AMIS 3200 – Intermediate Accounting I
Summer Semester 2014
Course Syllabus
Instructor:
Office:
Phone:
Email:
Allison Nicoletti
328 Fisher Hall
614-292-7245 nicoletti.4@buckeyemail.osu.edu
Office Hours:
Class Schedule:
Tuesday 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM and Wednesday 2:00 – 3:00 PM
(Please email the instructor for appointments at other times)
Class Location:
Tuesday/ Thursday 9:35 – 10:55 AM
305 Schoenbaum Hall
Required Course Materials
1.
Intermediate Accounting , 7 th Edition, by Spiceland, Sepe, and Nelson with access to
McGraw-Hill online homework management system (CONNECT).
2.
Additional materials on Carmen.
You can acquire the textbook with the online homework management system (CONNECT) through one of the following options:
1.
Purchase a new copy of the textbook at the OSU bookstore (loose-leaf binder version).
The online homework management system (CONNECT) as well as the e-book access are included in the purchase price under this option.
2.
Purchase an e-book with the online homework management system (CONNECT) from the publisher’s website: http://connect.mcgraw-hill.com/class/a_nicoletti_summer2014
3.
If you choose to purchase a used copy or a new textbook from another source, you will need to separately purchase access to the online homework management system
(CONNECT) from the publisher’s website listed above.
Course Objective and Description
AMIS 3200 is the first course in a two-semester intermediate accounting sequence. AMIS 3201 has this course as a prerequisite. Taken as a whole, they represent the core financial accounting

subject matter of the undergraduate accounting curriculum. Typically 90% or more of the students who enroll in these two courses are accounting majors.
We have designed the requirements of 3200 recognizing that nearly all enrolled students intend to pursue a professional career with an emphasis in accounting. Although students will choose to pursue employment with a variety of firms, not just the major international accounting firms, they nonetheless should be prepared to achieve the same basic knowledge and skills expected of accounting professionals seeking certification as a CPA.
The essential subject matter of 3200 is an in-depth study of financial statement content and use, especially focusing on matters related to operating activities and long-term operational assets.
Essential to this study is an understanding of the reporting environment in which firms operate, including the regulatory environment of the capital markets and demand for audited financial information by capital providers and other market participants.
Your learning of this material requires a highly disciplined routine, including reading and understanding key ideas, regular practice of accounting methods and techniques, and critical analysis of issues through which the knowledge is applied in practice. As students seeking to become professionals in the field, it is important that you also begin to follow the intellectual developments in the academic discipline of accounting. Much of today’s leading thinking about accounting policies and practice originated in the rigorous theorizing and empirical analysis that is the domain of academe. Although graduate degrees are the primary domain for such study, we introduce you to these issues in the undergraduate program.
In addition to conceptual and technical knowledge, 3200 and 3201 are designed to build and exercise the essential skills of a professional accountant, particularly communication skills and professional research and inquiry skills. Employers, as well as professional and graduate schools, all seek candidates who have developed these skills so that they can be employed at the next level.
Course Website
All class communications, lecture materials and other relevant information will be posted on
Carmen: http://carmen.osu.edu
. Please check the course website prior to each class meeting to view any announcements, lecture slides or class exercises.
Communication
I am available for questions via email ( nicoletti.4@buckeyemail.osu.edu
) and will have office hours each week as listed above. If those times do not work for you, please email me with some alternative meeting times. Please contact me at any time if you need help with the class. I am here to help you learn the material.
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Class Expectations
This course demands a considerable amount of time and commitment. The effort will pay off in the near term as you prepare for more advanced financial accounting classes and other business courses, and in your long term career.
The course difficulty builds rapidly throughout the semester. If you feel shaky about the basics of accounting, please review your class notes from the introductory courses now. I have also posted a review quiz and practice problems on CONNECT if you need extra practice with the previous material.
