Principles of Accounting I
MGMT 104
Summer Session
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.
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
Ability to read
PowerPoint presentations & view QuickTime videos
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 will be used to highlight the important concepts of each chapter. Notes will be provided to be used as you
watch the videos. You may watch the
videos at times convenient for you. At
the beginning of each week I will post the assignments for that week. Assignments will be due several times a week.
Exams:
There will be
three exams delivered online over the six weeks, one after every two weeks. The exams will consist of multiple choice
questions, short essays, short exercises and long problems. Due to the nature of the topic these exams
will be cumulative but they will focus more on the newest material covered
since the previous exam.
Final Grade:
Your
final grade will be determined by your performance on your homework (both
graded and ungraded) and the three 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
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.
Online
courses are NOT easier than regular semester live classes. They do NOT take less time. In fact they will probably take more time
than a live course. Don’t take an online course thinking it is the
easy way out.
Summer
courses are very demanding on your time.
Particularly courses like accounting.
Be sure you have the time to commit.
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.