Course Syllabus
BEM 102 – Introduction to Accounting
Course Syllabus - Fall 2023
Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology
Course Instructor
Peter McAniff
Contact Information: Baxter 138, pmcaniff@caltech.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday/Thursday 1:30pm – 2:30pm; also by appointment via email
Teaching Assistant
Camila Farres Rodriguez
cfarresr@caltech.edu
Course / Location
BEM 102
Baxter 228
Class Hours
Tuesday, 10:30am – 11:55am
Thursday, 10:30am – 11:55am
Exams
Midterm exam period: Oct.25-31, 2023
Final exam period: Dec. 6–8, 2023
Course Description
This course combines accounting and finance in a dynamic, user-oriented approach. The goal is
to enable students to understand what financial statements are (sources of information about a
company), what they are not (facts devoid of interpretation or management influence), and how
to critically understand and analyze them. The course will utilize an Accounting textbook as well
as actual SEC filings for several companies, across a variety of industries, through which the
students will be exposed to important accounting concepts.
Course Welcome
I am delighted that you will be joining BEM 102 - Introduction to Accounting! In this course,
you will learn the most important topic in Accounting, which is how to account for transactions
(the terminology is ‘debits’ and ‘credits’), but we will also spend a good portion of our time on
analysis of the financial statements which that accounting makes possible. By analyzing financial
statements, you will begin to understand why companies (and governments, and people) take the
actions that they do. You may not agree with those actions, but you will begin to understand the
(often economic) drivers for why the actors involved undertook those particular actions.
Learning Outcomes
This course will introduce you to Accounting, the language of business. The primary focus of the
course will be Financial Accounting, or the measurement of business performance for external
use. The main objective is to enable one to read, understand, and produce financial statements.
Upon successful completion of this course you should be able to:
1. Journalize (make record of) business transactions, including sale of products, purchase of
equipment, borrowing money, and paying dividends, among others
2. Measure inventory (in and out), capitalize assets, and account for issuance of stock
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Course Syllabus
3. Apply appropriate cost measurement for manufacturing, merchandising, and service
firms
4. Determine the timing differences of the operating cycle (e.g., purchase of inventory to
sale of inventory, repeat) and the accounting cycle (journal entries to financial statements
to closing entries, repeat)
5. Read and understand financial statements, including the Income Statement, Balance
Sheet, Cash Flow Statement, and the Statement of Owners’ Equity
6. Critically analyze a firm’s financial statements, using both quantitative and qualitative
analyses, for the purpose of investment evaluation
Required Textbook
Financial Accounting (11th Edition) Libby, Libby, and Hodge. We will be using the 11th edition,
which is new this year. A copy of it should be on Course Reserve at the library as of October 1,
2023. You can probably get by with the 10th edition, which we have used for the last three years,
but pagination and some examples have likely changed which may make some book references
challenging.
For BEM 102 this fall, you will need a McGraw-Hill Connect account for the Robert Libby
“Financial Accounting 11/e” textbook. The Connect account includes both rental of the textbook
for 180 days and access to the online resources you will need to do the homework, etc. The
homework assignments this term will be online, so be sure to purchase the textbook (either
physical or eBook) AND McGraw Hill Connect, which is their online portal. If you sign up
only for the eBook, this will not allow you to do homework assignments and see other
content.
To sign up for your Connect account for BEM 102, go to:
https://connect.mheducation.com/class/p-mcaniff-bem-102-fall-2023---mcaniff
You should then see a page that looks similar to this:
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Put in your Caltech email address and click “Continue”. This should take you to a page where
you can create a McGraw-Hill account if you do not already have one, or sign in if you do. Via
Canvas, I will also provide both a PDF and a PowerPoint version of the step-by-step McGraw
Hill Connect registration instructions.
If you have trouble registering, McGraw Hill has provided the following help link:
https://bit.ly/StudentRegistration
Learning Management System: Canvas
There will be a number of readings outside of the textbook which will be uploaded to Canvas.
