5K6Z0011 Management Accounting and Strategy 1CWK50 Assignment Brief 2026 | MMU

5K6Z0011 Faculty of Business and Law Assignment Brief 2025/26

Why are you being asked to do this Assignment?

This assignment is designed to help you bridge the gap between academic learning and real-world professional practice. As a future Management Accountant, your role will go far beyond number crunching - you’ll be expected to think strategically, communicate clearly with financial and non-financial colleagues, and stay ahead of emerging trends like Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Here’s what this assignment will help you develop:

Strategic Thinking

You’ll explore how management accounting supports strategic decision-making, using frameworks like the rational approach and the resource-based view. These are not just academic theories; they’re tools used by real businesses to gain competitive advantage.

Commercial Awareness

By imagining yourself in a role at Dfyne, you’ll practice applying your knowledge in a realistic business context. This helps you build the kind of commercial acumen that employers value highly.

Critical Evaluation Skills

The first part of the report asks you to critically review literature on AI and its impact on management accounting. This will sharpen your ability to assess the credibility and relevance of different sources - a key skill in both academic and professional settings.

Professional Communication

You’ll write a report that is clear, concise, and suitable for a non-financial audience and then be tasked with explaining its contents to your clients (the internal managers at Dyfne). This mirrors the kind of communication you’ll need to master in your career
- where your insights must influence decision-makers who may not share your technical background.

Future-Readiness

AI is transforming the accounting profession. This assignment encourages you to think proactively about how your role might evolve, and how you can add value in a changing landscape.

Assignment Task

You are to produce a 2,200-word professional business report on the topic of Management Accounting and Strategy. Your report will be produced in in response to the email below and as preparation for a simulated Management Meeting with a fictional senior manager at Dfyne.
To increase the integrity and educational value of this task, elements of personalisation, research transparency, and critical reflection are embedded into the assignment. This promotes original thinking and ethical use of generative AI.

Background

For the purpose of this assignment, you should imagine that you have recently been employed
as a Management Accountant at Dfyne (‘the company’).
Dfyne is an Activewear brand founded in 2021 by Oscar Ryndziewicz in Glasgow, Scotland.    The company began as a bold vision backed by a credit card loan. What started as a small-scale activewear brand quickly evolved into one of the UK’s fastest- growing SMEs. With a sharp focus on high-performance, stylish gym wear, Dfyne tapped into the booming fitness and athleisure market, resonating strongly with Gen Z and millennial consumers.

Dfyne’s growth strategy has been rooted in direct-to-consumer e-commerce, leveraging social media influencers and community-driven marketing to build a loyal customer base. The brand’s emphasis on inclusivity, quality, and trend-forward design helped it stand out in a crowded market. Strategic reinvestment in product development and digital infrastructure enabled rapid scaling without compromising brand identity.

By 2025, Dfyne achieved an astonishing 517% annual growth, reaching £66.8 million in revenue. Its agile supply chain, data-driven marketing, and strong brand ethos have positioned it as a leader in the UK’s activewear sector. Dfyne’s story is a testament to the power of vision, digital savvy, and customer-centric innovation in building a modern fashion empire.
Your (fictional) manager has just sent you an email and asked you to respond by writing a business report which you will bring to a management meeting on the personalised date specified on Moodle.
You’ll find a copy of the email overleaf;

Sam McLedger, Head of Finance

From:   Sam McLedger, Head of Management Accounting Sent:    Monday 26th January 2026
To:    You (recently appointed Management Accountant) Subject:   Management Accounting and Strategy
I attended a conference last week about Management Accounting and Strategy. I know that you are currently studying to get qualified, so I think that this task probably fits nicely with your studies.
Please can you write a report for me that I can give to our senior management team. The purpose of the report is to improve our organisational understanding of the future of Management Accounting and its relationship with Strategy.

You should structure the report with two main sections;

1.First, I want you to critically review some credible sources that discuss the future role of Artificial Intelligence and Management Accounting. Use these to write the first part of the report. This should address the question ‘How might Artificial Intelligence affect Strategic Management Accounting in Dfyne?’
2.In Part 2 of your report, you should illustrate how the following concepts might apply in the Dfyne Company, and how Management Accountants might become involved. The concepts are; the rational approach to strategic planning and the resource-based view.

Your report should be no more than 2,200 words. On top of this, it must also include an ‘Executive Summary.’  Write your report using Business English, and make sure that it is suitable for a non-financial professional to read.

Please produce this work to the highest possible standards and showcase your professionalism and commercial acumen. To get your message across you can be as creative as you like.

Before I give the report to our senior management team, I would like you to attend a 15- minute management meeting with me so that I can ask you questions about it. The meeting will take on the date/time that I allocate to you which will be during the spring break. You must attend this meeting in order for me to assess your work.

