Opetussuunnitelmat

Objective

In this course, you familiarize yourself with various aspects of financial decision-making in the context of tourism, equipping you with the knowledge and skills needed to excel in this field. The object of this course is to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the economic responsibilities within the tourism sector.

Competences
Learning to learn, Tourism business

Learning objectives
You learn how to analyze cost structures, break-even points, and profit potential, to ensure informed decision-making. You learn to use various calculation models and methods to analyze the company's financial situation and to forecast the future. For example, you learn how to prepare cost-volume-profit calculations for determining the profitability. You also learn to look at costs and analyze factors related to pricing and discounts as well as put forward development proposals for them. You understand pricing strategies that maximize revenue while considering the economic, ethical, and environmental responsibilities of tourism businesses.

During the course, your understanding of the profitability of different business areas increases and you understand their effects on the company's overall profitability. You are able to identify and examine factors impacting profitability. You can identify and prioritize valuable customer segments, fostering responsible and profitable customer relationships.

You are able to interpret financial statements and ratios to evaluate the financial health and performance of a company meaning for example to analyze company's profitability, solidity and liquidity through financial ratios.

Content

You learn pricing strategies and methods, cost-volume-profit thinking, profitability, cost concepts, activity-based costing, customer profitability analysis, as well as ratios and different financial statements. Your understanding of profitable business increases, and you develop skills for analyzing and interpreting financial information.

Qualifications

Percentage calculations
Calculation of the value-added tax
Simple interest calculation
Compound interest
Indices
Inflation and deflation
Exchange rate (currency) calculations
Basic statistics

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

1 (Sufficient)
You name concepts of profitability and know which factors affect profitability. You understand the basic principles of cost-volume-profit analysis and are able to prepare a basic cost-volume-profit calculation. You are able to explain the basic principles of pricing in your own words. Assignments require additional guidance and clarification. You apply the information with guidance and with more detailed instructions.

2 (Satisfactory)
You present factors affecting to profitability and recognize the factors related to the management of profitability. You prepare cost-volume-profit and pricing calculations for an example company under guidance. You are able to explain the principles of cost-volume-profit approach and its application in practice. You recognize factors affecting the pricing in the example company and name key factors in pricing in companies operating in tourism. You are able to do the learning tasks under guidance.

Assessment criteria, good (3)

3 (Good)
You outline cost-volume-profit analysis and calculations, itemize the process steps and describe the impact of cost-volume-profit based analytical profit calculation factors on profitability. You are able to prepare error-free cost-volume-profit and pricing calculations as well as apply these methods for decision making. You apply different pricing strategies and methods in practice and justify your chosen strategy. You prepare a profitability analysis based on cost-volume-profit calculations and pricing calculations.

4 (Very good)
You assess the impact of cost-volume-profit analysis. You are able to develop profitability analysis as an analytical profit calculation based on cost-volume-profit and pricing calculations. You are able to analyze the effects of pricing on the company's profitability. You compare different pricing strategies, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. You analyze the financial health and sustainability of a tourism organization based on financial statements and ratios.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

5 (Excellent)
You plan cost-volume-profit analysis and sensitivity analysis for alternative action plans. You are able to plan active measures related to cost-volume-profit and pricing calculations to influence the company’s profitability. You evaluate different pricing strategies and their long-term effects on the company's financial performance. You critically assess the financial health and sustainability of a tourism organization based on financial statements and ratios.

Further information

The course is mandatory for all tourism management students.