Assignment Title: Coursework Assignment Extended Essay
You are required to:
a) Compare and contrast the approaches taken by traditional Absorption Costing,
Marginal Costing (Variable Costing) and Activity Based Costing (ABC) to the
assignment of indirect costs to products or services, using appropriate examples to
illustrate your argument. (30 marks)
b) Explain the respective individual weaknesses of the Absorption Costing and Marginal
Costing approaches which ABC is intended to overcome. (10 marks)
c) Discuss how the activity- based approach can be extended to other areas of
Management Accounting, including Activity Based Management (ABM), Activity
Based Budgeting (ABB) and Customer Profitability Analysis. You should make clear
how the activity- based approach differs from the traditional approach for each of
these applications. (60 marks)
Total 100 marks
Suggested sources:
.
Parts (a) and (b.) Absorption costing is covered in Week 2, Marginal Costing
(Variable Costing) in Weeks 3 and 4, Activity Based Costing in Week 5 lectures and
seminars.
Recommended readings (e-book available in Library):
Management Accounting for Decision Makers, by Peter Atrill and Eddie McLaney
(2018) 9th edition, FT Prentice Hall:
Chapter 4, pp. 115-138 (Absorption Costing)
Chapter 4, pp. 139-142 (Marginal/Variable Costing)
Chapter 3, All (Marginal/Variable Costing)
Chapter 5, pp.155-164 (Activity Based Costing)
Part (c). Activity Based Management and Customer Costing/Profitability Analysis are
covered in Week 6, Activity Based Budgeting in Week 8 lectures and seminars.
Recommended readings (e-book available in Library):
Management Accounting for Decision Makers, by Peter Atrill and Eddie McLaney
(2018) 9th edition, FT Prentice Hall:
Chapter 6, pp.219-220 (Activity Based Budgeting)
Chapter 10, pp.358-362 (Customer Profitability Analysis)
Activity Based Management: Improving Processes and Profitability, by Brian
Plowman, Gower Publishing Ltd (2001), ISBN: 0566 08145 8:
Chapters 1-3 All (Activity Based Management)
Chapters 5-6 All (Customer Profitability Analysis)
Module Learning Outcomes:
In this assessment the following learning outcomes will be covered:
LO 1. Understand and explain the concepts and terminology of management accounting
LO 2. Understand the role of management accounting information in the monitoring and
performance measurement of different units within an organisation
LO3. Discuss the strengths and limitations of the managerial accounting processes studied
in the programme
Grading Criteria:
Credit will be given for:
A well- reasoned discussion, supported by theory and examples of the nature of, and
differences between, traditional and contemporary costing and cost management
approaches.
A clear layout and structure.
Feedback to Students:
Both Summative and Formative feedback is given to encourage students to reflect on their
learning that feed forward into following assessment tasks. The preparation for all
assessment tasks will be supported by formative feedback within the tutorials/seminars.
Written feedback is provided as appropriate. Please be aware to use the browser and not
the Canvas App as you may not be able to view all comments.
Plagiarism:
It is your responsibility to ensure that you understand correct referencing practices. You are
expected to use appropriate references and keep carefully detailed notes of all your
information sources, including any material downloaded from the Internet. It is your
responsibility to ensure that you are not vulnerable to any alleged breaches of the
assessment regulations. More information is available at https://intranet.birmingh
am.ac.uk/as/studentservices/conduct/misconduct/plagiarism/index.aspx.
