General provisions

Master's Programme in Accounting and Financial Management - specialisation Financial Accounting, Management and Control, Financial Management.

Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree, equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen, from an internationally recognised university. Also required is 90 credits in business studies and 15 credits in statistics. Proficiency in English.

For incoming exchange students, exceptions can be made from the requirement of 90 credits in business studies, provided that special reasons are considered to exist. Proficiency in English.

Learning outcomes

The course covers the analysis of companies using financial statements. After completion of the course, a student should be able to:

• score the credibility of companies’ financial statements and disclosed accounting policies,
• select adjustments of accounting items and policies for purposes of evaluating companies,
• formulate regrouping of financial statements for analytical purposes,
• compose an accounting-based ratio structure and evaluate how it can be used in strategic financial evaluation of companies, and
• evaluate how to use financial statement analysis in the assessment of central financial aspects of companies.

Content

For performing the analysis of companies, the following parts are covered:

• appraisal of accounting items and procedures of companies, which includes necessary understanding of financial reporting standards,
• adjustments of accounting items and procedures,
• undertake adaption and regrouping of financial statements,
• development of useful accounting ratios and their interrelations in a coherent system, and
• the relationship between financial statements and accounting ratios for strategic analysis.

Instruction

The in-class teaching consists of lectures, seminars, and tutoring. Seminars are carried out in smaller groups and contain team work assignments with both written and oral elements. Tutoring is given for the team work assignments. The course is taught in English.

Assessment

The student will get one single grade, equivalent to 7.5 credits.

Course examination includes a written test and team work assignments. Attendance is required on scheduled examination activities, and absence motivated by particular reasons requires complementing assignments to be handed in within two weeks after the complementing requirement has been given. The grade for the entire course is based on an assessment of all parts of the examination.

Grading criteria are presented in the study guide that applies to the course section. The following grades will be used: pass with distinction (VG), pass (G), and fail (U). Examinations handed in late will not be assessed except under special circumstances. Any remaining supplemental work must be completed and handed in by the deadline specified in the study guide. Otherwise the entire course (all examinations included) must be retaken during subsequent course sections, pending availability of a place in the course.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.

Uppsala University does not accept cheating or plagiarism. Suspected incidents of cheating or plagiarism are reported to the Vice-Chancellor, which may issue a formal warning to the student or suspend the student from studies for a certain period.

NOTE: Only completed courses can count toward a degree.

Other directives

The course overlaps 2FE835 Advanced Accounting Analysis.