Managerial Accounting Information & Decisions

MBA5241 E00
Fall 2020

Professor Sagar Kulkarni, MBA, CPA, CMA

E-Mail [email protected]
Telephone Please contact me by email
Office Please contact me by email
Office Hours Please contact me by email
Class Location Virtual
2020-09-08 - 2020-10-13 (Tuesdays)
Class Hours EST - 19:00 - 21:50

Weight on
Course Deliverable Due Date
Final Grade
4 Quizzes x 15% Class 3, 4, 5, 6 60%
Final Examination Date to be confirmed 40%

Course Description
This course focuses on the role of the accounting function internal to the organization. It takes a
broad view of managerial accounting, introducing students to various costing systems, cost

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behavior patterns and cost structures. It demonstrates the use of accounting for the evaluation of
product, managerial and divisional performance thus helping students to understand what
accounting can do for decision makers and how accounting choices affect decisions. Emphasis on
the strategic importance of aligning accounting systems with firm technologies and goals. Current
issues in management accounting and internal reporting are discussed.

This course focuses on how managers use accounting information and the accounting system to
assist them in strategic planning, organisational decision making and management control. It is
oriented towards training managers to utilise their internal accounting system, not towards training
accountants to design and operate it. You will become familiar with management accounting
information, including how this information is used to support strategic objectives. As well, the
course will foster your understanding of how management accounting measures can both help and
hinder the creation of organisational value. The emphasis is not upon technical skills, but rather
the interpretive, analytic and judgement skills required to understand what accounting means, and
how accounting provides valuable information to managers.

The Telfer MBA distinguishes itself by training students to Lead High Performance
Organizations. One of the critical components of high organisational performance is the extent
to which employees can understand and integrate business functions in terms of their alignment
with organisational strategy. In-depth understanding of how the accounting system is used
within and across the organisation is critical to furthering this integration. By effectively
utilising accounting information and accounting systems for planning and control, individuals
can support strategic goals and foster a climate that encourages efforts to meet performance
objectives.

Course Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

:
• to provide an appreciation of the role of management accounting as part of the firm’s
organisational strategy, rather than as a set of computational topics;
• to gain an understanding of the strengths and limitations of an accounting system and
the trade-offs between designing it for planning and designing it for control;
• to prepare, use and evaluate critically management accounting information for decision
making in both a planning and control context;
• to understand behavioural and ethical issues in management accounting; and
• to sharpen analytic and problem-solving skills, including quantitative techniques.

The most important requirements for this course are reading the assigned materials, thorough
preparation of the assigned problems, and active participation in the classroom.

Links between Course Learning Outcomes and MBA Program

Learning Goals
Identify here how your course contributes to the attainment of one or more of the following
MBA Learning Goals [just click all that apply]

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 Learning Goal 1: Understanding Management Foundations and the Global Business
☒
Environment
Learning Goal 2: Integrating Business Functions and developing decision-making,
☒
critical thinking and analytic skills
☒ Learning Goal 3: Developing a Strategic Perspective

☐ Learning Goal 4: Developing Leadership, Communication and Teamwork Skills

☐ Learning Goal 5: Understanding the Value of Globalization

Learning Goal 6: Understanding the practical realities of delivering results to the
☐
business community.

Textbook/Course Package

COURSE MATERIALS WHERE TO GET IT

P.M. Collier and S.M Kizan, Accounting for Managers,
Canadian Edition. 2013, John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd.
Campus bookstore
& on reserve at library
The student website includes test questions and slides which
you may find helpful as you work through the material.

Instructional Methods
This online course contains both synchronous and asynchronous activities, purposefully designed
to provide flexibility in your learning process. The course is designed in a sequential module
structure in Brightspace, with resources and complete assignment instructions to be provided for
each topic and due dates noted. Synchronous activities will be completed during the scheduled
online class sessions (case discussions and Q&A’s) using MS Teams, while asynchronous
activities can be completed online at any time once made available in Brightspace (Content
modules and discussion forums).

The course will be taught by a virtual tool such as MS Team. All the students are expected to be
logged in during the session with their videos on. PowerPoint presentations will be done for
each class.

There will be 4 online quizzes to be done during the class time. The professor will give the quiz
during the class. It will be based on the previous class/es.

There will group discussion during the class to synthesize and further strengthen the concepts
learned during the class.

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Students unable to attend synchronous sessions, can engage, such as by reviewing the slides and
by participating in Brightspace discussion forums.

