The course aims to promote the knowledge of the managerial, accounting, and non-accounting systems, with which the strategic and operational governance of companies is carried out. As part of the planning, programming, and control system, the role of management control is explored from a systemic point of view, in its process and structure components, both informational (technical-information structure) and organizational (organizational control). In management accounting, particular attention is paid to the operating budget (study of the budgeting system and the development of individual budgets) and management reporting (analysis of variance and measurement and evaluation of company performance). The strategic planning system developed comes from the point of view of the strategic management approach, with the analysis of the processes for defining business strategies at the corporate and business level, the analysis and planning of the competitive positioning at the level of strategic business areas, the analysis and planning of strategic portfolio policies and the alignment of functional capabilities and General Management. A nod is made to the planned management of turbulent change.

1. The economic governance of the company and the planning, programming, and control management function
1.1 Management, managerial systems, managerial functions
1.2 Anthony's model: strategic planning, management control, operational control
1.3 The crisis of Anthony's model. Beyond the planning and control system: strategic and organizational control
2. The managerial control system and management accounting
2.1 The systemic approach to management control in the economic-business doctrine: control process, organizational structure, and technical-informative structure
2.2 The tools of the information-accounting structure of control. Role and functions assigned to management accounting tools
3. Budgeting for the year
3.1 Budgetary accounting: object, purposes, characteristics, and functions;
3.2 Process of drawing up and using budgets: operating budgets (sales budget, commercial costs, production, other areas), investment budget, financial budget, and asset budget. Global master budgets
3.3 Evolutionary perspectives of budgeting: the new approaches to the budget
4. Variation analysis for measuring and interpreting company performance
4.1 The analysis of the variance of costs and revenues
4.2 The contents of the reporting. The management reporting system for crucial variables for performance evaluation
5. Strategic planning systems and their evolution in the face of environmental complexity and turbulence
5.1 The Concept of Strategy and its evolution
5.2 Strategic planning at the corporate level: the fundamental strategic decisions; the strategic planning process in its classic scheme
5.3 The strategic planning methodology at the strategic business area level: the analysis and planning of the strategic and competitive positioning
5.4 The policy of balancing the strategic portfolio of strategic business areas and the consistency between the capability profile and the strategies.
6. Direct strategies formation systems
6.1 Logical Incrementalism and planned strategic learning
6.2 Real-time strategic emergency management

Accounting and business administration I

Knowledge and understanding: at the end of the course, students must have acquired the knowledge and understanding of control systems for business management, from the point of view of its structural components (organizational control structure and management accounting) and process. In particular, they must know and be able to understand the role of the controllership function; the design criteria for an effective management control system, the main tool of which is the company budget; the links with the strategic planning system; the contents of modern strategic management approaches aimed at addressing and managing strategic change in conditions of environmental turbulence and at solving the problems of alignment between the strategies and the managerial and organizational skills of the company. The teaching work methods with which these results will be achieved will consist of frontal lessons, internal seminars, testimonials, analysis of company cases, and classroom exercises relating to the contents of the budget.

Applied knowledge and understanding: students must be able to appropriately apply the acquired knowledge to be able to effectively design a budgetary control system suitable for companies of various sizes and operating in different sectors, as well as analyze and understand the development dynamics of large companies or multinational groups in the current competitive context. For this reason, the changes in strategies that have characterized the development path of some large companies will be taken into consideration. Finally, the limits of the planned approach must also be understood in a context where scenarios change unpredictably and at such speed that they cannot be addressed with planned responses.

Making judgments: students must have the ability to connect the technical-accounting tools (mainly the budget, but also the purposes and contents of analytical accounting) with the planning and control process and with the organizational aspects of management in a single vision and to connect the typical notions of current management with the strategic one, acquiring a proactive mentality in solving problems and focusing on the importance of learning processes in modern companies, faced with complex problems to be managed independently and with one's ability of judgment. Therefore, the ability to autonomously judge the conditions of congruence between the external environment, strategic development, and internal managerial and organizational skills is increased. The teaching work methods with which these results will be achieved will consist of lectures, testimonials, analyses, and discussions of business cases (also taken from websites); conducting exercises in the classroom or at home (individually or in small groups).

Communication skills: Students must acquire clear and effective communication skills, thanks to the correct use of managerial and technical-accounting terminology of budgeting. The teaching work methods with which these results will be achieved will consist of lectures, seminars and testimonials, analysis and discussions of business cases, and involvement in carrying out exercises on the budget.

Learning skills: Students must be able to develop good learning skills, which allow them to deepen the knowledge acquired during the course by tackling the problems (old and new) of strategic management of companies in a holistic way in the current era of market globalization, and to acquire new knowledge, skills, and abilities about the corporate function of controllership or about the possibility of carrying out professional consultancy activities in the field of technical-accounting tools for management control and their application in connection with the development of corporate strategies. The teaching work methods with which these results will be achieved will consist of lectures, seminars and testimonials, analysis of company cases, exercises, and involvement in the research of specific cases to be analyzed.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Seminars held by skilled professionals and experts.

Teaching

The course has different teaching methods:

• frontal lessons (the Wooclap platform will facilitate student engagement);

• testimonials from expert consultants on the subject;

• exercises;

• class discussions.

Innovative teaching methods

Case studies or exercises discussed in a participatory manner with students of classroom.

Course books

- L. Marchi, S. Marasca, MS. Chiucchi, Controllo di gestione, Giappichelli Editore, 2018 (ESCLUSI i capitoli 4-6-7-8)
- M. Ciambotti, Governo strategico d'impresa. Teoria, modelli e sistemi di pianificazione, Giappichelli, Torino, 2005 (ESCLUSI i capitoli 1-2-3-4)
 

Assessment

Expected learning outcomes will be evaluated through an oral test that includes 5 questions. 
The evaluation criteria are as follows: the level of mastery of knowledge, the degree of articulation of answers, the adequacy of explanation, and the use of illustrative examples.
Each criterion is evaluated based on a four-level scale with an equal weight assigned to each criterion.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Course books

- L. Marchi, S. Marasca, MS. Chiucchi, Controllo di gestione, Giappichelli Editore, 2018 (ESCLUSI i capitoli 4-6-7-8)
- M. Ciambotti, Governo strategico d'impresa. Teoria, modelli e sistemi di pianificazione, Giappichelli, Torino, 2005 (ESCLUSI i capitoli 1-2-3-4)

Assessment

Expected learning outcomes will be evaluated through an oral test that includes 5 questions. 
The evaluation criteria are as follows: the level of mastery of knowledge, the degree of articulation of answers, the adequacy of explanation, and the use of illustrative examples.
Each criterion is evaluated based on a four-level scale with an equal weight assigned to each criterion.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

The student can request to sit the final exam in English with an alternative bibliography.