Characteristics and types of companies; company formation, issues of shares and debt instruments, reserves, retained profits and distributions to owners, financial reporting requirements, accounting for income tax, expansion by asset acquisitions, leases, investments in associated companies; consolidated accounts: the entity concept and control, inter-company transactions and minority interests.

This course examines the legal and professional requirements for financial reporting by Australian corporations.  On completion of the course, students should have:

• An understanding of the special nature of companies and the regulatory environment in which they are formed and operate.
• A solid foundation in accounting and reporting requirements of the Corporations Act and relevant Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) accounting standards.
• An understanding of the accounting requirements for an economic entity and familiarity with the theory underlying methods used to account for inter-company investments.
• The ability to prepare consolidated accounts for a two-tier corporate group.
• An understanding of the basic principles of accounting for investments in associates pursuant to the equity method.
• The ability to account for leases.
• Familiarisation with company reporting in accordance with international accounting standards

• Tutorial Participation and Attendance 10%
• Research Report 10%
• Mid Semester Examination 20%
• Final Examination 60%

Three contact hours per week plus private study time.

You are expected to be proficient with the principles and practice of double-entry bookkeeping, in particular, journal entry and financial statement preparation. A thorough understanding of the main elements of the financial statements, for example, income, expenses, assets and liabilities, is also assumed. If it has been some time since you were familiar these areas, you might need to revise them. You are also expected to be familiar with accounting procedures regarding issue, forfeiture, and reissue of shares, and accounting for dividends and reserves. Again, you might need to refresh your memory if it has been some time since the prerequisites were studied.

BUSN1002 Accounting Processes and Systems or COMM1020 Accounting and Financial Management.

Incompatible with COMM2015 Company Accounting.

See Course Outline:  http://ecocomm.anu.edu.au/courses/outline/BUSN2015.pdf

For further information see:  http://ecocomm.anu.edu.au/courses/course.asp?code=BUSN2015