Advanced Diploma in Management Accounting

Purpose

The purpose of the Advanced Diploma in Management Accounting is to prepare the learner for further learning in the fields of Management Accounting, Financial Management and Financial Accounting. The qualification will also prepare the learner for the job market by enabling a learner to apply integrated knowledge and advanced conceptual thinking skills to complex problems in Business Environments.

The qualification provides learners who have little or no managerial experience with a wide range of functional management skills in their chosen field of specialisation. Specifically, the qualification aims to enhance learners' managerial skills through a commitment to an on-going managerial development.

The qualification emphasises application, analysis and evaluation within each topic area as well as the application of integrity and ethics in a professional environment. Mastering of the curriculum will provide learners with the skills to synthesize complex management, financial, performance and risk principles to drive and add value to the entities that employ them. The successful learner will gain an overall financial and business perspective which will provide them with a competitive advantage for employment and prepare them for further studies in this field.

The Learner will be able to

• Synthesise theories and principles acquired from management accounting and finance.
• Select and use appropriate methods of identifying, researching and diagnosing management problems and critically assess environmental influences on management activities.
• Select and use appropriate techniques of problem resolution, including developing, defending and implementing recommendations.
• Demonstrate analytical skills in the area of resource utilisations, including people, finance, equipment, time, space and information for decision making.

Rationale

High unemployment rates in South Africa is of great concern. Through a dedicated focus on entrepreneurial development, the qualification aims to contribute to the employment needs of South Africa. According to the government gazette national list published in 2018 on occupations in high demand in South Africa, management accountants ranked among the highest. Also, the Department of Employment and Labour has identified management accounting as a scarce skill in South Africa. Hence, there is a need for the offering of the qualification. Taking this into cognisance, the new qualification aims at equipping learners with the necessary skills and knowledge base to create employment as well as specialise in a field of choice.

Career opportunities exist in the Cost and Management Accounting and related fields. The management accounting qualifications links to specific careers and learning pathways in the management accounting and related fields. Completing the qualification together with relevant work experience, will enable learners to be employed in the private/public sector as Junior Costing clerks, Costing clerks, Bookkeepers, Junior Budget Officers or Assistant Finance Officers. Also learners can find employment in the private/public sector as Senior Cost Clerk, Junior Accountants/Accountants, Assistant Financial Management, Budget Officers or Finance Officers.

In the light of the above, this Advanced Diploma curriculum has been specifically designed to enrich learners with the knowledge in the fields of accounting with a specialisation in Management Accounting. There is a focus on the soft skills therefore learners will have a competitive advantage over other qualifications in other institutions.

The design of this qualification promotes further intellectual enrichment and critical thinking amongst the learners. There is also embedded writing and research skills that exists within all the modules. This qualification provides access to learners that completed the Diploma in Management Accounting. Once this qualification is completed learners can pursue further learning in Management Accounting by enrolling for the Postgraduate Diploma in Management Accounting.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

The qualification will be aligned with the institution's policy for RPL allowing learners' access to Higher Education. The institution's policy is aligned to the national RPL policy. This policy recognises and grant credits to learners based on previous work experience, short courses and/or other certificates/qualifications obtained. The learner has to provide a portfolio of evidence showing that he/she has the necessary requirements of prior learning in the field of Accounting, Management Accounting and Financial Management. This portfolio of evidence does not guarantee automatic admission but is assessed by an independent assessor on an individual basis.

Entry Requirements

The minimum entry requirement for this qualification is

• Diploma in Management Accounting or an appropriate Diploma or Bachelor's Degree, NQF Level 6, 360 Credits.

This qualification consists of the following compulsory modules at National Qualifications Framework Level 7 totalling 120 Credits.

Compulsory Modules, 120 Credits

• Management accounting 4a, 12 Credits.
• Financial Management 4a, 12 Credits.
• Systems and project Management 4a, 12 Credits.
• Financial Reporting 4a, 12 Credits.
• Strategic Planning, 12 Credits.
• Management accounting 4b, 12 Credits.
• Financial Management 4b, 12 Credits.
• Systems and Project Management 4b, 12 Credits.
• Financial Reporting 4b, 12 Credits.
• Risk Management, 12 Credits.

1. Prepare, analyse and interpret complex financial statements for companies applying International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
2. Manage the financial aspects of business up to the strategic level.
3. Determine and apply various advanced techniques whereby relevant information is reported to management in regard to control, planning, reporting of performance and the monitoring of efficiency in the optimal uses of resources.
4. Develop and apply documentation techniques and system development.
5. Strategically approach the acquisition, motivation, development and management of the organisations resources.
6. Apply different management accounting tools and techniques to generate information needed to evaluate and control present and projected performance.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1

• Apply the principles of the Accounting Framework.
• Calculate and interpret ratios in order to assess the profitability, liquidity, capital structure and assurance of income on a comprehensive basis, selecting the relevant tools of analysis.
• Apply and interpret management tools and techniques that will assist in the calculation of cost of capital and decision making.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 2

• Manage and apply strategic variables scientifically.
• Apply financial operations, managerial principles of problem-solving, decision making and forecasting within an organisation.
• Calculate and interpret an organisation's performance.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 3

• Apply and understand the manpower planning process in a pragmatic manner.
• Evaluate the use of responsibility centres in determining an organisational structure and management of control.
• Monitor the quality of work performed within the areas of Management Accounting and Financial Management.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 4

• Implement the operation and management system.
• Preparation and analysis of forecasted financial results and budgets.
• Project proposals are evaluated and the information to assess the impact on decisions of variables with uncertain values is analysed.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 5

• Interpret the role of Material requirements planning and enterprise resource planning.
• The principles of environmental costing and the purpose of forecasts, budgets and plans is evaluated.
• Apply the features of strategic planning and corporate objectives.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 6

• Apply decision making and control techniques to ensure maximum performance.
• Apply management accounting tools.
• Analyse and apply managing costs for a competitive advantage.

Integrated Assessment

Integrated Assessments provide an engaging and creative learning platform that closely links to the realities graduates will experience in the work force: a process that combines and blends the learning outcomes from multiple topics into a series of streamlined, realistic, employment focused activities. These assessments are conducted over a period of time with numerous formative and summative components.

There will be both formative and summative assessments that will exist within this qualification. The course mark will have an integrated assessment that will build entrepreneurial capacity by encouraging the learners to engage with micro businesses. These projects will be of a Management Accounting and Financial Management Nature.

Because there is no Work Integrated Learning (WIL) component within the qualification, however, the Industry Experience will be integrated into the Teaching, Learning and assessment practices of this qualification.

The aim of the qualification is to make the learning real, to bring life to it, and to allow the learners not just to know the content of the course or recite the list of skills needed in the field but to experience the feelings, frustrations, successes, and processes that occur when knowledge and skills are merged into the most realistic processes possible.