
discretionary costs
c) use of
budgets as a cost control tool
i)
activity-based budgeting
ii)
program budgeting
iii)
zero-based budgeting
6. Explain:
a) the importance
if inventory management
b) the production
flow
c) the use of
flexible manufacturing systems and how they relate to computer-integrated
manufacturing
d) the theory of
constraints
e) purchasing
costs and carrying costs and how they are computed
f) push and pull
systems of production control work
g) product life
cycles and how they affect product costing and profitability
h) target
costing/just-in-time philosophy and how they affect production
7. Explain the concepts of:
a) business
reengineering and change
b) competitive
force/diversity in the firm
c) enterprise
resources planning and its potential benefits to the firm
d) open-book
management
e) environmental
cost control
8. Explain
a) the
differences among various types of responsibility centers
b) the allocation
of services department costs
c) transfer
pricing and how it is calculated
d) the advantages
and disadvantages of service transfer prices
9. Describe
a)
performance measure and how they are tied to organizational mission and
strategies
b)
guidelines or criteria that apply to the design of performance measures
c)
traditional short-term financial performance measure of profit and investment
centers
d) the statement
of Cash Flows and its usefulness in performance measurements
e)
the similarities abd differences of
return on investment and residual income
f)
the use of ROI and how it creates
subsidization in investment decision
10. Describe:
a) the
importance of a vision statement to the firm
b) long-run
objectives vis-a-vis short-run objectives
c)
non-financial performance measure
d) how
activity-based costing is used in long-run performance evaluation
e) performance
measurement constraints