Technical Requirements and Support

This course requires that you to have a laptop or desktop computer with a reliable, high-speed
Internet connection that allows you to watch videos, participate in discussion forums, upload
images and use your uOttawa Google Drive.

Video conferencing software (MS Teams) is used for meeting with the instructor-- so you will
need to have a webcam and audio/voice capabilities through your computer. MS Teams work on
mobile/smart phones as well.

If you experience difficulties with Brightspace or with logins to any uOttawa systems, please do
not contact the instructor or the course TA until you have tried to solve the problem through the
IT supports in place at the University.

For all questions related to Brightspace, call the support line between 8 AM and 8 PM (Eastern)
at 1-866-811-3201 OR submit an online request using this form 24 hours a day.

For any other IT related issues, please contact IT services. They have a helpdesk that you can
call, or you can submit a service ticket with a specific request 24 hours a day.

For problems connecting to the library services, you can also contact the Morisset Help Desk.

Expectations for Communications

I prefer email for communications. Please use my email [email protected] for
all communications related to our course.

Please ensure that you have set up your Brightspace account to receive notifications of
announcements to your uOttawa email address -- and please check your uOttawa email daily.

Likewise, I ask that you use your uOttawa.ca email address for sending messages.

Students are asked to monitor their uOttawa.ca e-mail accounts regularly and carefully (not your
personal email accounts such as Yahoo, Gmail or Hotmail) as this is the conduit through which
the professor will communicate matters that concern the entire class.

Please ensure that you have set up your Brightspace account to receive notification of
announcements to your uOttawa.ca email address.

The professor will only respond to email message from registered students using their
uOttawa.ca email account.

Use of respondus software for Online Exams (OPTIONAL)

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The University of Ottawa will be implementing the use of software provided by Respondus exam
proctoring services for the purposes of ensuring the integrity of online examinations. Respondus
is just one means of ensuring academic integrity when conducting assessments. Please consult
the TLSS FAQ for more information.

The Respondus software is comprised of two components – 1) LockDown Browser and 2)

Monitor. Please watch this short video to get a basic understanding of how the LockDown
Browser and the Monitor software works.

Prior to taking an online test, you will be required to download and install the LockDown
Browser. Start the LockDown Browser and navigate to the exam. For additional details on using
this service, please review this Student Quick Start Guide.
When taking an online exam, note the following:
o Make sure to have access to a private and well-lit location with access to reliable internet.
o Turn off all mobile devices, phones, etc. and do not have them within reach.
o Clear your exam area of all external materials — books, papers, other computers, or devices.
o Know how much time is available for the exam, and that you have allotted sufficient time to
complete it. LockDown Browser will prevent you from accessing other websites or applications,
and you will be unable to exit the test until all questions are completed and submitted.
o Remain at your desk or workstation for the duration of the exam.

For more information about Respondus, including the collection of your personal information,
refer to the Respondus FAQ page on Virtual Campus.

Methods Used to Evaluate Student Performance

The course will be a blend of lectures, problem solving and discussion. You will be expected to
read each topic in advance of each class. You should be prepared to answer questions regarding
the class material if called upon. Small-group discussion and problem-solving sessions will be
used in each class.

MBA 5241 is oriented towards training managers how to utilise their organisation’s internal
accounting system to assist them in making decisions and secondly, how these systems are used
to control the actions of employees of the firm. Most employers expect leading MBAs to have a
high aptitude for understanding and performing financial analyses, including cost analyses.
Pricing decisions require cost analyses. Marketing and sales requires providing detailed cost
proposals to customers and thorough analyses of own-company versus competitor cost structures.
Investment banks and consulting firms sell their client services, in part, on the ability to do careful,
comprehensive financial and cost analyses. Takeovers and mergers require in-depth understanding
of cost structures and potential synergies.

MBA 5241 includes ample opportunities to develop your analytic and problem-solving skills.
However, you can only read so much about how to do financial analysis. Like sports or piano, you
also must practice. Spend time working through the class material. The purpose of this course is
to make you a better manager, not to merely have you read problems and solutions.

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Most of the problems will look easy once you have seen the solution. A key part of ‘practice’ is
thinking about how you would solve the problem, attempting it, and then discussing possible
solutions in class. Reading problems and solutions cannot help you analyse the situations that you
will encounter in the final examination and in your career.

