THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT GREENSBORO
BRYAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS
MBA 682: Financial Reporting and Regulation
Course Syllabus
Fall 2009
Instructor:
Office:
Phone:
Email:
Office Hours:
Melissa J. Hershberger
Bryan #423
334-5658
mjhershb@uncg.edu
By Appointment
Note that email is the best method to quickly get in touch with me.
Purpose of Course:
MBA 682 Catalog description of the course: Prerequisite: MBA 602. This course
provides students with the abilities necessary to understand, interpret, and analyze
corporate financial disclosures in a manner commensurate with advanced understanding
of financial analysis. Please note the following, this course will be taught with an
emphasis on risk, strategy and value. This course is NOT strictly an intermediate or
advanced accounting course.
Course Objective:
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Understand the importance of financial disclosures to investment markets and to
the political process.
2. Understand the economics of financial information and the demand for financial
statements in capital markets.
3. Understand the components that determine the quality of financial information,
managerial incentives to influence that information, and the need for regulatory
processes to control management.
4. Understand the issues that surround major types of disclosures like asset
valuation, liability reporting, equity, derivative instruments, and industry-specific
activities.
5. Understand the basics of risk in an enterprise framework.
6. Perform analyses that focus on the quality of financial disclosures and that
provide the basis for moving into more sophisticated financial analysis.
Text:
Required: NONE
Readings and archival resources:
Each week, articles from the academic and professional literature will be assigned. The
Securities & Exchange Commission’s EDGAR database (www.sec.gov) provides many
different types of actual financial disclosures for every publicly-traded company in the
United States. This database will be used for much of the research work and assignments
in this course. Additionally, I require that you access and obtain some of the articles and
readings yourself. Please acquaint yourself with the UNCG library online resources and
databases.
Electronic Resource:
Blackboard will be used for this course. The sign-on site for Blackboard is
http://blackboard.uncg.edu. Students enrolled in this course will have access to the
applicable section of Blackboard. Updates of the Course Syllabus, if required, as well as
notes, solutions and other material deemed necessary will be posed to this site and
available for download.
Grading:
Course grades will be determined as follows:
Presentation and participation
Project – Written Assignments
Each weekly 13.33%
Final project 40%
20%
80%
The grading scale is as follows:
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
F
92% and above
90 – 91.99%
88 – 89.99%
82 -87.99%
80 – 81.99%
78 – 79.99%
65 – 77.99%
< 64.99%
Teaching Methods and Course Requirements:
Format of Module:
The class will be built upon a combination of lecture and discussion. A part of your grade
will be based upon participation in the discussions. Therefore, it is paramount that you
complete the readings prior to class. Please keep in mind that it is the quality of your
participation, not the quantity which is being graded.
Project: Your completed project is due at the beginning of Session 7. The weekly
assignments are due the session after they are assigned. The final (session 6) assignment
needs to be incorporated into your final project and shall not be reviewed or graded prior
to turning in your final project. Further details about the “final project” will be given in
our first class, but the project will incorporate the weekly assignments. The project will
be undertaken in groups (details our first class).
Weather Policy:
In the event of a cold weather event (ice, snow), this class will strictly follow the
University schedule. The University posts on the web site the status of classes
(additionally, the area TV stations make announcement) when a weather event occurs,
please refer to this source prior to class time.
Academic Integrity Policy:
Each student is expected to complete all requirements of this course in all respects in
conformity with UNCG’s Academic Integrity Policy. The paragraph below, which was
taken from this policy, highlights students’ responsibilities regarding academic integrity.
Please read the Policy. Violations will be pursued in accordance with all policies and
procedures.
Students should recognize their responsibility to uphold the Academic Integrity Policy
and to report apparent violations to the appropriate persons. Students who do not
understand the policy or its application to a particular assignment are responsible for
raising such questions with their faculty member.
Other Comments:
While it is understood that graduate students have busy schedules that include business
conflicts, please exercise good judgment in missing class only when necessary. Part of
this responsibility is to understand that assignments will be accepted early, but no
assignment will be accepted late. In the event that you must miss class, assignments
due at the beginning of class can be sent electronically, but must be received prior to
the start of the class. Keep in mind, in a class meeting only once a week, absences can
quickly become a problem. Thus, excessive absences can and will result in direct and
indirect grade reductions.
There are no opportunities for extra credit in this course.
The material in this course may be difficult for some. However, it is vital to your
professional success. If you are having problems understanding the subjects presented,
see me. Don’t wait until it is too late. Since this course builds on cumulative knowledge,
problems in the early portion of the class will only compound as the semester progresses.
Tentative Schedule:
Session 1:
Topic: Value?
Reading assignment: Session one folder in Blackboard
Session 2:
Topic: Financial Reporting: Earnings management and special topics in revenue
recognition
Reading assignment: Session two folder in Blackboard
Written assignment due Session 3: Report on significant accounting policies from your
company including disclosure of the executive officers and managers of your company.
Use of the SEC database EDGAR is a requirement for this assignment.
Session 3:
Topic: The essentials of financial analysis
Reading assignment: Session three folder in Blackboard
Written assignment due Session 4: Report on your evaluation of the financial status of
your company based on an analysis which employs basic techniques. This should be
written as if you are a financial analyst evaluating this company for investors. Use of the
SEC database EDGAR is a requirement for this assignment.
Session 4:
Topic: RISK
Reading assignment: Session four folder in Blackboard
Written assignment due Session 5: Research the financial literature and write a report on
(1) analysts’ view of your company’s value and risk; and, (2) information on
contracts/relationships/alliances between your company’s management and other entities.
Session 5:
Topic: Intellectual Property
Reading Assignments: For this week you will need to access the database JStor and
Lexis-Nexis housed in the UNCG library. The “pieces” you will need to obtain are:
1. “Towards an Integrated Theory of Intellectual Property” written by Gideon
Parchomovsky and Peter Siegelman from Virginia Law Review, Vol. 88, No.7
(Nov. 2002), 1455-1528.
2. Singer Manufacturing Company v. June Manufacturing Company. The Supreme
Court of the United States. 163 U.S. 169
Session 6:
Topic: Financial instruments as liabilities, hedging; derivative securities.
Reading Assignments: Session six folder in Blackboard
Written Assignment work into final project: Analyze the long-term financial debt of your
company be sure to include any off-balance sheet obligations. Include discussion of any
hedging positions as well as any derivative financial instruments that the company might
use.
Session 7:
Final Project Due
Group presentations