MASTER OF PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTING (MPA) PROGRAM
1. ADMISSION INFORMATION
Thank you for choosing Divine Word University to offer you a world class Master of Professional Accounting program. The DWU MPA program is a program of the Faculty of Business and Informatics offered in a collaborative partnership with Macquarie Graduate School of Management of Macquarie University Sydney Australia. Divine Word University is renowned for the high standards of its graduates. To maintain these standards, the following entry requirements for entry to the MPA program are set in place:
| Program | Direct entry | Exit point |
| Master of Professional Accounting | 1. A bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) from a recognised university and 5 years or more of relevant work experience; OR 2. A bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) from a recognised university with a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.3 out of 4 and 2 years or more of relevant work experience. |
Postgraduate Diploma with options defined as follows:
Postgraduate Certificate in Management |
In order to register for the MBA program, the applicant needs to provide:
The application package needs to be submitted to the Assistant Registrar at the Divine Word University campus in Port Moresby. Please note: incomplete or unpaid applications will not be processed. |
Calculating your GPA: Grade Points High Distinction 4 Distinction 3 Credit 2.5 Upper pass 2 Pass 1 Fail 0 To calculate GPA, add up the total number of grade points earned, multiply the result by 10 and divide by the total number of credit points attempted. |
Intake date
For the 2012 intake, the application period opens on 1st July 2011 and closes on 25th November 2011.
Successful candidates will be informed in December 2011. Candidates are only eligible to attend classes after having paid for units in advance.
2. DELIVERY
The units are taught in a 'block' mode. Blocks consist of two weekend periods of fulltime face-to-face lectures followed by 3 – 4 weeks of assignments and exam preparation. The face-to-face lectures will be offered from Friday to Sunday with 20 contact hours per weekend. Each unit will be offered once only in a single year. For units in which a final exam is prescribed, the final exam will be held on the third or fourth Saturday following the end of lectures. The MPA coordinator and assistant registrar maintain open communication with lecturers and students as well as the Dean of the Faculty and University Registrar to provide the best teaching and learning support for the program.
| Weekend 1 | ||
| Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| 8.00am - 12 noon; 1.00pm - 5pm | 8.00am - 12 noon; 1.00pm – 5.00pm | 8.00am – 12:00 noon |
| Weekend 2 | ||
| Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| 8.00am -12 noon; 1.00pm - 5pm | 8.00am - 12 noon; 1.00pm – 5.00pm | 8.00am – 12:00 noon |
| Total : 40 hours | ||
Commencement date
Each year is divided into two semesters. A student is expected to take three units per semester. Each unit is delivered over two weekends. Students may commence the program at the start date of any unit except MB614 for which MB607 and MB610 are pre-requisites. A student who wishes to take more than three units per semester is advised to discuss their plan with the MPA coordinator and obtain approval of the Dean of the Faculty. All 12 units must be completed in order to qualify for the award of MPA. Exit points serve to facilitate an individual’s unavoidable circumstance.
3. PROGRAM UNITS
MPA PROGRAM SCHEDULE |
||
Year 1 |
||
Semester |
Unit |
Credit points |
1 |
MB639 Ethical Leadership | 10 |
| MB607 Accounting Foundations | 10 |
|
| MB618 Business Economics | 10 |
|
2 |
MB610 Management Accounting | 10 |
| MB615 Organisational Behaviour | 10 |
|
| MB614 Financial Management | 10 |
|
Year 2 |
||
1 |
MB631 PNG Taxation and Practice | 10 |
| MB617 Business Law | 10 |
|
| MB629 Corporate Accounting | 10 |
|
2 |
MB630 Accounting Theory |
10 |
| MB620 Cross Cultural Management | 10 |
|
| MB637 Investment Management | 10 |
|
4. BRIEF UNIT DESCRIPTIONS
Accounting Foundations - MB607
This unit provides the student with the necessary skills to understand the nature and application of the basic accounting framework and system. All accounting transactions conform to this framework and system. Students are introduced to the concepts and rules governing the identification, measurement, recording and reporting of accounting events and transactions. The application of these transactions in the context of different ownership structures are also examined. On completion of this unit, students will be able to analyse economic events and be able to prepare financial records and reports based on these events. Students will also gain an understanding of the conventions and assumptions associated with the production and use of accounting numbers. They will understand how accounting facilitates improved decision making and critical analysis skills. They will examine how to communicate financial outcomes to non-accounting staff.
Management Accounting – MB610
The fundamental of any management accounting system in organisations is to provide appropriate information for the costing of products and services:
Support functions – planning, controlling, evaluation, continuous improvement, and decision-making;
Competitive support – focuses on the provision of both financial and non-financial services to the management team to enhance the firm’s
General Information and Program Units - updated June 2011 – Master of Professional Accounting 3
competitiveness.
This unit is designed to provide an understanding of these provisions.
