The course aims to develop students’ knowledge and understanding of the advanced theory and practice of financial reporting, in the context of governance and corporate social responsibility.

Course lectures will focus on theoretical and conceptual issues, while workshops will provide both practical applications of conceptual material presented in lectures and opportunities for students to discuss and critically analyse issues.

The course will typically include: theories that have been developed to assist in the improvement of corporate financial reporting and theories that provide explanations and understandings of the regulation and practice of corporate financial reporting; economic concepts of income and value and their application to financial reporting; accounting for business combinations and the preparation of group financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards; complex accounting issues; advanced techniques of analysis and interpretation of corporate financial statements (such as trend analysis, segmental analysis and advanced ratio analysis); the roles of corporate reporting in governance and social responsibility; ethical issues in financial reporting, including creative accounting and earnings management; emerging issues in financial reporting.