Information on individual educational components (ECTS-Course descriptions) per semester

Advanced Spreadsheets in Management Accounting

Degree programme International Business Administration
Subject area Business and Management
Type of degree Bachelor
Full-time
Summer Semester 2025
Course unit title Advanced Spreadsheets in Management Accounting
Course unit code 025008042202
Language of instruction English
Type of course unit (compulsory, optional) Elective
Teaching hours per week 2
Year of study 2025
Level of the course / module according to the curriculum
Number of ECTS credits allocated 3
Name of lecturer(s) Said TRARI
Requirements and Prerequisites

Successful completion of all courses of the module Accounting and Finance.

Solid application knowledge in MS EXCEL. In case of doubt, a suitable tutorial must be worked through independently BEFORE the course. The course assumes that students already have in-depth knowledge of EXCEL and can quickly acquire the syntax of more demanding formulas (VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, INDEX, pivot functions).

Course content
  • Importance and role of Management Accounting (German: "controlling")
  • Concepts and methods of Management Accounting (German: "controlling")
  • Key figures in Management Accounting and Controlling
  • Excel basic functions
  • Advanced Excel functions from the field of economic calculation, statistics, text editing
  • Advanced graphics presentation
  • Design principles for reports
  • Contents of meaningful and decision-supporting management accounting reports
Learning outcomes

Especially in "Management Accounting", in internal company analysis, in the creation of meaningful and decision-supporting management information and in operative controlling, EXCEL-based evaluations and visualisations of operational processes are in great demand.

The students learn advanced functionalities of MS Excel. The focus is on techniques for the advanced presentation of spreadsheets (e.g. conditional formatting), the implementation of simple control mechanisms for checking the plausibility and correctness of results in spreadsheets or the generation of reports from existing Excel spreadsheets that are suitable for the target group.

The students understand conceptual basics of the structure of advanced Excel worksheets and can also implement advanced quantitative business management questions in Excel. They are able to extend the scope of Excel spreadsheets with database functions. The students are also able to analytically penetrate advanced quantitative business management questions.

The students design and document an Excel tool for solving practice-related quantitative business management problems.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Interactive course with lecture, case studies, exercises in individual and group work, presentations and homework.

Assessment methods and criteria

Pre-assignment, participation during the seminar in the form of contributions and short presentations (individual or group assignments), post-assignment, individual weighting as determined by the instructors, announcement at the beginning of the semester

Comment

None

Recommended or required reading

Nugus, Sue (2009): Financial Planning Using Excel: Forecasting, Planning and Budgeting Techniques. Wokingham: Cima Publishing.

Scheels, Ignaz; Seidel, Uwe M. (2016): Excel im Controlling: Professionelle Lösungen für Controlling, Projekt- und Personalmanagement. München: Hanser.

Schüller, Andreas (2016): Finanzmanagement mit Excel - Grundlagen und Anwendungen. 2. Auflage. München: Vahlen.

Mode of delivery (face-to-face, distance learning)

Classes with compulsory attendance