Unit rationale, description and aim
Managerial accounting underpins how organisations plan and control operations, manage resources, and create long-term value. This unit develops rigorous, practice-oriented capabilities in cost measurement and decision support, embedding Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being to advance the common good and uphold human dignity. Students learn to analyse cost behaviour and drivers; apply cost-volume-profit analysis, relevant costing, pricing and make-or-buy decisions; design budgets and forecasts; implement standard costing and variance analysis; and deploy activity-based, target, life-cycle, and lean costing to improve processes. Performance management encompasses responsibility accounting, transfer pricing, incentive design, and the balanced scorecard, which integrates financial and non-financial indicators. Data analytics and dashboard reporting are utilised for sensitivity and scenario analysis, capacity planning, and quality measurement in settings such as hospitals and aged care facilities. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and well-being metrics are integrated throughout, demonstrating how environmental costs, staff well-being, and community outcomes influence cost allocation, resource prioritisation, and accountability, as well as how governance aligns managerial choices with ethical and societal objectives. The aim is to equip graduates to design and defend value-enhancing systems that balance efficiency, quality, and care, strengthen stewardship of scarce resources, and deliver outcomes that serve organisations, patients, and communities.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Assess the role of managerial accountants’ ethical...
Learning Outcome 01
Evaluate various types of organisational costs, bu...
Learning Outcome 02
Appraise organisational, product, and business-seg...
Learning Outcome 03
Evaluate management decision-making on quality con...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
- Contemporary managerial accounting in a global competitive environment
- Cost concepts, cost behaviour and cost estimation
- Activity-Based Costing
- Performance evaluation and behavioural impact
- Organisational strategies and decision Making
- Corporate social responsibility
- Measure and reporting sustainability
- SDG 3: Good health and Well-being
Assessment strategy and rationale
Assessments are used primarily to foster learning. ACU adopts a constructivist approach to learning, which seeks alignment between the fundamental purpose of each unit, the learning outcomes, teaching and learning strategy, assessment and the learning environment. Assessment is an integral part of the learning process. Assessment tasks in this unit are aimed at measuring and developing students’ achievement of both the learning outcomes and graduate attributes noted above. In this unit, there are two (2) main pieces of assessment. For assessment, students will be required to evaluate data and information from a variety of sources and perspectives through research, integration, and analysis. Students will also need to apply critical thinking skills to identify and solve problems, inform judgments, make decisions, reach well-reasoned conclusions and make recommendations where applicable. Students are expected to communicate clearly and concisely when presenting, discussing, and reporting knowledge and ideas in formal and informal situations. To pass this unit, students must demonstrate competence in all learning outcomes and achieve an overall score of at least 50%. Using constructive alignment, the assessment tasks are designed for students to demonstrate their achievement of each learning outcome. Marking will be in accordance with a rubric specifically developed to measure students’ level of achievement of the learning outcomes for each item of assessment. Students will also be awarded a final grade, which signifies their overall achievement in the unit. Student must get at least 50% to pass unit and that should ensure competence.
Overview of assessments
Assessment 1: Exam This task requires students t...
Assessment 1: Exam
This task requires students to undertake an invigilated examination between weeks 4 and 5.
Submission Type: Individual
Assessment Method: Invigilated examination
Artefact: Written response
45%
Assessment 2: Case Study This assessment require...
Assessment 2: Case Study
This assessment requires students to demonstrate knowledge of communication and information literacies and ascertain organisational strategies and performance, its products and business segments through key performance indicators that capture financial and non-financial information to measure business performance and their potential behavioural impact on organisational effectiveness and efficiency.
Submission Type: Individual
Assessment Method: Case Study
Artefact: Written paper
55%
ACU’s assessment procedure (Section 5 - Phase 1 - Assessment Design: (9)c "Learning outcomes should normally be assessed more than once in a unit." requires that each learning outcome be assessed more than once. Since we are proposing two assessments in a 6-week window, we have to keep all five LOs for each assessment.
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
Teaching and Learning Approach
Applied practice and active engagement are central to learning in accounting. Students are expected to adopt an active learning strategy, developing their skills and knowledge by doing. ACU’s teaching approach emphasises learning outcomes in knowledge, capabilities, and professional readiness. It encourages students to be active participants while recognising that learning involves both active and receptive processes, constructing meaning for oneself, and learning collaboratively. ACU promotes autonomous and self-motivated learning that is critical, reflective, and focused on mastering content and skills.
Online Mode
This unit applies an active learning approach that provides students with choice and variety in how they learn. Weekly asynchronous discussions and practical activities enable students to apply knowledge in contexts relevant to their future professions. Students are encouraged to share examples, demonstrate understanding, and engage constructively with peers. Regular and timely feedback supports their progress and achievement of learning outcomes.