TENTATIVE SYLLABUS
ACCOUNTING 325: INTERMED MANAG & TAX ACCT
Spring 2014: TTH 11:00 – 12:15 GMCS 310; TTH 2:00 – 3:15 GMCS 314
Instructor
Office hours:
E-mail:
Jim Williamson
TTH 1:30-2:00; 3:15-4:00
james.williamson@sdsu.edu
Office SS 2429
Phone: N/A
Fax: 594-3675
Instructor:
Office hours:
E-mail:
Nathan Oestreich
To be announced
drno@sdsu.edu
Office: SS 2413
Phone: 594-2478
REQUIRED TEXTS: INDIVIDUAL TAXATION, Pratt & Kulsrud, 2014; Intermed Manag & Tax
Acctg 325, Williamson; EXTRA CREDIT TEXT: REENGINEERING THE CORPORATION, Hammer,
et al.
COURSE OBJECTIVES AND STRUCTURE:
In this course we will examine the theories, practices, and concepts necessary to understand the
decision making requirements of internal users of accounting information. We will also explore the
tax considerations which affect managerial decision making. A NEW TOPIC is the formal inclusion of
ENVIRONMENTAL and SOCIAL costs in our analysis.
At the end of this course students should be able to:
1. Use the tax formula and the necessary components to calculate taxable income, and
ultimately the federal income tax, for individuals, corporations and estates and trusts.
Compare and contrast the different taxable entities.
2. Assess the effects of personal, investment, and business transactions individually and
collectively on the federal income tax, the gift and estate taxes, and other selected taxes.
Define and illustrate various cost terms and concepts and evaluate their relevancy for
different decision making purposes. Discuss the impact of technology on the
manufacturing environment and its implications for product costing and the development
of activity-based costing and management.
3. Explain the development and use of standard costs, prepare and interpret variance
analysis reports and relate them to responsibility accounting and control.
4. Explain the purposes of budgeting; prepare a master budget and its component schedules
and relate the budget to planning and control.
5. Explain why the formal inclusion of environmental and social costs in the decision
making process are necessary to be successful in the 21st Century.
Because this course is specifically directed toward students majoring in Finance, instead of
accounting, I quote from Warren Buffet:
You should have a knowledge of how business operates and the language of business (accounting),
some enthusiasm for the subject, and qualities of temperament which may be more important than IQ
points. These will enable you to think independently and to avoid various forms of mass hysteria that
infect the investments markets from time to time.
Understanding the fundamentals of accounting is a form of self-defense:
When managers want to get across the facts of the business to you, it can be done within the
rules of accounting. Unfortunately, when they want to play games, at least in some industries, it
can also be done within the rules of accounting. If you can’t recognize the differences, you
shouldn’t be in the equity-picking business.
(Janet Lowe, Warren Buffett Speaks: Wit and Wisdom from the World’s Greatest Investor. John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1997.)
POLICY ON EXAMS AND OTHER GRADED ASSIGNMENTS
The relative weights of exams, quizzes and homework for purposes of determining grades will be:
Exam I - Williamson
Exam II – Williamson
To Be Announced - Oestreich
Exam III – Oestreich
Total
50points
150 points
50 points
150 points
400 points
You will need to bring a Number two pencil and a long scantron form, with 50 questions on each
side, with you when you take the examinations. You may need to bring a short scantron form with
15 questions on one side when taking quizes (NOTE: the long scantron form WILL NOT work for the
quizes because the scantron reader will not be able to process it).
EXTRA CREDIT. You may earn as many as fifteen extra credit points by reading the Hammer et al
book and writing a five page report on your observations after reading the book. This offer of extra
credit is good only for papers submitted on or before the March 4 deadline. Late papers will not
be read and will receive no points.
