Chartered Accountancy IPCC Cost Accounting and Financial Management Syllabus

Cost Accounting and Financial Management

(One paper – three hours - 100 marks)

Level of Knowledge: Working knowledge

Part I: Cost Accounting (50 marks)

Objectives:

(a) To understand the basic concepts and processes used to determine product costs;

(b) To be able to interpret cost accounting statements;

(c) To be able to analyse and evaluate information for cost ascertainment, planning, control and decision making; and

(d) To be able to solve simple cases.

Contents:

1. Introduction to Cost Accounting

(a) Objectives and scope of cost accounting

(b) Cost centres and cost units

(c) Cost classification for stock valuation, profit measurement, decision making and control

(d) Coding systems

(e) Elements of cost

(f) Cost behaviour pattern, separating the components of semi-variable costs

(g) Installation of a costing system

(h) Relationship of cost accounting, financial accounting, management accounting and financial management.

2. Cost Ascertainment

(a) Material Cost

(i) Procurement procedures  - store procedures and documentation in respect of receipts and issue of stock, stock verification

(ii) Inventory control  - techniques of fixing of minimum, maximum and reorder levels, economic order quantity, ABC classification; stocktaking and perpetual inventory

(iii) Inventory accounting

(iv) Consumption - identification with products of cost centres, basis for consumption entries in financial accounts, monitoring consumption.

(b) Employee Cost

(i) Attendance and payroll procedures, overview of statutory requirements, overtime, idle time and incentives

(ii) Labour turnover

(iii) Utilisation of labour, direct and indirect labour, charging of labour cost, identifying labour hours with work orders or batches or capital jobs

(iv) Efficiency rating procedures

(v) Remuneration systems and incentive schemes.

(c) Direct Expenses - Sub-contracting – control on material movements, identification with the main product or service.

(d) Overheads

(i) Functional analysis – factory, administration, selling, distribution, research and development 

Behavioural analysis – fixed, variable, semi variable and step cost

(ii) Factory overheads – primary distribution and secondary distribution, criteria for choosing suitable basis for allotment, capacity cost adjustments, fixed absorption rates for absorbing overheads to products or services

(iii) Administration overheads – method of allocation to cost centres or products

(iv) Selling and distribution overheads – analysis and absorption of the expenses in products/customers, impact of marketing strategies, cost effectiveness of various methods of sales promotion.

3. Cost Book-keeping - Cost ledgers – non-integrated accounts, integrated accounts, reconciliation of cost and financial accounts.

4. Costing Systems

(a) Job Costing - Job cost cards and databases, collecting direct costs of each job, attributing overhead costs to jobs, applications of job costing.

(b) Batch Costing

(c) Contract Costing - Progress payments, retention money, escalation clause, contract accounts, accounting for material, accounting for plant used in a contract, contract profit and balance sheet entries.

(d) Process Costing - Double entry book keeping,  process loss, abnormal gains and losses, equivalent units, inter-process profit, joint products and by products.

(e) Operating Costing System

5. Introduction to Marginal Costing

Marginal costing compared with absorption costing, contribution, breakeven analysis and profit volume graph.

6. Introduction to Standard Costing

Various types of standards, setting of standards, basic concepts of material and labour standards and variance analysis.

7. Budgets and Budgetary Control

The budget manual, preparation and monitoring procedures, budget variances, flexible budget, preparation of functional budget for operating and non-operating functions, cash budget, master budget, principal budget factors. 

Part II: Financial Management (50 marks)

Objectives:

(a) To develop ability to analyse and interpret various tools of financial analysis and planning;

(b) To gain knowledge of management and financing of working capital;

(c) To understand concepts relating to financing and investment decisions; and

(d) To be able to solve simple cases.

Contents:

1. Scope and Objectives of Financial Management

(a) Meaning, importance and objectives

(b) Conflicts in profit versus value maximisation principle

(c) Role of Chief Financial Officer.

2. Time Value of Money

Compounding and discounting techniques – concepts of annuity and perpetuity.

3. Financial Analysis and Planning

(a) Ratio analysis for performance evaluation and financial health

(b) Application of ratio analysis in decision making

(c) Analysis of cash flow statement.

4. Financing Decisions

(a) Cost of Capital – weighted average cost of capital and marginal cost of capital

(b) Capital Structure decisions  – capital structure patterns, designing optimum capital 

structure, constraints, various capital structure theories

(c) Business risk and financial risk – operating and financial leverage, trading on equity.

5. Types of Financing

(a) Different sources of finance

(b) Project financing – intermediate and long term financing

(c) Negotiating term loans with banks and financial institutions and appraisal thereof

(d) Introduction to lease financing

(e) Venture capital finance.

6. Investment Decisions

(a) Purpose, objective, process

(b) Understanding different types of projects

(c) Techniques of decision making: non-discounted and discounted cash flow approaches - payback period method, accounting rate of return, net present value, internal rate of return, modified internal rate of return, discounted payback period and profitability index.

(d) Ranking of competing projects, ranking of projects with unequal lives.

7. Management of working capital

(a) Working capital policies

(b) Funds flow analysis

(c) Inventory management

(d) Receivables management

(e) Payables management

(f) Management of cash and marketable securities 

(g) Financing of working capital.