These readings are part of the course and therefore are required. However, in general, they are
not “accounting” readings but rather their purpose is complementary to the Accounting text since
much of life is inter-disciplinary.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings: we may look these up as part of our
assignments. Company filings are available publicly via the internet at an SEC-maintained
website called EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval).
Assessment Rubric:
There are five components of the grade for this course:
Class participation
Problem sets (7); done on McGraw Hill Connect
Group projects (2)
Mid-term exam (closed book)
Final exam (open book)
10%
20%
25%
20%
25%
Discussions form a crucial part of the learning process in this class. This is where we share what
we do understand, ask about what we do not understand, compare observations, debate
ambiguities, and understand each other’s viewpoints. You should expect to participate in every
class, and be prepared to do so.
There will be 7 problem sets over the course of the term. These will cover the material we are
working on in class and will help you develop skills for completing problem types for the exams.
Individual assignments are due by midnight on the evening prior to the class at which we will
discuss the assignments (Monday night if the work is for Tuesday class; Wednesday night if the
work is for Thursday class). The assignments will be in a McGraw Hill online program called
Connect for which separate instructions are provided in Canvas. These assignments are required
to be completed but will only be graded as Complete or Incomplete.
There will be 2 group projects over the course of the term, for which I will assign the groups.
These two group projects will consist of discrete assignments (set out in the handout “Course
Schedule”) which will focus on aspects of financial statement analysis for the companies
Omnicom (OMC) and Colgate-Palmolive (CL). After each group project, I will solicit both
quantitative (ranking of 1-10) and qualitative feedback privately from each of you as to your
assessment of the colleagues with whom you worked on the group project. That will help inform
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each student’s Group Project grade. After the quarter, upon request, I will be happy to provide
you with an anonymized summary of the comments that your group workmates have made about
you over the course of the quarter. I would encourage each of you to do so in order to understand
better those areas in which your colleagues considered that you did well in addition to those
areas in which you might improve.
There will be two exams: (i) a mid-term exam which covers course material up to that point; and
(ii) a comprehensive final exam. Both the mid-term and the final exams will be a “typical” exam
format of fill-in-the-blank, calculations, and short-answer questions. In all cases, keep in mind
the importance of using Accounting knowledge and financial statement analysis to support your
position. The mid-term exam will be closed book. The final exam will be open book, which is
more reflective of how Accounting and Finance work in real life; you still need to come to the
right answer, but you can use reference materials in order to do so.
Grading scale
A+
97-100
A
94-96
A90-93
B+
87-89
B
84-86
B80-83
C+
77-79
C
74-76
C70-73
Grading Disputes
If you believe that there is an error in the scoring of an assignment or test, please submit a written
request for re-grading within one week from the time that the assignment or test is returned. The
request should include a copy of the disputed portion of the assignment or test as well as a written
explanation of why you believe re-grading is appropriate. You should also suggest how many points
you believe should be awarded. Note: re-grades can result in a loss of points; be confident your
answers are better than graded.
Attendance
This class meets twice each week. You do not have to attend, but you cannot contribute nor can
you benefit if you are not present (literally and figuratively). I will take attendance at each class.
You are all adults. I expect to invest in you, and I expect you to invest in yourselves. That occurs
most fully if you are present. Having said that, things happen in life. If you must miss class and
you have the opportunity to let me know beforehand, please do so. This course is for your
benefit; the corollary to that is that, on any given day, being absent may actually be more
beneficial to you than being in class, especially in a world with the steady backdrop of Covid. Be
prudent in managing your lives. The goal is to maximize your long-term welfare and success.
That means that sometimes things in the short-term (such as attending class) take a back seat to
long-term needs (such as taking care of yourself or a loved one), and that is how it should be.
