This Course Guide has been taken from the most recent presentation of the course. It would be useful for reference purposes but please note that there may be updates for the following presentation.
ACT B311
Financial Accounting
Welcome to ACT B311 Financial Accounting.
ACT B311 Financial Accounting is a 5-credit, higher-level elective course within the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and BBA (Hons) programmes in Corporate Administration. This course aims to give students an understanding of the underlying concepts of financial accounting rather than an emphasis on journal entries and financial statement presentation.
The concepts of financial accounting are not unique to Hong Kong but are similar to the concepts used in the rest of the world. Of course the particular differences will be discussed, but it is the commonality of the practice of accounting which will be of the greatest benefit as students will be working in a very globally oriented industry. The financial reporting standards together with the theory behind the accounting concepts will be discussed in the course.
While there will be an emphasis on what is appropriate for Hong Kong, other global practices will be shown and contrasted to provide for adaptability in an increasingly global financial community.
This course forms an excluded combination with ACT B301, ACT B301C, ACT B301F, ACT B311C, ACT B311F, ACT B331, ACT B331F, ACT B332 and ACT B332F. Only one of these courses can count towards an HKMU award. You may wish to refer to the current Prospectus for details.
Before you begin studying, you must also understand how the course operates and how its parts fit together. The Course Guide can explain this to you. It is very important that you read this Course Guide thoroughly and carefully.
The Course Guide will tell you:
You have probably taken other courses through Hong Kong Metropolitan University, so you should now be well aware of both the study skills required for distance learning and how HKMU courses are organized. It is still recommended, though, that you read this Course Guide thoroughly before looking at the study units or supplementary readings.
The Course Guide tells you briefly what the course is about and how you can work your way through the material. It suggests the amount of time you are likely to need to spend in order to complete the course and will give you a general idea of when your assignments are due. For detailed information on assignments, and for information on due dates for work to be submitted, please refer to the Assignment File.
In distance learning as practised by Hong Kong Metropolitan University, the study units (not the tutor) replace the university lecturer. This is one of the great advantages of distance learning: you can read and work through specially designed study material at your own pace at times and places that suit you best. Think of it as reading the lecture instead of hearing it from a lecturer. In the same way that a lecturer might set you some reading to do, the study unit will tell you when to read your textbook or other material. In the same way that a lecturer might give you an in-class exercise, your study unit will have exercises (called by various names) for you to do at appropriate points. You are also likely to find review questions at the end of each unit. Do them all, as these exercises and questions give you the practice necessary to achieve the objectives of the course and to pass the examination.
Each unit in the course is self-contained and has a set of stated learning outcomes found just after each introduction. You must keep the learning outcomes in mind as you work through a unit. Doing so enables you to assess whether you have mastered them. Study units are the driving force in this course. Each unit addresses a number of major topics, usually with subtopics.
As you read through the topics, you will be asked to do activities, self- tests and sometimes readings. These are provided to help you apply the concepts and techniques so that you have a better understanding of the nature of accounting. You should complete activities and self-tests when you are asked to do so. The answers to the self-tests can be found at the back of the unit, but you should avoid looking at the answer while you attempt an activity. You should return to your unit after each activity or self-test for further discussion of the subject matter, a reading, or another activity.
Activities and self-tests are designed to encourage you to think about what you are reading and to enable you to assess whether you understand the material. Whenever you find that you are unable to successfully answer an activity or self-test, go back over the material it relates to. Then try to answer the question again. If you continue to have problems, contact your tutor. Units end with a summary and sometimes a set of review questions. Some exam-type questions will be added to some units in order to further reinforce your understanding of the topic concerned and apply it to solve relatively complicated problems.
Course aims
This course aims to develop the basic conceptual and regulatory framework for financial accounting in Hong Kong. The course's aims can be summed up as follows:
Course learning outcomes
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
Your primary study materials for this course are:
If you have never studied through distance learning, you will need to become familiar with this approach to learning. Your starting point will always be the study units, which are contained in this folder.
You are not expected to read the textbook from cover to cover. The study units will direct you to read selected pages and chapters in your textbook.
Study units
You should read the study units carefully as they can guide your learning and tell you how to approach any assignment related to the unit; otherwise, you may miss important information. You must read both the study units and the textbook. Moreover, you should also read articles in newspapers and journals and other books related to the topics. The more widely you read, the better your appreciation and understanding of the course.
