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Engineering in Society and Company Finance (ECM3130)

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Module status - Active
Module description status - Inactive
Credits - 15
College code - EMP
Academic year - 2014/5

Module staff

() - Convenor

Duration (weeks) - term 1

Duration (weeks) - term 2

Duration (weeks) - term 3

Number students taking module (anticipated)

100

Module description

This module will provide you with essential knowledge for all engineers. It will impart a basic understanding of engineering ethics: the legal and moral responsibility that comes with being an engineering professional, to your employer, to public safety, and to the environment. In addition, you will gain basic training in standard financial documents: balance sheets, income statements, cash flow forecasts, and profit and loss statements. From these basics, you will progress to an understanding of how simple manufacturing and project costing is done.

Module aims

To raise students' awareness of their future responsibilities to society as professional engineers. To equip them with a working understanding of non-technical issues such as social responsibility, health and safety, sustainability, product liability, intellectual property. To equip them to make simple financial appraisals of projects and to operate in the commercial environment.

This module covers Specific Learning Outcomes in Engineering, which apply to accredited programmes at Bachelors/MEng/Masters level. These contribute to the educational requirements for CEng registration (as defined under the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence – UK-SPEC).

This module correlates to references P1, S1, S3, S4, S5, P5, P6, MU4, MS1, MS2 and GM4. These references are indices of the specific learning outcomes expected of Bachelors/MEng/Masters candidates set out in UK-SPEC, codified with reference to systems used by professional accrediting institutions. A full list of the standards can be found on the Engineering Council's website, at http://www.engc.org.uk

ILO: Module-specific skills

1. appreciate the principal responsibilities of a professional engineer to the employer, the public and the environment
2. comprehend the basic legal, regulatory and financial issues relating to production and projects
3. interpret standard financial documents: Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss account, Cash Flow forecast
4. understand and apply simple manufacturing and project costing

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

5. grasp the ethical and moral responsibilities of a professional engineer
6. demonstrate an awareness of the requirements regarding health and safety, as they apply to their work as professional engineers
7. show familiarity with the processes of risk assessment in engineering activities
8. prove knowledge of the requirements of sustainability and the management of environmental resources

ILO: Personal and key skills

9. evaluate information from a diverse range of sometimes conflicting sources
10. exhibit an understanding of the issues involved in engineering and use relevant approaches to make difficult decisions

Syllabus plan

The module will cover the majority of issues below, but will be flexible enough to devote time to emerging contemporary issues. Product liability. Intellectual property. Copyright. Registration of designs and patents. Counterfeit products. Data protection and security. Sustainability in product design and manufacture. Remanufacturing, Repair, Re-cycling. Energy balance, lifecycle costing and environmental impact. Health and safety responsibilities and ethics. H&S regulations - HASAWA, COSHH, etc. Equal opportunities. Globalisation and effects of lowest-cost production on third world countries. Climate change and emerging policy questions. Disaster relief. State, company and individual contributions and responsibilities. Assessment and management of risk in complex engineering systems. Company accounts, Financial Returns for Small Enterprises, Profit & Loss, Balance sheet. Project costing, cost centres, earned value analysis, forecast vs actual costs. Direct and indirect costs, overhead apportionment. Activity Based Costing. Break-even analysis. Budgeting and cash-flow, investment appraisal.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
78	72	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
exhibit an understanding of the issues involved in engineering and use relevant approaches to make difficult decisions	22	Lectures
exhibit an understanding of the issues involved in engineering and use relevant approaches to make difficult decisions	11	Tutorials
exhibit an understanding of the issues involved in engineering and use relevant approaches to make difficult decisions	45	Assignments
Guided independent study	72	Guided independent study

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Finance question in class		2, 3	Answer displayed in class

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
40	60	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Written exam closed book	60	2 hours	All	None
Coursework assignment 1	20	2000 words	All	Written
Coursework assignment 2	20	2000 words	All	Written

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
All above	Written exam (100%)	All	August Ref/Def period

Re-assessment notes

If a module is normally assessed entirely by coursework, all referred/deferred assessments will normally be by assignment.
If a module is normally assessed by examination or examination plus coursework, referred and deferred assessment will normally be by examination. For referrals, only the examination will count, a mark of 40% being awarded if the examination is passed. For deferrals, candidates will be awarded the higher of the deferred examination mark or the deferred examination mark combined with the original coursework mark.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk

,Accounting and Finance for Non-Specialists,Atrill P and McLaney E,3rd,Prentice Hall,2001,657 ATR,978-0273646327,
,The Professional Engineer in Society,Collins S, Ghey J and Mills G,,Kingsley,1989,660.0023 COL,1853025011,
,Learning from Accidents,Kletz T,3rd,Butterworth Heinemann,2001,614.8 KLE,978-0750648837,
,The Finances of Engineering Companies: An introduction for students and practising engineers,Reynolds A J,,Arnold,1993,658.15 REY,000-0-340-56827-3,
,Management Accounting: Principles and Practice,Upchurch A,,Pitman Publications,1998,658.151 UPC,000-0-273-62226-9,
,Drowning in Oil: BP and the reckless pursuit of profit,Steffy, Loren C,,McGraw-Hill,2010,,978-0071760812,
,Engineering in Emergencies: a practical guide for relief workers,Davis J and Lambert R,,Technology Publications,1995,361.5 DAV,000-1-853-39222-7,

Module has an active ELE page?

Yes

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk

Module ECTS

7.5

NQF level (module)

Available as distance learning?

Origin date

19/11/12

Last revision date

22/03/2013

Key words search

Sustainability; accidents; health and safety; ethics