Course Details

1. Identify the basic principles underlying the recording of business transactions and have the ability to prepare accounts for sole traders.
2. Apply the concept of double entry bookkeeping and also be in a position to prepare a Trading and a Profit and Loss Account for a sole trader-involving end of year adjustments.
3. Understand the notion of profit and its significance in the successful continuation of a business and calculate its value
4. Examine the concept of profit in accounting to that of profit and competitiveness in other business disciplines.
5. Use the understanding of accounting to evaluate the performance of companies.

Accounting equation: Understanding and applying the basic accounting equation.

Double entry bookkeeping: as applied to: assets, liabilities, capital, revenue, purchases and Expenses. Be able to balance off accounts.

Returns and carriage: Understanding and applying the accounting treatment of returns and carriage.

The ledger and its possible sub-divisions: Understanding the distinction between personal, real and nominal accounts.

Discounts: Applying the accounting treatment of discounts.

Capital and revenue expenditure: Understanding the distinction between capital and revenue expenditure.

Trial balance: The extraction of the Trial Balance from the ledger accounts.

Final Accounts: Introduction to Final accounts.

Adjustments to the final accounts:  These include adjustments for accruals, depreciation, prepayments, bad debts and the provision for bad debts.

Preparing final accounts: Preparing the Trading and Profit and Loss Account and Balance Sheet after dealing with adjustments.

• F Wood and A Sangster, Business Accounting I, 11th Edition, Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2008.

• J.R. Dyson, Accounting for non-accounting students, 5th Edition, FT Prentice Hall, 2001.
• Pauline Weetman, Financial & Management Accounting: An introduction, 3rd Edition, 2003, FT Prentice Hall.

The taught part of course is delivered to the students by means of lectures, conducted with the help of computer presentations. Lecture notes and presentations are available through the web for students to use in combination with the textbooks. Lectures are supplemented with class exercises carried out in class and via homework.