MSc in Economics and Business Administration - Accounting, Strategy and Control

Content

Making strategies operational
The focus of the concentration is on driving the company towards its goals by making its strategy operational. There is a big difference between making a strategy and making it happen. Often this process is made difficult by vaguely defined goals or differences in perception of the strategy throughout the organisation.  You will learn how to deal with these challenges by interpreting the strategy, breaking it down into smaller parts and making the goals concrete and measurable. This will enable you to create a uniform and tangible understanding of the strategy, from  board level, down through management to the individual employee.

Tools for decision making
Knowing the effectiveness and the limitations of measurements is an important part in achieving this end. By using theories and models in management accounting, you will be able to measure everything from transaction cost and company value, to customer and employee satisfaction. You will learn about  the strengths and weaknesses of these tools, and how they can create a foundation for decision making. The knowledge you gain from this will give you deep insight into the inner workings of the organisation, and allow you to understand how value is created in the company, and at what cost.

Cost and performance management
Accounting is the number one business language, and it creates the foundation for discussions of a company’s financial performance, but also of the non-financial dimensions of performance, such as  customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and competence development,  all playing a major role in the creation of value in the organisation.

Working with measurement and evaluation systems, the provision of incentives and adjustments of behavior hold the potential for controlling cost and performance at all levels in the organisation, and ensure value creation. By developing and analysing such performance and risk measurement systems, you create transparency in the company, and this allows you to identify potential strategic as well as operational problems as they arise within the company. This could for example be a sudden increase in expenses, reduced quality, high employee turnover or continuous difficulties in reaching strategic goals. To deal with these problems, you will learn how to design and implement incentive systems through which you can coordinate and motivate departments, teams or individuals to change their behavior and correct the situation.

Structure

Accounting Strategy and Control is a two-year master’s programme that is divided into 4 semesters. The fall semester runs from September through November with exams in December and January; and the spring semester from February through April with exams in May and June. There are seven mandatory courses in the first year, and elective courses followed by a Master’s thesis in the second year.

There is a certain degree of progression between first and second semester courses. In the first semester you are introduced to core concepts and methods within management accounting and financial analysis. The core concepts and methods form the foundation on which discussions in the second semester will take place.

Additional options

In  the second year you have the option to apply for the CEMS programme.
You can also use part of your third semester to obtain a minor in one of the specialised minor programmes.

Course overview

You can find course descriptions in the programme regulations for Accounting, Strategy and Control.