This week you will be starting work on your Final Project for this module.
The purpose of the Final Project is to apply the concepts and techniques of the
module to the analysis of real-world situations or problems. Students are
expected to use diverse sources of information and to carry out an original
analysis rather than summarise or rehash existing work. Students are encouraged
to use situations and data from their own experience where possible.

Your task for Week 5 is to prepare and hand in a Project Proposal that
includes the nature of the project, the sources of information you plan to use,
and the most important concepts and techniques to be applied. You will receive
feedback on the proposal from the Instructor in Week 6, which will give you time
to make adjustments.

For this module, you are required to complete a course project that reveals
mastery in application of the management accounting and finance concepts
emphasised in the course. This involves reporting on a specific organisation
within an industry and the management accounting and finance practices that
affect the value of the chosen firm or industry. This project should be a formal
business report that provides both specific processes and strategies involving
budgeting, costing, capital decision making, capital acquisition, and cost of
capital structure of the chosen firm. These processes and strategies are to be
supported with management accounting concepts.

For this project, you will select a company that you are familiar with or
work for. If you have chosen a company to research for a previous module, you
must inform the Instructor and send him or her the previously submitted work.
The Instructor will then inform you whether or not you may reuse the same
company.

Your tasks are to:

1. Assess the budgeting process and procedures for the organisation with
   regards to preparation techniques, uses for evaluation, differences between
   business units/divisions, etc.
2. Analyse how the organisation collects, stores, and prepares management
   accounting information, particularly the use of a management accounting system
   (MAS) and how information is disseminated throughout the organisation.
3. Evaluate the costing process and procedures of the organisation with respect
   to method or approach utilised.
4. Assess the capital decision making process within the organisation with
   regards to what methods are utilised, how such methods are chosen, how projects
   are selected and managed, and what measures are employed to evaluate
   performance.
5. Evaluate the criteria or mechanisms used by the organisation for deciding
   how best to acquire capital and analyse the capital structure of the company.

Your Final Project should follow the given outline:

1. Brief description of company (IKEA)
2. Description of firm’s budgeting process
3. Management accounting information system
4. Costing process
5. Capital decisions
6. Capital acquisition and structure
7. Conclusion

Your Final Project should also include a section on how and where you
obtained the information sources as well as the methodology used to perform any
analysis. This project should follow a structured approach and should be
prepared and presented as a professional business report.