Course
Administration
Course
Objectives:
After successfully completing this course, students will be able to
-
compare and contrast management accounting and financial accounting;
-
identify microeconomic concepts and tools used in management
accounting;
-
combine cost allocation techniques, such as absorption costing,
activity-based costing, and standard costing, to generate relevant cost
information for specific decision-making and financial reporting purposes;
-
choose among common capital budgeting techniques for planning and
performance evaluation purposes;
-
evaluate divisional performance using return-on-investment, residual
income, and commonly-used financial ratios;
-
use sales forecasts to plan a cash budget and forecast financial
performance and financial position;
-
appraise whether a management accounting performance evaluation system
achieves goal congruence;
-
assess the appropriate role of cost in setting price in a variety of
market settings, including regulated industries and cost-plus contracts;
-
judge the extent to which a management accounting system supports
corporate social responsibility and sustainable business practices.
Course
prerequisites: ACTG 321 (Cost Management I)
with a grade of C or better, and BA 357, or equivalent courses at another
university. Students must be reasonably proficient at expressing themselves in
writing, and in performing simple mathematical calculations without a
calculator.
Course
materials:
The following materials are required for this course:
1.
Management Accounting: Concepts and Techniques, by Dennis Caplan. These
course notes may be downloaded from the course website, and a limited number of
bound books are available for purchase from Beta Alpha Psi.
2.
A coursepacket of readings from the OSU Bookstore.
Some students will benefit from referring to a
traditional textbook for supplementary explanations of the material, for
additional numerical examples, and for the end-of-chapter problems. I encourage
those students to obtain a used copy of the 11th edition of Cost
Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis, by Horngren, Datar and Foster (copyright
2003). Because the 11th edition of this textbook is now out of
print, used copies are available on the web for approximately $20 or less.
Additional required readings and homework
assignments will be distributed in class or otherwise made available throughout
the term.
Course
format: The
course is four credit hours, and meets four hours per week, in two-hour blocks
on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Class time will consist primarily of lectures, case
discussions, student team exercises, numerical exercises, and outside speakers.
Course requirements: Your course grade will be based on the following
components:
|
Component
|
Points
|
Dates
|
|
Exam 1
|
20
|
October 4
|
|
Exam 2
|
40
|
October 25
|
|
Exam 3
|
40
|
November 20
|
|
Class participation
|
40
|
|
|
Final exam (this exam is
cumulative)
|
60
|
Dec 6 at 12:00, or Dec 7 at
9:30
|
|
Total points
|
200
|
|
Exams
during the term: There will be three exams during the term. The format of these exams
will vary, and the format of each exam will be announced in class approximately
one week prior to the date of the exam. Some exams might be closed-book while
others might be open-book. Some exams might not allow the use of calculators.
If you become aware of a conflict that might cause you to miss an exam, you
should inform me immediately.
Class participation: This portion of your grade depends on my assessment of
the quality of your contribution, when we discuss cases and in-class exercises,
and the quality of your written answers to case questions. In addition, 10
class participation points will be awarded if you attend the required class
meeting on September 28 with Dennis Powell (CFO of Cisco Systems), and 10
additional points will be awarded if you submit a question for Dennis that is
then selected for the Q & A portion of that class session.
Final
exam: The
final exam will be held during finals week, and will be comprehensive. The final
exam for the 10:00 class is scheduled for Friday, December 7, at 9:30; and the
final exam for the 12:00 class is scheduled for Thursday, December 6, at 12:00.
If you become aware of a conflict that might cause you to miss the final exam,
you should inform me immediately.
Extra credit: Opportunities for extra credit may be provided in
connection with one or more of the exams.
Homework: Homework is self-study and self-graded, and generally
will not constitute a formal part of your grade.
Blackboard: Grades will be posted to
Blackboard throughout the term. Please do not send me email via the
communications link in Blackboard. Email correspondence should be sent to
capland@bus.oregonstate.edu.
Calculation
of Overall Grade: Your course grade will be determined by comparing your total points
and your class rank against the following criteria, beginning at the top and
proceeding down the list, until your total points or class rank satisfy the
cutoff:
If you rank in the top 10%
of the class, or earn at least 186 points overall, you will receive an A.
If you rank in the top 15%
of the class, or earn at least 180 points overall, you will receive an A-.
If you rank in the top 25%
of the class, or earn at least 174 points overall, you will receive a B+.
If you rank in the top 50%
of the class, or earn at least 166 points overall, you will receive a B.
If you rank in the top 55%
of the class, or earn at least 160 points overall, you will receive a B-.
If you rank in the top 65% of
the class, or earn at least 154 points overall, you will receive a C+.
If you rank in the top 80%
of the class, or earn at least 146 points overall, you will receive a C.
If you fail to receive a C
or better, but earn at least 140 points overall, you will receive a C-.
If you fail to receive a C- or better, but earn at least 120 points
overall, you will receive a D. Grades of D+ and D- will not be assigned.
Students who earn less than 120 points overall can expect to fail the course.
Class rank will be determined as the percentage of
students with your score or higher, divided by the total number of students
registered for the course at the end of the term. This ranking will be
determined for both fall 2007 sections of BA422 combined, unless there are
material differences in the distribution of scores between sections, in which
case the ranking will be section-specific. Note that this grading system
assures that at least half of the class will receive a grade of B or better, at
least 80% of the class will receive a grade of C or better, and it places no
upper limit on the overall class GPA.
At
my discretion, I may consider class participation and other subjective
course-related factors when assigning grades to students whose overall score is
just below 140 or 120.
If
you have any questions about any aspect of the grading, please speak with me as
soon as possible.
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.
Academic
integrity:
I define academic dishonesty in this class as offering or receiving help on an
exam, or otherwise compromising or attempting to compromise the integrity of an
exam. All cases of suspected academic dishonesty are handled in strict
accordance with University policy, which can be viewed at the following
University web address: http://oregonstate.edu/admin/stucon/achon.htm.
Tips for success: Plan on spending about eight
hours weekly on this course, outside of class. Read the assigned material
before class. Be an active learner in class. Focus on following class
discussion, not on taking extensive notes. Attempt the homework questions before
class, on your own. Give each question a reasonable effort before you look at
the answer, but don’t spin your wheels. Most students will benefit from working
in study groups.
