SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY
Accounting 201: Financial Accounting Fundamentals
Spring 2013
COURSE MATERIALS
Harrison, Horngren and Thomas Financial Accounting (9th ed.) 2013
MyAccountingLab (www.myaccountinglab.com)
Basic function calculator (not programmable (e.g., financial))
Fifteen Scantron forms (882-E)
COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course is intended to introduce you to the basics of financial accounting. It explores what financial
accounting is, why it is important, and how it is used by managers, investors, and creditors to make decisions.
The course covers the recording and reporting of business transactions with a focus on the accounting cycle,
application of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), preparation of financial statements, and
financial statement analysis. The course includes issues relating to asset, liability, and equity valuation;
revenue and expense recognition; cash inflows and outflows; internal controls and ethics.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students participating in the BSBA Program will graduate being:
 Effective communicators
 Critical thinkers
 Able to analyze ethical problems
 Global in their perspective
 Knowledgeable about the essentials of business
Acct 201 contributes to these goals through the following student learning outcomes:
 Use accounting and business terminology, and understand the nature and purpose of generally accepted
accounting principles (GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
 Explain the objective of financial reporting, the elements of the financial statements, and the related key
accounting assumptions and principles.
 Define and distinguish between cash basis and accrual basis accounting and the impact of each on the
financial statements.
 Recognize the information conveyed in each of the four basic financial statements and the way it is used
by investors, creditors, regulators, and managers.
 Identify and illustrate how internal controls are used to manage and control the firm’s resources and risk.
 Explain the nature of current assets including the measuring and reporting of items such as short-term
investments, receivables and uncollectible accounts, inventory and costs of goods sold, and prepaid
expenses.
 Explain the valuation and reporting of current liabilities, estimated liabilities, and contingencies.
 Identify and illustrate issues relating to the acquisition, use, depreciation, and disposal of long-lived
assets.
 Identify and illustrate issues relating to the valuation, issuance, and retirement of long-term liabilities.
 Account for long-term investments and international business activities.
 Identify and illustrate issues relating to stockholders’ equity including the issuance of stock, repurchase of
stock and dividends.
 Explain the importance of operating, investing, and financing activities reported in the Statement of Cash
Flows when evaluating firm performance and solvency.
 Compute and interpret key financial ratios.
 Identify the ethical implications inherent in financial reporting and be able to apply strategies for
addressing them.
GRADING
Exam 1
Exam 2
Exam 3
Homework
Individual Quizzes
Group Exercises
PE Points
Total
25%
25%
25%
10%
5%
5%
5%
100%
Exams: There will be three noncumulative exams. Each exam will be given on a Saturday (see schedule
below), and contain 30 multiple choice questions and four analysis problems. No make-up exams are given.
Homework: Homework is assigned and graded for accuracy through MyAccountingLab.
Quizzes/Exercises: Expect to complete a group exercise and individual quiz each week in your lab session.
Poll Everywhere: Over the course of the semester we will use Poll Everywhere (PE) questions to review lecture
content on-the-fly. This means multiple choice poll questions taken from past exams and quizzes are built into
the lectures. My goal in embedding Poll Everywhere questions into my lectures is to permit you to be an active
learner and thereby minimize the passivity that often exists in a lecture class of this size. Because responses to
PE questions contribute towards your final grade, answers that are not your own will be treated as a form of
academic dishonesty (see policy below on Academic Integrity).
For each lecture class, Poll Everywhere points may be earned. Half of these points are awarded for attempting
the poll questions; half for answering the poll questions correctly. Points earned in each session are posted to
your Blackboard lecture section grade book on Friday afternoon. It is your responsibility to track your scores
from each session, and provide me with prompt (within 24 hours of the scoes being posted) feedback on
issues related to these scores.
Grades: Scores for homework assignments are posted to MyAccountingLab. Scores on quizzes, exercises and
exams are posted to your Blackboard lab section grade book. Please contact your lab session instructor in a
timely manner if you have questions about these scores.
LECTURE PPT SLIDES
A subset of lecture slides will be posted to your Blackboard lecture section of (under the Course Documents
tab). These slides are intended to ease your note taking in the lecture, so download and print each set prior to
the lecture.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
The SDSU Standards for Student Conduct (http://www.sa.sdsu.edu/srr/conduct1.html) states that
unacceptable student behavior includes “cheating, plagiarism, or other forms of academic dishonesty that are
intended to gain unfair academic advantage.” Unprofessional conduct adversely impacts your fellow students,
the accounting faculty, the School of Accountancy, SDSU, and the accounting profession. The Charles W.
Lamden School of Accountancy takes academic honesty seriously and vigorously enforces university policy
related to any such infractions. As such, any student suspected of academic dishonesty will be reported to the
SDSU Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities.
OBTAINING MYACCOUNTINGLAB
Option 1: Bookstore custom for Acctg 201
 3-hole punch book (SVE) + MyAccountingLab $156.99
Option 2: www.pearsonmylab.com
 $100 with ebook
 $55 without ebook
Note: this is likely the best option if you have a used book.
CLASS SCHEDULE
Week
1
2
3
4
5
6
Date
8/26
9/2
9/9
9/16
9/23
9/30
Lecture
Lab
Notes
Introduction
Introduction
Ch 1 The Financial Statements
No labs
Monday – Labor Day Holiday
Ch 2 Transaction Analysis
Ch 1
Ch 3 Accrual Accounting & Income
Ch 2
Ch 4 Internal Control & Cash
Ch 3
Ch 5 Short-term Investments &
Ch 4
Exam 1 Saturday 10/5 – Ch 1-4
Receivables
7
10/7
Ch 6 Inventory & COGS
Ch 5
8
10/14
Ch 7 Plant Assets, Natural Resources Ch 6
& Intangibles
9
10/21
Ch 9 Liabilities
Ch 7
10
10/28
Ch 8 Long-term Investments
Ch 9
Exam 2 Saturday 11/2 – Ch 5-7, 9
11
11/4
Ch 10 Stockholders’ Equity
Ch 8
12
11/11
Ch 12 Statement of Cash Flows
Ch 10
Monday – Veteran’s Day Holiday
13
11/18
Ch 13 Financial Statement Analysis
Ch 12
14
11/25
No classes all week
Thanksgiving Break – 11/28-29
15
12/2
No Lecture
Ch 13
16
12/9
No classes all week
Exam 3 Saturday 12/14 – Ch 8, 10, 12-13
Exams will be given on Saturdays. They will be two hours in duration. The first and second exams will start at 8 AM
(Monday lab sections); 10:30 AM (Tuesday lab sections); and 1:00 PM (Wednesday lab sections). The third exam will
start at 6 PM for all sections.