The best way to learn accounting is to practice. In addition to working through practice problems individually, I encourage you to work in groups outside of class to help each other learn concepts. Finally, regular class attendance is important. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to ensure that you understand the material covered that day.
Grading
The tentative grading scheme is below. I reserve the right to change the weights during the semester as I learn more about your skill level and the required time input to meet expectations.
Of course, you will be informed as soon as I elect to make changes.
Exams
There will be three exams throughout the semester. They will not be directly comprehensive and will focus on the chapters designated in the course schedule. The tentative exam dates are:
Exam 1 Tuesday, June 3 rd , 2014
Exam 2 Thursday, July 3 rd , 2014
Exam 3 Monday, August 4 th , 2014 from 10:00 – 11:45am
(University scheduled final exam time)
Excused absences require advance approval. Any unexcused absence will result in zero points for that exam. There are NO make-up exams.
You are required to have a calculator without any memory function for the midterm and final exams. Calculators with memory functions are not acceptable for test taking purposes.
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Homework and Practice Problems
We will be using an online homework management system (CONNECT) affiliated with the textbook to assign homework and practice problems. Please go to the following website and log on with your 20-digit access code to gain access: http://connect.mcgraw-hill.com/class/a_nicoletti_summer2014
There will be 6 homework assignments, each worth 25 points. The best 5 of 6 homework assignments will be included in the final grade.
Please always save your answers if you make any attempt to answer the homework questions but are not ready to submit the final answer. You will need to click “Grade” before the due date and time to submit your final answers. You can then click “View Details” to compare your response to the correct response. Each homework is due by 10pm on the date specified below.
HW 1: Sunday, May 18 th , 2014
HW 2: Sunday, June 1 st , 2014
HW 3: Sunday, June 15 th , 2014
HW 4: Sunday, June 29 th , 2014
HW 5: Sunday, July 20 th , 2014
HW 6: Sunday, August 3 rd , 2014
I have also selected practice problems that can be accessed through CONNECT. These problems are not graded but are there to provide opportunities for additional practice. I encourage you to work through some of these problems prior to completing the homework assignments or in
preparing for the exams.
Group Cases
There are two case studies that are to be completed in groups of 3-4 students. Each group will hand in one write-up for each project. I will provide more information about the content and due dates of the group projects on Carmen.
Professionalism and Class Participation
Attendance and being actively engaged in class is expected in the business world and it is expected in this course. I will routinely ask questions of the class. Whether or not you give the
“right” answer is not the objective here, rather being prepared for and engaged in class is what is important.
Behaving as a professional is expected in this course. I ask that you arrive on time for class, as chronic lateness will reduce your professionalism points. I also ask that cell phones are turned off and that they remain out-of-sight (i.e., in your pocket, purse, or backpack) during class. If you are using a notebook computer in class, I ask that you are only engaged in course-related activity
(Power point slides, CARMEN class site, CONNECT, etc…). Web browsing and connecting to social media sites is distracting to other students.
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Wait List Students
Students who are waitlisted and wish to enroll must attend class through the first class session of the second week of the semester. After that date, students who have not been added will not be enrolled and may not continue to attend the class. Waitlisted students should contact either the
Fisher Undergraduate Program Office or the Department of Accounting and MIS office if they have any questions regarding the waitlist process.
Disenrollment
University Rule 3335-8-33 provides that a student may be dis-enrolled after the third instructional day of the semester, the first Friday of the semester, or the student’s second class session of the course, whichever occurs first, if the student fails to attend the scheduled course without giving prior notification to the instructor. As there is often a waitlist for this course, I will follow these guidelines without exception.
Academic Misconduct
Academic misconduct will not be tolerated. According to University Rule 3335-31-02, all suspected cases of academic misconduct will be reported to the Committee on Academic
Misconduct.
Students with Disabilities
If you have a certified disability that is approved for accommodations by the Office for
Disability Services, please notify me so I can provide the necessary accommodations. If you have not previously contacted the Office for Disability Services, I encourage you to do so as soon as possible.
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