Descriptions for College of Business Courses

BUS 200 Principles of Accounting (Prerequisite for this course is GED107)

This course deals with the fundamental concepts of accounting. The students are expected to learn and develop an understanding of accounting concepts, principles, procedures, and systems for preparation of financial statements, knowledge of computer based accounting applications, accounting treatment of current assets, liabilities, tangible and intangible assets, and owner’s equity. The aim is to develop knowledge and understanding of the underlying principles and concepts relating to financial accounting and technical proficiency in the use of double entry accounting techniques including the preparation of basic financial statements. Students should become adept at classifying problems, situations and applying the required accounting principles.

BUS 202 Intermediary Accounting (Prerequisite for this course is BUS200)

This course is a combination of two intermediate financial accounting subjects. It builds on the foundation laid in the Principles of accounting course to better equip students with the required techniques in preparing and interpreting financial statements. It reviews the fundamental financial accounting concepts and focuses on the detailed recording and reporting of important items relating to the asset side of the balance sheet. It will examine the conceptual framework of accounting and financial statement presentation. It will also focus on the analysis of financial statements which will help the management in decision making. This course provides the prerequisite knowledge that will prepare students for advanced accounting courses. Students should become adept at classifying problems, situations and applying the required accounting knowledge.

ACT 406 Business Finance (Prerequisite for this course are BUS200, and BUS202)

This course introduces the student to the fundamentals of business finance. The course requires an understanding of mathematics as well as economic concepts and accounting principles. This course is corporate-oriented with emphasis on practical applications and problem solving techniques. The primary objective is to provide the student with the tools to understand and solve the basic financial problems confronting business today. The topics covered include the time value of money, valuation of assets, capital budgeting techniques, and capital structure theory and dividend policy assessment. The application of the topics to international markets will be made whenever possible.

The course is divided into three modules as follows:

1. Introduction to Financial management
2. Valuation
3. Strategic Decision Making

BUS207 Operations and Production Management (Prerequisite for this course is GED106)

This course provides students with knowledge and understanding of the nature and characteristics of operating systems in both the manufacturing and service sectors. The purpose is to familiarize students with the role and functioning of design, planning, control tasks and responsibilities of managers with regards to the management of operations on various scales. Topics covered include strategy and sustainability, capacity planning, aggregate planning, forecasting, inventory and supply chain management, distribution planning, materials requirements planning (MRP), life-cycle model, total quality management (TQM), quality assurance (QA). By the end of the course, students will be able to recognize the connection between organizational structures, technology, operational activities and competitiveness.

BUS204 Organizational Behavior (Prerequisite for this course is GED106)

This course studies the impact that individuals, groups and organizational structures and processes have on behavior within organizations. It examines the foundations of individual and small-group behavior in relation to how organizations are designed, established and how they fulfill their objectives. The goal is to introduce management students to the principles and theories underpinning the discipline of organizational behavior. With a particular emphasis on achieving a better understanding of how groups of humans interact in organizations and how these interactions shape the organization itself. The course is multi-disciplinary and covers a range of topics from a number of disciplines including management theory, the economics of organization, the principles of psychology that underpin how decisions are made, the theory of the firm, and the sociology of work.

BUS 203 Sustainable Business (Prerequisite for this course is GED106)

“Environmental management” was typically used in the business arena to respond to restrictions in environmental regulations before the year 2000. Currently, organizations utilize “environmental strategy” to create new business opportunities by implementing “sustainability” into the core of their business strategy.

Nowadays, sustainability is not only a part of environmental, safety, and health sectors; but also, it has been integrated into business operations and other corporate functional activities. In the era of globalization, sustainable business practices are considered profit-making business opportunities.

Today, business executives need to be knowledgeable not only about their specific business functions, but also how their business will be affected by government environmental regulations, corporate sustainability initiatives, green marketing regulations, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and “best practices.” Furthermore, business executives need to recognize the business risks and opportunities created due to globalization that push towards more sustainable business practices. Finally, sustainable business practices can play a positive role in helping to solve the world’s environmental and social problems by adopting the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach which is also known as “People, Planet & Profit.” Considering the urgent need for the study of sustainability in business, the American University of Kurdistan (AUK) has introduced the Environmental Management and Sustainability course for its students at the College of Business.

BUS307 International Human Resource Management (Prerequisites for this course are GED106, and BUS303)

The trend of business internationalization has been exponentially increasing since the last century. This is demonstrated in the growth of the number of enterprises conducting business across the national borders of their headquarters, the amount of foreign direct investment (FDI), and the value of trade between countries.

In 2010 alone, more than 82,000 multinational enterprises with more than 810,000 affiliates operating worldwide. This trend has a direct impact on the HR function.

HR professionals are expected to plan and manage a nationally and culturally diverse workforce. Moreover, they are expected to manage migrant workers and international assignees at each geographical location, in addition to its local employees. Considering the urgent need for the study of International Human Resource Management, this course has been introduced for the students of College of Business.

