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NOTE: ACTG 317 will next be offered during the Fall
2008 term.
The course materials below are from Fall 2007 for
reference purposes only.
BA 317: Accounting
Processes and Controls
Fall 2007 Syllabus
Professor: Dr.
Jared A. Moore E-mail: jared.moore@bus.oregonstate.edu
Office: BEXL 224E Phone: 737-2517
Office Hours: MW
3:00 – 4:00pm
TTh
12:30 – 1:30pm
(or by appointment)
Class Times: TTh 8:00 – 9:50am (CRN 18375) Classroom: BEXL 321
TTh 10:00 – 11:50am (CRN 18376) Credit Hrs: 4
TTh 2:00 –
3:50pm (CRN 18377)
COURSE OVERVIEW
Welcome to ACTG 317, Accounting
Processes and Controls.
ACTG
317 is the first in a three-course sequence that covers the theory and practice
of accounting and financial reporting to external parties. This course focuses on the accounting
process from recording transactions to preparing financial reports and is
intended to develop an understanding of how accounting theory and the
conceptual framework form the foundation for accounting practice. It is assumed that students come into
this course with a working knowledge of the material covered in BA 211 and BA
213, as many of the topics covered in these courses will be examined in much
more detail (both theoretically and practically). In addition, this course is intended to
assist students in preparation to become a professional, and thus is intended
to aid in the development of technical, analytical, problem-solving and
communications skills.
Class will be conducted in a
lecture-discussion format. Topics
will be introduced and examples will be given in class. In addition, there will be in-class
exercises from time to time that will require participation from students. Students are expected to bring to class
the textbook, a calculator and a printout of the class notes for the chapter(s)
to be covered in class.
Prerequisites:
1. Junior standing, and
2. Must have completed BA 213
and BA 271 with a grade of “C” or better.
Required Resources:
Text: 1) Spiceland, Sepe, and Tomassini, Intermediate
Accounting, Fourth Edition w/ revised Chapter 17
(hereafter Spiceland)
a. One copy is on reserve at the library.
b. Just as a “heads up,” you
will be using the same text in ACTG 318 and ACTG 319 (if you
continue
on to those courses).
2)
Your BA 211
textbook or equivalent
(optional but recommended)
a. Two copies of the BA 211
text used last year are on reserve at the library.
Packet: The manual
accounting project (Corvallis Athletic Supply) packet is available at the OSU
bookstore.
E-mail: E-mail may be used at times
to communicate course information to students outside of class. All
students
need to have a functional
and check it AT LEAST DAILY. Everyone in the class has a COB e-mail
account – and if you do
not regularly check your COB account, it is your responsibility to get
your COB account forwarded to
the e-mail account you do use. Instructions for setting up your account,
forwarding messages, and
answers to any questions you might have regarding your COB account may
be found at
http://faculty.bus.oregonstate.edu/sullivan/it-support/email.htm#Microsoft_Exchange.
Blackboard: Class
notes (Power Point slides), practice problem sets, selected homework answers,
and other course materials will be available for download from the course
Blackboard site at https://my.oregonstate.edu/webapps/login. Blackboard will also be the primary outlet
for important course announcements – so it should also be checked AT LEAST DAILY.
Important
Dates:
First Beta Alpha Psi Meeting: Sep.
26, 6:00pm
BAP Meet the Firms Night: Oct.
3, 6:30pm
Last Day to Drop a Course by Web:
Oct.
5, 11:55pm
Last Day to Withdraw from a Course:
Nov.
9, 11:55pm (must be passing to
receive a “W”)
Last Day for Total Withdrawal from University: Nov.
30, 5:00pm (must be passing to
receive a “W”)
COURSE POLICIES
Academic
Dishonesty:
Cheating
and plagiarism will not be tolerated in this course. If a student is caught engaging in such
activity, he or she will be dealt with according to University and
Grading:
Final
grades will be determined based on the following structure:
|
Quizzes |
60 points |
|
Group
Project (CAS) |
100 points |
|
Midterm
Exam |
100 points |
|
Final
Exam |
125 points |
|
Professionalism |
40 points |
|
Total |
425 points |
- Grades are calculated
based on the plus/minus system.
Specific information is available on the blackboard site in the
“Syllabus” folder.
- The 425 points listed
above are the only points available for the class. In other words, no extra
credit.
- GRADE CAVEAT: A student can earn no more than one
full letter grade above his or her exam average (midterm
and final).
Quizzes: There will be 6 on-line quizzes worth 12 points each
that will consist of questions taken from recently covered chapters. The quizzes are 1)
“open-book,” 2) do not have a time limit, 3) must be completed by
you alone (no working together), and 4) must be completed before 8:00am on the date corresponding to the assignment on the class
schedule. You will take the quizzes through the
Blackboard site. Your lowest quiz
score will be dropped for determination of your final grade.