Much of the course information builds upon key concepts covered in the first two sessions.
Keeping up with the material is important as it will be more difficult to apply the advanced
concepts in the latter part of the course if you have not invested time to learn the fundamentals
first. Perhaps more so than other subjects, accounting is difficult to learn by cramming. If you do
little work at the beginning of the course, it is likely that you will be increasingly lost for the
remainder.

This course confronts numerous issues for which the solutions frequently are partial or reflect
evolving ideas and on-going debate. Please be prepared to discuss and challenge issues and
solutions and integrate these ideas into your own developing expertise.

BrightSpace will be used to notify you of important information, discussion questions and
supplementary readings. Do ensure that you consult this resource to keep up to date on class
sessions.

Evaluation of Performance:

Weight on
Course Deliverable Due Date
Final Grade

Quizzes 60%
Class 3, 4, 5 and 6 (4 × 15% each)
Final examination (date to be confirmed) 40%

(a) Assignments
Each student must do four (4) online quizzes. These quizzes are worth 15% each for a total
of 60% of your overall grade. The quiz will be online in the BrightSpace. These quizzes are
to be completed individually. The quiz will cover the material covered in the previous class.

(b) Final Examination

The final examination will take place as per the MBA program schedule. It will presume a high
degree of familiarity with the material including class sessions, discussions and readings. The best
way to prepare for the final examination is to prepare carefully for class. The examination is
cumulative and covers all material discussed in the course, including the concepts, examples,
articles and readings. It is closed-book, closed-notes in format and represents 40% of your overall
grade.

Note : In order to pass this course, students must obtain at least 50% on the
final exam or 20/40 marks.

**Please note that it is not possible to submit extra course work to improve your mark**.

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Expectations for Student Participation
To encourage your participation, you will be called on from time to time to provide your
perspective on concepts being studied (but feel free to volunteer your opinion or ask a question
about something we are discussing). You should try to base your comments on the readings,
class discussions, cases, or on your own experiences. Doing so will often enable the learning
environment in the class. Note that the quality (judged by the degree to which your contribution
is linked to course concepts and or readings, raises an issue not so far discussed, provides a good
example of a course concept in practice, clarifies the distinction between and among course
concepts etc.) of your contribution is more important than the quantity.

Academic integrity/protocol:
We will be using MS Teams to connect synchronously. As an essential aspect of academic
integrity, do not share any of the details (i.e., link, sign-in information) with anyone outside this
section of the course. If any issues with sharing such information arises (e.g., “zoombombing”, I
will manage the issue, terminating our session if necessary. I hope not to have to do this, as these
synchronous sessions are an essential part of building knowledge and skills in the course and
help you prepare for the final exam.

Course Schedule

Class Date Topics Chapters Quiz

Session
1 Sep. 8 Introduction; Management 1, 2 (in part) and
Accounting (Role, Core 6 (in part)
Activities),
Value-Based Management
Management Control
2 Sep. 15 Cost Behaviour Marketing
CVP Analysis Decisions
Selling Price 8
Decisions to Keep or Drop a
Product Line
3 Sep. 22 Accounting for Cost of Spare Opertions 1 – based on
Capacity Decisions session 2
Product Mix 9
Cost of Quality HR Decisions
Cost of Labour 10
Variability in Labour
Outsourcing Labour Costs
4 Sep. 29 Cost Classification Accounting 2 – Based on
Calculating Product – Service Cost Decisions session 3
(Full Cost, Variable Cost, ABC) 11
5 Oct. 6 Divisional Performance Performance 3 – based on
Measurement Evaluation session 4
Controllability 13
Non-Financial Performance
Evaluation
Transfer Pricing
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 6 Oct. 13 Budgeting Budgeting and 4 –based on
Budgeting Control Budgetory session 5
Control
14, 15
7 TBC Final Examination All chapters

COURSE POLICIES
Beware of Academic Fraud

Academic Regulation 14 defines academic fraud as “any act by a student that may result in a
distorted academic evaluation for that student or another student. Academic fraud includes but is
not limited to activities such as:
a) Plagiarism or cheating in any way;
b) Submitting work not partially or fully the student’s own, excluding properly cited
quotations and references. Such work includes assignments, essays, tests, exams,
research reports and theses, regardless of whether the work is written, oral or another
form;
c) Presenting research data that are forged, falsified or fabricated;
d) Attributing a statement of fact or reference to a fabricated source;
e) Submitting the same work or a large part of the same piece of work in more than one
course, or a thesis or any other piece of work submitted elsewhere without the prior
approval of the appropriate professors or academic units;
f) Falsifying or misrepresenting an academic evaluation, using a forged or altered
supporting document or facilitating the use of such a document;
g) Taking any action aimed at falsifying an academic evaluation.”1

