Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance (BBA[Acc&Fin])

'Core departments' means the School of Business, the School of Economics and Finance, Politics and Public Administration, Psychology, Social Work and Social Administration, Sociology and Statistics;

'Non-core departments' means the Departments of Computer Science, English, Fine Arts, Geography and Geology, History, Japanese Studies, Mathematics, Music and Philosophy;

'Course' means a course of instruction leading to one paper in the Final Examination Part I, Part II and Part III, as defined in the syllabus;

'Core courses' means designated courses required to be taken by all BBA(Acc&Fin) candidates;

'Special course' means a designated course required to be taken by all BBA(Acc&Fin) candidates;

'Elective' means a course offered by any Department, other than courses designated as 'core courses' and 'special courses';

'Paper' means one or more of the following tests: a theoretical examination paper, an assessment of coursework, or a dissertation, or other assignments as prescribed in the syllabus of the course leading to it;

'Double course' means the equivalent of two courses, and leads to the equivalent of two papers in the Final Examination;

'Prerequisite' means a course which a candidate must have completed successfully before being permitted to take the course in question.

A&F 2 To be eligible for admission to the degree of Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance, a candidate shall

A&F 3 The curriculum for the degree of Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance shall extend over not less than three academic years and shall include the Final Examination Part I, Part II and Part III held annually, at the end of the first, second and third years respectively. A candidate shall select courses in accordance with Regulations A&F 6 and A&F 9 below.

A&F 4 In the Final Examination Part I, Part II, and Part III an assessment of the candidate's coursework during the year shall be taken into account in determining the candidate's result in each written examination paper.

A&F 5 A candidate who is unable because of his illness to be present for any paper or papers in the Final Examination Part I and Part II may apply for permission to present himself for a supplementary examination to be held before the beginning of the first semester of the following academic year. Any such application shall be made on the form prescribed within two weeks of the first day of the candidate's absence from any examination. A candidate who fails to satisfy the examiners in one or more papers in such a supplementary examination shall be considered under the provisions made in these Regulations for failure at the first attempt at the examination, except that a further supplementary examination shall not be permitted.

A&F 6 To complete the first year of the curriculum, a candidate shall follow eight courses plus the compulsory English course as prescribed in the syllabuses and satisfy the examiners at the Final Examination Part I which shall consist of one paper in each of the courses selected, together with any coursework, oral and practical tests as may be prescribed in the syllabuses.

A&F 7 A candidate in the Final Examination Part I who has failed to satisfy the examiners in one paper only, but has achieved in their opinion a sufficiently high standard in other papers to compensate for that failure, may be deemed to have satisfied the examiners, but shall not be permitted to select a second- or third-year course for which the failed paper forms a prerequisite unless he is given permission by the Department concerned to sit a qualifying examination in the failed paper and satisfies the examiners in this.

(a)

A candidate in the Final Examination Part I

(i)	who has failed to satisfy the examiners in any one paper and is not deemed to have satisfied the examiners under the provision of Regulation A&F 7 above, or
(ii)	who has failed to satisfy the examiners in two papers

may be permitted to present himself for a supplementary examination in the failed paper(s) held the same year in August/September. A candidate who fails in one or more papers at a Supplementary Final Examination Part I shall be required to repeat the whole first year of the curriculum.

(b)

A candidate in the Final Examination Part I who has failed to satisfy the examiners in three papers shall be required either to repeat the whole first year of the curriculum, or to discontinue his studies.

(c)

A candidate in the Final Examination Part I who has failed to satisfy the examiners in more than three papers shall be recommended for discontinuation of studies under the provisions of General Regulation G 12.

(d)

In no case may a candidate proceed to the second year of the curriculum until he has satisfied the examiners at the Final Examination Part I under the provisions of A&F 5, A&F 6, A&F 7 or this Regulation. A candidate who has failed to satisfy the examiners in the Final Examination Part I after having repeated the first year shall be recommended for discontinuation of studies under the provisions of General Regulation G 12.

A&F 9 To complete the second and third years of the curriculum, a candidate must complete the twelve core courses (including the two special courses) and six elective courses. A candidate shall satisfy the examiners at the Final Examination Parts II and III in the eighteen papers; nine to be taken at the end of the second year, and nine at the end of the third year.

