Accounting for finance

Summary

The objective of the course is to provide participants with accounting mechanisms for understanding and anaalyzing the financial statements of a company.

Content

Keywords

Financial accounting, Financial statements analysis

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

• Explain major accounting concepts
• Analyze the financial statements of a company
• Interpret major accounting documents
• Assess / Evaluate the impact of a decision on the financial statements of a company
• Justify the difference between cash-flows and equity of a company

Transversal skills

• Communicate effectively with professionals from other disciplines.
• Respect relevant legal guidelines and ethical codes for the profession.
• Take responsibility for environmental impacts of her/ his actions and decisions.

Teaching methods

Lectures, discussions/case studies.

Expected student activities

Class attendance, exercises and cases

Assessment methods

• 50% Midterm exam
• 50% (1) Financial analysis of a company (group work)

(1) Each group (5 students maximum) chooses a company and makes a financial analysis based on the main concepts and methods learnt during the course. Then during the last lecture, each group presents his analysis (10 minutes).

Resources

Bibliography

Weetman Pauline, Financial and Management Accounting. An Introduction, Fourth Edition, FT, Prentice Hall, 2006.

Williams, Haka, Bettner. Financial and Managerial Accounting. 2005. 

Ressources en bibliothèque

• Financial and Managerial Accounting / Williams
• Financial and Management Accounting / Weetman

Moodle Link

• https://go.epfl.ch/FIN-411