Each unit is divided into a number of sections. The first section provides the objectives of that unit and introduces the materials to be covered. The following sections constitute the contents of the study unit. These sections will guide your learning and direct you to complete the activities and self-tests. Each unit ends with a summary of the material covered.
All students and tutors are expected to have access to a PC with an Internet connection in order that they may access the OLE, along with current financial statements of relevant organizations. You may also use the HKMU lab PCs, all of which have access to the Internet.
The course has five units in total, as listed below.
| 1 | Conceptual framework of financial reporting |
| 2 | Regulatory framework of financial reporting |
| 3 | Equity and profit distribution |
| 4 | Business combinations |
| 5 | Earnings per share and valuation of companies |
Textbook
You are required to purchase a set textbook for this course. The course textbook will provide consolidation of the various topics you will be covering in the units. It will provide further examples and additional commentary and exercises to help your understanding.
The main course text is:
Elliott and Elliott, Financial Accounting and Reporting, 19th edn, Pearson.
E-Library E-Reserve readings
To read these items, go to the University's E-Library and click on 'E-Reserve'. Log in, click 'Accept/Agree' on the Copyright Restrictions page, fill in the 'Course Code' box, and click 'Search'.
References
If you are interested in doing some extra reading, you might like to refer to the following textbooks; however, purchase of these books are not compulsory for the course.
Assignment File
The Assignment File contains details about the assignments: what they require you to do, what their cut-off dates are, and how many marks each is worth.
Online Learning Environment
This course is supported by HKMU's Online Learning Environment (OLE). You can find course materials and the latest course information from the OLE and use the discussion board to communicate with your tutor, the Course Coordinator and fellow students.
Your assessment comprises two assignments and one two-hour examination.
The marks are allocated as follows:
| Assessment type | Marks |
Assignments Examination (2 hours) | 20% 20% 40% 60% 100% |
Details of the assignments are contained in your Assignment File. For each assignment, there is a 'cut-off date' (i.e. due date) which is the last date for the assignment to be received by your tutor (unless he or she feels there are exceptional reasons why you should be allowed to submit the work later). You should refer to the Student Handbook for the procedures to be followed if you wish to submit an assignment after the cut-off date.
Continuous assessment
All the continuous assessment in this course consists of assignments. Except for unusual circumstances, these will be marked by your tutor and monitored by your Course Coordinator.
The assessment tasks have been designed to meet two purposes:
Apart from contributing to your final score, the programme of continuous assessment will help us to monitor your progress so that we can give advice and assistance if you are not performing well. It will give you valuable practice for the final examination. It will also help you to pace your learning and ensure that you develop and reinforce accounting skills regularly. Our experience is that it is usually a mistake to try and learn accounting at the last minute!
To pass the continuous assessment, you must score a minimum overall average of 40% on both assignments. You should submit both assignments. They are designed not just to assess you formally, but to give you important feedback on what you have learned so that you may be better prepared for your examination.
Presentation
You are expected to prepare clear, accurate, well-structured, grammatically correct, and neat work. These are characteristics which HKMU expects from all of its students. Markers have been instructed to take these factors into account when marking all forms of assessment.
How to submit assignments
You must use word processing software (such as Microsoft Word) to prepare the assignments, and submit the assignments via the Online Learning Environment (OLE). All assignments must be uploaded to the OLE by the due date.
Failure to upload an assignment in the required format to the OLE may result in the score of the assignment being adjusted to zero.
Assignment submission extension policy
The assignment policy of the University as stated in the Student Handbook should be observed. You are required to submit assignments for this course in accordance with the dates communicated by your Course Coordinator. You may apply for a submission extension on the grounds of illness, accident, disability, bereavement or other compassionate circumstances.
Applications for extensions must be submitted online via the OLE. Please note the following:
After an assignment is submitted via the OLE, it is your respon sibility to check that the assignment has been successfully submitted. Extension applications due to any problem with uploading will not be accepted. The University cannot accept any responsibility for assignments that are not received by your tutor due to any problem with submissi on via the OLE. As a precaution, you are advised to keep a copy of each assignment you submit.
According to the University's policy, no extension of the due date will be allowed for the final assignment. This policy will be strictly enforced. Any late submission of the final assignment will result in the score of the assignment being adjusted to zero.
Final examination
At the end of this course, you are required to sit for a two-hour examination. The examination is worth 60% of the total marks for the course. You must pass the examination (as well as the continuous assessment) in order to pass the course. To pass the examination, you must score a minimum of 40%. If you fail the examination, you may be given the opportunity to resit the exam at the end of the next presentation of the course. However, to qualify for a resit you must have reached the minimum resit score, which will be determined by the examiners.
