Cost Accounting and Financial Management

CRASH COURSE

Courses suitable for : CA,CWA,BCom
Duration : 45 Hours
Fees : Rs 9,000
About Cost Accounting and Financial Management

Cost Accounting and Financial Management are two pillars on which you shall build yourself upon during the journey in life as a finance and accounting professional. Concepts of Integrated Accounting, Allocation, Cost of Capital, Capital Budgeting and others are frequently used in the industry. In addition, a sound and conceptual knowledge of these two important disciplines shall help you attempt papers like SFM/MAFA, and Cost Management during the final stages of your examination. The following is a list of typical problems which an average hard working student faces while attempting this paper;

SYLLABUS FOR ICAI EXAMINATION

Cost Accounting and Financial Management
Part A: 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
A-33
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.
Part B: 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.