Institute of Accounting and Auditing

The department "Accounting and Auditing"

The accounting system is an important part of the information system of a company.
In external financial accounting (bookkeeping and accounting) all transactions are displayed, while  internal accounting (cost accounting) records operation-related issues. Both systems are in a close relation.
The external audit of financial accounting is the responsibility of the auditors, who have the task to perform the statutory annual audits in this context.
The auditor checks the legality of the financial statements and also takes note of a number of additional audit-related services.
The importance of accounting, particularly external accounting, will be greater in regards of the increasing internationalization and the ever-increasing focus of the corporate management on maximizing the corporate value (shareholder value) in the future. Therefore, it represents an important sector of the economy.


The training course provides the students the opportunity to gain insight into the world of accounting and auditing. Moreover the students get the possibility to research and work on a topic independently.

Contact

University of Ulm

Faculty of Mathematics and Economics

Institute of Accounting and Auditing

Petra Frey (office)

Helmholtzstraße 22
89081 Ulm

E-Mail: petra.frey(at)uni-ulm.de
Room: 1.25
Phone: +49(731)50-31021
Fax: +49(731)50-31028

Topics

Possible topics are:

  • External and internal accounting in a company:
     

    The accounting system is used for systematically identifying, preparation, analysis and presentation of future and current facts and processes in the operation. While external accounting especially deals with the annual financial statement and the profit and loss statement and thus mainly provides information for external users, the primary function of internal accounting is the planning within the company. It provides information which is only useful to internal users. The tasks and functions of the respective parts of the accounting system should be developed and presented in this session.

  • The profession of auditor:

    The job description of an auditor has considerably developed in recent years. The tasks of auditors mainly include the audit of annual and the consolidated financial statements of companies. They have a central and important role in the economic world, their work is connected to diverse and varied activities, great responsibility and high standards. This task of this topic is to develop a job description of the auditor and to explain his role in the economic world.

  • The legal forms of companies and their different taxation:

    This topic deals with the choice of the legal form, which determines the legal framework of a company. Decision criteria are e.g. capital procurement, participation, accounting, liability and tax issues. Here, in particular, the differences in taxation of individual companies, partnerships and corporations are developed and possible consequences are discussed.

  • Management and supervisory boards in the stock company:

    The management board is the management body of a stock company, they represent the company both externally and internally and are moreover entrusted with the management of the business. They are controlled by the supervisory board, who has to ensure an appropriate and correct behaviour of the management board. Moreover, the supervisory board has an advisory function. This topic deals with the duties and requirements of the institutions and the interdependencies in the exercise of their respective activities.

Literature

Possible literature sources are:

  • Coenenberg, A.G./Haller, A./Schultze, W. (2014): Jahresabschluss und Jahresabschlussanalyse - Betriebswirtschaftliche, handelsrechtliche, steuerrechtliche und internationale Grundsätze - HGB, IAS/IFRS, US-GAAP, DRS, 23., überarbeitete Aufl., Stuttgart.

  • Marten, K.-U./Quick, R./Ruhnke, K. (2015): Wirtschaftsprüfung - Grundlagen des betriebswirtschaftlichen Prüfungswesens nach nationalen und internationalen Normen, 4., überarbeitete Aufl., Stuttgart.

  • Jacobs, O. H. (Hrsg.) (2009): Unternehmensbesteuerung und Rechtsform: Handbuch zur Besteuerung deutscher Unternehmen, 4. überarbeitete Auflage, München.