How can I enrol?
The enrolment deadline for Financial & Management Accounting and all other AMCT stage one papers is 15 December for April examination and 15 June for October examination.
FMA is one of four foundation papers which comprise stage one of the AMCT Diploma in Treasury. Only students enrolling on AMCT can book this paper. You can study the stage one papers in any order, but are recommended to study Financial Management & Accounting before, or at the same time as Corporate Taxation, because some basic accounting knowledge is assumed in the taxation manual and tuition course.
Exemptions
Exemptions from AMCT stage one papers are available for qualified and part qualified accountants and those individuals with previous relevant qualifications.
Entry requirements
- Good standard of english: due to the course being written and examined in English, students will need to possess a good standard of English.
- Internet Browser version: the eLearning website is an important part of this course as you will be able to access the online course manual, discussion forum and further information. Therefore you do need the latest browser to access the content. We suggest one of the following browsers: Internet Explorer 7 or 8, Firefox 3 or Google Chrome to view the content correctly.
Course content
An overview of the course content is provided below. For a detailed outline download the full syllabus
Study Unit 1 – The background to accounts
The purpose of accounts
Financial and management accounts
The balance sheet, profit and loss account and cash flow statement
Statutory and regulatory requirements
The role of auditing
Corporate governance
Study Unit 2 – The framework of company accounting
The structure of accounts
The accounting life cycle
Receipts and payments
Double entry book-keeping
The accruals concept
Study Unit 3 – The main financial statements
IASB framework
True and fair view
Form and content of financial statements
Profit and loss account disclosure requirements
IAS7 - cash flow statements
IAS 37 - provisions, contingent liabilities and contingent assets
IAS 10 - events after the balance sheet date
Comparison UK GAAP, US GAAP and IAS
Study Unit 4 – Group financial statements
Investments in other companies
Consolidated balance sheet – acquisition of a subsidiary
Goodwill on consolidation
Consolidation in years after acquisition
Consolidation of subsidiaries not wholly owned
Acquisition accounting – consolidated profit and loss
Consolidated P&L – partly owned subsidiary
Equity method of accounting – associates
Equity method of accounting – profit and loss
Accounting for joint ventures
Intra-group transactions
Accounting standards and group financial statements
Study Unit 5 – Reporting standards for financial instruments
Foreign currency translation
Financial instruments
Accounting for leases and hire purchase contracts
Study Unit 6 – The management of working capital
Main principles
Stock
Trade debtors
Trade creditors
Cash
The effects of poor working capital management
Study Unit 7 – Planning, budgeting and control
Management planning
Purpose of budgets
Types of budgets
Key steps in the preparation of budgets
Practical problems in the budgeting process
Zero based budgeting
Cost behaviour
Management accounting
Flexible budgeting
Study Unit 8 – Financial analysis
Accounting ratios
Limitations of ratio analysis
Learning outcomes
Following completion of the course you will be able to:
- Understand the basic construction of sets of accounts, including a general knowledge of double entry
- Apply the basic legal rules governing the presentation of limited company financial statements
- Understand selected financial accounting standards, particularly those relevant to treasury practice
- Understand the structure of group accounts and be able to analyse a set of group accounts
- Apply the principles of budgeting, planning and control
- Understand the principles of management accounting for business decision taking
- Understand the key factors in the management of working capital
- Apply the techniques used in investment appraisal
- Understand the sources, types and applications of finance.
FMA is a distance learning programme combining self study with optional face-to-face teaching.
Study tools include:
- A comprehensive course manual
- e-learning website providing access to an online version of the course manual, progress tests, past exam papers, glossary and course tutors
What’s included: Course manual (print and online), access to the e-learning website and the tuition school.
You will need: Access to a computer with internet connection.
Tuition and revision
Optional introductory course
The two day Introduction to Accountancy course is designed to precede the Financial Management and Accounting tuition course. Recommended for students as a refresher on accountancy or who have limited accountancy knowledge.
Optional tuition
The four day optional tuition course covers core topics. Tuition has been tailored to cover the key areas of the course – reinforcing and improving knowledge. Tuition days complement your home study; each day is intensive, covering a number of topics in detail with lecturers, worked examples and tutorial sessions.
Optional revision
The three day optional revision course covers exam preparation techniques, revision, tutor-structured solutions and exam question practice. The objective of the revision course is to revise material covered earlier, to enhance your confidence in attempting exam standard questions in the topics covered. Coverage is not comprehensive, but is designed to complement your final exam preparations and the previous tuition course and/or home study programme.
You can book onto the optional tuition and revision when you enrol or up to 10 days before the start of the courses.
Assessment and examination
Each paper within the AMCT syllabus is assessed by a three hour written examination.
Pass mark and pass rates
The mark you need to achieve a pass in all papers apart from CertITM is normally 50%. The pass mark for CertITM will vary from one examination sitting to another according to the difficulty grade of the multiple choice paper. As a guide a student achieving 70% or over will have passed CertITM.
Booking your exam venue
Students are automatically registered to sit the exam in London. If this is where you intend to sit your exam, no further communication with us is necessary.
We have exam venues in Edinburgh, Dublin, Hong Kong and Singapore which you can book. You don’t need to book your exam venue when you enrol, we will write to you 10 weeks before the exam date asking you to select your venue.
If you cannot take your exam at one of the above venues and you live outside of the UK mainland, you can request to take your exam at a venue local to you. It is your responsibility to contact a suitable venue. The first point of contact is the British Council, although Universities and Colleges of Higher Education are also acceptable venues. Further details will be available to you when you enrol as a student.
For students sitting exams at venues other than London, Edinburgh and Dublin, an administration fee will be payable directly to your chosen local exam venue.
Becoming a member of the ACT
AMCT is the associate membership qualification for the ACT and leads to the designatory letters AMCT. On achieving AMCT you can become a member of the ACT and join the largest community of qualified treasury, risk and finance professionals.
Frequently asked questions
These frequently asked question pages answer generic questions on our qualifications processes and rules which are applicable across the range of our products.
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