A&F 10 An alphabetical list shall be published of candidates successful in the Final Examination Part I and Part II, while the list of candidates successful in the whole of the Final Examination shall be published in five divisions: First Class Honours; Second Class Honours Division One; Second Class Honours Division Two; Third Class Honours; Pass. The standard attained in each of the three Parts of the Final Examination shall be taken into account in determining a candidate's classification.

(a)

A candidate who has failed to satisfy the examiners in the Final Examination Part II in one or two papers may be allowed to proceed to the third year of the curriculum and present himself for re-examination in the failed paper(s) together with the papers of Part III of the Final Examination, except that in the case of failure in the paper(s) for the elective course(s), re -examination either in the failed paper(s) or in new paper(s) may be permitted.

(b)

A candidate who has failed to satisfy the examiners in the Final Examination Part II in three or more papers shall be required either to repeat the second year or to discontinue his studies.

A&F 12 A candidate who has failed to satisfy the examiners in the Final Examination Part II and Part III shall be required either to repeat the course(s) for the failed paper(s) and present himself for re -assessment and/or re-examination in the paper(s) when the examination is next held, or to repeat the final year of the curriculum and present himself for re-assessment and/or re-examination in the whole of Part III of the Final Examination when the examination is next held, but in either case shall not be eligible for honours unless the Senate directs that he shall be so eligible because of exceptional circumstances. A candidate who fails to satisfy the examiners in this second attempt shall be recommended for discontinuation under the provisions of General Regulation G 12. If such a candidate is not required by the Senate to discontinue his studies and is permitted to present himself for a third time, he shall then in no circumstances be eligible for honours. A candidate who presents himself for re-examination in respect of elective course(s) take the same paper(s) in which he has failed, or substitute another paper or papers.

SYLLABUSES FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION IN ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE

A candidate must complete the following eight courses and one elective (to be selected from amongst first-year courses offered by Departments specified). In addition to course 77100 which is a whole-year course, a candidate may not take more than five courses in any semester. The examination for each course, unless otherwise specified, is one two-hour written paper and the final grading will be determined by performance in the examination and an assessment of coursework. There are no prerequisites for admission to these courses unless otherwise specified.

A candidate may take either 17101 or 17103 but not both. Course 17101 is designed for students without mathematical training. Course 17103 is designed for students with a mathematics background, either Advanced Level Pure Mathematics, Advanced Supplementary Level Mathematics and Statistics, or who have taken either course 24118. Mathematics for social sciences: course I.1 or course 24119. Mathematics for social sciences: course I.2 in the first semester. Students with a grade C or better in Advanced Level Physics are also qualified to take 17103.

The examination for each course is one two-hour written paper and the final grading will be determined by performance in the examination and an assessment of coursework in the ratio of 75:25, unless otherwise specified.

(Compulsory and prerequisite for all second- and third-year courses in economics.)
An introduction to the basic concepts and principles of economics, with emphasis on the theoretical framework of choice theory, the nature of constraints, the measure of value, the laws of demand and productivity, and the implications for resource use and employment. Assessment: 40% coursework, 60% examination.

The course will cover the principles of double entry book-keeping, the interpretation of financial statements, the issues raised by corporate regulation, and the use of management information for decision making. Assessment: 30% coursework, 70% examination.

This course is designed as an introduction to the study of business management. It provides an introductory overview of the 'process' perspective of management, which includes planning, decision -making, control, feedback and other concepts useful to management in their problem-solving activities. The students will also be introduced to the main functional areas of management. Some basic features of the business environment and work organization will also be covered.

An introduction to the Hong Kong legal system, the fundamentals and general principles of Hong Kong law. Other legal concepts which a manager may be expected to encounter in the business environment.

Further discussion of demand and supply and multi-market equilibrium, especially in an aggregative context. An introduction to money, banking, financial markets, and open economies. Assessment: 40% coursework, 60% examination.

This is a basic unit which is intended to give students an introduction to the concepts, methods and some of the problems involved in the study of political science. Assessment: 30% coursework, 70% examination.