The Telfer School of Management does not tolerate academic fraud. Please familiarize
yourself with the guidance provided at: http://web5.uottawa.ca/mcs-
smc/academicintegrity/home.php

Access Service - For students needing adaptive measures

Students who have a disability or functional limitation and who need adaptive measures (changes
to the physical setting, arrangements for exams, learning strategies, etc.) to progress or
participate fully in university life should contact Access Service right away:

• By visiting our office on the third floor of the Desmarais Building, Room 3172
• By filling out the online registration form
• By calling us phone at 613-562-5976

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Access Service designs services and implements measures to break down barriers to learning for
students with physical or mental health problems, visual impairments or blindness, hearing
impairments or deafness, permanent or temporary disabilities, or learning disabilities.

Deadlines for submitting requests for adaptive measures during exams:

All final exams, tests, mid-terms, deferred exams

- 7 days before the exam (not including the day of the exam and statutory holidays)

Get a head start on research. Visit the Library!

The University of Ottawa Library has everything you need to produce quality results, quickly
and efficiently.

- Use the Research Guides to get you started.

- Find scholarly articles, market intelligence, and much more in their collections.
- Book an appointment with a Librarian to get you/your group started on a challenging
research question.
- Visit the virtual Library or visit in person at the Desmarais building, rm. 2141.

Notice against sexual violence

The University of Ottawa will not tolerate any act of sexual violence. This includes acts such as
rape and sexual harassment, as well as misconduct that take place without consent, which
includes cyberbullying. The University, as well as various employee and student groups, offers a
variety of services and resources to ensure that all uOttawa community members have access to
confidential support and information, and to procedures for reporting an incident or filing a
complaint. For more information, please visit http://www.uOttawa.ca/sexual-violence-support-
and-prevention/.

Statement of Shared Rights and Responsibilities

http://www.telfer.uottawa.ca/assets/documents/2017/Statement-of-Shared-Rights-and-
Responsibilities-EN.pdf

Peer Evaluations

Working in teams is an important aspect of the Telfer MBA program. You are expected to
contribute fully to all team assignments and to meet deadlines required by the team. Professors
might require that each student review the contributions of his or her teammates. The purpose is
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to provide constructive feedback, but the peer evaluations will also be used to reduce individual
marks for those students who, according to their teammates, are not contributing fully to the
team’s deliverables. Please note that in some situations, this reduction could lead to a failing
grade for the course.

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Personal Ethics Statement Concerning Telfer School
Assignments
Group Assignment:

By signing this Statement, I am attesting to the fact that I have reviewed not only my own work,
but the work of my colleagues, in its entirety.

I attest to the fact that my own work in this project meets all of the rules of quotation and
referencing in use at the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, as well as
adheres to the fraud policies as outlined in the Academic Regulations in the University’s Calendar.
I further attest that I have knowledge of and have respected the “Beware of Plagiarism” brochure
found on LMS / BrightSpace.

To the best of my knowledge, I also believe that each of my group colleagues has also met the
rules of quotation and referencing aforementioned in this Statement.

I understand that if my group assignment is submitted without a signed copy of this Personal Ethics
Statement from each group member, it will be interpreted by the Telfer School that the missing
student(s) signature is confirmation of non-participation of the aforementioned student(s) in the
required work.

______________ _______________
Signature Date
________________________________ _______________
Last Name (print), First Name (print) Student Number

______________ _______________
Signature Date
________________________________ _______________
Last Name (print), First Name (print) Student Number

______________ _______________
Signature Date
________________________________ _______________
Last Name (print), First Name (print) Student Number

______________ _______________
Signature Date
________________________________ _______________
Last Name (print), First Name (print) Student Number

______________ _______________
Signature Date
________________________________ _______________
Last Name (print), First Name (print) Student Number

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Personal Ethics Statement – Telfer School of Management

Individual Assignment:

By signing this Statement, I am attesting to the fact that I have reviewed the entirety of my attached
work and that I have applied all the appropriate rules of quotation and referencing in use at the
Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, as well as adhered to the fraud policies
outlined in the Academic Regulations in the University’s Calendar. I further attest that I have
knowledge of and have respected the “Beware of Plagiarism” brochure found on Brightspace.

________________________________ ______________
Signature Date

________________________________ ______________
Last Name (print), First Name (print) Student Number

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