Principles of Accounting I
MGMT 104
Fall 2008
Instructor: Christine Irujo
Course Description:
Development
of a framework of concepts underlying the preparation of corporate
financial
statements which are useful to investors, economists, the general
public,
and other interested external parties.
The balance sheet and income
statement
as conventionally reported by American corporations are studied as to
methodology
for their preparation, their interpretation, and their strengths and
limitations.
3
credits.
Prerequisite:
MGMT 0107 Software Applications in
Management (You MUST have a working knowledge of Excel. It is required that your homework and exams
be done in Excel.)
Required Materials:
Principles of
Accounting, Needles, Powers, & Crosson, 10th ed., Houghton-Mifflin.
2008
1312 Pages Hardcover
ISBN-13: 978-0-618-73661-4
ISBN-10: 0-618-73661-1
OR
2008 1312 Pages eBook Downloadable (If you prefer
the eBook over the Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 978-0-618-73670-6
ISBN-10: 0-618-73670-0
Working access
to Word & Excel
Course Objectives:
By the end of
this course you should be able to:
v Understand and
complete each step of the accounting cycle including the preparation of
multi-step and single-step income statements, classified balance sheets, and
statements of retained earnings.
v Define and give
examples of all elements of the financial statements (assets, liabilities,
stockholders’ equity, revenues, expenses, gains & losses and all contra
accounts).
v Explain how
debits and credits affect all accounts.
v Explain the
qualitative characteristics of accounting information along with the
conventions and assumptions used in determining the rules of GAAP. Students
should be able to explain why transactions are recorded the way they are based
on the characteristics, conventions and assumptions.
v Discuss how
certain business transactions will affect the financial statements. Know when
an item is realized and when it will be recognized.
v Read and
analyze an annual report. Be able to calculate
simple ratios to aid in the evaluation of a company’s performance and financial
situation.
v Understand what
accrual accounting is and why it is superior to cash based accounting.
v Know the
difference between an income statement for a service firm and an income
statement for a merchandising firm.
v Define internal
control and its basic components giving examples of internal controls and
describing some of the limitations of internal control.
v Understand and
demonstrate how short-term financial assets are recorded and reported including
allowance for bad debt and bank reconciliations.
v Understand and
demonstrate how inventory is accounted for in a merchandising company using
both periodic and perpetual inventory systems.
This includes knowing how to estimate ending inventory.
v Have an
understanding how current liabilities are accounted for including payroll
accounting.
v Explain and use
special journals and subsidiary ledgers.
Method of
Instruction:
Video
presentations for each chapter will be used to highlight the important concepts
of each chapter. You may watch the
videos and do the related homework at times convenient for you. You must complete each section by the due
dates given. Class notes will be made
available for each chapter to be used as you watch the videos.
Homework will
be broken down into 1. ungraded – you will be evaluated on it being done on
time whether it is right or wrong and 2. graded – you will be given a grade on
accuracy. Late homework will not be
accepted and will receive a grade of zero.
Exams:
There will be
four exams. There will be three exams
each covering 1/3 of the course material and one comprehensive final. The exams will consist of multiple choice
questions, short essays, short exercises and long problems.
Final Grade:
Your final
grade will be determined by your performance on your homework (both graded and
ungraded) and the four exams.
Get Up to Speed with PLATO:
Before
the semester begins, make sure you are ready for the online experience. Visit the
following websites to learn everything from “how to login”, to “checking your
browser configuration.”
http://www.wsc.ma.edu/plato/Seven_Steps_To_Logging_Into_Vista.html
http://www.webct.com/tuneup/viewpage?name=tuneup_browser_troubleshoot
What You Should Know Before
Taking This Course:
You
should read the information at this two sites: http://www.wsc.ma.edu/plato/gettingstarted.html
http://www.wsc.ma.edu/plato/Are_Online_Courses_For_Me.html
You must have access to a computer.
It should have high speed internet access. (the videos are almost impossible to
download with a dial-up connection). If
you do not have access or cannot get access to high speed internet you will be
required to use the computers on campus in the computer lab’s to do your work.
You
should plan on attending the orientation session previous to the start of
class.
You
need to know how to add attachments to e-mails and discussions within Plato.
You
need to know Excel and Word. You need to
have access to these programs.
You
should be able to download files and plug-ins (and install them) from the web
if needed.
Know
the basics about your operating system.
I will not be teaching basic computer skills. You should know and understand what you have
for firewalls, pop up blockers, spam software and which browser you are using.
You should know how to disable some of the above software if it interferes with
downloading some of our files.
You
should be able to carry on an educated conversation about your computer and
your software with the people at the CIT HELP desk if you do encounter
problems.
You
need to realize that technical issues due come up. Think about this when you are planning out
your work schedule. Plan to get your
work in early whenever possible in case your system goes down or you encounter
some other technical issue.
This
course will probably take more time than a live course. You should be planning on at least three
hours a week for video presentation coverage which is in place of the three
classroom hours you normally have. You
should then be planning on a minimum of six to ten hour a week for homework and
studying. For most students this is the
minimum amount required to be successful in this class. Some of you may need more time.
Questions? E-mail me at: cirujo@wsc.ma.edu
Please note that this is a generic overview of the course. The official course syllabus will be
available to you once the course begins.
Some things in the final course schedule may be different from this
overview.