BA 319 - External Reporting II
Spring 2004

Note: this draft page shows how the class was taught in Spring 2004 … future instructors are likely to approach the course differently.

External Reporting II Monday and Wednesday

BA 319 – Spring 2004 Section 1 2:00 - 3:50

207 Bexell Hall Section 2 4:00 – 5:50

Professor: Roger Graham Office: 204 Bexell Hall

E-mail: grahamr@bus.orst.edu Phone: 737-4028

Office Hours: 1:00 – 2:00 Mondays and Wednesdays 3:30 – 4:30 Tuesdays

Text: Intermediate Accounting (11th edition) by Kieso, Weygant, and Warfield, Wiley, 2004.

Proctor and Gamble 2003 10-K

Course Description: This course is a continuation of BA 318 containing three modules. The first module covers stockholders’ equity (chapters 15 and 16) and the second module covers pensions, leases, and the financial accounting for income taxes (chapters 19, 20, and 21). The remaining module covers the accounting for investments and full disclosure (chapters 17 and 24).

Course Objectives: The primary objective of this course is to acquire a fundamental understanding of the above accounting issues. However, as with all our accounting courses, this class provides opportunities to improve written and oral communication skills and the ability to perform critical analysis.

In addition to the primary objective, I will stress the following two more general objectives:

1. To give you an understanding of existing accounting theories, principles and practices and their derivation.

2. To help you to gain an understanding of the economic environment in which financial accounting takes place and in which changes in accounting occur over time.

These objectives are not always complementary. For example, a focus on current practice may obscure the larger economic picture and the evolution of accounting procedures. Because the value of your university education should go beyond current situations, we will regard the two general objectives as important as the primary objective.

Class Policies: BA 319 class policies are intended to promote and maintain a professional atmosphere and an appropriate learning environment. The Accounting Program at Oregon State University is a highly-regarded professional program providing education and training for careers in accounting. A proper classroom climate will assist in developing habits that contribute to career success. Furthermore, students learn more when there is an appropriate learning atmosphere.

To begin, all students are expected to conduct themselves in a courteous and professional manner at all times and prepare all assignments in a professional manner.

Please do not come into class late, read during class, sleep during class, or talk excessively with other students during lectures. Such behaviors are disruptive to the learning environment.

Please turnoff/mute all items that emit sounds and noises that may interrupt the class (e.g., cellular phones, pagers), unless there is a specific reason for needing notification during a particular class (such as a sick child at home) and approval has been received prior to the beginning of that class.

All graded assignments must be ready to be handed in at the beginning of class on the day they are due. Late assignments will not be accepted and receive a zero score unless there are extraordinary extenuating circumstances. Assignments will be assigned one-half credit in the rare case that late assignments are accepted. Assignments will be returned as soon as they are graded. Any assignments not picked up in class can be picked up in Bexell 204. Exams will be available for review but will not be returned.

I welcome grading-related questions after homework or exams have been graded and returned. However specific grading questions are limited to the two week period beginning the day after the day the graded items are returned in class. This means I may not answer grading related questions on the day graded materials are returned or two weeks after the day graded materials are returned.

All University regulations regarding academic honesty apply to College of Business courses, e.g., any work copied from another student, plagiarized in any manner, or provided to another student will at a minimum result in a grade of zero on the assignment and at a maximum result in a failing grade in the class. If you are unsure what constitutes plagiarism, please see me.

Be judicious in your use of e-mail. First try to contact me directly, either in class or during office hours. Questions that can be easily answered from other sources (i.e., the course coverage, syllabus, or assignments) are not judicious uses of e-mail. Be professional when writing e-mail – present your point or request without making demands or accusations – be respectful and use professional salutations. Check your spelling and grammar as best you can. Be aware that I may not reply to e-mail I consider frivolous or unprofessional.

Dos and Don’ts

	Do	Don’t
1.	Be professional	Read during class
2.	Be courteous	Sleep during class
3.	Arrive on time	Talk excessively
4.	Allocate time to this course	Let your phone ring in class
5.	Work assigned problems prior to class	Cheat
6.	Write professional correspondence	Send unprofessional e-mails

Course Organization: BA 319 will be conducted primarily by lecture with considerable time spent reviewing assignments.

You are expected to read and study the chapter and to work the homework before each class meeting. It is to your advantage to attend class and participate in the discussion especially as attending class provides the opportunity to judge your progress in learning the material and prepares you for the exams.

Course Requirements: Course requirements include exams and homework assignments. The weighting on the course requirements follows.

Points Percent

Midterm Exams @ 85 each 170 57

Final Exam 100 33

General Homework 30 10

Total 300

Grading: Your course grade will be determined by your performance based on total points earned with the assurance that the curve will be no higher than shown below. The curve may be lowered depending on the distribution of the total points for the class.

A 261-300 C+ 219-224

A- 255-260 C 186-218

B+ 249-254

B 231-248 D 150-185

B- 225-230 F below 150

At least a C must be earned to enroll in accounting courses listing BA 319 as a prerequisite.

The Exams: The exams are designed to measure your knowledge and understanding of the material presented in the textbook, homework assignments, and class lectures and discussions. Both midterms will be multiple choice. The final will consist of work-out problems.

In the event you miss an exam, you will receive a score of 0, exactly as if you had turned in a blank paper. Exceptions will be made only upon presentation of documented evidence indicating serious illness or family emergency. Contacting me (or the department office if I cannot be contacted) prior to the exam is also expected in such cases, if practicable. A make-up exam may be scheduled; alternatively, the weight of the remaining exams may be adjusted. The choice rests with the instructor. Exceptions will be extraordinarily rare and will be handled on an individual basis. You are strongly urged to make every effort to take the exams as scheduled.

