NUS Business School
National University of Singapore
BMA5003_P1 – Financial Accounting, Semester 2, AY2010/11
Part-time MBA Group: 6PM-9PM, Thursday
Course Outline
Instructor: Adjunct Assistant Professor Deon Chan
Office: BIZ2 #02-15
Email:bizcsfd@nus.edu.sg
Consultation Hours: By 3 working days’ advance appointment
COURSE OBJECTIVE
This course is to equip students with the understanding of financial accounting concepts, methods and uses.
The primary objectives of the course are to:
- Help students develop a good understanding of the accounting concepts and mechanisms underlying
financial information so that they can utilize the financial information for decision-making purposes
- Train students in accounting concepts and methods so that they can interpret, analyse and evaluate
financial statements and notes currently published in company annual reports.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
Main Textbook
Financial Accounting (6th edition) International Student Version, by Libby, Libby, and Short, and published
by McGraw Hill (2009).
Supplementary Textbook
Financial Accounting in an Economic Context (7th edition) International Student Version by Jamie Pratt and
published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2009)
Supplementary Readings will be handed out during classes or posted to IVLE.
Course materials (lecture notes, discussion problems, project materials, etc) will be posted periodically on
IVLE.
MODULE WEBSITE:
The module BMA5003_P1 is set up in IVLE. You need to access the IVLE at least weekly before the lecture
to download the lecture materials and look out for announcements.
CLASS SESSION
Class sessions will consist of lecture presentations combined with student presentations and discussion.
Punctuality, courtesy & absenteeism: Please arrive PUNCTUALLY. Students whom are absent without
valid reasons will be taken note of and participation marks would be deducted. Please switch your mobile to
silent mode during the class.
1
Lecture
For lecture, major points of a topic are covered. Lecture notes will be uploaded to IVLE before the start of
class each week. Students are advised to quick read the lecture notes and the chapters of the recommended
textbook (refer to the lecture plan below) before class each week. Additional readings assigned as and when
would also be uploaded to IVLE before each lecture.
Class Participations (10%): Please participate during the case discussions and lessons actively. Marks will
be given for class participations. Please participate by asking questions, answering questions posed by
lecturer and fellow students, offering opinions, relating material taught to your working experiences,
commenting on presented solutions to assignments.
Assignment Presentations and Discussions (15%) The purpose of the assignment is to help you to practice
the accounting concepts and mechanisms, and apply them to the questions. All students are expected to
complete the assignment questions before the class regardless whether they are making the presentations. For
each topic, a group will be assigned to present the solutions to selected questions, while the other students
are expected to contribute to the discussion of the answers. Due to time constraint, sometimes not all the
questions can be discussed during the class, by which, the suggested solutions will be uploaded by the
instructor for self-checking. The grading will be based on the solutions submitted and the presentation.
Solutions in word document and the presentation slides should be uploaded to the student’s workbin 2
working days before the lecture, i.e., by Tuesday 12noon. Please submit by the deadline stated. Please note
that for late submission, one mark will be deducted for each day of late submission for all group
members. Please e-mail lecturer if you are late in your submission.
ANNUAL REPORT PROJECT (25%)
This is a group project where the group will perform an analysis of a real-world company annual report by
applying the accounting concepts and methods taught in the course. It requires the reading and analysis of
annual report of listed companies. It serves to integrate all the topics covered and is also the self-learning
component of the course.
Deliverable will be the Project Report. Limit to the number of words would be announced during the class.
Grading will be based on clarity, conciseness and correctness of the written report of your analysis. Details
on the course project will be provided later.
EXAMINATION (50%)
The final examination is an open-book, open-notes exam. All materials covered during the semester in
lectures, presentations, assignments, assigned readings and group project are examinable. All Universityapproved calculators are permitted. Any other electronic and mobile devices e.g. laptop, smartphones and
mobile phones are not allowed.