Financial Management – MB614
The fundamentals of financial management are introduced from the perspective of the finance manager in a firm, namely those making investment, financing and dividend decisions. Finance theory is applied with the aim of providing a coherent framework and insights to assist in forming reasoned judgements. Topics include financial decision making – capital budgeting and investment evaluation, valuation of assets, projects and businesses, risk and return, an overview of the local debt and equity markets, capital structure decisions, management of equity and financial risk management. Case studies and financial planning models are used to provide context. The unit covers methods used in evaluating investment projects, and an introduction is given to the local debt and equity markets.
Organisational Behaviour - MB615
This unit seeks to engage students with multiple perspectives for understanding and managing their own and others' behaviour within organisations, with a view to developing organisational capability through strengthened internal dynamics. Among the approaches taken are the macro perspectives important in leadership and change, particularly the relationship between behaviour and organisational structure, and pschy-social, political and cultural/symbolic aspects of organisations. Other topics covered include individual differences, groups and teams, power, learning, interpersonal communication, perception and ethics.
Business Law - MB617
Examines some operational aspects of the Papua New Guinean legal system of concern to managers. Particular attention is paid to business agreements, types of business organisation and business property. The focus is on understanding the legal environment of business as a means to more effective management.
Business Economics - MB618
This unit covers basic concepts in economics: demand, supply, elasticity, opportsubjecty costs, comparative advantage, marginal cost and benefit analysis; applications of these concepts to how markets work (and don’t work) and how economic forces are transmitted, especially across borders (forex markets, share markets, property and bond markets etc.); aggregate demand and supply analysis, using basic Keynesian cross, and IS LM models to understand the forces shaping the direction an economy will move in; getting and interpreting current economic statistics; understanding policy issues and the options for dealing with them by, for example, fiscal and monetary tools; and building and using scenarios of the economy for strategic and tactical management purposes at a firm level.
Cross Cultural Management – MB620
The objective of this unit is to equip students with the knowledge and skills which are necessary for them to interact effectively with members of cultures other than their own, specifically in the context of international business relations. Essentially the unit is concerned with considering the issues and problems of managing in different cultures, in particular, the 'people problems’ that invariably arise in international business relationships.
Corporate Accounting – MB629
The goal of this unit is to understand the accounting issues that arise from the various forms of corporate organization and how these translate into disclosure issues for financial reporting purposes. The unit includes company formation and liquidation; accounting for a group of related companies and other associated entities; and modern disclosure practices. The prescriptions for accounting policies under IFRS are examined. It builds on accounting knowledge and business contexts of PNG. It emphasises the critical role of accurate, reliable financial disclosures for advancing the economic prospect of business and government. Corporate governance and audit provisions are also examined.
Accounting Theory – MB630
This unit focuses on the methodologies employed in developing accounting policies both in PNG and abroad. It concentrates on how decision makers use accounting information and are involved in its development. Various theoretical and professional approaches which underpin practice are considered. This unit discusses the frameworks which could be applied to financial reporting and assesses the impact such models have had, or could have, on our understanding about the measurement and disclosure issues in financial reporting. This unit focuses on accounting development, historic and prospective. It ties together issues confronting disclosure and reporting practices as well as examining problems emerging regarding governance, accountability and sustaining business entities.
PNG Taxation and Practice – MB613
Taxation law is complex and varied. This unit introduces the various types of PNG taxes and the overall scheme for the application of taxes and then focuses on the key provisions of Income Tax Law including the interrelationship of income tax and business operations. Conditions for applying and complying are reviewed as well as the consequences of taxation policy. Tax and its consequences pervade commercial life and impact most business activity and decision- making. Knowledge of tax effects is critical for all professionals working in PNG.
Investment Management – MB637
This unit critically examines the academic and professional literature pertaining to the investment setting, market efficiency, investment objectives, portfolio strategies and risk pricing, valuation of equity, debt and property investments, managed funds, and alternative investments. A value biased view of investing is taken which challenges conventional valuation techniques and approaches. The unit also considers investing from the viewpoint of the individual, as well as from the standard institutional perspective.
Ethical Leadership – MB639
The unit explores ethics and philosophy of human acts as foundations of management thought and action. In today’s business many CEOs need to know what the signs are that an organization is getting it right and addressing the most important dimensions of managing ethics, creating ethical culture and an ethical organization. This unit is designed to as assist students to think ethically. Making good business decisions requires a trained sensitivity to ethical issues and a practiced method for exploring the ethical aspects of a decision and weighing the considerations that should impact on the choice of a course of action in any organization. Having a method for ethical decision-making in any organization is absolutely essential in today’s business world. This unit will assist students to create a framework for ethical decision making as a useful process for exploring ethical dilemmas and identifying ethical courses of action in PNG’s complex culturally diverse context. This unit will examine theories of what an ethical community, an ethical business, an ethical government, or an ethical society should be. It will make inquires into different levels of humans acting ethically as individuals, creating ethical culture and organizations or governments, and making PNG society as a whole ethical in the way it does business and treats everyone.
APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION (PDF)