Group Project: A group project (Corvallis Athletic Supply) worth
100 points will be required in this course, and portions will be due at the beginning
of class on three different dates. More information on the nature of
the work and time frame will be provided in class. There may or may not be some class time available to organize and discuss
the assignment; however, substantial out-of-class work will be required to
complete the project. Each student
will be evaluated by his/her teammates in terms of participation and
professionalism, and these evaluations will be incorporated into his/her
project grade. Late work will be
accepted up to the next class session, but with a 25% penalty for each 24 hours
or part thereof that it is late.
Exams: Both exams will be administered as
common evening exams and must be taken during the time scheduled (missed exams
cannot be made up). Absence from a
scheduled exam without prior approval
from the professor will result in a grade of zero on the exam. Approval to be absent from an exam will
only be granted in cases of extreme personal emergency. Written verification of the personal
emergency must be provided. Note
that oversleeping, parking trouble, traffic, etc. are NOT considered extreme
personal emergency. The exam
schedule for the class is as follows:
Midterm
Monday, October 29, 2007 – time TBD
Final Monday, December 3, 2007 – 4:00pm
Graded exams remain the
property of the professor, but may be viewed at any time during office hours.
Each student must have
his/her own calculator
as no sharing will be allowed on exams.
Also, students are responsible for battery failure and/or calculator
malfunction – and may not use this as a reason for excused absence from
an exam or additional time to complete an exam. Finally, cell phone calculators or other calculators with data storage
capabilities are not permited.
Professionalism: Professionalism consists of preparation
for class, attendance, punctuality, class participation, cooperation, respect
for colleagues, respect for the instructor, etc. Professionalism will impact your grade
in two ways:
Instructor
evaluation: The Professionalism
points in this class (noted above) will be awarded on the basis of the
professionalism elements listed above and will amount to almost 9½ % of
the total course grade.
Group
member evaluation: As previously
mentioned, group members will be required to evaluate each other’s
professionalism and participation on the CAS project. This allows the people who are in the
best position to assess your professionalism the opportunity to do so. Unsatisfactory group evaluations will
have the power to reduce an individual’s score on the group project. These evaluations will be due with the
final (third) part of the project.
Homework: Questions, Exercises and Problems are assigned from
each chapter to give you practice in applying the concepts learned. It is essential that you work through
these on your own before coming to class so you can participate in any class
discussion and so the material presented in class is easier to absorb. Homework will not be collected, but
there are two ways in which failing to complete the homework assigned can
adversely affect your grade.
First,
successfully learning the material in this class depends at some level on
having adequate practice and repetition.
Much of this practice is provided by the homework. As such, failure to take the homework
seriously often translates into lower exam and quiz scores.
Second,
coming to class unprepared to participate in class discussions will adversely
affect your Professionalism grade for the course.
Grading Disputes:
Students who
believe that an error has been made in the grading of an exam, project, or quiz
should submit a written request for re-grading within one week of the
originally graded exam, project, or quiz being returned in class. This request must identify the item in
question and describe why the student believes it has been graded
erroneously. Students should
understand that submission of this request will result in a complete re-grading
of the item in question, which may produce a higher or lower score than originally received.
Syllabus
Changes:
Changes
to the syllabus are not anticipated and would only occur if absolutely
necessary. However, you are responsible
for any changes announced in class.
Students with Disabilities
Accommodations are collaborative efforts between students, faculty and Services
for Students with Disabilities (SSD). Students with accommodations approved
through SSD are responsible for contacting the faculty member in charge of the
course prior to or during the first week of the term to discuss accommodations.
Students who believe they are eligible for accommodations but who have not yet
obtained approval through SSD should contact SSD immediately at 737-4098.
HOW TO
APPROACH THIS CLASS
Regular
attendance is essential. There is a
fairly straightforward correlation between attendance and performance; students
who do not attend class regularly tend to do poorly in the course. Additionally, at a more direct level,
failure to attend class tends to result in lower Professionalism scores.
Read
the text chapters and do the homework sets as they are assigned. Learning accounting is sequential in
nature. Your prospects for understanding
a new concept are contingent upon your having a solid understanding the
previously presented concepts.
Avoid
memorization; rather develop an understanding of concepts. Do not try to memorize the material so
you can recite it back – this will not help you in most cases. In ACTG 317 most of the assignments
require you to apply the concepts being
covered or to think beyond the material presented. These types of assignments cannot be
done well without substantial consideration and thought. Therefore, don’t be in a hurry to
put pencil to paper and begin working on a particular assignment. Take time to review what was covered in
class and consider the requirements of a particular assignment.
This is a tough and
time-consuming course. Make sure your
schedule allows you sufficient time to be successful.
This
course is intended to deepen and extend your basic understanding of financial
accounting concepts including the conceptual framework, the accounting cycle,
journalizing and posting events and transactions via general and special /
subsidiary journals and ledgers, adjusting and closing entries, financial
statement preparation, the statement of cash flows, and time value of money. The anticipated learning outcomes are to
acquire sufficient knowledge and comprehension of these accounting concepts to
apply generally accepted accounting principles to solve accounting problems,
analyze accounting issues, and appraise proposals for changes in generally
accepted accounting procedures based on the underlying theory and conceptual
framework.
*****