There are no example exams. All material presented in class is subject to examination. Therefore there is no need to ask if material will or will not be on an exam. No note cards or any other supporting materials will be allowed during exams.

General Homework: General homework assignments are listed in the tentative schedule. These assignments provide practice in solving accounting issues and are to be ready for collection at the beginning of class on the day that they are listed in the schedule. Although most assignments will only be graded for effort some assignments will be graded for completeness.

There will be no copies of the homework solutions available to students outside of class.

For the best learning, all problems should be attempted prior to the class period they are discussed. This requires discipline on your part but the practice of attacking problems “cold” will pay off on exam days.

Final Thoughts on the Course: Success in this course requires an in-depth study of each reading assignment, completion of the homework problems and regular class attendance. Because material is cumulative, satisfactory progress is contingent upon adequate preparation prior to each class meeting.

BA 319 can be a difficult course with its diverse complicated material. With patience and effort (and some luck) we will all make it to the end of the term a bit more knowledgeable and possibly a bit intrigued.

A little about me: I grew up in Colorado and then lived for 12 years in Missoula, Montana. I owned a construction company there. I am married to Kristina Frankenberger who is Professor of Marketing at Western Oregon University. She is an avid fisher. I have two sons; Chris 27 and Brian 24. We have a collie named Scout and a cat named Pudge. We have lived in Oregon since the Fall of 1986. We enjoy the open spaces of Montana, Oregon and Colorado.

I enjoy teaching financial accounting very much and I enjoy talking informally with students. I have been teaching at Oregon State University since January 1991 but have also taught at Northern Montana College, the University of Oregon and the University of Manitoba. My undergraduate degree is in Psychology from Colorado State University, my masters degree is in accounting and finance from the University of Montana and my Ph.D. is in accounting from the University of Oregon. I am a CPA in the State of Montana and a member of the Oregon Society of Certified Public Accountants (currently on the Board of the Educational Foundation).

I enjoy research. During the last ten years I have published over 20 research papers (2 this last year). I try to understand the relation between accounting information and market values (known as capital markets research) in the areas of corporate equity investments and international accounting. Fun stuff!

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Part I: Shareholders’ Equity - the Recording and Presentation of Ownership Interests
1	March 29	Introduction, Syllabus, EDGAR, New Accounting Program Readings: Chapter 15: Stockholders’ Equity, Contributed Capital- Stock Issues, P15-9
	March 31	Readings: Chapter 15: Contributed Capital: Treasury Stock & Retirements Assignment: Picture Assignment, Chapter 15: Q’s 1-6, BE’s 1,2,3, E’s 2, 5, 8
2	April 5	Readings: Chapter 15: Stockholders’ Equity: Dividends and Stock Splits Assignment: Chapter 15: Q’s 11,12, BE’s 7,8, P’s 5, 6
	April 7	Readings: Chapter 16: Dilutive Securities and Compensation Plans Assignment: Chapter 15: Q’s 18-22, 26, BE’s 10,12,15, E’s 11, 15, 23
3	April 12	Readings: Chapter 16: Earnings per Share Assignment: Chapter 16: Q’s 2,5,9,20,14, BE’s 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, P 1
	April 14	Assignment: Chapter 16: Q’s 17,23,24, E’s 6, 15, P 4
4	April 19	Part I Midterm Exam Chapters 15,16 – multiple choice
Part II: Special Liabilities: Taxes, Pensions, and Leases
4	April 21	Readings: Chapter 19: Fundamentals of Accounting for Income Taxes Assignment: Chapter 19: Q’s 1-6, BE 10
5	April 26	Readings: Chapter 19: Net Operating Losses and the Taxes in the Financial Statements Assignment: Chapter 19: E’s 3, 7, P 1
	April 28	Readings: Chapter 20: Nature of Pension Plans Assignment: Chapter 19: BE 15, E’s 10, 23
6	May 3	Readings: Chapter 20: Accounting for Pensions Assignment: Chapter 20: Q’s 2,8,10-12, 14,20,24
	May 5	Readings: Chapter 21: Lessee Accounting Assignment: Chapter 20: P’s 1, 4
7	May 10	Readings: Chapter 21: Lessor Accounting Assignment: Chapter 21: Q’s 1-3, 5, E’s 2, 3, P’s 2, 7
	May 12	Readings: Chapter 17: Fair-value Accounting for Passive Investments Assignment: Chapter 21: E’s 4, 7, P 1
8	May 17	Part II Midterm Exam Chapters 19-21 – multiple choice
Part III: Recording and Presentation of Investments: Full Disclosure
8	May 19	Readings: Chapter 17: Non-Passive Investments – The Equity Method Assignment: Chapter 17: Q’s 6,7,10,14, BE’s 1, 5, 6, E 9
9	May 24	Readings: Chapter 17: Appendix A: Investments: Derivative Instruments Assignment: Chapter 17: Q’s 17, 18, 20, BE’s 7, 9, E 13
	May 26	Readings: Chapter 24: Full Disclosure in Financial Reporting Assignment: Chapter 17: P’s 17, 18
10	May 31	No Class: Memorial Day
	June 2	Evaluations and Course Review Assignment: Q’s 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19

Final Exams – comprehensive work out problems and short essay: Section 1 at 2:00 Wednesday June 9, Section 2 at 2:00 Monday June 7.