ACCT210: Accounting Foundations - at Australian Catholic University

The unit is a foundation unit for Accounting. Accounting is a discipline that is becoming more and more in demand with the growth and evolution of the world’s diverse economy. This unit introduces basic concepts and procedures of accounting and the application of these concepts in decision-making by a wide range of potential stakeholders. Students will learn how to reflect and integrate the ethical, theoretical and technical knowledge of accounting to promote corporate social responsibility including sustainability. Students will be able to identify the fundamental elements of accounting and learn how business transactions are recorded in order to prepare financial statements. Students will be introduced to the regulatory environment and accounting framework and standards that govern financial reporting. Building on this, students will develop the skills to evaluate organisational performance through analysis of financial statements and communicate student’s interpretation to stakeholders. As students develop their accounting skills they will learn how to evaluate and manage internal control aspects of an organisation’s accounting elements. Ultimately, the aim of this unit is to ground students in the primary aspects of accounting to prepare them for further education in the discipline.

✔ Learning outcomes:

• Explain the ethical role of accountants and the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the importance of compliance within the accounting profession
• Communicate accounting and financial information, business insights, analyses, recommendations and rationale using knowledge of communication theory and information literacies to diverse audiences using a range of media
• Analyse financial information and related disclosures including non-financial data and information such as sustainability reports, integrated reports and extended external reporting
• Distinguish and apply Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
• Apply the duality of accounting treatments and internal control used to record basic business transactions for various types of businesses over a complete accounting cycle