Attendance at weekly classes is compulsory for this unit. To satisfy requirements for satisfactory attendance, the student must attend TEN of the weekly classes. A medical certificate is not required for absences from class, unless there is an assessment that they have missed that week. However, unless a student attends at least ten of the set classes, the student will not be allowed to attempt the final exam and must withdraw from the unit. Medical certificates do not exempt the student from this latter requirement, but may be used by the student to ask Macquarie administration for a W result on medical grounds.

Teaching staff

Please use email as the first form of contact. Teaching staff will receive correspondence only if sent to the unit email account above.

Contacting staff

The consultation timetable will be made available on the unit’s website in week 2. Staff members are available for two hours per week for consultation starting from week 3.

You are encouraged to seek help at a time that is convenient to you from a staff member teaching on this unit during their regular consultation hours. In special circumstances, an appointment may be made outside regular consultation hours. Staff will not conduct any consultations by email. You may, however, phone staff during their consultation hours.

In order to gain access to staff located at levels 2 and 3 of building E4A during their consultation hours, please ring the staff member from the phones available in the lobby (phone numbers of relevant staff members will be provided on iLearn and are available next to the phones).

Students experiencing significant difficulties with any topic in the unit must seek assistance immediately.

Classes

• There are 3 hours face-to-face teaching per week consisting of 1 x 2-hour lecture and 1 x 1-hour workshop each week. These classes are run together as one three hour session.

• The timetable for classes can be found on the University web site at: http://www.timetables.mq.edu.au/

Timetable for lectures

ACCG871 requires students to attend a three hour class once per week. 

Attendance requirements

The lecturer will record attendance each week. You must attend at least ten of the weekly classes in order to complete satisfactory coursework requirements for this unit. For this purpose we do not accept medical certificates for missed classes; it is up to you to organize yourself to come to at least ten classes.

Required and Recommended Texts and/or Materials

Jubb, P.B., Haswell, S.M. and I.A. Langfield-Smith, Company Accounting, 5th Edition 2010, Cengage, Melbourne.

The text can be purchased from the Macquarie University Co-op Bookshop.

This text is used extensively for both lecture references and for tutorial work in each week of the unit. Ideally students should have a copy of this text that they can access at all times. Copies of this text are available on Library Reserve.

Technology Used and Required

You will need basic computer skills to use Macquarie University’s iLearn teaching facility (refer to the detail contained below in Unit Web Page). You will need to download documents supplied in pdf format.

Unit Web Page

ACCG871 lecture handouts, notices and homework solutions will be available in full from the unit’s web page. You can access the web page on campus, at work or at home, where you can login to “iLearn” https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/login/MQ/. Please check the web site on a regular basis for notices, updates, etc.

Lectures will be audio recorded on ‘iLecture’ and made available on iLearn by the end of the week.  

Changes Since The Last Offering of This Unit

The textbook and assessment tasks are different to that from the previous semester.  

The first lecture (week 1) begins with administration of the unit. Topic areas covered include the International Accounting Standards Board, Australian equivalents of International Financial Reporting Standards, and the Framework.

Week 2 examines share issues and the elements of financial statements and how they are presented in a company’s accounting records and classified in the financial statements.

Week 3 discusses the re-organization of a company’s capital. Of special interest is the share buyback, a procedure used recently by a number of high-profile companies.

Week 4 covers  the revaluation of assets and how they may be impaired.

Week 5 considers investment in new assets, especially those that lead to business combinations, an important concept. The discussion this week is from the point of view of the acquirer of the asset. Investments are considered for a single asset, then for multiple assets that amount to a business (and those that do not); and these are contrasted with equity (share) investments in other companies. The latter may lead to the acquirer having significant influence over the other company, or control over it. The accounting in each case is different. Significant influence leads to equity accounting. Control leads to consolidation accounting. All of these are introduced in the same text chapter (Ch. 16) so that the purpose of each is compared and contrasted.

Week 6 is the first of five weeks devoted to the study of consolidation accounting. We begin with the principles of consolidation accounting including the control criterion, the entity concept, consolidation processes and the preparation of a consolidation worksheet at control date.

Week 7 continues the discussion of the consolidation process and the preparation of a consolidation worksheet, but this time is the application after control date.

Week 8 covers the elimination of intra-entity transactions within a consolidated group.

Week 9 considers impact of non-controlling interests on the consolidation worksheet.

Week 10 covers the consolidation accounting of indirect ownership interests which can arise when there are more than two companies in the group.

Week 11 covers the topic of equity accounting that accounts for the relationship between an investor and its associates.

Week 12 considers how subsidiaries in foreign countries may be consolidated and the impacts of issues such as currency differences.

Week 13 revises the unit’s objectives to assist students with their final exam preparation.

• This unit discusses the latest research findings on corporate reporting.
• This unit provides the latest news on the development of accounting standards.
• This unit addresses global and sustainability issues as direct areas of study and as necessary implications arising from the materials, assessment and academic discussion and debate in classes/seminars. We promote sustainability by developing ability in students to research and locate information within financial accounting. We aim to provide students with an opportunity to obtain skills which will benefit them throughout their career.