You will receive a copy of the specimen examination paper before the examination. The HKMU Registry will also send you information on the date, time and location of your exam. For your planning, the examination for the April presentation is usually held the following August, whereas the examination for the October presentation is usually held the following February.
Remember that your final result in this course depends on your performance in both the continuous assessment (assignments) and the examination. In order to pass the course, you need to pass both the continuous assessment and the examination. Students who have failed marginally in the overall continuous assessment (e.g. having a score of 30 or above) might be considered by the Award Committee for the granting of a resit opportunity or a pass award, depending on their overall course score.
For more latest information on the university's policies on assignments and examination, please refer to the HKMU Student Handbook.
You will be assigned a tutor for this course. Before the course begins, you will be advised by the HKMU Registry of your tutor's name, address, and phone number. Your tutor will:
Your tutor is your first point of contact with HKMU. Please speak with your tutor first about any problem you might have or advice you may need. Your tutor will advise you if you need to contact the Course Coordinator. It is not the tutor's role to give lectures on the course material. Your tutor is a helper, or facilitator, who can provide you with considerable assistance when you run into difficulties. He or she is also a leader who can arrange opportunities for you to put into practice some of the course concepts. HKMU urges you to make use of this assistance.
To assist you in this course, live online tutorial sessions will be held by your assigned tutor at several points during the course. The first session will be an introduction to the course, and it may take a different format from the other tutorials. The details of the tutorials will be sent to you before the start of the semester.
We strongly recommend that you attend these live online tutorials. Their purpose is not only to assist you with any problems you may have, but also to give you the opportunity for further practice on accounting problems. However, these classes are not compulsory; if your situation prevents you from attending, you can still complete the course satisfactorily. Contact your tutor by phone more often if you are in this situation.
Tutors are required to start live online tutorial sessions on time. If a tutor fails to turn up 30 minutes after the scheduled starting time, students may assume that the session is cancelled and they should join another tutorial session at the same venue.
Please note that the function of these live online tutorials is to complement your distance-learning material, not to replace it through lectures. In this course, your primary means of learning is through the written word, that is, your HKMU study materials and your textbook.
It is important that you organize your study schedule at the beginning of the course.
Set out below is a suggested study schedule showing the minimum amount of time you should spend on each unit. The cut-off date for each assignment indicates when you should have completed studying the relevant units.
| Unit | Study (weeks) | Assignment | |
| 1 | Conceptual framework of financial reporting | 2 | |
| 2 | Regulatory framework of financial reporting | 3 | Assignment 1 |
| 3 | Equity and profit distribution | 3 | |
| 4 | Business combinations | 4 | |
| 5 | Earnings per share and valuation of companies | 3 | Assignment 2 |
| Revision | 1 | ||
| Total | 16 | 2 assignments | |
You can set your own pace in this course, provided you meet the deadlines for assignments. However, you are urged to move ahead as soon as possible because once you fall behind in your studies, it is difficult to catch up.
The study of accounting is a time-consuming and, at times, difficult task. However, the rewards are considerable. People with accounting skills are always in demand.
Remember, too, that although you are responsible for your own study, staff members of HKMU are here to help you. If you experience difficulties with any aspect of your course, contact your tutor. If you need any further help, contact your Course Coordinator or other HKMU staff members.
Good luck with your studies!
Stephen Cardew (Unit 1 developer) is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants with a Master of Business Administration in Investment and Finance from the University of Hull. He has over twenty years of experience in lecturing accounting both in the United Kingdom and in Hong Kong. He recently retired from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University where he had lectured at the School of Accounting and Finance (formerly Department of Accountancy) for twelve years.
Mrs W F Hui (developer of Units 2–5) is a former Associate Professor in the Department of Accountancy, College of Business at City University of Hong Kong. Mrs Hui worked in a public accounting firm and taught financial accounting for over 25 years. She is a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, CPA Australia as well as the The Hong Kong Institute of Chartered Secretaries. She is the co-author of Corporate Accounting – Business Combination in Hong Kong and Accounting in Hong Kong – Regulatory Framework and Advanced Accounting Practice.
If you wish to defer your studies of this course until a later date, you should apply for deferment of studies. For the regulations governing deferment of studies, please refer to your Student Handbook. If you have applied for deferment of studies you should continue with your studies of this course and submit the required assignments until formal approval is given by the University.
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