The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
Department of Accounting
ACCT2010 – Principles of Accounting I
Course Outline - Spring 2015
Sections: L09, L10, L11
__________________________________________________________________________________
Instructor:
Instructor’s contact:
Instructor office hours:
Dr. Haifeng YOU
Rm. LSK6015, E-mail: achy@ust.hk, Tel: 2358-7576
Monday 14:00-16:00, or by appointment
Teaching Assistant:
TA’s contact:
TA office hours:
Classes:
Ms. Ann CHAN
Rm. LSK 6066, E-mail: acann@ust.hk, Tel: 2358-7582
Tuesday 9:00-11:00, or by appointment
Monday and Wednesday
L09: 09:00-10:20 at Room LSK1010
L10: 10:30-11:50 at Room LSK1011
L11: 12:00-13:20 at Room CYT G009B
__________________________________________________________________________________
I.
Course Objectives
Accounting is the language of business. In this course you will learn how to "speak" and "read"
this new language. The course is designed to provide an overview of financial accounting so that,
upon completion of the course, you will be able to read, interpret and analyze corporate financial
reports. In particular, you should:
1. Develop a comprehensive and well-founded knowledge of financial accounting, including
a. Understand the accounting categories: assets, liabilities, equity, revenues and expenses;
b. Understand how an accounting system keeps track of information;
c. Understand how generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) influence what is recorded in the
books of an entity;
d. Prepare a balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement;
e. Read, interpret and analyse a set of financial statements.
2. Understand the role of financial accounting in the decision-making process of business
organizations. Apply financial accounting frameworks to business situations.
3. Be able to form critical judgment covering an ability to identify and define accounting and
business problems, apply analytical and quantitative techniques, make and justify decisions;
4. Be effective in communication through collection, analysis and organization of information
and ideas and their clear transmission;
5. Demonstrate teamwork, independence and creativity including working, learning and
problem solving as a team and independently;
6. Demonstrate ethical and social understanding including a knowledge and respect of ethics
and ethical standards in accounting and an understanding of social and civic responsibility.
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II. Textbook and Supplementary Readings
1. Short, Libby and Libby. Financial Accounting, 8th edition (2014), McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
(Required)
2. Handouts: you will be able to download copies of the PowerPoint slides and/or PDF
documents used in class from the ACCT2010 website (http://lmes2.ust.hk/). You will
need to either print the notes and documents or bring your computer with the files on it to
class to facilitate note-taking in the course. These files will be posted to the website weekly.
III. Grading Policy:
Description
Class participation and behaviour
In-class exercises
Mid-terms (2X25% each)
Final exam
Weight
5%
10%
50%
35%
Total
100%
IV. Keys to Achieving These Objectives Successfully
1. If you aspire to be a professional whose expert opinion is valued by the market, you need to
develop a thorough understanding why the accounting rules are what they are. For this
reason this course emphasizes fundamental principles and concepts underlying accounting
rules and techniques.
2. It is important that you get sufficient practice. Solving problems is the best way of mastering
the course material. I encourage you to solve at least the self-study problems listed in the
course schedule—but additional practice will always help. I will post the solutions to the
problems on the LMES after we have completed the corresponding chapter.
3. Learning can—and should—be fun if you work together with your fellow students and
support each other. I encourage you to participate in discussions in class or on the LMES.
This will help you learn and improve your communication skills.
4. If you have any difficulties, discuss them with me as soon as possible. Do not allow problems
to accumulate because it will be more difficult to solve them later: in this course, the material
is cumulative so that each chapter builds on the previous ones. If you have problems in the
earlier parts, you will find it difficult to understand the later parts.
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V. Conduct of this Course
1. Attendance and Participation. Students are required to attend all classes and arrive on time.
They are strongly encouraged to participate in discussions during classes. It is the spirit of
participation that is valued, and students are not penalized for saying something incorrect.
On the other hand, talking among students and other behaviour that can cause disturbances
to the class are not permitted.
Your attendance and participation points will depend upon the following:
 Attend and arrive in classes on time and remain in class until it is finished
 Volunteer answers and explanations to problems discussed in class; your answers need
not be correct but should be explained clearly.
 Ask thoughtful questions that further the discussion; it is the quality, not the quantity, of
questions that will affect your score.
 Pay attention to the class discussion; respond well to cold-call questions.
2. Pre-class Exercises & HW problems. Solving problems is the best way of mastering the material
covered in class. The pre-class exercises and recommended problems are listed in the
tentative course schedule (see Appendix). You are strongly recommended to i) pre-review the
textbook/lecture notes before class and attempt the pre-class exercises (underlined in the
appendix); ii) finish the suggested practice problems after lecture; and iii) practice with other
problems at the end of each chapter while preparing for the examinations. The full set of
solutions to all problems at the end of each chapter will be posted on the course website
when the chapter is done.
