ACCOUNTING 625
ACCOUNTING FOR BUSINESS DECISIONS
January 16 – February 13, 2016
COURSE SYLLABUS
Instructor:
Office:
Office Hours:
Office Phone:
Mobile Phone:
Dept. Fax:
Email:
Text:
Dr. Joe Morris, Ph.D., CPA (inactive status)
GARR 52
T 9:00-9:30, 11:00-11:30, 1:00-2:00, 3:30-4:30
W 9:00-11:30 (online), 1:00-4:30
Th 9:00-9:30, 11:00-11:30
Other times by appointment only
985-549-3100
985-320-2844
985-549-2891
jmorris@selu.edu
Accounting: What the Numbers Mean,
10th Edition
n, by Marshall, McManus, and
Viele, McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2014.
Cases:




Moodle
URL:
Microsoft’s Financial Reporting Strategy
Allegheny Health, Education and Research Foundation
(AHERF)
Salem Telephone Company
Classic Pen Company
https://moodle.selu.edu/moodle/
Introduction:
Welcome to Accounting 625, Accounting for Business Decisions. This course in
the EMBA program provides a fundamental understanding of both financial and
managerial accounting. The financial accounting system provides the
information that produces the financial statements: the balance sheet, income
statement, statement of retained earnings, and statement of cash flows. This
course introduces some basic tools to assist you in interpreting and analyzing
external financial statements. Managerial accounting covers the use of financial
information for managers to make business decisions. Managerial accounting
topics in this course include cost behavior, cost/volume/profit analysis, and
performance measurement.
Accounting 625 Course Syllabus
Page 2
Course objectives:

The overall objective of this course is to help students develop an
understanding of how accounting and other financial data are used in
business decisions. After completing the course, students should be able to
demonstrate competence in the base of knowledge and skills necessary to
compete successfully in today’s marketplace. More specifically, students
should be able to:
 Understand and analyze a set of financial statements.
 Understand critical accounting principles and concepts including revenue
recognition and matching.
 Understand how corporate governance relates to ethical issues and the
quality of financial reporting.
 Apply cost/volume/profit analysis and activity-based costing to assist in
making decisions.
 Understand different methods of performance measurement including the
balanced scorecard.
 Think critically and actively participate in case discussions.
 Develop oral and written communication skills.

Course Overview:
1.
The resources in this course include:
 A textbook
 Required (and optional) readings
 Lectures, PowerPoint notes, and handouts
 Cases
 Practice problems
 Selected library resources and internet sites
2.
Assignments include:



Financial statement analysis assignment
 This graded assignment requires constructing financial statements
and performing ratio analysis in an Excel format.
Case analyses
 Some of the cases will be covered in class and are ungraded.
Students should read each case prior to class, have a general
familiarity with the facts of the case, and study the case discussion
questions.
 One graded case will be completed outside of class (online Class
2).
 Three of the cases are copyrighted by Harvard Business Publishing
and cannot be posted online. These cases have already been
distributed to you. The fourth case is copyrighted by the AICPA
and is on the Moodle web site (Class 2 section).
Quiz covering financial and managerial accounting topics
Accounting 625 Course Syllabus


3.
Page 3
Balance scorecard assignment
 This graded assignment requires demonstrating and understanding
of the balanced scorecard and constructing a scorecard for your
company
Final examination
 The final exam will be comprised of multiple-choice questions and
essay questions. A study checklist will be provided for the final
exam.
The course is divided into five class meetings with the following topics:





Class 1 (on campus)—January 16: Financial statements, earnings
quality, and financial statement analysis
Class 2 (online)—January 23: Corporate governance
Class 3 (on campus)—January 30: Cost behavior, breakeven analysis,
and activity-based costing
Class 4 (online)—February 6: Performance measurement and the
balanced scorecard
Class 5 (on campus)—February 13: Balanced scorecard, review, and
Final Exam
A detailed agenda for each class meeting appears later in this syllabus
and in the “Class” sections of the Moodle web site. Class meetings 1, 3,
and 5 are held on campus. Class meetings 2 and 4 are conducted online.
Evaluation:
Assignments have the following weights:
Assignment
Financial statement analysis assignment
Case analysis
Financial and managerial accounting quiz*
Balanced scorecard assignment
Final exam*
Totals
Points
55
100
45
100
100
400
Weight
13.75%
25.00%
11.25%
25.00%
25.00%
100.00%
Semester grades are determined using a 10-percentage-point grading
scale (90% - 100% = A, 80% - 89% = B, etc.).
*Note: Bring a calculator. Cell phone calculators are not permitted.
Accounting 625 Course Syllabus
Page 4
Class Meeting Schedule and Agendas:
Note: Before the first class meeting, please complete the Quick-Start
textbook reading assignments, PowerPoint reading assignments, and the
five Quick-Start quizzes. If time becomes an issue, you may defer
completing Quick-Start Module 5 on Managerial Accounting until the week
preceding Class Period 3.
Class
Period 1
Jan 16
Checklist of Items
to Complete
Before Class
 Read required
articles (see
below)
Class
Schedule
(approx.)
8:00-8:45
Agenda Items
During Class
Introduction to the course
8:45-9:30
Review of financial reporting

