Postgraduate - UnitAFX9560 - Advanced financial accounting

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2012 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 3, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Business and Economics
Offered	Caulfield First semester 2012 (Day) Caulfield First semester 2012 (Evening) Caulfield Second semester 2012 (Day) Caulfield Second semester 2012 (Evening)

Synopsis

This unit is one of the final core units in the Master of Professional Accounting, and builds on knowledge and skills gained in earlier units in financial accounting. One of its primary purposes is to introduce students to theories currently being used to assist in understanding the role of financial accounting and reporting in the decision making process of both preparers and users of information. These theories include positive accounting theory, capital markets and systems theories. It also addresses how regulation might influence the production of accounting information.

The unit addresses a number of contemporary accounting topics, from both a practical and theoretical perspective. These include intangible assets, social and environmental reporting, financial instruments and foreign currency transactions.

Outcomes

The learning goals associated with this unit are to:

apply a range of theories of accounting to explain financial accounting and reporting practices and appreciate the judgments, estimations and assumptions influencing accounting numbers
critically assess and appreciate changing influences in standard setting; the compliance regime in capital markets and impacts of regulatory requirements on financial reporting practices
assess the role of financial accounting in sustainable development and corporate social and environmental performance reporting
analyse a range of financial reporting issues, including intangible assets, financial instruments and foreign currency transactions, from both a practical and theoretical perspective; and demonstrate effective individual research skills to produce professional quality business documents to solve financial accounting problems; and demonstrate in individual summative assessment tasks the acquisition of a comprehensive understanding of the topics covered by this unit.