Course 2026-2027 a.y.

Classes: 31 (I sem.)

Instructors:
Class 31: FRANCO FLAVIO MIROGLIO

Not required The first sessions of the course will be devoted to refresh contents and structures of fundamental financial reports (income statement, balance sheet, statement of cash flow) in order to create a common language and put in evidence pieces of information that will be used to carry out financial statement analysis. This will allow students without previous knowledge on topic to align to the rest of the class on basic financial accounting concepts.

The Course intends first to develop students’ skills in understanding, analyzing, and interpreting financial statements. Conceptually, the course emphasizes that producers and users of financial statements have different objectives and informational needs. At the same time, the course is applied in that it teaches students how to analyze actual financial statements data to make informed business decisions and assessments. The course assumes a good command of basic financial accounting topics, but the first sessions will be devote to create a common language on financial reports and financial measures (accounting based, market based, ESG based). Second this course is designed to broaden and deepen students’ conceptual and technical understanding of accounting as it is used for management purposes. The emphasis in the course is on financial controls, which provides the dominant form of control in the vast majority of decentralized organizations. This module provides support in business decisions, evaluation of organizational performance, or in evaluation of others (and/or be evaluated) using financial and non-financial information.

The couse will focus on the following:

 

1. UNDERSTANDING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 
2. FUNDAMENTAL ANALYSIS : measuring liquidity, solvency, profitability and growth 
3. TOWARDS A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS: impact of a growth strategy, value based performances, ESG measures 
4. MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL MECHANISMS 
5. FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND INCENTIVE SYSTEMS 
6. MYOPIA PROBLEMS AND UNCONTROLLABLE FACTORS 

At the end of the course student will be able to...

Apply a structured and coherent fundamental analysis of financial statements 

Being able to link financial decision to strategy 

Understanding how financial performances and targets are deployed through control mechanisms

 

At the end of the course student will be able to...

Built the fundamental ratios in term of profitability, solvency and liquidity 

Read the evolution of ratios linking it to the firm strategy 

Integrate financial measures with KPI 

Better understand the process of target setting and valuation of managerial performance 

• Lectures
• Practical Exercises
• Individual works / Assignments
• Collaborative Works / Assignments

	Continuous assessment	Partial exams	General exam
Written individual exam (traditional/online)		x	x
Individual Works/ Assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)	x
Collaborative Works / Assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)	x

The evaluation of  APT  (Active partecipation track) students will be based on:

 

·         2 Group assignments (GA)  (one for each part of the course) receiving a maximum of 10 points in total (6 points for the first assignment + 4 points for the second one); groups will be created at the beginning of the course. Group assignments consist in a case study to be prepared with your classmates and delivered within the due date. Only the second GA will be presented at the end of the course. The participation to both GA is necessary to stay in the APT. Detailed information will be uploaded on blackboard.

 

·         4 Individual assignments (IA) delivered during the course (2 for part1 and 2 for part2). Each IA will consist of 8 multiple choice questions to be solved in 12 minutes and will be delivered on-line through blackboard platform. No registration is required, and you can do the test at home. Each IA allows a max of 8 points. At the end of the course, students that have collected from 18 to 25 points) will receive 1 bonus point on the final grade; students that have collected more than 25 points will receive 2 bonus points. To keep the APT status, you need to participate to 3 out of 4 IAs.

 

·      The  Final Exam. Time allowed: 75 minutes.

Max points collectable with final exam for APT Students: 20. 

  

You are considered APT if you partecipate to Group and individual assignments according to what mentioned above. The attendance recording is just for statistical purposes, but you are warmly invited to attend. 

  

APT students will have the following advantages: 

-       Better learning 

-       Better support in workload management 

-       Less questions in the final exam, more time available to answer each question 

-       A higher possible final grade (10+2+20= 32) 

  

  

To achieve 30 cum laude, you have to total at least 31 points. 

The gained status of APT student will be valid till February 2027. In case of failing to pass an exam (or withdrawal), the points for the assignments will still remain valid until last useful date. 


 

The final exam will be in class and on paper. Bring a calculator for quantitative exercises. 

 

Attention:

 

-        The enrolment for the exam is unique for attending and non attending students; 

-        Tell to the exam supervisor when papers are distributed if you are an attending or non attending student. 

 

  The evaluation of NPT  (Normal parteciapation track) students will be based, only, on the final exam. Time allowed: 75 minutes. All questions need to be answered and will be graded a maximum of 31 points. 

  

NPT students will be allowed to test their preparation participating to Individual Assignments, but the points gained will not be considered for the final grade. 

  

The final exam will be in class and on paper. Bring a calculator for quantitative exercises. 

 

The final exam will be in class and on paper. Bring a calculator for quantitative exercises. 

 

Attention:

 

-        The enrolment for the exam is unique for attending and non attending students; 

-        Tell to the exam supervisor when papers are distributed if you are an attending or non attending student.

First Part: Financial Analysis 

  

Teaching materials (slides and readings) both for in class activities than home activities will be uploaded on Blackboard Platform 

Check Blackboard daily for class announcements and lecture notes/homework assignments. 

  

Suggested readings for the First part (not mandatory): 

·       R. Libby/ P. A. Libby/F. Hodge: Financial Accounting 

·       Miroglio F., Basic Principles of managerial accounting, Chapter 1: "From financial to managerial accounting" 

  

  

Second Part: Performance Measurement 

  

K.A. MERCHANT, W.A. VAN DER STEDE, Management Control Systems: performance measurement, evaluation and incentives, 2017, 4th edition, ISBN-13: 9781292110554 (print) / 9781292110585 (PDF) / 9781292181875 (ePub) 

  

Teaching materials (slides and readings) both for in class activities than home activities will be uploaded on Blackboard Platform 

Check Blackboard daily for class announcements and lecture notes/homework assignments.