The Business Development module equips learners with the strategic skills and analytical tools necessary to evaluate and enhance business performance. Composed of two key components—Business Diagnosis and Business Restructuring—this module provides a comprehensive framework for addressing challenges and optimizing business operations in dynamic markets.
Business Diagnosis
This component focuses on evaluating a business's current state through systematic analysis. Participants will learn to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT), assess financial health, and uncover operational inefficiencies. Techniques such as market analysis, performance benchmarking, and risk assessment are covered, enabling learners to make informed decisions for growth. The goal is to build a robust foundation for understanding a business’s positioning and potential.
Business Restructuring
In this section, learners delve into the process of transforming businesses to achieve sustainable growth and competitiveness. Topics include organizational redesign, process optimization, debt restructuring, and strategic pivots. Participants will explore case studies of successful business turnarounds and gain hands-on experience in crafting actionable restructuring plans. Emphasis is placed on balancing financial goals with stakeholder interests while ensuring operational continuity during transitions.
To develop knowledge and understanding of the automating accounting information to support the management in their decision making processes of reporting financial information virtually. The focus of this course is on computerized accounting and on continuous developments and advancements in the use of information technology to aid recording, processing business transactions and prepare of financial statements in order to assist in business decision making. This module aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively use accounting software in a business context. As businesses increasingly adopt technology for financial management, proficiency in computerized accounting is a crucial skill. The module covers key concepts related to computerized accounting, hands-on experience with popular accounting software, and the ability to analyze and interpret financial data in a digital environment.
Advanced Financial Management is designed to deepen the understanding of financial principles and strategies in a corporate context. The course focuses on advanced concepts and analytical techniques used in financial decision-making and management.
The simplest definition of 'Public Sector' is "all organizations which are not privately owned and operated, but which are established, run and financed by Government on behalf of the public." This definition conveys the idea that the public sector consists of organizations where control lies in the hand of the public, as opposed to private owners, and whose objectives involve the provision of services, where profit making is not a primary objective.
Accounting generally is a scientific study in which records of expenditure and income of a company, individuals or Government are kept coupled with other useful information for planning, decision making and control. Government accounting, on the other hand, is composite activities of analyzing, recording, summarizing.
Aim
The aim of this course is to explain broadly public sector accounting
approaches and developments.
Course objectives
At the end of this Module/Course unity a student will be able:
- Identify the various government revenue and expenditure, government control of accounts and advances.
- Understand the problems faced by government in making spending decisions
- Introduce Public Finance, Public Debts and their management in Rwanda.
- Understand objectives of International Public sector Accounting Standards
- Understand the preparation of government accounts
- Understand the importance of budget–pivot of financial administration
- Understand factors which militate against budgeting system in public sector.
- Analyze various investments in public sector using different investment evaluation techniques
Working through this course
This course, Public Sector Accounting expects you to do a lot of reading and practicing, in order to cover the materials in the course material. This means that you should devote much time to this course by reading through this material and getting more information from numerous texts and journals. These abound in every library and from the internet. The course material has been made easy to read and user-friendly. You will need to work in groups with other students in order to discuss, compare notes and thoughts as well as to exchange and share ideas.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Having successfully completed the module, students should be able to:
- Define and explain the importance of corporate reporting to various stakeholders
- Know how to use corporate reporting
- Describe corporate social responsibility in relation to accounting and reporting.
- To differentiate between social accounting, social auditing and financial reporting
- Communicate information having foundation of segment and interim reporting and international norms content accurately and effectively.
- Understand the concepts of segmental and interim reporting
- Analyze the financial position and operating performance of a company
- Explain key steps to effective narrative reporting
- Understand company’s internal and external governance mechanisms
- Report for discontinued operations
COURSE OVERVIEW
The course aims to bring a thorough understanding that corporate reporting has gained in today’s business and commercial transactions. Investors and creditors use many different kinds of information before supplying capital to business enterprises. The information is used to assess the future risk and return of their potential investment in the enterprise. You might think about corporate reporting as a special language to communicate financial information about a business to those who wish to use information to make decisions. It is a comprehensive report intended to give information to shareholders and other interested people about a company's activities and financial performance throughout the preceding year. Corporate reporting refers to the presentation and disclosure aspects of reporting and includes financial reporting, integrated reporting, corporate governance, corporate responsibility, narrative reporting etc.
The collapse of Enron Corporation in 2001 and other high profile accounting failure made immensely clear the importance of reporting reliable financial information. We use the term corporate reporting to refer to the process of providing financial information to external users. External uses receive important financial information in a variety of other formats as well, including news released and management forecast, prospectus, report field with regulatory agencies etc. This course will introduce students to the corporate reporting environment by discussing such topics as meaning of corporate reporting (framework of financial reporting), segment reporting, interim reporting, environment and social reporting, narrative reporting as well as corporate governance reporting. What is corporate reporting? What are the objectives of corporate reporting? How to prepare a segment and interim reports, how to prepare social responsibility account and reporting. What is the importance of narrative reporting? What are the forms of governance mechanisms pertained to the company?
COURSE OUTLINES
This course unity is structured under five chapters titled as follows:
Chapter I Introduction to corporate reporting
Chapter II Social accounting, auditing and reporting
Chapter III Segment reporting
Chapter IV Interim reporting
Chapter V Financial statement analysis
Chapter VI Reporting for discontinued operation
WORKING THROUGH THIS COURSE
This course, corporate reporting expects you to do a lot of reading and practicing, in order to cover the materials in the course material. This means that you should devote much time to this course by reading through this material and getting more information from numerous texts and journals. These abound in every library and from the internet. The course material has been made easy to read and user-friendly. You will need to work in groups with other students in order to discuss, compare notes and thoughts as well as to exchange and share ideas.
TEACHING STRATEGIES AND METHODOLOGY
The lectures will include discussion, both group and individual based. Meetings will be held every day from Monday to Sunday. The lecturer will only be absent due to unavailable circumstances and all efforts will be made to communicate before the meeting, students are advised to use this time for reading, and preparing the next lectures. Lectures will be conducted using zoom and videos will be uploaded on the moodle to facilitates revisions. For the practical with the help of Zoom Excel sheet will be used while solving some problems in group accounts, preparation of financial statement and investment I public sector.
The interaction throughout the module will be done using charts and forum.
The final day of the meeting will be used for general revision of the course; this revision will be done by the help of the course leader during the allocated time.
ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES
Assessment will be also part of this online teaching and learning process. Some evaluations will be done online like quiz and individual assignment while 1 invigilated CAT, 4 assignments and final exam at Campus. This may be compiled as follows:
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ASSESSMENT |
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CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT TESTS (60%) |
FINAL EXAM (40%) |
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Group Assignment (20%) |
On campus invigilated final exam (40%) |
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Individual assignment (10%) |
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Quiz (10%) |
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Invigilated CAT (20%) |
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- Teacher: Dr François Xavier NIYIBIZI