SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY
Accounting 201: Fundamentals of Financial Accounting
Fall 2012
COURSE MATERIALS
Harrison, Horngren and Thomas Financial Accounting (9th ed.) 2013
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.
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 202 contributes to these goals through the following 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 short-term
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 long-lived 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
Homework
Individual Quizzes
Group Exercises
PE Points
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. Specifically, 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 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 lecture
section grade book on Blackboard. It is your responsibility to track your scores, and provide me with prompt 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 lab section’s grade book on Blackboard. 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 the lecture section of Blackboard (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 SDSU
 Hardcover book + MyAccountingLab
$228.49
 3-hole punch book (SVE) + MyAccountingLab $156.99
 MyAccountingLab Access code with eText $122.99
Option 2: www.pearsonmylab.com
 $100 with ebook
 $55 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 a
3-hole punch version of the book for $55
Option 4: www.mypearsonstore.com
 Harrison/Horngren SVE 9e + MyAccountingLab $163
 Other options available are the hardback with MyAccountinglab-0133052273 $248, so the bookstore is a better deal for
both options.
CLASS SCHEDULE
Week
1
2
3
4
5
6
Date
1/14
1/21
1/28
2/4
2/11
2/18
Lecture
Lab
Notes
Introduction
Lecture only
Ch 1 The Financial Statements
Introduction
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 2/23 – Ch 1-4
Receivables
7
2/25
Ch 6 Inventory & COGS
Ch 5
8
3/4
Ch 7 Plant Assets, Natural Resources Ch 6
& Intangibles
9
3/11
Ch 9 Liabilities
Ch 7
10
3/18
No lecture
Ch 9
11
3/25
No classes all week – spring break
12
4/1
Ch 8 Long-term Investments
No lab
Exam 2 Saturday 4/6 – Ch 5-7, 9
13
4/8
Ch 10 Stockholders’ Equity
Ch 8
14
4/15
Ch 12 Statement of Cash Flows
Ch 10
15
4/22
Ch 13 Financial Statement Analysis
Ch 12
16
4/29
No lecture
Ch 13
Exam 3 Saturday 5/12 – 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.