Intermediate Managerial Accounting
ACCT 383
Spring 2011
MWF 12:10 - 1:00 pm, 2128 Gerdin
Professor Christine Denison
Office:
3115 Gerdin
Phone:
294-7721 (office)
292-8623 (home)
E-mail:
christinealicia@gmail.com
Office hours: Monday 10:00 – 11:00
or by appointment
Prerequisite: ACCT 285
Course Materials:
Required:
Course packet (available at the University bookstore)
Recommended:
One of the following three textbooks (your choice). They are
also placed on reserve at the library:
Horngren et al., Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis.
13th Ed.
Hilton, Maher, and Selto, ost Management: Strategies for
Business Decisions. 4th Ed.
Eldenberg and Wolcott, Cost Management: Measuring,
Monitoring, and Motivating Performance. 1st Ed.
Course Objective: This course will examine the use of information to assist
management with planning, control, and decision-making, with an emphasis on
traditional and contemporary cost accounting systems. Students should, at the
completion of the course, have an understanding of cost concepts and their
relevance to decision-making, as well as knowledge of how to prepare and
interpret information to support managerial decision-making. Improving teambased, written, and computer-based communications skills are important aspects
of this course; in particular, the ability to create and use spreadsheets is
emphasized.
Course Format: Most of the class will consist of lecture, interactive problemsolving, and group work. Class time will usually be devoted to learning new
concepts. You may be given time to work in groups as well. During class,
students should try to actively participate, particularly during examples. A lively
class in which everyone asks and answers questions is much more fun than a
quiet class in which you only hear the professor’s voice – let’s make this class
fun!
Attendance: Attendance will not be taken in this course. However, the surest
way to succeed in this course is through regular attendance and active
participation.
Course Website: The course website, which you can access on WebCT, will
contain the course packet, syllabus, and other documents that you may need for
the course. In addition, you may access your grades, and you may use the chat
function and discussion boards to communicate with your fellow students if you
wish. Please contact me if you have difficulty accessing the website.
Incompletes: The university policy will be followed with respect to the granting
of incomplete course work. See the ISU Information Handbook.
Disabilities: If you have a disability and require accommodations, please
contact the instructor early in the semester so that your learning needs may be
appropriately met. You will need to provide documentation of your disability to
the Disability Resources (DR) office, located on the main floor of the Student
Services Building, Room 1076, 515-294-6624.
Homework:
Reading: Before class, read the introductory material in the course packet for the
chapter we will be covering, and work through the illustrative example and the
stop-check example. To gain complete understanding of the material, you
should also do the recommended reading in one of the three recommended
textbooks.
Problems: The problems in the course packet are useful for learning the
knowledge and practicing the skills you will need to succeed in this course. The
packet contains exercises to build your understanding of each step of the
methods we will be learning, as well as complete problems, an assignment
problem, and a challenge problem. The assignment problem may be assigned
for credit or used as an in-class exercise. All other problems are for your
practice. Homework will not be collected or graded; however, if you do not
complete the homework, you will not be able to succeed in the portions of this
course that are graded. Before I begin a new chapter, I will answer questions
from the previous chapter’s homework; please come prepared to ask questions
on these days. These sessions will be entirely student-driven; I will not work
homework problems that are not asked about. Check figures are given in the
course packet for the homework problems, but not full solutions. To see a full
solution, ask about the problem in class.
Graded Work:
Quizams: There will be six quizams (more than a quiz, less than an exam ),
four of which you should complete in class, and two of which you should
complete at home using Microsoft Excel. You may choose which quizams you
wish to complete in class and which you wish to complete at home. Quizams
completed at home should follow the guidelines posted on the website, and
should be turned in via e-mail before the following class time. You may not use
any study material or formula sheets when completing a quizam in class. If you
are going to miss class on a quizam day and have already taken two at home,
arrange in advance to take it outside of class. No quizam grades will be
dropped.
Group Projects: We will complete six group projects over the course of the
semester, all in class. I will drop your lowest group project grade. You may not
make up missed group projects.
Comprehensive Final: You will be given a comprehensive final over all the
course material at the end of the semester. You may bring in a single,
handwritten 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper with notes for use on the final exam. You
may use both sides of the paper if you wish.
Grading:
Points are distributed as follows:
Quizams:
Group projects:
Final examination (comprehensive):
Total:
300 points
100 points
200 points
600 points
Individual quizams and group projects will not receive letter grades, but the score
distribution for each will be available on the course website. Final letter grades
will be assigned using the following cutoffs: A: 90 – 100%; B: 80 – 89%; C: 70
– 79%; D: 60 – 69%; F: 0 – 59%. However, cutoff points may be adjusted so
that at least 1/6 of students receive As and 1/3 of students receive Bs, and at
most 1/3 of students receive Cs and 1/6 of students receive Ds and Fs. Pluses
and minuses will be awarded at my discretion.
Communications Center: Across the College of Business, it is our goal to
strengthen student communication skills and enhance your critical thinking skills
by creating opportunities for you to practice communication skills throughout your
academic careers. Representatives in our Communications Center are available
to support your written, oral, and visual communication assignments this
semester. In this course, you will be required to build spreadsheets and turn in
written group projects; you may find this service useful in these tasks. The
Communications Center is located in 2140 Gerdin, and the phone number is 2949693.
Ethical Conduct: You are expected to follow the College of Business
Professional Standards and Expectations. Academic honesty is particularly
important to me. Work turned in on exams, including take-home quizams, will be
your own work, not that of others. Work turned in on group projects will be a
collaborative effort of your group, and should not include the work of anyone
outside the group. Any student caught cheating on an exam or group project,
including but not limited to copying or plagiarizing, will automatically fail the
course and will be reported to the Office of Judicial Affairs. See the Conduct
Code at www.dso.iastate.edu/ja for more details and a full explanation of the
Academic Misconduct policies.
Tentative Schedule
Week of
1/10
1/19
1/24
1/31
2/7
2/14
2/21
2/28
3/7
3/21
3/28
4/4
4/11
4/18
Chapter
1: Review
4/25
Dead Week (Review for Final)
Group Project 6
Finals Week
Comprehensive Final: Friday, May 6, 9:45 – 11:45 a.m.
5/2
2: Budgeting
3: Budget uses and alternatives
4: Variance analysis
5: Capital budgeting under uncertainty
6: Joint cost allocation
7: Service department allocation
8: Process costing
9: Job costing
10: Normal costing
11: Pricing
12: Production under constraints
Events
Quizam 1
Group Project 1
Quizam 2
Quizam 3
Group Project 2
Quizam 4
Group Project 3
Group Project 4
Quizam 5
Group Project 5
Quizam 6