Advanced financial management and management accounting
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Effective strategic management accounting helps organisations succeed in complex business environments. In this module, you'll build on Management accounting (B252) to develop advanced concepts and techniques focused on addressing mid-to-long-term organisational challenges. You'll extend your understanding of accounting approaches such as value chain analysis, strategic pricing, lean manufacturing, strategic financing issues, risk analysis, project appraisal techniques, performance measurement, and the balanced scorecard. By taking a critical approach to evaluating these techniques and theories, you'll be equipped to apply them in practical case study settings and contribute meaningfully to organisational strategy.
What you will study
The module consists of six units, each lasting between two and three weeks.
Unit 1: Strategic management accounting
To set the scene, this unit begins with identifying the importance of strategy. Understanding how strategy happens in practice allows management accountants to choose appropriate approaches, depending on whether an organisation’s realised strategy is mainly deliberate or emergent. You’ll be introduced to three frameworks for strategic analysis: PESTEL, Porter’s five forces, and Porter's generic comparative strategies and will apply them in a management accounting context.
Unit 2: Decision-making techniques
In your next unit, you’ll consider how planning and setting targets (the budget control loop) can be used in decentralised organisations, where it is important to motivate divisional managers to make decisions congruent with the organisation’s mission or strategy. You’ll learn about the purpose of standard costing in variable and full costing systems and the concept of transfer pricing, where one division of an organisation charges another for a product or service. You’ll investigate modern budgeting issues, including the evolution of traditional budgeting, alternative frameworks to the budgetary process and the advantages and disadvantages of several competing budgeting approaches.
Unit 3: Management accounting for developing and implementing business strategy
This unit discusses several ways in which cost information and analysis provided by management accountants can facilitate the development, implementation and achievement of an appropriate business strategy. Value chain analysis and supply-chain management are important methodologies for achieving competitive advantage. Through cost information and analysis, management accountants can make a major contribution to applying these methodologies. The unit also discusses how management accounting, through, for example, the application of activity-based costing, can assist in another important area of strategic decision-making: the choice of which customers to deal with, on what basis and through which distribution channels.
Unit 4: Performance measurement and control
In unit 4, you’ll be shown a range of techniques and concepts for managing strategic performance. The balanced scorecard framework is presented as a method of managing an enterprise's overall performance, alongside examples of the balanced scorecard in practice and a critique of this popular performance management tool.
Unit 5: Creating value in a dynamic business environment
The focus of this unit is "optimisation", which is the philosophy of constantly seeking to improve processes and operations by identifying and addressing bottlenecks, waste, and inefficiencies. You’ll learn about methodologies like Continuous Improvement (CI), Total Quality Management (TQM), Theory of Constraints (TOC), Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), and Just-in-Time (JIT) systems, which are all aimed at maximising efficiency and productivity in fast-paced competitive markets.
Unit 6: The international financial environment
Not all businesses will use international financial markets regularly, but as they grow and develop their multinational operations, they will need to understand how the international financial environment works. In this final unit, you’ll consider a range of issues relevant to the external financial environment, including how companies use international financial markets, the extent to which government policies towards the exchange rate can affect businesses, and how international trade is financed in the short and long run. You’ll also examine various types of risk to which organisations may be exposed and some basic ways organisations can manage the financial risks that arise from their business activities.
You will learn
By studying this module, you will learn:
- a range of management accounting techniques, their appropriate application and limitations in case study situations
- spreadsheet design skills
- to extend your skills in researching information and report writing
- how to critically evaluate academic articles, management accounting techniques and strategic management accounting.
Professional recognition
This module forms part of the BSc (Hons) Accounting and Finance (R52), which has been granted exemptions by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) towards its CGMA qualification.
Entry requirements
You must have successfully completed Financial management (B252) and Intermediate management accounting (B253) before you can begin B352.
Preparatory work
Revising Financial management (B252) and Intermediate management accounting (B253) will help you prepare for this module.
What's included
You'll be provided with six printed module books, each covering one block of study, a workbook, and have access to a module website, which includes:
- a week-by-week study planner
- module materials
- audio and video content
- assignment details and submission section
- online tutorials and forums.
You will need
A calculator, preferably a non-programmable scientific calculator, and spreadsheet software are essential.
Computing requirements
- Primary device – A desktop or laptop computer. It’s possible to access some materials on a mobile phone, tablet or Chromebook; however, they will not be suitable as your primary device.
- Peripheral devices – Headphones/earphones with a built-in microphone for online tutorials plus a webcam and microphone for the online invigilated exam.
- Our OU Study app operates on supported versions of Android and iOS.
- Operating systems – Windows 11 or latest supported macOS. Microsoft will no longer support Windows 10 as of 14 October 2025.
- Internet access – Broadband or mobile connection.
- Browser – Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge are recommended. Mozilla Firefox and Safari may be suitable.
- Software – Any additional software, including any required to complete the online invigilated exam, will be provided or is generally freely available.