This is a basic course which introduces the student to the fundamental concepts and issues in public administration, focusing on the scope of the subject and the relationship between public administration and politics. Assessment: 30% coursework, 70% examination.

Discussion of basic concepts in psychology and a preliminary survey of representative work carried out in various areas of psychological investigation, together with an investigation at some length of one such area.

This course introduces students to the nature of sociological enquiry and the basic concepts used in sociological analysis. After some reference to the influence of inheritance and environment on human social behaviour, the course will focus on key concepts used in the analysis of cultures, social structures, social processes and social change. The relationship between research, concepts and contemporary theory will be explored at an introductory level.

This course will explore, through cross-cultural comparison, key social and cultural issues, such as marriage and the family, caste and class, ethnicity and identity, language and culture, state formation, economic values, gender and religion. The course will draw on studies of the peoples and cultures of Asia.

The discipline of statistics is concerned with situations involving uncertainty and variability. Variability greatly affects the interpretation of data. Thus statistics forms an important descriptive and analytical tool of the social sciences. This elementary course, which is taught without any technical mathematics, presents many standard situations of data interpretation. The statistical tests for these situations are presented.

The discipline of statistics is concerned with situations involving uncertainty and variability. The interpretation of data is greatly affected when variability plays a role, as it usually does. Thus statistics forms an important descriptive and analytical tool of the social sciences. Candidates with a mathematical background will find this course suitable, because the language of mathematics allows the subject of statistics to be presented with economy and clarity.

This course will acquaint students with information technology (IT) from several perspectives, including computer hardware and software, the history of computing, emerging technologies and computer programming concepts. In addition, the students will acquire personal computing skills using word processing, electronic spreadsheets and presentation software.

This course introduces the basic computing concepts and the art of computer programming. Contents include: basic concepts and vocabulary of computers and information processing; overview of hardware and software components of computer systems; techniques for the design and construction of computer programmes; use of C++ language to solve problems over a wide range of applications.
Examination: One three-hour written paper.

The course prepares students to respond effectively to the communicative demands of academic study in English. Through text-based activities in class and investigative project work related to language and disciplinary issues, the course develops abilities to analyse and evaluate extended texts, and to produce clear and coherent spoken and written discourses. It also emphasises careful revision and editing of essays and project reports to ensure that lexical and grammatical choices are correct and appropriate. Assessment will be wholly by coursework.

1.	In the following, each course leads to one examination paper which will be two hours in length, or three hours for a double course (in the case of certain electives), unless otherwise specified.
2.	The final grading of each paper will be determined by performance in the examination and an assessment of coursework in the ratio 75:25, unless otherwise specified. For the courses offered by other departments, the weighting of coursework will be determined by the departments concerned.
3.	For some courses offered in the second half of the year, a course offered in the first half of the year is a prerequisite. In such cases, notwithstanding the provisions of Regulation A&F 1, a candidate will fulfil the prerequisite by having completed the course in question, on the understanding that he will take the examination at the end of the year.
4.	The courses listed will not necessarily be offered every year; from time to time, depending on the exigencies of staffing, additional courses may be offered.
5.	A candidate may not take more than five courses in any semester. Candidates are required to satisfy the examiners in a total of 18 courses in the second and third years, 9 to be taken at the end of each year.
6.	The School will only offer modules and electives for which sufficient student demand has been expressed in any one year.

12212. II. Organizational behaviour and introduction to human resource management

A course on the concepts used for the understanding of human behaviour in organizations and an introduction to the application of these concepts in human resource management. The topics will include motivation, leadership theory, group dynamics, morale, communications, control techniques and organizational climate.

An introduction to limited liability companies, and the preparation of their accounts to satisfy reporting requirements. The principles of accounting theory and its implications for periodic income determination and asset valuation for corporate and other entities.

A course on the quantitative methods that are used to solve business problems and make managerial decisions. The course will involve the use of computers in the teaching process.

The theory and techniques involved in serving the accounting needs of management in the decision making, control, evaluation and motivational aspects.

A course on the concepts and techniques involved in the financial decisions of companies, incorporating treasury management, sources and costs of long term finance, capital structure problems and valuation models, dividend policy, and an introduction to the efficiency of capital markets.