Your FINAL GRADE in the class will be determined by the total number of points that you earn
during the semester:
GRADE
A
B+
BC
F
POINTS
360-400
350-354
310-319
260-299
000-199
GRADE
AB
C+
D
POINTS
355-359
320-349
300-309
200-259
POLICY ON ACADEMIC HONESTY
The SDSU Standards for Student Conduct (http:www.sa.sdsu.edu/srr/conduct1.htm) 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
Charles W. Lamden School of Accountancy, SDSU, and the accounting profession. The Charles W. Lamden School
of Accountancy takes academic honesty very seriously and vigorously enforces university policy related to any such
infractions. Any student suspected of academic dishonesty will be reported to the SDSU Center for Student Rights
and Responsibilities; if found responsible, the student will receive a failing grade on the assignment, etc.
CALENDAR AND CLASS ASSIGNMENTS
Date
Class Discussion &
Reading Assignments:
Text Chapter
All end of chapter questions
are relevant, also
do assigned problems
January 23
Chapter 1 – Cost Acctg.
Introduction to Strategy, Cost Management, and
Cost Systems
W
Exercises 16,17,18,19,21,33,46
January 28
Chapter 1 – Taxation
An Overview of Federal Taxation
W
January 30
Chapter 1 – Taxation
Probs. 17,18,19,20,23,26,28,31,32,33,34
W
February 4
Chapter 3 – Taxation
Taxable Entities, Tax Formula
W
February 6
Chapter 3 – Taxation
Probs. 31,32,33,34,35,37,38,39,42,
45,46,47,48,49,50
W
February 11
Chapter 5 – Cost Acctg
Activity-Based Costing and Customer
Profitability Analysis
Exercises 16,17,18,19,20,21,22,32,50
February 13
Chapter 9 – Cost Acctg.
Instructor
W = Williamson
O = Oestreich
Short-Term Profit Planning: CVP
Exercises 11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20
W
W
February 18
Chapter 9 – Cost Acctg.
February 20
EXAM I
(comprehensive from the beginning of the semester)
Chapter 11 – Cost Acctg.
Decision Making with a Strategic
Emphasis
Exercises 11,12,13,14,15,17,23,26,28
February 25
February 27
Chapter 11 – Cost Acctg.
Chapter 13 – Cost Acctg.
Chapter 13 – Cost Acctg.
Chapter 17 – Cost Acctg.
March 4
Chapter 17 – Cost Acctg.
[Last day to turn in
Extra-Credit Paper]
March 6
Chapter 19 – Cost Acctg.
(IRS Section 482)
Exercises 33,36,43,50
W
W
Cost Planning for the Product Life Cycle:
W
Target Costing, Theory of Constraints, and
Strategic Pricing
Exercises 20,21,22,23,24,25,26,28,33,46,47,51
The Management and Control of Quality
Exercises 12,14,15,16,17,25,30,32,47,57
W
W
Strategic Performance Measurement:
Investment Centers & Transfer Pricing
Exercises 11,12,13,15,16,17,18,19,20,31,
40,55
March 11
EXAM II
[comprehensive from the beginning of the semester]
March 13
Chapter 14 – Tax
Property Transactions; Basis Determination
and Recognition of Gain or Loss
Problems 10, 25, 27, 31,33,34, 38
March 18
Chapter 15 – Tax
Like-Kind Exchanges
W
W
O
O
Problems 6,7,13,19,20,22, 41, 42, 43,44,47
March 20
March 25
March 27
April 1- 5
April 8
Chapter 15 – Tax
Chapter 16 – Tax
Like-Kind Exchanges
O
Property Transactions: Capital Gains
and Losses
Problems 1, 2, 8, 9, 10, 12, 22, 23, 30,56
O
SPRING RECESS
Chapter 9 – Taxation Capital Recovery: Depreciation,
Amortization, and Depletion
April 10
Jurisdictional Issues
April 15
17
Chapter 18 – Tax
Employee Compensation and
Retirement Plans
No specific recommended problems
April 22
24
29
Chapter 19 – Tax
Taxation of Business Forms &
Their Owners
No specific recommended problems
O
O
O
May 1
TBA
Enrichment including sustainability
May 6
Exam III
(Material since Exam II]
May 8
TBA
Enrichment including sustainability