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Academic Integrity
Integrity is a core Caltech value. I encourage you to read Caltech’s Code of Conduct:
http://codeofconduct.caltech.edu
Caltech’s Honor Code is another key element of how you should comport yourself (in this class
as well as every other): “No member of the Caltech community shall take unfair advantage of
any other member of the Caltech community.” Plagiarism is the appropriation of another
person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit, and it violates the
honor code in a fundamental way.
Your name is a brand in the same way that Coca-Cola or Rolls-Royce is. You should protect
your “brand” as zealously as they do. Remember that no one can ever take your reputation away
from you; you can only give it away. Make sure not to do so. Act accordingly.
Collaboration Policy
Throughout the quarter, you will be asked to prepare some work individually and some work in
groups. The reason is because this is how it works in the “real world”; sometimes you are asked
to do work individually, and sometimes you are asked to do work in groups. You must be able to
do both effectively, and the best way to become skilled at doing both is to practice doing both. I
will assign the groups so that you are working with a different team for each group assignment.
Again, this is reflective of professional reality since, in future, you will work in teams comprised
of people with different backgrounds, skills, temperaments, and capabilities, and you must learn
to minimize the challenges and maximize the benefits associated with this type of arrangement.
Collaboration on problem sets is encouraged. Group projects are, by definition, collaborative.
However, all problem set solutions that are handed in should be written up individually and
should reflect your own understanding of the subject matter at the time of writing. The reason for
this is that if you simply copy someone else’s work, you may get a good grade on the
assignment, but you will not have mastered the material. In real life, no one cares what grade you
got in introductory accounting; they want to know whether you can do the work for which they
hired you. Ultimately, if you copy someone else’s work and do not learn as a result, the greatest
disservice you will have done is to yourself by having missed out on the opportunity to learn this
material at a dedicated time and in a systematic way from someone (me!) whose primary job it is
to teach you. As a working test for the collaboration policy, you should be able to reproduce any
solution you hand in without help from anyone else. No collaboration is allowed on the mid-term
or final exams.
Students with Documented Disabilities
At all times, college can be a demanding experience. For the last few years, that has been even
more the case than usual. The goal is for this course to be accessible to all students. As a result, if
you need accommodation, please contact me as early in the term as possible.
Students who may need an academic accommodation based on the impact of a disability must
initiate the request with Caltech Accessibility Services for Students (CASS). Professional staff
will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend reasonable accommodations,
and prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current quarter in which the
request is being made. Students should contact CASS as soon as possible, since timely notice is
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needed to coordinate accommodations. For more information: https://cass.caltech.edu/,
cass@caltech.edu. If you are having difficulties with access or other challenges in the class you
think might be related to a disability, but do not yet have a diagnosis, please feel free to reach out
to CASS to learn more about resources.
Course Schedule
The course schedule including lecture topics, associated readings and homework is a separate
item in Canvas entitled “Course Schedule as of [date]”. If, for whatever reason, the timing of the
topics to be covered this term changes, then an updated course schedule with a new “as of” date
will be posted. At all times please refer to the most recent Course Schedule.
How Best to Learn
Knowledge transfer is a two-way street. As a result, on my own, I cannot ensure that you will
satisfy the course objectives set forth above. Working together, however, we can since ours is a
partnership. I will work diligently to make the material accessible to you (in multiple ways, if
necessary); you must also work diligently to access that material. Accounting is not intuitive, but
it is quite logical. If you apply yourself in this class, you will learn Financial Accounting and, as
a bonus, you will be fluent in the terminology of Financial Statement Analysis. As with many
things, there are “easier” and “more difficult” ways to do this. Many students take notes using
laptops or tablets. In the case of Accounting, I would encourage you to take notes by hand during
class, but to do the problem sets via McGraw Hill Connect and the group projects in Excel on a
computer.1 There is now strong evidence that open laptops are not good for learning. For
instance, Ravizza, Uitvlugt, and Fenn 2 find (in the context of an introductory psychology class)
that “nonacademic Internet use was common among students who brought laptops to class and
was inversely related to class performance. This relationship was upheld after we accounted for
motivation, interest, and intelligence. Class-related Internet use was not associated with a benefit
to classroom performance.” There is also a lot of highly publicized research indicating that handwriting notes leads to better comprehension than taking notes digitally. See, for instance, Mueller
and Oppenheimer3, or just google “handwriting notes versus keyboard.”