9:30-9:45
Break
9:45-10:15
Review of revenue recognition,
matching, earnings quality,
earnings management, and
fraud


Read case
assigned and
study case
questions
Review Checklist
on Earnings
Management
and Fraud (just
scan this for an
appreciation of
what’s involved;
this will not be
tested)
Other Resources
(if needed): Text
Chapters 2, 3, 5,
9, 10, 11
(especially 3 and
11)
10:15-11:30
Case: Microsoft’s Financial
Reporting Strategy, discussion
questions
11:30-12:30
Lunch
12:30-2:00
Review of basic financial
statement analysis
2:00-3:00
Financial statement analysis
practice problem
3:00-3:15
Break
3:15-5:00
Introduction to corporate
governance
Required Readings for Class 1 “Tread Lightly Through These Accounting
Minefields,” H. David Sherman and S. David
(Located in the Articles folder in Young, in Harvard Business Review, June 2001,
Volume 79, Issue 7.
Class 1 section of Moodle)
“Expert Shows Credit Execs How to Dissect
Financial Statements,” Managing Credit,
Receivables & Collections, Vol. 4, Issue 9,
September 2004.
Accounting 625 Course Syllabus
Class
Period
2
Jan 23
Class
Schedule
(approx.)
Page 5
Agenda Items

Financial Statement Analysis Assignment Due
via email by midnight, Monday, January 25

Review PowerPoint lecture on corporate
governance, audit committees, and boards of
directors

Read required articles (see below)

Read Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, SEC.
301, 302, and 404.

Read and analyze Case: Allegheny Health,
Education and Research Foundation
(AHERF) (submit answers to questions via
email by midnight, Wednesday, January 27)
Online
Other Resources (if needed):

Text Chapter 10

Required Readings for
Class 2
(Located in the Articles
folder in the Class 2
section of Moodle)
Deloitte Center for Corporate Governance:
http://www.corpgov.deloitte.com/si
te/us/
“Principles of Corporate Governance,” by The
Business Roundtable, May 2002.
“The Enron story: you can fool some of the people
some of the time ... “Alyson Tonge, Lesley Greer,
and Alan Lawton, Business Ethics: A European
Review, Vol. 12, Issue 1, January 2003.
Accounting 625 Course Syllabus
Class
Period
3
Jan 30
Page 6
Checklist of
Items
to Complete
Before Class
 Read required
articles (see
below)
Class
Schedule
(approx.)
8:00-9:00
Follow-up discussion on Financial
Statement Analysis Assignment and
AHERF case

9:00-9:30
Review of cost behavior and breakeven analysis
9:30-9:45
Break
9:45-10:15
Breakeven analysis practice problems
10:15-11:15
Introduction to case: Salem
Telephone Company; answer
questions in break-out groups
11:15-12:00
Wrap-up discussion of Salem case
12:00-1:00
Lunch

Read cases
assigned and
study case
questions
Other
Resources:
Text Chapters
12 & 13 (if
needed)
Required Readings for
Class 3
(Located in Articles folder in
the Class 3 section of
Moodle)
Agenda Items
During Class
1:00-1:45
Review of activity-based costing
(ABC) and practice problems
1:45-2:30
Introduction to case: Classic Pen
Company, followed by discussion
questions in break-out groups
2:30-3:00
Wrap-up discussion of Classic Pen
case
3:00-3:15
Break
3:15-4:00
Quiz on financial statement analysis,
breakeven analysis, and ABC
4:00-5:00
Introduction to performance
measurement: ROI, ROE, residual
income, and balanced scorecard
“Gain Control of Your Organization's Finances:
Break-Even Analysis,” Joseph R. Razek, Nonprofit
World, Vol. 7, Issue 5, Sep/Oct 1989.
“How ABC Analysis Will Save PPMC Over $1 Million
a Year,” Financial Analysis, Planning & Reporting,
Vol. 3, Issue 11, November 2003.
Accounting 625 Course Syllabus
Class
Period
4
Class
Schedule
(approx.)
Agenda Items

