Bus020X645S Accounting For Decision Making Assessment Answer

Question:

Learning outcomes:

1)Describe, explain and critically evaluate the role of strategic management accounting in organisations by understanding major developments in management accounting practice and research.

2)Apply relevant costing techniques for forecasting cash flows to support long-term decisions

3)Identify, analyse and critically evaluate key issues in management control and decision-making, including project risk assessment and ethical issues.

4)Develop modelling skills to aid decision-making, appropriate to a range of organisations including public and not-for-profit entities.

Type of assessment: 30% coursework: Management/consultancy report (2,000 words) with a decision data appended.

Coursework brief (30%): BUY OR RENT & BUY TO RENT

David and Anna are thinking about their future and how the world would look like in the short- and long-term. They have been leaving in the UK for almost five years now and have always dreamt to have their own home. They are currently leaving in a rented one-bedroom flat to save money in order to make this dream come true. So far, they were able to accumulate £50,000 in savings, so they were considering to purchase their first home. David is a business consultant in Central London with an average salary of £50,000 plus £15,000 bonus. Anna is an academic earning £50,000 per year.

They are quite flexible in regard to location, but they would like to stay within the Greater London perimeter. Furthermore, they would like to have good transport links to Central London, because although they have plans to work mostly from home, they know that they may need to be in the office at least a few days per week. They would like also to have a parking space, since they decided to buy a car after the Covid pandemic. Anna is also looking forward to have a garden and interact more with nature given her extra-time at home. While David needs some privacy to record podcasts and YouTube videos, which he sees as a weekend investment that may create an extra income to the couple in the future.

In sum, many plans and requirements that you as their personal finance and real state adviser must bear in mind while helping them find their new space for living. You must:

Required:

1.Create a brief summary of your friend’s requirements, the size of the property and preferred postcode(s) for the search. You must shortlist a property and clarify how it will attend these and other needs that the couple may have. Your research should be included as an appendix.

2.Provide a detailed analysis of the Real State market in London, given current changes in this sector due to Covid-19, Brexit and a possible economic recession ahead. You should explain how these changes may affect the decision of this couple in the short and long-term.

3.Create a spreadsheet model for the decision, showing the relevant cash flows and the net present value, assuming the couple has plans to leave in the property for five years and may decide to rent or sell it after that to travel the world. You should show what would happen considering a 10 years’ time horizon. The output from this analysis should be appended to your report. Marks will be awarded for the realism of assumptions made in the analysis.

4.Write a consultancy style report to accompany and explain the financial analysis and underlying assumptions you made. This should include an analysis of disposable income after essential living expenses to show affordability of the rent or possible maintenance expenses for the purchase. Explain your advice and recommend whether your friends should buy or rent. Marks will be awarded for discussing risks and non-financial factors as well as the financial analysis.

5.Remember that this should be a professional as well as academic piece of work, so you must keep it tidy and clean following the academic references guide in a consultant style

How will we support you with your assessment? (Coursework)

There will be an assessment briefing in the 1st lecture and time in the first 5 seminars for you to:

·Consider how to fulfil the coursework brief and ask any questions for clarification of the brief

·Work on task one in the first seminar, constructing appropriate ‘client requirements’

·Bring your draft work in progress to the seminar a task at a time, so task 2 in week 2, task 3 in week 3 etc. until you have had the opportunity to raise any queries and receive formative feedback in the form of verbal comments on your work by the seminar tutor.

·Check out any ‘tips and advice’ posted on the module’s Moodle site and view last year’s coursework assessment brief and specimen answer(s), noting the transferrable learning.

·Have an opportunity to review and reflect upon work from the previous cohort, but ensure that you do not copy any part of the exemplar provided. The work you submit should be 100% written in your own words using your own researched properties and unique client and tenant profiles.

In addition to the above support, we hope to arrange an external speaker with relevant expertise to make a guest presentation and offer a Q&A session during one of the lectures/seminars.

How will your work be assessed?

Your work will be assessed by a subject expert who will use the marking grid provided in this assessment brief.  When you access your marked work it is important that you reflect on the feedback so that you can use it to improve future assignments.