ACCT2002 Management Accounting
The Complete Exam Bible · S1 2026ACCT2002 Overview
- Adelaide University
- Accounting
- Final exam 50%
- Closed-book, in person
Management accounting turns operating evidence into decisions. This guide follows Adelaide University's published module order: cost language and allocation first, budgeting and decision making next, then performance management and sustainability.
- Assessed by Test 1 10% · Test 2 20% · viva voce 20% · final exam 50%
- Course map The University's ten sub-modules are reorganised here as thirteen study chapters.
- Exam scope The official instructions say “All topics” and describe a closed-book paper.
- How to prepare Attempt workshop problems before consulting answers, then explain each decision aloud.
What ACCT2002 covers
Adelaide University organises the course into ten sub-modules across three modules: Management Accounting and Cost Allocations, Budgeting and Decision Making, and Performance Management and Sustainability.
We split the nine teaching sub-modules into thirteen study chapters because four sub-modules contain two distinct examinable halves; the final sub-module is a revision week and is integrated into the practice and exam-preparation sections.
The order below preserves the University's architecture while giving cost behaviour and CVP, job and process costing, direct-cost and overhead variances, and relevant information and pricing the space each method needs.
Management Accounting and Cost Terms
Management vs financial accounting · value chain · five-step decision process · ethical guidelines · cost objects · direct vs indirect · variable vs fixed · inventoriable vs period costs · why unit costs mislead02Cost Behaviour and Cost Estimation
Linear and nonlinear cost functions · causality in cost estimation · choosing and evaluating cost drivers · quantitative estimation methods · learning-curve effects · data problems03Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis and Breakeven
CVP features and assumptions · contribution margin · breakeven point · output for target operating income · sensitivity analysis under uncertainty · multi-product and service applications04Job Costing and Normal Costing
Job vs process costing · actual vs normal costing · flow of costs through a job-costing system · under- and over-allocated manufacturing overhead · year-end disposal methods · variations of normal costing05Process Costing: Weighted-Average and FIFO
When process costing applies · the five steps · equivalent units · weighted-average method · first-in first-out method · hybrid-costing systems06Activity-Based Costing and Management
Broad-averaging traps · product undercosting and overcosting · plantwide vs departmental overhead rates · refining a costing system · four-part cost hierarchy · costs and benefits of ABC · activity-based management07The Master Budget and Responsibility Accounting
Budgets, plans and the budgeting cycle · master budget and its benefits · operating budget and supporting schedules · budgets for sensitivity analysis · responsibility centres · human aspects of budgeting · multinational budgeting08Flexible Budgets and Direct-Cost Variances
Static budget and static-budget variance · building a flexible budget · direct-cost variances at Levels 0–2 and at Level 3 · sales-volume vs flexible-budget variance · price and efficiency variances · standard costs · benchmarking09Overhead Cost Variances and Management Control
Budgeted variable and fixed overhead rates · spending, efficiency, flexible-budget and production-volume variances · 4-variance analysis · production-volume vs sales-volume variance · overhead variances under ABC and in non-manufacturing settings10Relevant Information for Managerial Decisions
Relevant vs irrelevant costs · opportunity cost · insource vs outsource · special orders · product mix under capacity constraints · managing bottlenecks · adding or dropping customers and business units · equipment replacement and book value · decision model vs performance-evaluation model11Pricing Decisions and Cost Management
Three major factors affecting price · short-run vs long-run pricing · target costing · cost-plus pricing · cost incurrence and locked-in costs · life-cycle budgeting and costing · non-cost factors in pricing practice12Balanced Scorecard and Costs of Quality
Balanced Scorecard perspectives — financial performance, customer satisfaction, internal business processes, learning and growth · financial and non-financial quality measures · the four cost-of-quality categories · customer-response time · on-time performance · causes and cost of delays13Transfer Pricing, Decentralisation and Sustainability
Management control systems and their three key properties · benefits and costs of decentralisation · four criteria for evaluating transfer prices · calculating transfer prices under three methods · market-based prices and goal congruence · full cost plus a mark-up · minimum transfer price rule · range with unused capacity · multinational tax considerations · sustainability frameworks and measuresThe University's ten sub-modules become thirteen study chapters here because cost behaviour and CVP, job and process costing, direct-cost and overhead variances, and relevant information and pricing each require separate worked methods. The revision sub-module introduces no new topics, so its emphasis is carried into the mixed-practice and exam-preparation sections.
The official assessment table lists four individual components totalling 100%: Test 1, Test 2, a viva voce and a final exam. The final exam is in person, paper-based and closed book. Its Instructions cell says “All topics” and lists MCQ, calculations, analysis, explanation and analytical writing, while its Purpose cell describes short-answer questions and problem-solving tasks.
Because those descriptions differ, this guide preserves both and directs students to Canvas for the current paper format and to the University Exam Office for the exam time. All numerical examples in this guide are independently authored.
They teach standard management-accounting methods with fresh businesses, quantities and prices: contribution-margin reasoning, equivalent units, activity cost-driver rates, budget schedules, favourable and unfavourable variances, constrained product mix, target cost and transfer-price ranges. They are practice models, not reconstructions of textbook exercises or University solutions.
Use them with the course's workshop method: attempt the problem first, compare the logic rather than memorising a final number, then work backwards through any step that did not reconcile.
