U. C. DAVIS
Mgmt. 294: Using Accounting for Quality and Cost Management
Winter 2001
Michael Eames
Office: 128 AOB4
Home (650)968-5124
(not after 10 p.m.)
Office: 752-0911
Office Hours: Wednesday 10-noon
and by appointment
email:meames@scu.edu
mjeames@ucdavis.edu
Course Materials:
(1) Horngren, Foster, and Datar, Cost Accounting; A Managerial Emphasis, 10th Edition. Prentice
Hall, 2000
(2) Course packet- contains cases, problem solutions and readings.
(3) Goldratt, E., The Goal, North River Press.
Overview:
Cost accounting focuses on (1) the collection, analysis, and interpretation of economic information
at the firm level for the purpose of supporting better microeconomic decision making and (2)
appropriate systems for collecting, measuring and synthesizing cost data to be used in external
financial reports. This course touches on both areas and continually emphasizes the relation between
cost accounting and management strategy.
Written Assignments:
Cases:
There are five starred cases on the syllabus. You are responsible for turning in prepared analyses on
2 of these, your choice. You will turn in your case analyses as a group of up to 4 individuals. Each
case has questions to help focus your attention. There is always the unwritten question, “Are these
the right questions for this case? All case write-ups are due at the beginning of class on the day
assigned. No late cases will be accepted for any reason.
There are also three unstarred cases on the syllabus, Rosemount Hill, Excaliber Chocolate, and
Caledonian Blood. These are generally shorter cases than the starred cases. You are responsible for
turning in one of these, again in groups of up to four individuals.
There are also four theory of constraints cases on the syllabus. These will be worked in groups in
class. A modified version of one of these will be on the final exam.
Regardless of whether or not you turn in a prepared analysis for a specific paper, you should be
prepared to contribute to and possibly lead discussion of the cases.
Papers:
There are two papers noted on the syllabus, a Theory of Constraints paper and an Activity Based
Costing paper. You are responsible for turning in one of these. This is not to be a group project.
The papers involve selecting an article on Theory of Constraints or Activity Based Costing and
writing a one page review of the article. That’s right – only one page. The first half of the page
should simply summarize the article. The second half of the page should present your analysis of the
paper. This is the most important part of your report. Note that this is an analysis of the article
and not an analysis of the topic of the article. I don’t want a summary of the topic of the article or
what you think of the topic of the article. Your analysis of the paper should address issues such as
whether the authors present a logical argument and a reasonable case, whether the authors fail to
adequately consider some issues, whether the authors are using this article as a vehicle for obtaining
consulting clients, whether this paper addresses an important issue, how the authors could make this a
better article, etc. Your grade will be based on the quality of the selected article as well as your review.
The papers are due on the date noted on the syllabus. No late papers will be accepted for any
reason.
Exams:
Quizzes:
Plan on a 5 minute quiz on the case on each date the assignment contains a starred or unstarred case.
This quiz is to provide you extra incentive to prepare the case. If you have prepared for the case
the quiz should be very straight forward. You may throw out your lowest single quiz grade.
Midterm and Final:
These will be a mix of problems and short essays. You may bring one page of notes to each exam.
The final exam is comprehensive. Makeup exams are generally not given. With appropriate notice
and reason the final exam grade will be substituted for a missed midterm.
Grading:
Quizzes
Written Cases, Paper, and Class Participation
Midterm
Final Exam
Schedule:
1
W
Jan.
10
Topic
Introduction
15%
20%
30%
35%
Reading
HFD 1 2,3
Judgement and Decision
Making
2
17
SCM, Value Chains, Target
Costing
3
24
Inventory Costing Methods
4
5
6
31
Feb.
7
Cost Allocation I: Intro.,
Support Divisions
Cost Allocation II: Joint Costs
14
Catch up/ Midterm Review
Midterm
Baldwin Bicycle
Hints
Note on Dairy
Pak
HFD 9
HFD 14
Notes on Pricing
Assignment
HFD 2-27,35
HFD 3-21,22,25,30
In Class Quiz
Baldwin Bicycle*
Dairy Pak*
HFD 9-16,18,20
Booker Jones*
HFD 14-18,25,26
HFD 15-29
Rosemount Hill
Excaliber Chocolate
Caledonian Blood
Activity Based Costing
7
21
8
9
10
28
Mar.
7
14
17
Activity Based Costing
Flex Budgets and Direct Cost
Variances
Activity Based Costing
Theory of Constrains
Theory of Constraints
Performance Measurement
and Compensation
Catch-up/Review
Final Exam
HFD 5
HFD 7
The Goal
HFD 23
HFD 5-19, 20
ABC Paper
Societe Bonlieu*
HFD 7-19,22,9
John Deere*
TOC Paper
TOC Cases – in
class
HFD 23-21,23