Financial Accounting

General Learning Goals:

 Students will demonstrate problem solving and decision making abilities through the critical analysis, evaluation, and interpretation of business information. Classroom discussion, problem assignments and examinations will require students to use critical thinking skills to apply accounting concepts and principles to various situations. Demonstrations of problem solving and decision making abilities will be included in class lectures. Students will develop these skills by completing assigned homework. The development of each student’s abilities will be assessed through examinations which require problem solving and decision making.

Course Specific Learning Goals:

 This course seeks to provide the undergraduate business student with a foundation in financial accounting. Upon completion of this course, the student will be fully capable of producing basic GAAP financial statements. Specifically, a student who successfully completes this course should be capable of:

• analyzing business activities for proper accounting

• recording business transactions in the accounting records

• completing the accounting cycle

• accounting for financial assets

• accounting for inventories

• accounting for plant assets

• accounting for liabilities

• accounting for stockholders’ equity

• producing a balance sheet and statements of income, retained earnings, and cash flow

• interpreting these financial statements

Grading and Evaluation:

Grades for this course will be assigned as follows:

             Index card                                                                                                                 5

            Presentation                                                                                                            15

            Attendance/participation                                                                                        30           

             Exam #1                                                                                                                100

            Exam #2                                                                                                                100

            Exam #3                                                                                                                100

            Final Exam (cumulative)                                                                                       150

            Homework (Connect grade)                                                                                 100

            Total Available Points                                                                                         600

Letter grades will be assigned as follows:

A = 534 points +, B = 474 to 533 points, C = 414 to 473 points, D = 330 to 413 points     

Exams.  Exams will generally include a mix of multiple choice questions and problems.  There may occasionally be other types of problems.  You will need to bring a scantron to class on exam days.  On exams, you will be permitted to use a non-programmable calculator.  You will not be permitted to use your cell phone as a calculator.  Based on the results of the exam, there may be a curve.  The percent of the curve you receive will be the percent of the total Connect score.  For example, if at the end of the semester, you have earned 75% of the Connect points, then you will receive 75% of the curves on the exams.

Homework.  Homework will be completed online using Connect.  You will always have two attempts at online homework problems.  Homework is due at midnight on the date shown on the schedule in the syllabus.  After that date, it will not be available. 

Notecard.  On August 31, 2010 you will need to bring an index card with the following information:  Your name, your current job, your career goal (if you don’t know, tell me), your e-mail address, a random fact about you, and a picture of you (can be a photocopy of a driver’s license or student ID, but if so, remove personal information from it).  The picture must be attached to the card, and no bigger than the card.  This will be worth 5 points.  Points will be deducted if turned in late or incomplete.

Presentation.  Presented homework will be a problem assigned to an individual(s) to present that day in class.  Presented homework should be completed in a ten minute timeframe.  Students should dress appropriately (at least business casual) for their presentation.  No shorts, athletic shoes, flip-flops, sweats, jeans, t-shirts, tanks, hoodies, or hats should be worn for the presentation.

Attendance/Participation.  Everyone will begin the semester with 30 attendance/participation points.  After the first day of class, you are expected to be on time and obey the rules of the classroom during every period.  After one “rule violation”, you will be deducted 2 points each time you are late for class, miss class (without prior notification), use your cell phone in class, bring food/drink to class, or break any other class rule.

Make-Up Exams and Assignments

 Only in the case of a well-documented true emergency should an exam be missed.  Prior approval is required in all but the most extreme cases.  Exams missed without prior approval or without adequate documentation of the reason for the absence will result in a grade of zero for the exam.  If an exam (other than the final) is missed with prior agreement and adequate documentation, the percentage grade obtained on the final exam will automatically be substituted in calculating the points for the missed exam.  Points missed during a regular class (e.g. quiz, homework, etc.) may only be made up if contact was made prior to the absence, and the absence was approved.  Again, exceptions will be made only in extreme cases.

This course is presented in two eighty-minute class meetings per week.  Classes may include a variety of teaching methods, including lecture, group work, and class discussion. Your requirements for each class are as follows: 

• Be on time

• Be prepared

• Be respectful (no cell-phone use, including text-messaging)

• Participate

• Notify in advance when you have to miss a class.

In other words, treat this class like you would treat a job.

 Remember, it is the standard of the Dillard College of Business Administration that no food or drink is permitted in the classrooms.  If I see drinks in the classroom, I will throw them away.

Students are expected to attend all class meetings for this course, following the university attendance policy.  (See Midwestern State University Undergraduate Catalog, Vol. LXXV, No. 2, p. 88).  Each meeting of the class will run as scheduled.  So as not to disturb the class, you are not to walk in and out of the classroom during the class hour except for an emergency.  Your attendance and punctuality directly affect you attendance/participation points and indirectly affect all other points available during the semester.

Academic Integrity:

With regard to academic honesty, students are referred to the “Student Honor Creed” on p. 23 of Midwestern State University Undergraduate Catalog, Vol. LXXV, No. 2.

All out-of-class assignments are to be the work product of the individual or group to which they were assigned.  However, it is often beneficial to obtain the input of others, and I encourage you to do so.  If you have questions about the degree of help that you can give or receive on an assignment, please ask.  For some assignments, you may not receive any assistance from individuals outside of yourself or your group; you will be clearly instructed when this is the case.  You may be asked to present your results on a homework assignment, so be sure you don’t have a solution that you don’t understand.

Allowing another student to obtain course points by deceit contributes to a general lowering of the ethical standards of the university and contributes to deception of potential employers and other academic institutions.  Thus, you have an obligation to take some action when you know another student is in violation of the course’s academic integrity standards.  This is a difficult personal trial to face, but it is an important part of your ethical obligations as a student.  If you know that another student is violating the standards, it is your responsibility to inform the student’s instructor.

Anyone suspected of breaching academic integrity will be referred to the proper university authority.  Examples of such breaches include (but are not limited to):

1.  Copying someone’s homework and turning it in as your own.
2. Soliciting answers from a fellow student during an exam or quiz.

3. Looking or glancing at another student’s paper during an exam or quiz.

4. Removing a page or pages from an examination booklet before, during, or after an exam.

5. Using a programmable calculator during an exam or quiz.

Americans with Disability Act:

 This class follows the guidelines suggested by the Center for Counseling and Disabilities Services for those students who qualify for disability services.  See MidwesternState UniversityUndergraduate Catalog, Vol. LXXV, No. 2, p. 26.

 Syllabus Change Policy:

 This syllabus is a guide for the course and is subject to change.