How ACCT2002 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Test 1 | 10% | Individual MCQ · online in Canvas · Tuesday 24 March, 6:30 pm · CLO 1 |
| Test 2 | 20% | Individual MCQ and short-answer questions · online in Canvas · Tuesday May 12, 6:30 pm · CLO 2 |
| Viva voce | 20% | Individual interactive oral assessment · face-to-face on University campus · week beginning May 25; specific schedule will be informed · CLO 5 |
| Final Exam | 50% | Individual · in person, paper-based and closed book · time to be informed by the University Exam Office · CLOs 1, 2, 3 and 4 |
A hurdle is not stated in the source material for any of the four components — confirm on Canvas. The module quizzes are not among the four graded components listed in the official assessment table, which totals 100%. The final exam is closed-book, in person and paper-based, and its instructions say 'All topics'; the exam time is to be informed by the University Exam Office. The table's purpose and instructions cells describe the paper's question types differently — confirm on Canvas.
Free worked example: contribution margin before breakeven
- 2Contribution margin per booking is selling price less variable cost: $85 − $34 = $51. This is the amount each completed booking contributes first to fixed cost and then to profit.
- 3Breakeven bookings are fixed cost divided by contribution margin per booking: $12,750 ÷ $51 = 250 bookings. At that volume total contribution exactly covers fixed cost.
- 3At 310 bookings, total contribution is 310 × $51 = $15,810. Deduct fixed cost of $12,750 to obtain operating income of $3,060.
- 2Reconcile through margin of safety: 310 − 250 = 60 bookings above breakeven; 60 × $51 = $3,060, the same operating income.
Key terms
- Cost object
- Anything for which a separate measurement of cost is desired, such as a product, service, customer, job or department.
- Cost driver
- A factor whose change is expected to cause a change in the total cost of a related activity.
- Contribution margin
- Revenue less variable cost; the amount available to cover fixed cost and then operating profit.
- Equivalent units
- A conversion of partly completed production into the number of fully completed units represented by that work.
- Flexible budget
- A budget recalculated for the actual level of activity using the budgeted revenue and cost relationships.
- Relevant cost
- A future cost that differs between the alternatives under consideration.
- Target cost
- The allowable long-run cost obtained by subtracting required operating profit from a market-based target price.
- Transfer price
- The price one subunit charges another subunit of the same organisation for a product or service.
ACCT2002 FAQ
How is ACCT2002 assessed?
The official table lists Test 1 at 10%, Test 2 at 20%, an individual viva voce at 20%, and a final exam at 50%, totalling 100%. All four tasks are described as individual. Check Canvas for the current operational details.
Is any component a hurdle?
A hurdle is not stated in the source material — confirm on Canvas. The published rule that is stated is that all assessment tasks are compulsory and none are redeemable; that rule should not be converted into a separate minimum-mark condition.
Do the module quizzes count towards the grade?
The module quizzes are not among the four graded components listed in the official assessment table, which totals 100%. They are described as checks on understanding. Confirm their current status and availability on Canvas.
What is the viva voce?
It is an individual, face-to-face interactive oral assessment held in person on the University campus in the week beginning May 25, with the specific schedule to be informed. It assesses understanding, application, communication and critical thinking.
Prepare by explaining an assumption, calculation and managerial implication aloud; that preparation method is AskSia advice, not a claim about the University's questioning format.
Is the final exam open or closed book?
The official instructions state that it is a closed-book exam. The mode is in person and paper-based. Check Canvas for permitted-material and venue instructions.
What does the final exam cover?
The official Instructions cell says “All topics” and lists MCQ, calculations, analysis, explanation and analytical writing. The Purpose cell instead describes short-answer questions and problem-solving tasks, so confirm the current paper format on Canvas.
Which textbook does the course use?
The stated text is Horngren's Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis, Global Edition, 17th Edition, by Srikant M. Datar and Madhav V. Rajan, published by Pearson. Use the reading chapters assigned in each module.
Does ACCT2002 use MyLab?
The course welcome material states that this course does not use MyLab. Follow the links and activities presented in Canvas instead.
How to study for the exam
Use a three-pass cycle. First, preview the module scope and write the decision the method is meant to support: pricing, product cost, resource allocation, control or performance evaluation. Second, attempt the assigned workshop problem before consulting an answer.
The workshop guidance emphasises working through sub-questions in groups, presenting reasoning to the workshop, answering other students' questions and using released answers to work backwards only after a genuine attempt. Third, close the notes and reproduce the calculation with a new set of numbers, then give a sixty-second oral explanation of the assumption, arithmetic and management implication.
The Learning Resources pages establish a visible cadence: each of the ten pages links three module quizzes. Taught topics normally carry three concept videos, while Topic 1 carries six; the revision week instead provides three module-overview videos and introduces no new topics. Treat the quizzes as checks on understanding and verify their current status on Canvas.
This guide does not turn them into a fifth assessment component. For the viva voce, practise speaking rather than merely rereading. Use the frame “decision, relevant evidence, method, result, implication, limitation”. For calculations, name the direction as well as the amount: favourable or unfavourable, under- or over-allocated, undercosted or overcosted.
For the final exam, practise mixed sets under closed-book recall conditions, but obtain the actual time, venue and operational instructions from the University Exam Office and Canvas.
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