Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE TTC2125

 
TITLE Basic Finance and Business Accounting for Tourism

 
UM LEVEL 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 5

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Tourism Management

 
DESCRIPTION The focus of the themes covered will give students a basic introduction to business, focusing on the fundamentals of running a tourism business, keeping records and books. It will demonstrate how to read a profit and loss account and balance sheets and will also introduce the concept of managing accounts. Discussions, applications, and case studies will enable students to apply concepts specifically to businesses within the travel and tourism industry.

The study-unit provides basic information about tourism organisations accounting such as revenue accounts, operational and non-operational revenues, Internal control of revenues, VAT applications, journal entry of front office transactions, journal entry of rebates mainly for the airline industry, journal entry of food and beverage sales, expense accounting and balance sheet. While exploring these themes, students are provided with the necessary tools required to perform an interpretation and assessment of financial statements for decision making purposes.

The study-unit provides basic information about tourism organisations accounting such as revenue accounts, operational and non-operational revenues, Internal control of revenues, VAT applications, journal entry of front office transactions, journal entry of rebates mainly for the airline industry, journal entry of food and beverage sales, expense accounting and balance sheet.

Study-unit Aims:

The aim of this study-unit is to orientate students to the world of finance and the importance of being able to read and understand financial documents that are used in the tourism, culture and heritage industry. Students should be able to understand and be able to interpret figures, leading to informed financial decision-making.

Topics included are:
- The accounting equation;
- Accounting concepts;
- Sole trader accounts;
- Company accounts;
- Cash flow statements;
- Interpretation of accounts;
- Budgeting;
- Decision making.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Appreciate that businesses, even tourism and heritage enterprises, need to have healthy financial activity;
- Understand basic accounts;
- Understand the rules of finance;
- Read budgets;
- Prepare budgets.

2. Skills
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Prepare basic financial reports;
- Evaluate the activity of a business concern in terms of its financial reports;
- Arrive at informed decisions concerning financial situations of a business.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

- Dyson, John (2007): Accounting for non-Accounting Students, 7th ed; Prentice Hall.
- McLaney, E. and Atrill, P. (2005): Accounts: An introduction, 3rd ed; Pearson Education.

Case studies set by the lecturer.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture and Independent Study

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment SEM1 Yes 30%
Examination (1 Hour and 30 Minutes) SEM1 Yes 70%

 
LECTURER/S Adrian Sciberras

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit