S AN D IEGO S TATE U NIVERSITY
Accounting 201: Financial Accounting Fundamentals
Summer 2012
COURSE MATERIALS
Harrison, Horngren and Thomas Financial Accounting (8 th ed.) 2010
MyAccountingLab ( www.myaccountinglab.com
)
Basic function calculator (not programmable (e.g., financial))
Sixteen 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.
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION GOALS
BSBA students will graduate being effective communicators, critical thinkers, able to analyze ethical problems, global in their perspective, and knowledgeable about the essentials of business. This class contributes to those goals through its student learning outcomes.
COURSE-LEVEL STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
1.
Use accounting and business terminology, and understand the nature and purpose of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
2.
Explain the objective of financial reporting, the elements of the financial statements, and the related key accounting assumptions and principles.
3.
Define and distinguish between cash basis and accrual basis accounting and the impact of each on the financial statements.
4.
Recognize the information conveyed in each of the four basic financial statements and the way it is used by investors, creditors, regulators, and managers.
5.
Identify and illustrate how internal controls are used to manage and control the firm’s resources and risk.
6.
Explain the nature of current assets including the measuring and reporting of items such as shortterm investments, receivables and bad debts, inventory and costs of goods sold, and prepaid expenses.
7.
Explain the valuation and reporting of current liabilities, estimated liabilities, and contingencies.
8.
Identify and illustrate issues relating to the acquisition, use, depreciation, and disposal of longlived assets.
9.
Identify and illustrate issues relating to the valuation, issuance, and retirement of long-term liabilities.
10.
Account for long-term investments and international business activities.
11.
Identify and illustrate issues relating to stockholders’ equity including the issuance of stock, repurchase of stock and dividends.
12.
Explain the importance of operating, investing, and financing activities reported in the statement of cash flows when evaluating firm performance and solvency.
13.
Compute and interpret key financial ratios.
14.
Identify the ethical implications inherent in financial reporting and be able to apply strategies for addressing them.

GRADING
Exam 1
Exam 2
Exam 3
25%
25%
25%
Homework
Individual Quizzes
Group Exercises
10%
5%
5%
PE Points* 5%
100%
*I am contemplating using Poll Everywhere if financial support for it can be obtained from the
Chancellor’s Office. In the event financial support is not forthcoming, the 5% allocated to Poll
Everywhere will be reallocated to the individual quiz and group exercise components.
Tentative lower limits for full letter grades are as follows: A/90; B/80; C/60; D/50. A plus and minus letter grade system may be applied to full letter grades.
Exams: There will be three noncumulative exams. Each exam will contain multiple choice questions and 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 in class.
Poll Everywhere: We will use Poll Everywhere (PE) questions to review lecture content on-the-fly.
Specifically, this means multiple choice poll questions taken from past exams and quizzes are built into lectures. My goal in embedding Poll Everywhere questions into lectures is to permit you to be an active learner. 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, 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 grade book. It is your responsibility to track your scores, and provide me with prompt feedback on issues related to these scores.
MyAccountingLab: There will be a homework assignment for each chapter covered. The minimum time to complete the assignment will be 24 hours.
Scores: Scores for homework assignments are posted to MyAccountingLab. Scores on quizzes, Poll
Everywhere questions, exercises and exams are posted to your Blackboard grade book. Please contact me in a timely manner if you have questions about any of these scores.
LECTURE PPT SLIDES
A subset of lecture slides will be posted to Blackboard. 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
 Hardcover book + MyAccountingLab $225.49
 3 hole punch book(SVE) + MyAccountingLab $150 .99
 MyAccountingLab Access code with eText $133
Option 2: www.pearsonmylab.com
 $100 with ebook
 $50 without ebook
Note: the publisher recommends that this is the best option if you already have a used book.
Option 3:
 MyAccountingLab SVE upgrade $55.
 Login to myaccountinglab and then click on “Student Resources,” then “mypearsonstore.” Here you can upgrade to the 3 hole punch version of the book for $55.
Option 4: www.mypearsonstore.com
 Harrison/Horngren 8e + MyAccountingLab $216
 ISBN: 0132971062
CLASS SCHEDULE
Date Chapter
5/23 Introduction and Ch 1 The Financial Statements
5/24 Ch 2 Transaction Analysis
5/29 Lab Ch 1&2
5/30 Ch 3 Accrual Accounting & Income
5/31 Ch 4 Internal Control & Cash
6/4 Lab Ch 3&4
6/5 Exam 1 - Ch 1-4
6/6 Ch 5 Short-term Investments & Securities
6/7 Ch 6 Inventory & CoGS
6/11 Lab Ch 5&6
6/12 Ch 7 Plant Assets & Intangibles
6/13 Ch 8 Liabilities
6/14 Lab Ch 7&8
6/18 Exam 2 - Ch 5-8
6/19 Ch 9 Stockholders’ Equity
6/20 Ch 10 Long-term Investments & International
6/21 Lab Ch 9&10
6/25 Ch 11 Income Statement & Owners Equity
6/26 Ch 12 Statement of Cash Flows
6/27 Lab Ch 11&12
6/28 Ch 13 Financial Statement Analysis
7/2 Lab Ch 13
7/5 Exam 3 – Ch 9-13