This course examines the application of information technology to business and analyses the various stages of a systems life-cycle in connection with the development of computer-based information systems.

An introductory course on the basic concepts of marketing and their implications in management. The ingredients of the Marketing Plan will be analysed and the problems involved in formulating marketing strategy; interpreting marketing data and coping with the changing market environment will be examined. Assessment: 30% coursework, 70% examination.

A course on the analysis of various investment instruments in the financial markets.

The course will review the analysis and implementation of strategic corporate decisions which encompass all functional areas of business. Students will be split into small groups and will be required to write a mini-project of not more than 5,000 words outlining the desired corporate strategy for a given corporate problem

Applications of accounting theory to the preparation of Accounting Standards and their implications for reporting purposes, particularly those related to the consolidation of group accounts, asset valuation, and the influence of inflation on income determination.
Prerequisite: 12215.

Performance in the following two courses will be graded by continuous performance and/or examination.

This course is designed to enhance communication in English in the context of both academic study and the business environment. This will be achieved through instruction and practice in oral presentation, business correspondence, writing accurate and concise reports, interviewing to obtain information about real business activity in Hong Kong, meeting procedure and analysis of business publications.

Students will be split into small groups to evaluate critically short discussion papers presented by fellow group members on selected topics currently of importance in the business and commercial world.

Six elective courses from the list of available electives, including the following offered by the School of Business:

Formation of companies; memoranda and articles of association. Powers and duties of directors, secretaries and auditors. Shareholders' rights and powers and the role of the courts. Takeovers, mergers and Investments; statutes, regulations and codes. Insolvency law and practice.

The course examines the characteristics of service organizations and how this affects their approach to marketing. Issues in the three dimensions of internal marketing; transactional marketing and external marketing are examined and the role of research analysed. Attention is paid to service culture and service value and the problems are illustrated by examples from Asian, American and European service firms.
Prerequisite: 12304.

This course examines the issues and problems encountered when marketing to industry and organizations. It analyses the social processes that can differentiate industrial and organizational buyers' behaviour from that of individual consumers and draws on regional cases.
Prerequisite: 12304.

A course on the modern portfolio theory and the various pricing models of securities.

A course on advanced problems in managerial accounting and management information and reporting systems for planning and control of operations. In particular it will include problems associated with large decentralized companies divisional performance control, measurement and evaluation; transfer pricing.
Prerequisite: 12306.

Professional ethics, and the social and legal responsibilities of auditors; basic auditing concepts and principles; evidence; evaluation of internal control; standard procedures and methods of investigation.
Prerequisite: 12216.

A study of the accounting for, and management of, taxes on income under the Inland Revenue Ordinance, within the context of taxation theory.
Prerequisite: 12215 or 12218 .

A course on the advanced treatment of corporate financial decisions.
Prerequisite: 12309.

The development and structure of accounting theory. Income determination. Asset valuation. Special areas of controversy, including social accounting and accounting for inflation. Principles of human information processing.
Prerequisite: 12216.

Cross cultural paradigms in accounting. Accounting in the People's Republic of China. The German, Japanese and French accounting approaches. The history of the Anglo-American paradigm. Harmonization of accounting standards and practices. Transfer pricing and international tax management. International accounting bodies and firms. Cash flow statements, secret reserves and other key variations in disclosure and measurement practices in developed countries.
Prerequisite: 12216.

This course discusses developed and developing financial markets, regulatory frameworks, recent developments in securitization, internationalization of markets.
Prerequisite: 12309.

The course will be an introduction to current accounting systems and financial reporting practices in China. The topics covered in this course include of administration of accounting work, accounting legislation and regulations, business accounting standards, practices of cost accounting and managerial accounting, accounting for governments and non-profit organizations (budgetary accounting), financial reporting of the listed corporations, disclosure of other information, preparation of financial statements, auditing requirements, practices of public accounting, and analysis of financial statements in China. Assessment: 35% coursework and 65% examination.
Prerequisite: 12215 or 12218 .

Instead of choosing six elective courses, a candidate may choose to take two elective courses and the Banking module, which include the following courses: