Accounting 5311
Spring 2003
Dr. Karl Putnam
Office: Business 254
Office Hours: Monday, Tuesday 1:50-5:50pm
747-7740 (Office; if on the phone or away from the desk, a voice message can be left)
kputnam@utep.edu
Instructor Bio: Karl Putnam received a BBA and Master in Professional Accounting from the University of
Texas at Austin, and Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University. He has taught at UTEP since 1986.
CLASS SCHEDULE
Date
Chapter
1-14
1
1-21
2,3
1-28
3,4
2-4
EXAM I over Ch. 1,2,3,4; after exam, Ch. 5
2-11
6,7
2-18
Computer Project due; 7,8
2-25
9
3-4
EXAM II over Ch. 5,6,7,8,9; after exam, Ch. 10
3-7
Last day to drop a class or completely withdraw with an automatic
W 3-11
10
3-18
No class, Spring Break
3-25
11
4-1
12; Please bring your financial calculator to class
4-8
Paper due;13
4-15
EXAM III over Ch. 10,11,12,13; after exam, Ch. 14
4-22
14
4-29
15
5-1
Last day of classes; last day for complete withdrawal from the university (all classes taken this
semester), grades to be determined by each instructor
5-6
7-9:45pm FINAL over Ch. 1 through 15; Please bring your financial calculator; in the classroom for
all the above classes
Course Objectives: The primary objective is to obtain an understanding of internal company accounting
systems, used for managerial planning and control purposes. Managerial accounting differs from financial
accounting, which is used for external reporting to stockholders and other outside parties. It is expected that
all students have completed the financial accounting courses ACCT 3501 or ACCT 3309 or equivalent.
Total quality management issues will be covered, as will Mexican issues. The course has some
crossdisciplinary aspects in that articles from the Wall Street Journal will be discussed in class which may
relate to a variety of business issues in addition to the managerial accounting aspects.
The following materials should be at the bookstore: (1) Needles and Crosson, Managerial Accounting, 6th
ed., ISBN 0618102302 (Houghton-Mifflin is the publisher) (end of chapter material includes summary
problems with solutions); (2) Study Guide, ISBN 0618148809 (accompanies Needles and Crosson) (Both
the text and the study guide, shrinkwrapped together, have ISBN 0618232974). The study guide provides
questions with answers. Each student's original bound study guide answers will be checked during each
exam. To facilitate the grading process, please mark your name in ink on the outside pages of your closed
study guide. For the first exam only, photocopies of the study guide may be accepted if the bookstore has
run out. After the first exam, it will be assumed all students will have had the opportunity to obtain an original
study guide from the bookstore, the publisher or another source.
On each page in the study guide, please grade yourself by the portion or percentage correct, in different ink
or pencil from the ink or pencil you used in answering the questions. For example, if 15 multiple choice
questions were attempted and 10 were answered correctly, write at the top of the page for the group of
questions, 10/15. Use your own judgement as to the portion or percentage correct on other types of
questions such as fill in the blank. Occasionally, a question has other than an “official” correct solution(s).
Please feel free to discuss these outside class or in class (time permitting). The portion or percentage of
your questions answered correctly will not adversely affect your grade. Not attempting questions or creating
a suspicion of merely copying answers may affect your grade. Grading credit will tend to be for all, part or
none of the questions attempted and graded.
The following study guide question should be omitted (“X out”): Ch. 13, p. 141, question #10.
Financial calculator: A financial calculator for performing compound interest calculations, such as the Texas
Instruments BA II+ (or Hewlett Packard (HP) 10B or similar) will be needed. The BA II+ or other calculator
should be (a) set to one (not 12 as is the factory default) payments per year [BA II+ keystrokes: 2nd, P/Y, 1,
Enter][HP 10B keystrokes: 1 2nd P/YR] and (b) to nine decimal points (not two as is the factory default) [BA
II+ keystrokes: 2nd, Format, 9, Enter] [HP 10B keystrokes 2nd disp 9]. Your financial calculator should have
the capability of computing the internal rate of return. If you have any questions about this, please ask.
Wall Street Journal: A subscription is required, as articles will be discussed in class, and test questions may
come from these articles. Ethical, international and other topics from these articles will be discussed in class.