I will look forward to receiving your report (uploaded to Moodle) on or before the submission date specified and to seeing you at the subsequent management meeting.
Yours Sincerely –
Sam McLedger –
Head of Management Accounting

Assessment Components

Your report submission must include:

1.Declaration about your Ethical use of AI and Attendance at the Management Meeting
2.Title Page
3.Table of Contents
4.Executive Summary (not included in word count)
5.Main Report (max. 2,200 words): see the email from your fictional manager for details.
6.List of References using Cite Them Right Harvard style
7.Appendix (not included in the wordcount):

IMPORTANT: You must attend the management meeting as this is where will assess your understanding of the report and its contents. If you do not attend the management meeting your maximum mark will be capped at 50%.

This assessment has been redesigned to support ethical engagement with emerging technologies and discourage academic misconduct.

Academic Expectations

• This assessment must reflect your own critical thinking.
• Avoid generic summaries. Instead, engage deeply with the specific case context of Dfyne.
• You may use generative AI tools to support brainstorming, proofreading, or idea development only if used transparently and ethically, as detailed in the MMU AI Literacy Guidelines.
• Overreliance on AI-generated content or submission of unmodified output is a form of academic misconduct.

Assignment Support

We have a number of resources to support you, including but not limited to our
Coursework Briefing Recordings and the study skills webpages.
One very important resource that you can use to write your report is the Management Accounting and Strategy (MAS) Learning materials. If you use these resources, you must not forget to reference them using the correct Cite Them Right Harvard Style.    Another tip is that there are lots of extra resources listed in the ‘List of References’ at the end of each Lecture too.
Other potentially useful resources are;
Pilcher, G. (2020) Management Accounting in Support of Strategy: How Management Accounting can aid the Strategic Management Process, Published as a free learning resource in 2020 by Graham Simons Pitcher (remember - this is your core text, and it is available on Moodle for you!)
Johnson, G., Scholes, K., and Whittington R. (2008) Exploring Corporate Strategy,
Harlow, Essex. Pearson Education, 8th Ed.

Module Learning Outcomes Assessed

1.Critically analyse a range of Management Accounting practices in the context of their environment using real world situations and scenarios.
2.Use Management Accounting Information to make and justify recommendations and give business advice.
3.Fluently communicate recommendations and business advice using strategies that are suitable for the intended audience.
4.Appraise possible future developments in Management Accounting.

Assurance of Learning (AoL) AoL Traits assessed;

1.Apply theory to discussion and analysis.
2. Organise work in a logical structure in order to draw conclusions that follow from line of argument.
3.Apply consistent and appropriate referencing and in text citations.
4.Identify and explain professional and commercial/corporate issues.
5.Critically evaluate professional and commercial/corporate issues.

Referencing

References are the items you have read and specifically referred to (or cited) in your assessment submission. Do not include a list of everything you read in preparation for writing your submission, if you have not referred specifically. Attempt to summarise in your own words another person’s work, theories or ideas and then cite your sources. Use quotation marks/inverted commas to show the difference between the actual words of the writer and your own words and always acknowledge your sources in references. Using references in reports and essays is one way to avoid accusations of academic misconduct, specifically plagiarism.

All Manchester Metropolitan University students are required to use Cite Them Right Harvard referencing style. For further information, access the Cite Them Right Harvard website. We recommend using the ebook or print book in conjunction with the website, as it features additional examples and explanations. If you have any queries on using Cite Them Right Harvard, please email library@mmu.ac.uk

Academic Integrity, Academic Misconduct and Plagiarism

Academic integrity is about maintaining the highest standards of honesty and ethical conduct in your academic work. It means being transparent about the sources of your ideas and giving proper credit to other researchers through accurate citations and references. When you conduct research or complete assignments, you must ensure that your work is original, truthful, and free from any form of academic misconduct. This includes avoiding plagiarism, which means never presenting someone else's ideas or words as your own without acknowledgement. Your academic work must demonstrate integrity by carefully referencing all sources and submitting work that is genuinely your own. Additional information, video tutorials and guides to support good academic practice and maintain Academic Integrity in your assignments can be found on the Academic Integrity area of the Academic and Study Skills page on Moodle.
Academic Misconduct is any action that could give you an unfair advantage in coursework, exams, or any other assessed work, which could lead to undermining the academic standards of the University. This includes but is not limited to practices such as plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, contract cheating or falsification of data. Full details of the Manchester Metropolitan University guidelines for Academic Misconduct and definitions of terms can be found on in our Academic Misconduct Policy.

Use of Generative AI in Assessments

The use of generative AI is permitted in this assessment, so long as it is used in accordance with the instructions provided in the ‘Are you allowed to use AI in assessments?’ section of the AI Literacy Rise Study Pack. All submitted work must be your own original content.

Late Submissions & Assessment Extension Procedure

To find information for assessment extension procedure, please refer to Manchester Met’s assessment mitigation and extension procedures. Please also refer to relevant guidance on your Module Moodle submission area (where applicable).

Please note: If you think you are unable to submit on time due to health issues or some other unforeseen issue you must request this via your Module Moodle page, referring to the guidance in the links provided above.