BUS 302 International Business (Prerequisites for this course are GED106,and BUS204)

Over the past three decades a fundamental shift has occurred in the world economy. The world is shrinking in which barriers to cross trade and investment are declining and national self-contained economies are merging into an interdependent integrated global economic system.

The course provides an introduction to international business. Many issues in international business are complex and thus necessitate considerations of pros and cons. This course aims to explain how and why the countries differ, the strategies and structures of international business and the various functions involved in international business.

Considering the urgent need for the study of International Business, this course has been introduced for the students of College of Business.

BUS 303 Human Resource Management (Prerequisites for this course are GED106, and BUS204)

Historically the HR department was viewed as administrative overhead. The role of human resources is changing as fast as technology and the global market.

The aim of this course is to provide students with an understanding of contemporary HRM and the important strategic role that it plays in helping an organization build and maintain competitive advantage.

More specifically, the course will examine HR policies, practices, and systems in the areas of: planning and recruitment; ethical and legal frameworks for HR; employee selection; training and development; performance management; compensation; employee relations; diversity management; OH&S; employee separation; and HRM in a global environment.

Considering the urgent need for the study of Human Resource Management, this course has been introduced for the students of College of Business.

ACT 400 Strategic Managerial Accounting (Prerequisites for this course are ACT402, BUS200, and BUS202)

Managerial accounting provides key data to managers for planning and controlling, as well as data on costing products, services, and customers. By focusing on basic concepts, analyses, uses, and procedures instead of procedures alone, we recognize cost accounting as a managerial tool. The aim of the course is to equip students with skills and knowledge to:

• Identify and calculate different types of costs (direct, indirect, variable, and fixed costs).
• Distinguish between job-costing, process-costing, and joint-costing systems.
• Determine the product cost by means of full- costing and direct-costing methods.
• Determine the product cost by means of full- costing and direct-costing methods.
• Identify the break even and indifference point of estimation

MGT400 Introduction to Oil and Gas Management

The purpose of this course is to provide students with the knowledge and fundamentals of oil and gas management. More broadly, it provides students with a conceptual background of the oil and gas industry, petroleum and its origins, including formation of oil and gas, history of the oil and gas industry in Iraq, stages of oil and gas development (upstream, midstream and downstream) and the development of unconventional oil and gas, technical aspect of oil and gas operations and the impact of oil and gas on society and the environment. The primary emphasis is on operations (field discovery, evaluation, development, production and abandonment) as well as refining and marketing of petroleum products. At the end of the course, students benefit from a broad knowledge of the oil and gas industry, basic knowledge on all aspects of the industry and will be familiar with common industry terminologies.

MGT405 Legislation in Oil and Gas Industry

This course provides students with the theoretical background and the application of the regulatory frameworks, focusing primarily on environmental protection, production sharing and tax regulation, policy and regulatory institutions, upstream and downstream oil and gas issues, regulation and oil and gas pipelines regulations. Moreover, health, safety and environment is very critical to the oil and gas operations, thus, specialized regulatory policies provide the basis for environmental preservation (local, regional and global environment), socioeconomic management and regulation of oil companies’ activities against human rights abuses particularly in host communities. Furthermore, this course reviews extant law and legislations such as the Iraq constitution on hydrocarbon policy, environmental protection law/regulation, hydrocarbon preservation law and regulation as well as economic, political and social impact of Iraqi/Kurdistan oil and gas industry and to determine the right and responsibilities of the oil companies in relation to their operations in their host communities to ensure that they conform to acceptable international standard. At the end of the course, students benefit from a broad knowledge on the applications of the basic law, policies and regulation governing all aspects of oil and gas operations in Kurdistan and Iraq, including the use of legislation as an environmental management tool and health and safety management.

MGT403 Project and Quality Management in the Oil and Gas Industry

The aim of this course is to provide students with the knowledge, understanding and the fundamentals of project and quality management in the oil and gas industry. It provides students with the knowledge and skills as well as the integrated approach to project management for oil and gas projects. From basic knowledge of the concepts of projects, life cycle, resources hiring, to a more integrated approach which covers the tools on how to manage oil and gas project, techniques, risk management, (both new and tested) of project management. This course is intended to provide students with the rudimentary knowledge to understand case examples of the applications of project management tools and techniques to real-life project scenarios that serve as lessons learned for best practice in project management.

MGT407 Supply Chain Management in the Oil and Gas Industry

This course seeks to provide students with the knowledge and skills to address the integrative approach to managing all activities related to product and services from the point of origin to product end users in the supply chain management. More importantly, this course conceptualizes supply chain designs, logistic networks, inventory management, supply chain contracts, information integration and alternative information sharing, strategic alliance, implementation process for partnerships, outsourcing decision and e-procurement strategies. Supply chain is critical to fulfilling a customer’s request, provide a framework to analyze, manage and improve supply chain processes for different industries and markets. It also analyzes the strategies and practices, including digital coordination of decisions and resources, inventory and risk management, procurement and supply contracting, information technology, product and process design and revenue flow and management.

