AS Accounting

The Course

The course is divided into four modules, each of which is divided into lessons to facilitate the progress of your learning. Within the modules, the lessons have been organised to provide you with what has been considered the appropriate sequence to progressively develop your knowledge in accounting. At the end of each module there is a tutor-marked assessment which, when completed, should be sent to your tutor.

Each module of the course corresponds to the examination module. The lessons are of different length and difficulty. Some of them have references to carefully selected websites to provide you with further practice, summaries and examples of topics covered in the lesson.

You will learn the fundamentals of record-keeping and the purposes, techniques and consequences of effective financial accounting.

Accounting helps businesses in the measuring, monitoring and planning of their operations. People skilled in accounting should be able to tell whether or not the business is performing well financially, the strengths and weaknesses of the business and to communicate their results to the owners of the business. Accounting is about recording, classifying and summarising data. A certain grade of judgement and good analysis and accounting techniques are very important.

The course is laid out as follows:

Module 1 - Introduction to Financial Accounting

Lesson 1: Purposes of Accounting
Lesson 2: Accounting records
Lesson 3: Verification of accounting records
Lesson 4: Final Accounts
Assignment A

Module 2 - Financial and Management Accounting

Lesson 5: Types of business organisation
Lesson 6: Accounting concepts
Lesson 7: Final Accounts. Further aspects
Lesson 8: Analysis of performance
Lesson 9: Introduction to budgeting
Lesson 10: The impact of ICT in accounting
Assignment B

The course covers all the content of the AQA AS Accounting course 2120. You can find the full syllabus for this course at www.aqa.org.uk

Textbooks

This course is self-contained so you will not need to use any extra textbooks. However, you may find useful to read other books on this subject:

• Business Accounting 1 - Frank Wood & Alan Sangster, FT Prentice Hall. ISBN 0273655523
• Business Accounts - David Cox, Osborne books

You can also contact your tutor if you feel you need more practice in any of the topics covered in this course.

The Examination

The course is examined in two components:

Examination Paper 1 – Unit 1 Introduction to Financial Accounting

This paper is one hour and thirty minutes in length and the marks provide 50% of the overall marks of the course, AS, and 25% of A Level. There are four compulsory questions.

Examination Paper 2 – Unit 2 Financial and Management Accounting

This paper is one hour and thirty minutes in length and the marks provide 50% of the overall marks of the course, AS, and 25% of A Level. There are four compulsory questions.

A2 Accounting

The Course

The course is divided into two modules, each of which is divided into lessons to facilitate the progress of your learning. Within the modules, the lessons have been organised to provide you with what has been considered the appropriate sequence to progressively develop your knowledge in accounting. At the end of each module there is a tutor-marked assessment which, when completed, should be sent to your tutor.

Each module of the course corresponds to the examination module. The lessons are of different length and difficulty. Some of them have references to carefully selected websites to provide you with further practice, summaries and examples of topics covered in the lesson.

You will learn businesses profitability, performance, costing and budgeting.

Accounting helps businesses in the measuring, monitoring and planning of their operations. People skilled in accounting should be able to tell whether or not the business is performing well financially, the strengths and weaknesses of the business and to communicate their results to the owners of the business. Accounting is about recording, classifying and summarising data. A certain grade of judgement and good analysis and accounting techniques are very important.

Note that the numbering of the modules and lessons continues from the AS course. You will need to study them in sequence.

The course is laid out as follows:

Module 3 - Further Aspects of Financial Accounting

Lesson 11: Stock valuation
Lesson 12: Incomplete records
Lesson 13: Sources of finance
Lesson 14: Accounting standards
Lesson 15: Published accounts
Lesson 16: Partnership accounts
Assignment C

Module 4 - Further Aspects of Management Accounting

Lesson 17: Manufacturing accounts
Lesson 18: Costing
Lesson 19: Capital Investment Appraisal
Lesson 20: Budgeting: further considerations
Lesson 21: Social accounting
Assignment D

The course covers all the content of the AQA A2 Accounting course 2120. You can find the full syllabus for this course at www.aqa.org.uk

Textbooks

This course is self-contained so you will not need to use any extra textbooks. However, you may find useful to read other books on this subject:

• Business Accounting 1 - Frank Wood & Alan Sangster, FT Prentice Hall. ISBN 0273655523
• Business Accounting 2 - Frank Wood & Alan Sangster, FT Prentice Hall. ISBN 0273655574
• Business Accounts - David Cox, Osborne books

You can also contact your tutor if you feel you need more practice in any of the areas covered in this course.

The Examination

The course is examined in two components:

Examination Paper 3 – Unit 3 Further Aspects of Financial Accounting

This paper is two hours in length and the marks provide 25% of A Level. There are four compulsory questions.

Examination Paper 4 – Unit 4 Further Aspects of Management Accounting

This paper is two hours in length and the marks provide 25% of A Level. There are four compulsory questions.

Entry Requirements

Basic English reading and writing skills, as full tutor support is given.

Study Hours

Approximately 300 hours.

Qualification

AS/A2 - A level in Accounting. Both AS and A2 level courses and examinations must be successfully completed to gain a full A level.

Specification: AQA (Full A Level) 2120, AQA (AS) 1121 and AQA (A2) 2121

What's Included

Learning documentation, Online Resources and Tutor support for 2 years.

Course Fee

Further Information

Please note that this course is available in online format only. You will need to have one of the following packages to access your course online:

Windows: Windows 98, 2000, XP, Vista - Acrobat Reader 8.0 and above
Macintosh: Mac OS X, Mac OS 9.2 - Acrobat Reader 8.0 and above

As an A Level student you will have access to our online 'Common Room', where you are able to receive the latest course updates, extra materials and information. You will also be able to take part in the student chat room and forums as part of our online student community.

Once enrolled, your username, password and personal Oxford College Student number will be emailed to you within 5 working days, which will give you access to your course materials via the ‘Common Room’.

The full A Level will be a 2 year course, AS Exams to be taken in 2009 and A2 in 2010. Due to Examination Board restrictions, there is no flexibility to complete this course any sooner.

Students are required to arrange and pay for their examinations and manage the course work element if the subject requires this. Students must check the relevant examination board website for further information and final examination sitting dates for the specification.

www.aqa.org.uk