A reason for you to contribute to these discussions is that oral communication skills are important to
employers. Coverage of articles on exams do not accumulate. That is, once there has been an exam, all
Wall Street Journals covered prior to that exam may safely be discarded. This includes the final exam,
which is comprehensive except for Wall Street Journal articles. After subscriptions start, on the first class
day of each week, bring the Journals from the previous (Monday through Friday) week.
Random checks to see if requested Wall Street Journals have been brought to class will become part of the
Class Participation points, as does attendance.
Holidays (Spring Break, Thanksgiving) will result in bringing two weeks of Journals to the first class after the
holiday. (A plastic grocery bag is one way to carry several Journals.) If you do not receive your Wall Street
Journal (if home delivered, by 7am), call 1-800-568-7625 (1-800-journal) early and request that your missed
Wall Street Journal be delivered with the next day's issue. If you continue to have delivery problems, call
and request mail delivery.
Please bring a Scantron to each exam.
Exam I
100
Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4Exam II
Exam III
100
Chapters 10, 11, 12, 13
Final Exam
200
Class Participation
50
Computer Project*
50
Paper**
100
Total Points
700
Points
100
Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Chapters 1-15
*This is an individual assignment, to be done without help from anyone else. Work Chapter 2, assignments
MRA 3, 4 and 5, on pp. 90 and 91. These assignments include international and internet components. For
MRA 5, print out relevant pages from the websites for Gateway or Dell accessed, sufficient to provide source
data to backup your answers. For all arithmetic calculations, use a spreadsheet program such as Excel or
Lotus 1-2-3. Your spreadsheet program must perform all the arithmetic. There will be spreadsheet printouts,
one with spreadsheet formulas and one with your results. Spreadsheet formulas can be printed out by
holding down the control key while typing ~ or by putting each formula in quotes. Also please provide a
graph for each of MRA 3, 4 and 5 illustrating some aspect of your results. It may be any kind of graph
including bar, line or pie chart. Please include an explanation of your graph. You may use your own
computer or spreadsheet program, go to the computer lab on the center of this floor, or use the computer
center in the library. The liberal arts technology center also provides computers and at least one
spreadsheet program.
For MRA 3 and 4, please make the name of the company the same as your name, rather than the company
name in the text. Please have all parts of this assignment done on the computer, including any narrative
parts.
On both the spreadsheet assignment and the paper (below), please just staple your paper rather than
having any kind of cover.
**Your paper can be on any topic. Try to choose a topic that will be interesting and useful to a practicing
accountant.
Paper requirements and hints:
-It is a required part of this assignment that you demonstrate knowledge of the world wide web. Please print
from the web, include in your stapled paper and use as a reference, at least one webpage relating to your
paper topic.
-Use the following example format for references:
(in text of paper):
Most believe the earth is round. Some [Smith 2001] disagree. (on References page in alphabetic order by
author at end of paper):
Smith, Reginald. "Why I Believe the Earth is Flat," Flat Earth Quarterly, Spring 2001, pp. 23-30.
-Creativity and originality are better than an extensive references page.
-Use proper English. Avoid typographical errors.
-Include and identify your analyses, observations, opinions and conclusions. Better papers will do more than
just regurgitate what others have written. To identify your thoughts, please use "I" or "my," such as: "I
believe..." or "My analysis shows..." or "My flowchart in Exhibit 1 demonstrates that...".
-Please just staple your paper rather than have it in any kind of binding.
If you want, your paper may be done on the computers in the computer lab in this building, in the library, or
in the liberal arts building center for instructional technology. Many of these computers on campus are
connected to the web.
Limitation on enrollment: A course in the College of Business may ordinarily be taken a maximum of three
times with a grade of W, A, B, C, D or F, except with the permission of the student's academic dean. A
student may not enroll in a course in which he or she has an unresolved grade of 'I'.
Scholastic Dishonesty: The University of Texas at El Paso prides itself on its standards of academic
excellence. In all matters of intellectual pursuit, UTEP faculty and students must strive to achieve based on
the quality of work produced by the individual. Any student who commits an act of scholastic dishonesty is
subject to discipline.
Disabled Student Services: If you feel you may have a disability that requires accommodations, contact the
Disabled Student Services office at 747-5148, go to room 306 E. Union, or email dss@utep.edu.