MGT401 Health, Safety and Environmental Management in the Oil and Gas Industry

This course is designed to give students deep knowledge and understanding of health, safety and environmental management issues, conceptualize the hazardous nature of the oil and gas industry and how it can be effectively managed through regulation and to demonstrate critical awareness of key environmental issues in the oil and gas industry, safety of employees, understanding of past accidents, implication of safety at workplace and how it can impact on productivity. It also involves identifying risk and hazard as well as the methods and techniques to resolve key safety issues in the oil and gas industry. More broadly, this course provides students with knowledge of environmental management, tools to conduct an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of projects in the oil and gas industry.

MGT409 Oil and Gas Business Development

This course is designed to give students the theoretical background and knowledge of the oil and gas business development, demonstrate critical awareness of the role of oil and gas business, economic development, the challenges faced by oil and gas companies and the changing nature of the oil and gas industry. More fundamentally, this course is intended to provide students with the role of the oil and gas industry in economic development, political economy of oil and gas in the development process, the oil and gas segments (upstream, midstream and downstream), efficient management of the industry and the application of the oil and gas business including political risk, security and sustainability of the industry.

MGT402 Petroleum Contracts and Economics

This course provides students with the theoretical background and understanding of the petroleum contracts, process of award of petroleum contracts, production sharing contracts, development and technical service contracts, concession, security of the industry, commercial contracts element in the oils and gas industry contract as well as foreign direct investment (FDI). Also, this course provides students with a broad knowledge of the crude oil and gas sales contracts within the context of global politics, understanding of the fiscal/tax regimes, and how to maximize government benefits from the oil and gas sales, knowledge of the oil and gas sales transportation agreement including its political risk and security of investment in the oil and gas industry. At the end, students benefit from practical skills to independently conduct and participate in drafting of petroleum contracts/agreements, contractual obligation, management, ethical responsibility in a contract and corporate governance of petroleum contracts.

BUS 203 Sustainable Business (Prerequisite for this course is GED106)

“Environmental Management” was typically used in the business arena to respond to restrictions in environmental regulations before the year 2000. Currently, organizations utilize “environmental strategy” to create new business opportunities by implementing ‘sustainability’ into the core of their business strategy. .

Nowadays, sustainability is not only a part of environmental, safety and health sectors; but also, has been integrated into business operations and other corporate functional activities. In the era of globalization, sustainable business practices are considered profit- making business opportunities.

Today, business executives need to be knowledgeable not only about their specific business functions, but also how their business will be affected by government environmental regulations, corporate sustainability initiatives, green marketing regulations, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or ‘best practices’. Furthermore, business executives need to recognize the business risks and opportunities created due to globalization that push towards more sustainable business practices. Finally, sustainable business practices can play a positive role in helping to solve the world’s environmental and social problems by adopting the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach which is also known as “People, Planet, and Profit.” Considering the urgent need for the study of sustainability in business, the American University of Kurdistan (AUK) has introduced the “Environmental Management and Sustainability” course for its students in the College of Business.

BSM 402 Strategic Human Resource Management (Prerequisites for this course are GED106, and BUS303)

Human resources is considered the most valuable organizational asset contributing to profitability and competitive advantage. Managing human resources strategically is becoming increasingly important as a result of globalization and rapid technological and workforce changes.

It is very important to explore the relationship between management of people and the pursuit of an organization’s strategic goals and objectives through the study of HR strategy formulation and implementation.

This course deals with the nature of human resource management in a strategic context, and explores the implementation of strategic HRM. The students of COB will gain an understanding and learning of why effective human resource practices are critical to the success of any organization and will be introduced to the strategic planning role.

Considering the urgent need for the study of HRM in a strategic context, the American University of Kurdistan has introduced HR Strategy Formulation and Implementation course for the students of College of Business.

BSM 413 Managing Change (Prerequisites for this course are GED106, and BUS209)

In the 21st century, contemporary business environments constantly face the challenge of change; whether the change is simple or complex or whether the companies are entrepreneurial start-ups or long-established business firms.

Competing in a New Era of Globalization, businesses need to change continuously in order to deliver new services to their customers, reduce costs of existing services or create an entirely new paradigm of the business itself. Managing Change is thus urgently needed in today’s global business climate.

BSM408 NGO Management (Prerequisites for this course are GED106, and BUS209)

In times and contexts where the blame and responsibility for social issues are being placed on government and third parties, NGOs emerge as functional vehicles for taking ownership of the problem resolution, creating alternative and innovative solutions to existent social challenges. NGOs offer a viable organizational form that aggregates the civic initiative into new possibilities, moving from the “let the others do” attitude towards “What can we do today for this society that will make a better future tomorrow?”

NGO Management is designed as an introductory crush-course into the set-up and administration of an NGO and development of projects with social impact and responsibility. Equal attention to theory and practice of management aspects is given during this course. Lectures with theoretical and descriptive content are alternated with practical, simulative experiential approach, and elements of fieldwork specific to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.