Lecture 1 MN2405

Introduction to Managerial
Accounting MN2405

Claire Fenton
HELLO! MN2405

WELCOME!
You will be taught by:
Claire Fenton: Claire.fenton@rhul.ac.uk
• Office Mccrea 218
• Office hours- please email for appointment.
• Workshop Tutors: Teddy Foster, Saffet Uygur and Yiannis
Anagnostopoulos

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How will I be assessed? 2 ASSESSMENTS MN2405

1. Multiple Choice Quiz Test (MCQ)

Wednesday 6th December
weighting 70%
• This is a 90-minute multiple choice test. There will be 25 questions- 3.6 minutes each.
• The test is taken individually and can be conducted not invigilated in your own home on moodle thus it is open
book.
• Each students test will be different- from a bank of questions- each student will have the same composition of
questions from each section and same balance of quantitative vs qualitative

Preparation
•Lectures: Read the lectures and complete the exercises with the tutor
•Workshops: Within your workshop we will be completing some online ,MCQ quizzes in similar format to your test.
The workshop tutors will be picking several difficult questions to work through with you.
•Extra Questions Online- While these are longer questions they practise in smaller parts your multiple choice
questions. These are to be done as homework for extra practise. There is a video debrief of these questions to help
guide you if you need and will not be longer than 40 minutes.
•Mock online quizzes as well as PDF Quizzes- mocks are often 25 questions and 80 mins like the previous tests.
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How will I be assessed? MN2405

2. Timed Assignment 30% 10th January

• 75 minutes – same time for all like an exam.
• Online question downloaded from moodle and submitted to Turnitin.
• Preparation of a professional corporate email providing requested information to
your line manager to a deadline.
• All the same material. Choice to use AI however need to understand the
drawbacks.

Preparation:
•Attend lectures- It is consolidating all knowledge but very little calculations. It is
providing recommendations and explanations on management information.
•Complete the mock questions
•Watch revision session in December
•Work your way through revision section – No more than 8 hours work
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Layout of module! TIMETABLE – in moodle tab MN2405

Dates Week Lecture - 2 hours Pre workshop homework (1 hour max) Workshop - 1 hour Homework- 1 hour approx
Tuesday Wednesday Thursday /Friday Weekend
•Re-read Lecture
25.09.23 1 Lecture 1: Introduction to Management Accounting •Review Moodle to ensure you are happy with Topic 1 MCQ Quiz Complete any extra MCQ quiz questions
layout
•Re-read Lecture
Lecture 2: Cost-volume-profit analysis for short term
02.10.23 2 •Complete Extra Lecture 2 Practise Question- Topic 2 MCQ Quiz Complete any extra MCQ quiz questions
decisions
Handyman
•Complete any extra MCQ quiz questions
Lecture 3: Relevant Flows for short term decisions •Re-read Lecture •Review Jan 2020 Assignment past paper to give
09.10.23 3 Topic 3 MCQ Quiz
(part a) you an understanding of how the assignment
maybe asked.
Lecture 4: Relevant Flows for short term decisions •Re-read Lecture
16.10.23 4 Topic 4 MCQ Quiz Complete any extra MCQ quiz questions
(part b)
•Re-read Lecture
23.10.23 5 Lecture 5: Full costing for long term decisions Topic 5 Workshop example Topic 5 MCQ Quiz
•Re-read all lectures
30.10.23 6 Study Week - not ski week
•Re-do all quiz questions and workshops
•Re-read Lecture •Complete any extra MCQ quiz questions
Lecture 6: Full costing with ABC and pricing for long
06.11.23 7 •Complete Extra Lecture 6 Practise Question- Lecture 6 MCQ Quiz •Review mock 2 assignment question to see how
term decisions
Twilight the assignment maybe asked (not priority)
•Complete any extra MCQ quiz questions
•Re-read Lecture
13.11.23 8 Lecture 7: Variance Analysis of Revenue and Costs Lecture 7 MCQ Quiz •Watch Lecture 8A Budgets pre recording (20
minutes)
•Re-read Lecture
20.11.23 9 Lecture 8: Budgets •Complete Extra Lecture 8 Practise Question- Lecture 8 MCQ Quiz Complete any extra MCQ quiz questions
Skippy
•Re-read Lectures
Lecture 9: Revision of Assignment and Questions for
27.11.23 10 Revision for test Drop in Help Clinics •Re-work ALL MCQ tests
mock
•Past papers that were in word
No lecture or workshop to reduce the stress as it is
our test week- Monday- Tuesday I will release the
04.12.23 11 Assessment 1: Online MCQ test Wednesday 6th December 2023 12pm
timed mock to do in 90 minutes to practise the exam
pressure.
08.01.24 Next term Assessment 2: Online Assignment Wednesday 10th January 2024 10am