EVALUATION
Your final grade will be determined on the following basis:
Exams
Homework submission and presentation
Annual report project
Class participation
50%
15%
25%
10%
100%
2
Lecture Plan
Lecture
1
2
3
NO
LECTURE
Date
Topic
Overview, Fundamentals and
13-JAN Mechanics of Financial Accounting
Presentation Questions
Readings*
Pratt Ch1, 3 &
4,Singtel Annual
Report
Concepts and Understanding of
20-JAN Balance Sheet
Concepts and Understanding of
Income Statement
Libby Ch2, Pratt Ch
2
Communicating and Interpreting
27-JAN Accounting Information
Libby Ch 5, Pratt Ch
5
3-FEB
Libby Ch3, Pratt Ch2
CHINESE NEW YEAR – PUBLIC
HOLIDAYS ~ Make up on 24 Feb
4
Performing Financial Statement
10-FEB Analysis
5
Concepts and Understanding of Sales
Cycle, Receivables and Cash
17-FEB Management
6
Cost of Goods Sold and Inventory
Accounting (Make up Lecture. 24 Feb
24-FEB is during recess week)
7
Concepts and Understanding of Long
3-MAR Term Assets and Intangibles
Pratt E3-7, ID3-1,ID3-2,ID33, ID3-8, ID3-11
Pratt P4-2,P4-3a,P4-4a,b,P46,P4-10
NO LECTURE
Libby Ch 14, Pratt
Ch5
Libby P2-5 Qn1-3,
E3-4
Libby E3-10 Qn1-3, E3-11
Qn1-3, AP3-4 Qn1-4.
Libby Ch 6
Libby E6-2 and E6-4, P61,P6-2,P6-4
Libby Ch 7
Libby Ch 8
Libby P6-5, E7-8 and E7-12,
P7-1,P7-2
8
Concepts and Understanding of
10-MAR Liabilities and Debts Financing
Libby Ch 9 & 10,
Pratt Ch11
Libby P7-5,CP7-7, E8-7 and
E8-17, P8-2
9
Concepts and Understanding of
17-MAR Owner's Equity
Libby Ch 11, Pratt
Ch12
Libby P8-8, P8-10, CP8-10,
CP8-11
10
Concepts and Understanding of
24-MAR Investments
11
Concepts and Understanding of Cash
31-MAR Flow Statements
Libby E9-4,E9-15, P9-4,P914, AP9-6
Libby Ch 12
Libby P10-8, AP10-5,AP10-6,
CP10-5,CP10-6
Libby Ch 13
3
12
Synthesis of Financial Reporting and
7-APR Ethical Issues of Accounting
TBA
Libby E11-11,E11-14, P11-2,
P11-8,P12-3,P12-4
Libby E13-7,E13-13, E1316,P13-1, P12-5,P12-6,P12-8
13
Course Wrap-up, Project Review &
14-APR Assignment Presentations
-
14
Submission of Project
21-APR Reading week
-
15
28-APR Break
16
5-MAY Examination
*- For supplementary readings for the lecture, please download from IVLE.
Module Website Resources
1. www.sgx.com.sg
This is the website through which all corporate information and share information are found. The
annual reports reside in Listed Companies – Annual / Financial Reports link. Weblink is
http://www.sgx.com/wps/portal/marketplace/mpen/listed_companies_info/annual_reports_financial_reports
You need to access the above to download the Singtel and other company’s Annual Report for lecture
and project.
2. www.asc.gov.sg/frs/index.htm
All financial reporting standards for Singapore are found in the above weblink. It is not essential to
understand all that is written in the standards as BMA5003 is an elementary module that cover the
basic principles and not the detailed rules in the standards, usually covered in intermediate accounting
courses.
Advisory
Although this module is a basic accounting module, students who have no accounting or business finance
background are likely to find it challenging at the beginning. This is because this will be a new language
with its own unique terminology, concepts and rules, hence time and efforts are needed to familiarize with
them. Do not give up.
Work hard and hope you will have an enjoyable learning experience equipping you with the knowledge to
the accounting world.
4