My Status as a “Responsible Employee”
As a faculty member, I am required to notify the Institute’s Equity and Title IX Office when I
become aware of discrimination, sexual harassment, or sex- or gender-based misconduct
involving our community members. If one of my students shares such an experience with me, I
can help connect them to support resources but will not be able to keep that information
confidential as part of fulfilling my responsibility to make sure my students are offered the
opportunity to access information and support by the Institute. For more information, you can
email equity@caltech.edu, go to equity.caltech.edu, or review the Institute’s Sex- and GenderBased Misconduct Policy.
1
The following is heavily inspired / quoted from a faculty handbook on teaching by Border and Hoffman.
S. M. Ravizza, M. G. Uitvlugt, and K. M. Fenn. 2017. Logged in and zoned out: How laptop internet use relates to classroom
learning. Psychological Science 28(2):171–180. DOI: 10.1177/0956797616677314
3
P. A. Mueller and D. M. Oppenheimer. 2014. The pen is mightier than the keyboard: Advantages of longhand over laptop note
taking. Psychological Science 25(6):1159–1168.
2
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If you have experienced such prohibited conduct and want to report it or speak to a confidential
resource, consult the Equity and Title IX Office's webpage on reporting for guidance.
Academic Resources for Students
 Tutoring: The undergraduate dean’s office provides a free peer tutoring service; If the
course isn’t listed, students can talk with the dean’s office to arrange for a tutor;
https://deans.caltech.edu/
 Writing: The Hixon Writing Center provides professional writing tutors as well as peer
tutors, individual and group writing space, and additional resources;
https://writing.caltech.edu
 Registrar & FERPA: The registrar can answer questions about degree progress, privacy
of student records, and course enrollment procedures; https://registrar.caltech.edu. The
website also lists Option Representatives for option-specific advising, policies, and
information.
 Library: Borrow books, retrieve journal articles, receive guidance about research;
https://library.caltech.edu/
 Dean of Undergraduate Students: Wide-ranging assistance addressing issues (academic
and other) for undergraduates; https://deans.caltech.edu
 Dean of Graduate Studies: Wide-ranging assistance addressing issues (academic and
other) for graduate students; https://gradoffice.caltech.edu
Additional Resources for Students
 Student Wellness Center: Wide variety of health and wellbeing services;
https://wellness.caltech.edu/
 Counseling Services: Free for all students, regardless of insurance plan;
https://counseling.caltech.edu
 Occupational Therapy: Individual sessions and consultations on building healthy habits
and routines, time management, planning and organization, and more. Free for all
students; https://ot.caltech.edu
 Center for Inclusion and Diversity: Resources concerning navigating diversity and
inclusion, including staff who can speak with students about challenges of harassment
and discrimination; https://diversity.caltech.edu/
 Title IX: Caltech’s Title IX Coordinator (titleix@caltech.edu) works with students on
issues related to sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, and sex discrimination;
https://titleix.caltech.edu/
 Caltech Accessibility Services for Students: The Accessibility Services Specialist
works with students with temporary medical conditions, or mental, physical or learning
disabilities on accommodation requests and services; https://cass.caltech.edu
 Residential Support: Resident Associates (RAs) and Residential Life Coordinators
(RLCs) are also resources for TAs and students; https://residentialexperience.caltech.edu/
 Career Advising and Experiential Learning: Provides resources to help students make
career decisions and implement career plans; https://career.caltech.edu/
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