3. In-class exercises. We will often do exercises in class. You are encouraged to discuss and work
in groups, but each student must turn in his/her own work individually. Six of the exercises
will be collected at the end of the class. Each completed exercise is worth 2 points. The
maximum point is 10. So as long as you turn in five of them, you get full mark. There is no
makeup for in-class exercise. Under no circumstances will late exercise be graded.
4. Examinations. Two evening mid-term examinations are scheduled on 9 March 2015 (7:15pm–
9:15 pm) and April 13 2015 (7:15pm–9:15 pm) respectively. On the day of the mid-term exams,
there will be no class during the regularly scheduled time. It is expected that all students will
take the exams at the scheduled time. There will be no make-up examination for the midterms. If absence from the examination is caused by an unexpected medical emergency with
proper doctor notes, then the marks earned on the final examination may be adjusted to
replace the missing mid-term grade. Any other absent students will be assigned zero marks
for the mid-term exams. The final examination is cumulative; that is, it will include all topics
covered in the course.
5. Course Schedule. The tentative course schedule is given in the Appendix (the last page).
Changes to the course schedule may be made, if necessary. It is the responsibility of the
students to download the lecture notes from the course website and bring them to class before
the start of each chapter. It is also your responsibility to find out what has been announced
during your absence from the class. The topics which are denoted as "Skip" will not appear
in the examinations and will not be covered in the class.
6. Academic honesty. It is important that students follow university regulations on academic
integrity and honesty. Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be dealt with in
accordance
with
university
rules,
which
can
be
accessed
at
http://www.ust.hk/vpaao/integrity.
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VI. Consultation and Help
If you need help, you have several options:
1. Office hours. Regular office hours are Monday, from 2 to 4 pm. Please feel free to phone or email me to make an appointment in case the office hours do not fit into your schedule.
2. LMES and library reserve. I encourage you to use the discussion board on LMES to post your
questions and reply to other students’ questions. I will check the discussion board regularly
and post replies whenever appropriate. In addition, several copies of the textbook will be
placed in the Library Reserve. Please use these facilities to your best advantage.
3. Email (for administrative issues). You are welcome to email me for administrative issues.
Questions regarding course material that are of general interest are better dealt with in class
or on the LMES discussion board.
4. Contact your teaching assistant. The teaching assistant for this course is Ms. Ann CHAN. You
can stop by her office hours or contact her through email.
5. Seek help from your classmates or study in a group.
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Appendix: Tentative Topics for Class Coverage (Subject to Change)
Dates
Chap.
No.
Feb. 2
Topic
Pre-class Exercises
& Practice Problems
Course policy and introduction
Feb. 2, 4, 9
1,5
Overview of corporate financial reporting
E1-3,5,8,9,12;
P1-2, AP1-1, CP1-4
Feb. 9,11,16
2
Investing and financing decisions and the
balance sheet
E2-5,8,9,15;
P2-1, 5; AP2-2
Feb. 18, 23, 25
3
Operating decisions and the income statement
E3-3,4,8,13,14;
P3-6; CP3-7.
Feb. 25
Mar. 2,4
4
Adjustments, financial statements, and the
quality of earnings.
E4-6, 12, 14, 17;
P4-3,4,5; COMP4-1
Midterm I
Time: 7:15-9:15pm; Venue: TBD
Sales revenue, receivables, and cash (Skip
pp.295-298)
E6-3, 7,10,16, 18;
P6-1,4,5; CP6-5
March 9
Mar. 11,16, 18
6
Mar. 18, 23,
25
7
Cost of goods sold and inventory
(Skip p345-346, Supplement A-C)
E7-11, 18;
P7-1, 2, 5, 6
Mar. 25, 30
Apr. 1
8
Property, plant, and equipment; Natural
resources; Intangibles
E8-1, 4, 13, 23;
P8-6, 10; AP8-3
Apr. 13
Midterm II
Time: 7:15-9:15pm; Venue: TBD
Apr. 15, 20, 22 9, 10
E9-1, E10-5, 20;
P9-4, 7; P10-1
E12-11, 13, 15, 16;
P12-1
Apr. 22, 27, 29
11
Liabilities
(Skip p 456-457; Straight-line amortization of
bond premium and discount, early retirement
of debt)
Owners’ equity (Skip Supplement)
May 4,6
12
Statement of cash flows
5
E11-5, 6, 9, 16, 18;
P11-2, 8