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How to succeed… MN2405

1. Attend lecture Monday (2 hours)

2. Homework: read lectures/
complete extra Question
Wednesday (30 minutes)
3. Attend Workshop: We do the
hardest questions in MCQ and
discuss the topics and how they
could come up in the
assignment.
4. Homework Sat-Monday (1 hour
max) read over lecture and
complete any extra quiz
questions

6 This Photo by Unknown Author is lcensed under CC BY-NC-ND

Core text MN2405

Core text
Scott, P. (2019). Accounting for
Business 3e (3rd ed.). Oxford
University Press, USA.

Or
Drury (2018) Management
Accounting for
Business. Cengage Learning.
(E text available)
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Help needed? MN2405

1!!!! Moodle- All questions can be answered generally in moodle! Please read and get used to
this as a valuable source of information! Those student obtained firsts and 2.1’s could find
everything here
 Course information/layout/timetable/assessment information
 Full lecture slides: plus recordings
 Workshops: how to tackle
o MCQ questions
o Assignment style questions
 Online Quizzes – MCQ test practise
 Online revision:
o Online debrief of mock test
o Online debrief of mock assignment
 Helpful links to articles and other resources

2. Claire Fenton
(lecturer and course coordinator)

3. Workshop tutors:
Teddy Foster, Yiannis Anagnostopoulos, Saffet Uygur

4. Textbook
Helpful chapters to read through for better knowledge and
understanding
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Lecture - Open Mic Session MN2405

 Each lecture session we have an

'open mic' session for 5 minutes for
feedback.
 This is for messages on the module,
student messages for activities they
want to promote
 Especially as we are trialling quite a
few new teaching techniques on
MN2405 so I am interested on your
feedback.

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 MN2405

Introduction to Management
Accounting
Tell me what you did last year in MN1405? MN2405

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What are we doing in Management Accounting? MN2405

“Management accounting presents information to parties internal to the business and

aims to provide data that is relevant to making business decisions now and in the
future.” (Scott, 2019)

Cost Accounting: “the starting point of this information is not a summary of all
transactions but a detailed analysis of individual cost components of products and
services with a view to determining selling prices for those products and services.”
(Scott, 2019)

“If you worked out your expected cash inflow and what you expected to spend during
your first year at university, you have already undertaken a management accounting
exercise”
(Scott, 2019)

12 Peter Scott, Accounting for Business, third edition, 2019. Page 253
Differences between management accounting and
MN2405
financial accounting
Financial accounting Management accounting
information and information
financial statements

Who is the user Available to all users Available to management

of the who have asked for the
information information
Legal Companies must
None unless tied to Financial
requirements produce annual financial
accounts Accounting need

Focus The whole business

Whatever aspect of
business needed

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Contrast between management accounting and
MN2405
financial accounting Drury, 2015, pages 6-7
Financial accounting Management accounting
information and financial information
statements

Time Mostly concerned with past

dimension information Anytime: Past, present and
future- to help us!

