AS Course Outline
What is Accounting?
Accounting at AS level does not require any prior knowledge of the subject. What is
required is an ease of working with numbers (simple arithmetic only involved) and a
good memory for presentation layouts. Accounting is a highly structured subject but
familiarity with specific layouts can soon be mastered to achieve exam success.
There is also a significant written element to the course where students will be expected
to show insight into the benefits and limitations of various accounting techniques or offer
advice and recommendations on appropriate action to be taken.
Basically Accounting is a business function concerned with the accurate generation,
recording and presentation of a firm’s on-going financial data. It is broadly divided into:
1. Financial Accounting: dealing with reporting on the profit position, cash position
and financial worth of an organisation.
2. Management Accounting: dealing with decision-making and problem solving using
precise data. This advises senior management on the relevant options to pursue.
In general all organisations – profit making and not for profit organisations, are required
to report on their profit/income position over the course of a financial year. So as a
business function it is absolutely fundamental to the smooth operation and financial
health of a business. Businesses continually need to be aware of their costs, their
expenditure, their profit, their liquidity position (i.e. cash strength/weakness) and their
net worth. Accounting is the means by which this information is made available to the
relevant decision-makers (i.e. Board of Directors).
What skills will students develop when studying Accounting?
- The study of Accounting will allow students to develop basic book-keeping skills in
the first instance.
- Data skills will undoubtedly be developed where students will be expected to
manipulate data in a variety of forms.
- As Accounting has quite formalised layouts students will develop their presentation
skills.
- Report writing is also an important feature of the syllabus and this requires specific
writing skills to be developed presenting arguments and making judgements and
justifying recommendations on the basis of available evidence.
- Problem solving and decision-making skills, as well as interpretation skills pervade
the entire syllabus.
| Accounting (AQA Board) AS Specification |
| Unit One
90 minutes
80 marks
50% of AS Exam
|
Introduction to Financial Accounting
This exam focuses on book-keeping in
subsidiary books and ledger accounts,
verification of accurate recording of accounting
data and the preparation of simple Profit &
Loss accounts and Balance Sheets with some
adjustments.
|
| Unit Two
90 minutes
80 marks
50% of AS Exam
|
Financial and Management Accounting
This exam focuses on types of business
organisations, accounting concepts, Limited
Company accounting, assessment of business
financial performance, budgeting and
budgetary control and the impact of ICT in
accounting.
|
Structure of the Course
The course will be taught over 6 lessons per week. Homework will be set each lesson as
it is a subject learned through practical application and it is essential for effective
learning that students put knowledge into practice immediately. This is vital also as
learning accounting is an incremental process and one lesson very much builds on the
previous so speedy uptake of the subject material is beneficial for syllabus progression.
Required Reading: AS Accounting for AQA (2008) D.Cox and M.Fardon Osbourne Books
