American University
Washington College of Law
Fall, 2015
Law-672-001
Th 8:00-9:50 PM
Room [TBA]
Law and Accounting
Jeff Mahoney
Office Hours: Th 9:50-11:00 PM (and at other days and times by
appointment)
Ph 202-360-9919
Fax 202-822-0801
jeff@cii.org
Course Description
This course introduces basic accounting principles, concepts, and
terminology. The course will begin with an examination of how financial
accounting and reporting requirements result in the recording of economic
transactions and the summarization of those transactions in financial reports.
Having established that foundation, the remainder of the course will consider
more advanced accounting and legal issues relating to specific financial
statement elements, including shareholders’ equity, revenues, and
contingencies. The course will also include a discussion of the role and
development of accounting and auditing standards and government oversight
and enforcement of those standards. Finally, the course will include an
overview of financial statement analysis, highlighting some of critical
sources of information contained in a company’s annual report and how that
information might be used. The problems contained in the textbook and
examples drawn from current events will be utilized to illustrate and expand
upon the course material.
Course Information
The final exam will be worth 100% of the student’s grade.
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The following casebook has been assigned for this course:
David R. Herwitz & Matthew J. Barrett, Accounting for Lawyers, Concise
Fourth Edition (2006) (Foundation Press ISBN: 978-1-59941-040-1) &
2013 Supplement (Foundation Press ISBN: 978-1-60930-418-8).
A copy of the casebook, the casebook authors’ answers too many of the
problems referenced in the course assignments, and other course related
materials will be available on library reserve following the first class.
Assignments
August 27, 2015: The Balance Sheet and Double-Entry Bookkeeping. Read
pp. 1-23. Prepare problem 1.1A (1) (pp. 23-24).
September 3, 2015: The Income Statement. Read pp. 26-36. Prepare
problem 1.2A (pp. 36-37) (To aid in checking your work, the correct net
income figure is $375, and the balance sheet columns should each total
$2,605).
September 10, 2015: Statement of Changes in Owner’s Equity and Accrual
Accounting. Read pp. 43-83 and Supp. pp. 2-3. Prepare problem 1.5A (pp.
84-86) (To aid you in checking your work, the correct net income figure is
$433, and the balance sheet columns should each total $4,585).
September 17, 2015: Accounting for Inventory. Read pp. 89-98. Prepare
problem 1.6A (pp. 99-100). Last full bookkeeping problem until the final
exam!
September 24, 2015: Statement of Cash Flows, Consolidated Financial
Statements, and Accounting Principles. Read pp. 103-149 and Supp. pp. 35, 13-16, 19-48.
October 1, 2015: (Class Cancelled)
October 6, 2015: (Tuesday; Regular time; Room TBA; Make-up Class
for October 1): Auditing Standards. Read pp. 149-204 and Supp. pp.
49-51, 53-57, 60-64, 66-70, 75-76, 80-84. Prepare problems 2.1A (p. 149)
and 2.2A (p. 168).
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October 8, 2015: Financial Statement Analysis, Annual Reports, and
Balance Sheet. Read pp. 229-246 and Supp. pp. 89-90. Prepare problems
4.1 (p. 240) and 4.2 (p. 246).
October 15, 2015: Financial Statement Analysis (cont.), Income Statement,
Statement of Cash Flows, and MD&A. Read pp. 246-289 and Supp. pp. 9096, 98-105. Prepare problem 4.2D (p. 268).
October 22, 2015: Legal Issues with Shareholders’ Equity and Balance
Sheet. Read pp. 291-316 and Supp. pp. 107, 111-123. Prepare problems
5.1A (p. 306) and 5.1B (pp. 306-307).
October 29, 2015: Expense Recognition & Revenue Recognition, Overview
of Essential Requirements. Read pp. 317-369 and Supp. pp. 136-145, 150161. Prepare problems 6.1A (p. 331), 6.5 (pp. 336-337), and 6.2 (pp. 369370).
November 5, 2015: Revenue Recognition (cont.). Read pp. 370-404 and
Supp. pp. 166-182. Prepare problems 6.3 (pp. 395-396), and 6.4 (p. 404).
November 12, 2015: Revenue Recognition (cont.). Read pp. 404-432 and
Supp. pp. 183-184. Prepare problems 6.5A (pp. 408-409), 6.6C (p. 418), 6.7
(p. 426), 6.8A (pp. 431-432).
November 19, 2015: Contingencies. Read pp. 439-482 and Supp. pp. 189202. Prepare problems 7.1 (pp. 479-480) and 7.3 (pp. 481-482).
November 26, 2015 (Class cancelled). Turkey day; Watch parade and
then watch my Detroit Lions lose badly again.
December 1, 2015 (Tuesday; Regular time; Room TBA; Make-up Class
for T-Day): Catch-up & review.
December __, 2015 (Friday; 6:00 to 9:00 PM; Room TBA: Final exam.
Good luck!
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