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Unit of study_
ACCT5001: Foundation in Accounting
2025 unit information
As the 'language of business', accounting provides decision makers with relevant and reliable financial information. Accounting information helps investors to decide whether to buy, hold or sell shares in a company. Financial institutions like banks rely upon accounting information to make lending decisions. Business analysts use accounting information to assess whether a company is outperforming its competitors. This unit of study provides students with the skills and knowledge required to analyse and record business transactions, to prepare financial statements, to communicate financial information to decision makers, and to evaluate the financial performance and financial position of business organisations to make relevant decisions. The unit enables students to develop the core analytical, communication, collaboration and management skills needed to succeed in an increasingly digital and data driven society. It also develops awareness of broader business, social, and ethical issues through tutorial problem-solving exercises and small group discussions, interactive case assignments, and additional online learning materials. The accounting knowledge and the interpersonal skills gained from this unit of study play an important role in students’ future careers in accounting, finance, data analytics, management and beyond.
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Business (Business School)
| Study level | Postgraduate |
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| Academic unit | Accounting |
| Credit points | 6 |
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Prerequisites:
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None |
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Corequisites:
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None |
| Prohibitions:
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None |
| Assumed knowledge:
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None |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. Describe the importance, use and purpose of accounting and identify its users as well as potential business, social, professional or ethical issues.
- LO2. Process (identify, analyse, record, store and summarise) business transactions in the accounting system during the accounting period (and at the end of the period).
- LO3. Construct the data and prepare appropriately classified financial statements to report financial performance for the period, financial position at the end of the period, changes in equity, and a statement of cash flows for the period.
- LO4. Identify and prepare end of period adjustments required in accordance with accounting principles and accrual accounting.
- LO5. Apply accounting principles, concepts, different methods and selected accounting standards in accounting and reporting for specific assets, liabilities and owners' equity elements.
- LO6. Discuss relevant underlying conceptual principles, assumptions and/or accounting policy choices on the preparation and decision usefulness of general purpose financial reports.
- LO7. Analyse and interpret accounting information and reports to help make evaluations and decisions about the entity.
- LO8. Discuss the impact of technology on accounting, identify the key elements of accounting information systems, and explain how accounting software is used to record business transactions.
- LO9. Distinguish a company from other forms of business structure, account for equity transactions during the period, and report shareholders' equity at the end of the period.
- LO10. Identify general internal control principles and demonstrate specific applications.
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
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Semester 1 2025
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Normal day | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney | |
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Semester 2 2025
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Normal day | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
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Modes of attendance (MoA)
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