AC1103 Financial Accounting Fundamentals Continuous Assessment (CA) 2026 | UCC

AC1103 OVERVIEW

CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT

The continuous assessment (CA) for this module is a mid-term test worth 16% of the total marks for the module. The test will be completed online using Canvas. The test will take place during the normal AC1103 lecture time on Information on the continuous assessment is available in a separate section on the module's Canvas page.

EXAM

The final exam for this module will be 90mins in duration. Students must answer two questions (one compulsory question and one question from a choice of two). Further information about the exam, including past papers and solutions) will be made available later in the semester and included in a separate section on the AC1103 canvas page. However, it should be useful to know that the exam will reflect the standard of questions in the AC1103 lecture and tutorial packs (see further information below).

LECTURER SUPPORT

I will be available virtually on MS Teams to answer any queries you may have. Please email for an appointment. Please be aware that once we have covered a topic per the AC1103 schedule, you have two weeks afterwards to ask me questions about it. After that time, I will not answer any more questions about that topic.

STUDY MATERIAL SUMMARY

A list of the main study material for AC1103 is below. More information on the study material is included later in this document.
Main texthonkfil "An Introduction to Financial Accounting (9th Edition)", by Thomas & Ward.

Provided Every week

1. Accounting Basics Kickstarters.
2. Knowledge Check Quiz.
3. Lecture Question Packs.
4. Online Reading Assignment from Book.
5. Online Algorithimic Exercises from Book.

Study Apporch

Let us start with a simple questionfl If there was a surprise accounting exam tomorrow, how would you prepare for it on the assumption you have not done any preparation? I guess that you would probably focus on past papers/example questions. Chances are you would not start reading books, highlighting stuff, making notes, watching online lectures etc., as these would not provide the most eficient use of your time. So, you need to ask yourself, when does practising questions stop becoming the best use of your time? When do lectures/notes/books start swamping your focus? Strangely, many students find that if the exam is far enough away, questions are no longer a priority, books/notes/lectures and other material take over. But the thing is, supporting materials are just that, support. You only need supports if you cannot complete the main tasks on your own, i.e. questions. Therefore, to improve study, students should hold a "questions first" mindset. If this sounds strange to you, it is because you might be studying the wrong way. Secondary-level education has conditions a lot of students to read books, notes etc., before attempting questions. However, this is pretty much in direct contradiction to how you live the rest of your life. As an example, I have bet you have done many things in your life without reading the instructions. You probably learnt how to use your phone without following instructions? Or at least you had a go at using the phone before checking the instructions.

Before I go into this discussion further, I am not saying your current study approach is unsuitable. Instead, I want you to reflect on your current study approach, and this guide might help you make some minor tweaks or adjustments to how you study.

So now, puting the caveat above aside, students typically have two other big concerns that prevent them from adopting my suggested approach of a "questions first" mindsetfl

1. They feel they will not make a "proper" attempt at questions if they do not look at notes first. 2. They are worried that something will come up in the exam that has not appeared in questions.
I address the first concern by reminding students that we call it question practice for a reason. Practice implies that you are not completing questions to get them right; you are practising questions to improve yourself. You learn more effectively when you are failing as your brain is more alert to the problems you are facing. Therefore, students should forget about getÝng questions fully right so they can bask in their glory. Instead, their study should focus on failing as fast and as often as possible to maximise the quality and quantity of learning achieved.

I address the second concern by advising students to review the notes/book after completing question practice. This approach will reduce the risk of missing anything "big". Furthermore, if you are not sure about a topic and its examinability, ask the lecturer. I also advise students that "perfect is the enemy of excellent" or even "excellent is the enemy of good". This problem arises where students study individual areas of a course in massive detail. Admirable as this may seem, what normally follows is that students may have to leave out entire sections of the module as they run out of time in the lead up to their exams. Students must realise that in AC1103, "good" knowledge of the entire module is better than excellent knowledge of part of the module.

KICKSTARTERS

Following the study guidance above, it should be clear that I am a big believer in "flipped learning". As a reminder. this is the study that goes directly to questions/problems and then works back to notes/books/materials.

However, I do understand that jumping directly into questions is too big a step for many students. For this reason, I created the Accounting Basics Kickstarters. These quick notes give you enough information to get started on questions as quickly as possible and on the right path to eficient and effective study.
There is a Kickstarter for all examinable topics. Each one will come with a bite-sized recording of me talking through the topic.

KNOWLEDGE CHECK QUIZZES

Students can complete a knowledge check quiz every week relating to that week's module content. The questions are a mixture of multiple choice and numerical entry questions. These quizzes are very useful for checking if you understand the Kickstarter material appropriately. They are also good practice for the AC1103 mid-term test. Further information on the test will be made available as the Semester progresses.

LECTURE PACKS

These packs include the following for each examinable section of AC1103f

1) Extra guidance as to what theory you need to know and understand.
2) Longer style, examinable questions.
Your exam will contain some of both types of questions. More information about the exam, including past papers, will be made available later in the term.
In terms of solutions for the questionsfi
1) I will not provide solutions for theory questions because these solutions should be easily traceable to the course notes and the book.
2) Solutions for the exercises for the longer style questions will be made available every week after the AC1103 lecture.
All weekly lectures will focus on answering the longer style questions.

TUTORIAL PACK

This pack includes some additional questions/solutions that your AC1103 tutor will use. I will provide further details on tutorials as the semester progresses.

FAQS DOCUMENT

Finally, students will inevitably have issues during the semester, and often, multiple students will have the same issues. Therefore, I will maintain a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document on Canvas, which will answer common questions arising from students.

You will receive an email notification whenever I amend the FAQs document or any other material or section on Canvas.