Review PowerPoint lecture on performance
measurements: ROI, residual income, and
balanced scorecard

Read required articles (see below)

Complete the Balanced Scorecard Assignment
(analysis to be submitted via email by midnight,
Wednesday, February 10)
Online
Feb 6
Page 7

Resources: Text Chapter 15, Pages 608-615 (if
needed)
Required Readings for “The Balanced Scorecard--Measures That Drive
Performance,” Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton,
Class 4
Harvard Business Review, Vol. 70, Issue 1,
January/February 1992.
(Located in Articles
folder in the Class 4
“Putting the Balanced Scorecard to Work,” Robert S.
section of Moodle)
Kaplan and David P. Norton, Harvard Business
Review, Vol. 71, Issue 5, September/October 1993.
Class
Period
5
Feb 13
Checklist of
Items
to Complete
Before Class
 Prepare to
discuss the
Balance
Scorecard
Assignment

Class
Schedule
(approx.)
8:00-9:30
Agenda Items
During Class
Follow-up discussion of Balanced
Scorecard Assignment
9:30-9:45
Break
9:45-11:30
Wrap-up discussion of balanced
scorecard
Prepare for
Final Exam
11:30-12:30
12:30-2:00
2:00
Lunch
Review for Final Exam
Final Examination
Accounting 625 Course Syllabus
Page 8
University Policies and Legal Stuff (required in all course syllabi):
1.
Academic Honesty:
One of the most important aspects of academic integrity concerns the fair
and impartial measure of each student's academic accomplishments.
These accomplishments are evaluated through written examination or
assignments. For such modes of assessment to operate fairly, it is
essential that the instructor be assured that the work used to evaluate the
student's performance is genuinely the student's own. It is also the
responsibility of the student to uphold the academic integrity of the
Executive MBA Degree Program and the University. The use of
unauthorized material, communication with fellow students during an
examination, attempting to benefit from the work of another student and
similar behavior that defeats the intent of an examination or other class
work is unacceptable to the University. Cheating on examinations,
plagiarism, improper acknowledgment of sources in essays, and the use
of a single essay or paper in more than one course without permission are
considered very serious offenses and shall be grounds for disciplinary
action as outlined in the current General Catalogue.
Furthermore, do not send (or receive) electronic or paper copies of a
partially or completed assignment to (or from) others in the class.
Do not email your assignment to someone else to let them “compare
answers” or for any other reason. Doing so enables others to change
a few items and submit the assignment in their own name. This type
of process could go viral throughout the class. It is expected that
students will discuss the assignments with each other. Each
student, however, must complete his/her own assignments and type
all of their own information. Do not “divide up” the assignment or
copy and paste anyone else’s work. Do not use any assignment
material from other students in the EMBA program or from
unauthorized internet sources.
2.
Student Behavior/Classroom Decorum:
Free discussion, inquiry, and expression are encouraged in this course.
Classroom behavior that interferes with either (a) the instructor’s ability to
conduct the class or (b) the ability of students to benefit from the
instruction is not acceptable. Examples may include routinely entering
class late or departing early; use of beepers, cellular telephones, or other
electronic devices; repeatedly talking in class without being recognized;
talking while others are speaking; or arguing in a way that is perceived as
“crossing the civility line.” In the event of a situation where a student
legitimately needs to carry a beeper/cellular telephone to class, prior
notice and approval of the instructor is required. Classroom behavior that
is deemed inappropriate and cannot be resolved by the student and the
faculty member may be referred to the Office of Judicial Affairs for
administrative or disciplinary review as per the Code of Student Conduct.
Accounting 625 Course Syllabus
3.
Page 9
E-mail:
All e-mail correspondence must be conducted using Southeastern email
accounts.
4.
ADA:
If you are a qualified student with a disability seeking accommodations
under the Americans with Disabilities Act, you are required to self-identify
with the Office of Disability Services, Student Union, Room 1304. No
accommodations will be granted without documentation from the Office of
Disability Services. The deadline for registering or making accommodation
changes is two weeks prior to the start of the Final Exam period. Any
requests received after the deadline will generally be considered for the
following semester.
5.
Degree Program Assessment:
Some of your work in this course (embedded questions in exams and
assignments) will be used to assess whether College of Business learning
objectives are being met. These items are for course improvement
purposes. All data used for such purposes will be treated in a confidential
manner and reported in aggregate form only.
Activities in this class are designed to help achieve the following College
of Business learning goal in the area of function business knowledge:

Demonstrate competence in the base of knowledge and skills
necessary to compete successfully in today’s marketplace.