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BA 317: Accounting
Processes and Controls
Fall 2006 Syllabus
Professor: Dr.
Jared A. Moore E-mail: Jared.Moore@bus.oregonstate.edu
Office:
BEXL 224E Phone: 737-2517
Class Times: 8:00
– 9:50am (CRN 11026) Classroom: BEXL 417
10:00 – 11:50am (CRN 11027)
2:00 – 3:50pm (CRN 15607)
Office Hours: TTh 12:15 – 1:30pm (or by appointment)
W 2:30 – 4:00pm
COURSE OVERVIEW
Welcome to BA 317, Accounting
Processes and Controls.
BA 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:
Junior standing and must have
completed BA 211 and BA 213.
Required Resources:
Text: 1) Kieso, Weygandt, and Warfield, Intermediate Accounting,
Twelfth Edition (hereafter Kieso)
a. This
text is available at the OSU bookstore in binder-ready and hard cover formats.
b. One
copy is on reserve at the library.
c. Even
though we will not be using it in this class, be sure to purchase the text complete
with
Wiley Plus. You will be using the same text in BA
318 and BA 319 (if you continue on to
those classes), and Wiley Plus is
used in those classes. If
you decide to purchase the text
without Wiley Plus, it will cost you
approximately $60 to purchase it separately later.
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. Important course announcements will also
be posted on this site. Thus, it
should also be checked AT LEAST DAILY.
Important
Dates:
First Beta Alpha Psi Meeting: Oct.
4, 6:00pm
BAP Meet the Firms Night: Oct.
5, 6:30pm
Last Day to Drop a Course by Web:
Oct.
6, 11:55pm
Last Day to Withdraw from a Course:
Nov.
10, 11:55pm (must
be passing to receive a “W”)
Last Day for Total Withdrawal from University: Dec.
1, 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 / 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 three ways in which failing to complete the homework assigned can
adversely affect your grade.
First
(and most directly), there will be 6 on-line quizzes worth 12 points each that
will consist of questions taken directly from the homework assigned. 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.
Second,
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 scores.
Finally,
coming to class unprepared to participate in class discussions will adversely
affect your Professionalism grade for the class (described in detail below).
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 30, 2006 – time TBD
Final Tuesday, December 5, 2006 – 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 class
participation, preparation for class, attendance, punctuality, 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 at the time the last portion of the group
project is due. This allows the
people who are in the best position to assess your professionalism the ability
to do so. Unsatisfactory group
evaluations will have the power to reduce an individual’s score on the
group project.
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 re-grading of the item in question,
which may produce a 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 as they are assigned.
Learning accounting is quite sequential in nature. Understanding a new concept is
contingent upon your understanding the previously presented concepts.
Avoid
memorization; rather develop an understanding of concepts. Do not try to memorize the material
(recite it back from memory). In
most cases memorization will not help you.
In BA 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
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.
*****