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GMBA8021 – Know Your Numbers 1

2023 – Coursera term 4, Online-scheduled-weekday

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Haiyan Jiang
haiyan.jiang@mq.edu.au
Thanh Phan
thanh.phan@mq.edu.au
Credit points Credit points
5
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Admission to GMBA or GradCertGlobalBusPrac
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

Being financially literate is a core competency for any business leader. The ability to know your numbers is essential whether you are running your own small business/startup or whether you are working in a large organisation. This unit offers a solid financial accounting and management accounting grounding to students. This knowledge allows students to understand the financial opportunities and challenges inherent in any business endeavor. Students will subsequently better understand the position and performance of initiatives undertaken in the context of the broader strategies and objectives of an organisation. Such an understanding will help students make critical cost-benefit trade-offs.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Define the components and the development of financial statements.
  • ULO2: Investigate and analyse financial statements in practice.
  • ULO3: Apply financial ratios for purposes of understanding and synthesising business position and performance.
  • ULO4: Apply a range of management accounting techniques to generate and evaluate complex ideas and concepts to improve decision making.

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Financial Health Assessment 40% No Week 3, 16 July 2023 11.59pm
Investment Recommendation 60% No Week 6, 6 August 2023 11.59pm

Financial Health Assessment

Assessment Type 1: Quantitative analysis task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: Week 3, 16 July 2023 11.59pm
Weighting: 40%

 

Length: 1,000 words (excluding references). In this assignment, you will be performing a basic analysis of a listed organisation, of your choice, of the following characteristics: Profitability, Liquidity, Funding Structure, Financial Resilience, and an assessment of its share price.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Define the components and the development of financial statements.
  • Investigate and analyse financial statements in practice.
  • Apply financial ratios for purposes of understanding and synthesising business position and performance.

Investment Recommendation

Assessment Type 1: Report
Indicative Time on Task 2: 14 hours
Due: Week 6, 6 August 2023 11.59pm
Weighting: 60%

 

Length: 3,000 words (excluding references). This report has two components: a group and individual report. For the group report (2,500 words), you will be asked to undertake a financial and qualitative analysis of two chosen organisations and recommend investment in one of them, based on your comparative analysis. For the individual component (500 words), you will be required to reflect on the impact of a contemporary accounting issue on one of the two organisations chosen for your group report.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Define the components and the development of financial statements.
  • Investigate and analyse financial statements in practice.
  • Apply financial ratios for purposes of understanding and synthesising business position and performance.
  • Apply a range of management accounting techniques to generate and evaluate complex ideas and concepts to improve decision making.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

Required text

There is no required textbook for this unit. Please refer to the weekly required readings in your online unit. All readings are available via the Macquarie University library and do not need to be purchased separately.

Delivery method

This unit will be delivered entirely online via the Coursera Learning Management System. Access to a personal computer is required to access the resources and learning materials on Coursera.

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via AskMQ, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Unit information based on version 2023.01R of the Handbook