Syllabus
Houston Community College
Accounting Department
ACNT 2309 – Cost Accounting. Coverage includes nature, objectives, and procedures of cost
accounting as applied to the control and management of business, including job order costing,
process costing, budgeting, evaluating profit performance and distribution costs.
Students will develop and analyze internal reports for service as well as manufacturing
companies; determine how the cost of a product is determined under several cost flow systems;
allocate the costs of support departments; prepare detailed variances and interpret the results.
Prerequisite: ACCT 2302 (Principles of Accounting II)
Prepared by: Dr. Marina Grau - Instructor of Accounting - Southwest College
Office Hours: By appointment at: 5601 West Loop South # 213 (West Loop Campus)
Phone: 713/718-7905 Fax Number: 713/718-7863
E-mail: marina.grau@hccs.edu
Basic Course Goals:
Studying cost accounting is one of the best business investments a student can make. Why?
Because success in any organization -from the smallest corner store to the largest multinational
corporation- requires the use of cost accounting concepts and practices. Cost accounting
provides key data to managers for planning and controlling, as well as costing products, services
and customers.
The central focus of this course is how cost accounting helps managers make better decisions.
Cost accountants are increasingly becoming integral members of decision-making teams instead
of just data providers. This course will also prepare students for the rewards and challenges
facing them in the professional cost accounting world both today and tomorrow.
Required Textbook:
Principles of Cost Accounting. 17th. Edition.
Author: Vanderbeck. Publisher: Cengage
Students with Special Needs:
Any student with a documented disability (e.g. physical, learning, psychiatric, vision, hearing, etc.)
who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations must contact the appropriate Disability
Support Service (DSS) Counselor at the beginning of each semester. Faculty is authorized to
provide only the accommodations requested by the Disability Support Service Office.
Students who are requesting special testing accommodations must first contact the appropriate
DSS Counselor for assistance. Please contact the Distance Education Counselors, in order to be
referred to the appropriate DSS Counselor.
Students who require testing accommodations need to schedule an appointment for testing to
ensure that staff will be available for proctoring and to arrange for any adaptive equipment that
may be required. Students should contact the distance education instructor’s “Instructional
Support Specialist” (ISS) the week prior to each of the exams throughout the semester to confirm
that the requested testing accommodations will be met. If you need assistance in determining
your instructor’s ISS, please contact your instructor or the Distance Education Counselor for
assistance.
Evaluation and Requirements:
Students are expected to read all assigned chapters, complete and submit all required projects or
assignments on time, carefully review the orientation guidelines and read notes posted in the
website on a regular basis.
Accounting is best learned through doing. Therefore there will always be assignments to be
prepared at home. This will require a considerable commitment of time and effort from you.
Typically, the successful student in college can count on 9 hours of studying every week to
master the content of the chapters and completing the assignments.
Students are responsible for the "learning objectives" at the beginning of each chapter.
Accounting is a subject that cannot be mastered passively. The concepts and ideas could be
compared to building blocks; each serves as a foundation for the new ones. It is extremely
important that each student be actively involved in the learning process. This requires intensive
studying of each chapter, reviewing the study guide and continuous application of the ideas to all
assignments.
Your final grade for this course will be based on how well you do in meeting the evaluation
requirements and applying the grading scale listed below:
Students must complete all requirements in order to get a final grade.
All students must take a final exam at the West Loop location.
Evaluation Requirements:
2 sectional exams
Final examination
Project*
200 points
175 points
25 points
Total
400 points
Grading Scale:
90-100
=A
80-89
=B
70-79
=C
60-69
=D
Below 60
=F
Examinations:
THERE ARE NO MAKE UP EXAMS. BE SURE YOU ARE AVAILABLE DURING TESTING
DAYS.
FINAL EXAM WILL BE ADMINISTERED AND PROCTORED AT THE WEST LOOP CENTER
Special instructions will be posted for students that are out of the Houston area.
*Project will be posted in the Eagle on Line site for this course.
LATE PROJECTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. PLEASE CHECK Eagle on Line FOR DUE
DATE
Drops or Withdrawals:
Please follow procedures available on-line in the “Student Handbook”. Check academic calendar
for deadlines.
Incompletes:
The grade of “I” (incomplete) is conditional. If you receive an “I”, you must arrange with your
instructor to complete the course work by the end of the following term (excluding Summer).
After the deadline, the “I” becomes an “F”. See the Student Handbook for more information.
Academic Dishonesty:
Students are responsible for conducting themselves with honor and integrity in fulfilling course
requirements. Penalties and/or disciplinary proceedings may be initiated by College System
officials against a student accused of scholastic dishonesty.
“Scholarly dishonesty” includes, but is not limited to, cheating on a test, plagiarism, and collusion.
Anyone caught cheating on an exam will be given a zero on the exam. A report on the incident
will also be submitted to the appropriate school officials.
For additional information pertaining to student policies, pick up the current “Student Handbook”
at any of our campus or via our Home Page at: http://www.hccs.edu
Recommended Exercises and Problems at the End of Each Chapter:
A listing of chapters that will be covered in this course will be posted in Eagle on Line. In order to
assure yourself that you have a good understanding of the chapters, I recommend that you
complete the exercises and problems at the end of each chapter. These problems and exercises
are designed to assist you understand the material and will not be collected or graded. Solution
Manuals are available with the tutors so you can check your answers.
Exams:
Two Assessments will be administered on-line.
Final exam will be administered and proctored at West Loop Campus.
Please make sure you are available to come to the campus to take the final exam.
Dates and time will be posted on Eagle on Line.
Tutoring:
Tutors and solution manuals are available for all accounting students free of charge at the
following locations:
Central Campus – 713/718-6481
Stafford Campus – 713/718-7912
West Loop Campus – 713/718-7911
Town and Country – 713/718-5676
Hayes/Alief Campus – Check with the campus director for the open lab location
Eastside Campus – 713/718-7089
Please call the above numbers or check with your instructor for scheduled days and times.
Exam Dates and Assignment for this class will be posted in the
Eagle on Line Class Notes.
IMPORTANT
The Distance Education Student Handbook contains
policies and procedures unique to the DE student.
Students should have reviewed the handbook as part of
the mandatory orientation. It is the student's
responsibility to be familiar with the handbook's
contents. The handbook contains valuable information,
answers, and resources, such as DE contacts, policies
and procedures (how to drop, attendance requirements,
etc.), student services (ADA, financial aid, degree
planning, etc.), course information, testing procedures,
technical support, and academic calendars. Refer to the
DE Student Handbook by visiting this link:
http://de.hccs.edu/de/de-student-handbook