Costing and Pricing Strategies in Business: Report and Presentation

Penalties for Late Submissions

• Late submission of any item of coursework for each day or part thereof (or for hard copy submission only, working day or part thereof) for up to five days after the published deadline, coursework relating to modules at Levels 0, 4, 5, 6 submitted late (including deferred coursework, but with the exception of referred coursework), will have the numeric grade reduced by 10 grade points until or unless the numeric grade reaches or is 40. Where the numeric grade awarded for the assessment is less than 40, no lateness penalty will be applied.

• Late submission of referred coursework will automatically be awarded a grade of zero (0).

• Coursework (including deferred coursework) submitted later than five days (five working days in the case of hard copy submission) after the published deadline will be awarded a grade of zero (0).

• Where genuine serious adverse circumstances apply, you may apply for an extension to the hand-in date, provided the extension is requested a reasonable period in advance of the deadline.

This Assignment assesses the following module Learning Outcomes (Take these from the module DMD):

LO1 – Demonstrate the need for financial planning and measurement to justify survival, growth, profitability, and social objectives.

LO2 – Understand the role played by the costs incurred in a business organization, driven by financial controls.

LO3 – Articulate the different types of costing systems available, and the suitability of each in differing situations.

LO4 – Apply relevant measures for financial controls and planning.

Assignment Brief:

You are to prepare and submit 1,000 words (+/- 10%) written report and a 6 minutes presentation (recorded) supported by a PowerPoint presentation of maximum 5 slides (excluding the front cover, the agenda and greetings).

Report – Research Based Task

“Among the primary functions of cost/management accounting systems is the allocation of costs to products”. Product costing is a key activity for any business. Using appropriate illustrations and citations from the literature, define and critically discuss the two most relevant pricing methods namely cost-plus pricing and value-based pricing. Then, analyse the relationship that exists between product costing and the two most relevant pricing methods (namely cost-plus pricing and value-based pricing).

To conclude, critically discuss and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each pricing strategy.

Presentation – Application Task

Consider one product of your choice from Appendix I and prepare a presentation.

In the first part of the presentation you are to appraise the product costs and to discuss the cost structure of the product to allow the audience to gain insight into the problem.

Then, in the second part of the presentation, advise the top management by suggesting and justifying one pricing strategy (e.g. cost-plus pricing or value-based pricing) that can contribute to the profit maximization and critically discuss and evaluate its the major benefits and the drawbacks.

In the light of this, give your personal opinion for the outlook of this company over the next 12 months in respect of the future costs and revenues incurred by the company.

Submission Requirements:

1. You are to submit two pieces of work: one report (.pdf or .doc or .docx) and one presentation with voiceover (.ppt or .mp4)

2. The report has a word limit of 1,000 words ±10% the excluding references, titles and table of contents. At the end of your report you must include your wordcount. Please note that if work exceeds the +10% tolerance on word count, we will stop marking at that point.

3. The presentation has two major constraints: the presentation must be under 6 minutes limit and contain maximum 5 slides (excluding the front cover, the agenda and greetings).

Marks awarded for:

Definition of cost-plus pricing and value based pricing

Explanation of the relationship between product costing and the pricing strategies

Critically discuss advantages and disadvantages of cost-plus pricing

Critically discuss advantages and disadvantages of cost-plus pricing

Presentation, layout & ease of reading

2. Presentation

Organisation of information for a clear presentation

Quality and clarity of Visual Aids

Clarity of presentation & Delivery style

Timekeeping

A note to the Students:

1. For undergraduate modules, a score above 40% represent a pass performance at honours level.

2. For postgraduate modules, a score of 50% or above represents a pass mark.

3. Modules may have several components of assessment and may require a pass in all elements. For further details, please consult the relevant Module Guide or ask the Module Leader.