This course adresses group accounting issues that typically arise in complex business entities from both conceptual and technical angles and provides participants with detailed knowledge of selected IFRS topics. Accounting theory and practice will be dealt with equally in this course.

Students should obtain a thorough knowledge about selected advanced topics in financial reporting under IFRS and about the practical implications of the accounting treatment of complex business transactions in group accounting.

Students should acquire highly practice-relevant knowledge in the selected IFRS standards (e.g. Consolidation, Joint Arrangements, Business Combinations, Impairment Tests, Fair Value Measurement, Non-current Assets held for Sale & Discontinued Operations, etc.). Furthermore, students should acquire knowledge about the underlying economics of selected IFRS standards and their earnings management implications.

This course is a PI course with an 80% attendance requirement. Students not beeing present in the first class will be deregistered.

The course consists of lectures, practical examples and case studies, discussions and self-study of selected standards. The lecturer has an academic background, extensive experience in group accounting of stock-listed companies and has been involved in standard setting in Austria.

Students' assessment will be the following:  20 % quizzes/small case studies, 30% intermediate exam, 50% final exam. In order to pass the course, students are required to achieve more that 50% of the total possible points.