Report Annually, but some

When ever necessary
frequency information produced
semi-annually

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 So what does management Accounting do? MN2405

“Detailed cost information can then be used to plan what the business will do
and what decisions it will make to enable it to operate profitably in the future.
For planning and control purposes, this detailed information will be
summarized into budgets for a particular period of time and these budgets
will be used to compare actual performance with budgeted performance as a
way of controlling the operations of the business.”

“Such guiding and controlling is undertaken with a view to enabling the

achievement of an entity’s short- and long-term aims. Without a plan no-one,
whether an individual or a business, will achieve anything. Without
monitoring actual outcomes against the plan entities will be unable to
determine whether their plans are reaching fulfilment or not.”

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Where does ethical behaviour fit in? MN2405

If a firm is maximising profit, does this mean

that it, and its employees, can engage in any
type of behaviour in pursuit of that aim?

Any examples of unethical behavior in companies that you

have heard of?

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Oh Ooooooooo! Who was naughty? MN2405

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 Management Accountants need to be ethical MN2405

CIMA’s Code of Ethics

Integrity – to be straightforward and honest in all professional and business relationships.

Objectivity – to not allow bias, conflict of interest or undue influence of other to overrode
professional or business judgements.

Professional Competence and Due Care – to maintain professional knowledge and skill at the
level required to ensure that a client or employer receives competent professional services
based on current developments in practice, legislation and techniques and acts diligently and in
accordance with available technical and professional standards.

Confidentiality – To respect the confidentiality of information acquired as a result of

professional and business relationships and, therefore, not disclose any such information to
third parties without proper and specific authority, unless there is a legal or professional right to
disclose, nor use the information for the personal advantage of the professional accountant or
third parties.

Professional behaviour – to comply with relevant laws and regulations and avoid any action that
discredits the profession.
SPOILER ALERT! In the assignment!
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Management Accountants need to be ethical MN2405

http://www.cimaglobal.com/D
ocuments/Professional%20ethi
cs%20docs/2015%20code%20
of%20ethics/CIMA_Code_of_E
thics2.pdf
[accessed 8 June 2017]

See your readings and video

link

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Cost Accounting – Basics
Scott, P,2019, Accounting for Business, Edition 3 page 260-264)
Cost classification by behaviour MN2405

What do we think they do as

our production goes up??
Costs may be broadly
classified as:
Those that stay fixed (the same)
when changes occur to the
Fixed volume of activity

Those that vary according

Variable to the volume of activity

(Scott, 2019 page 260-264)

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 MN2405
Revision topic 1: Variable costs

Unit variable cost (£)

CONSTANT

• Costs that vary in direct proportion to the volume of activity

• Unit variable cost is a constant i.e cost per unit is constant
• Examples: materials and production labour, perhaps power, EBOOK cost for the
university for the textbook- charged per student
• Anything you can trace into each unit that will increase in cost with every item you
make.
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Revision topic 1: Fixed costs MN2405

CONSTANT

Unit fixed cost (£)

• Fixed costs remain constant over wide ranges of activity for a specified time period
(total fixed cost is a constant)
• Examples: supervisors’ salaries, mortgage over a set period, rent over a set period, all in
contracts such as mobile phone bill over a set period without add ons
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Semi-fixed (or step-fixed) costs MN2405

 Some costs that appear fixed in the short term will vary over the
longer term when a wider range of activity is considered
 Example: rents over a period of time, wedding venue hire under
100 guests is £10,000, between 100 and 150 £13,000 etc
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Revision topic 1: Semi-variable costs MN2405

• These costs have both a fixed and a variable element.

• Examples: mobile, television such as sky packages and other
utility bills

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Graph of total cost for an organisation MN2405
against level of activity

Cost
(£) Total cost

Variable
costs
F
Fixed costs

0
Volume of activity (units of output)

Does the total cost line remind you of any other type of cost that we
have discussed today?
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No real revision before workshop 1! MN2405

• Just turn up.

• It starts this week.

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