RES500: Fundamentals of Quantitative Analysis
Credit Hours:
Contact Hours:
3
This is a 3-credit course, offered in accelerated format. This means that 16 weeks of
material is covered in 8 weeks. The exact number of hours per week that you can
expect to spend on each course will vary based upon the weekly coursework, as
well as your study style and preferences. You should plan to spend 10-25 hours per
week in each course reading material, interacting on the discussion boards, writing
papers, completing projects, and doing research.
Faculty Information
Name:
Phone:
CSU-GC Email:
Virtual Office Hours:
Course Description and Outcomes
This course explores four major components of research for graduate programs: academic writing, business
research and descriptive statistics, fundamentals of accounting analysis, and fundamentals of financial analysis.
The course is not intended to provide an in-depth study of these components but provides basic knowledge to
support intensive learning that will occur in the core courses of their programs.
Course Learning Outcomes
1.
2.
3.
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6.
7.
Apply the fundamentals of business analytics in constructing evidenced-based analysis.
Describe and apply basic types of quantitative analysis used in accounting.
Describe and apply accounting / financial ratios.
Apply financial analysis techniques to business problems.
Demonstrate the use of probability and statistics.
Demonstrate the use of correlation and simple linear models.
Explain the relationship among all quantitative fields discussed.
Participation & Attendance
Prompt and consistent attendance in your online courses is essential for your success at CSU-Global Campus.
Failure to verify your attendance within the first 7 days of this course may result in your withdrawal. If for some
reason you would like to drop a course, please contact your advisor.
Online classes have deadlines, assignments, and participation requirements just like on-campus classes. Budget
your time carefully and keep an open line of communication with your instructor. If you are having technical
problems, problems with your assignments, or other problems that are impeding your progress, let your
instructor know as soon as possible.
Course Materials
Required:
Lane, D. (2010). Online Statistics: An Interactive Multimedia Course of Study, Version 1. Freely available and
downloadable at http://onlinestatbook.com/version_1.html. Partially funded by NSF Grants DUE 9751307 and
DUE 0089435.
Walther, L. (2010). Financial Accounting: Principles of Accounting.com . Freely available at
http://www.principlesofaccounting.com. (Also available; hard copy ISBN-13: 9781456352974)
**All non-textbook required readings and materials necessary to complete assignments, discussions, and/or
supplemental or required exercises will be provided within the course itself. Please read through each course
module carefully.
Course Schedule
Due Dates
The Academic Week at CSU-Global begins on Monday and ends the following Sunday.
 Discussion Boards: The original post must be completed by Thursday at 12 midnight MT and Peer
Responses posted by Sunday 12 midnight MT. Late posts may not be awarded points.
 Critical Thinking Activities: Assignments are due Sunday at 12 midnight MT.
Week
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1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Readings
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Chapter 1 in Financial Accounting
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Chapters 4 & 15 in Financial Accounting

Chapter 24 in Financial Accounting
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Chapters 1, 2 & 3 in Online Statistics

Chapters 5 & 6 in Online Statistics

Chapters 7, 8 & 9 in Online Statistics

Chapters 4 & 12 in Online Statistics
8
Assignment Details
This course includes the following assignments/projects:
Week 1
Assignments
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Discussion Board (25)
Critical Thinking (70)
Discussion Board (25)
Critical Thinking (70)
Discussion Board (25)
Critical Thinking (70)
Discussion Board (25)
Critical Thinking (60)
Discussion Board (25)
Critical Thinking (60)
Discussion Board (25)
Critical Thinking (60)
Discussion Board (25)
Critical Thinking (60)
Discussion Board (25)
Portfolio Assignment (350)
Critical Thinking: Preparing Financial Statements and Cash Calculations; Accessing and Examining Financial
Statements (70 points)
Complete Exercises I.1.08 and I.1.10 in Walther.
For I.1.08, use the Excel workbook provided by Walther to provide your answer. Then complete I.1.10 in a Word
document, providing the answer as a 1-2 page paper formatted per CSU-Global guidelines for APA Style. Submit
both documents to the Assignment drop box.
Portfolio Milestone:
Be thinking about the most important learning concepts this week, and write them down. How do they relate to
the previous week’s work? You will need to develop these concepts for your Portfolio Project as described on
the Week 8 Assignments page.
Week 2
Critical Thinking: Financial Statement Analysis (70 points)
Complete Exercises B.04.09, I.04.07 and I.15.03 in Walther.
For B.04.09, use the Excel workbook provided by Walther to provide your answer. Then complete problems
I.04.07 and I.15.03 in a Word document, providing the answers in a 1-3 page paper formatted per CSU-Global
guidelines for APA Style.
Week 3
Critical Thinking: Financial Statement Analysis (70 points)
Complete Exercises B.24.08 and I.24.03 in Walther.
For B.24.08, use the Excel workbook provided by Walther to provide your answer. Then complete problem
I.024.03 in a Word document, providing the answer in a 1-2 page paper formatted per CSU-Global guidelines for
APA Style.
Week 4
Critical Thinking: Descriptive Sentences (60 points)
Complete the following questions in a 1-3 page Word document formatted per CSU-Global Guidelines for APA
Style.
Lane Chapter 1 exercises 18 and 19
Lane Chapter 2 exercises 13 and 14
Lane Chapter 3 exercises 20 through 23
Week 5
Critical Thinking: Descriptive Statistics & Probability (60 points)
Complete the following questions in a 1-3 page Word document formatted per CSU-Global Guidelines for APA
Style.
Lane Chapter 5 exercises 13 and 25
Lane Chapter 6 exercises 29 and 30
Week 6
Critical Thinking: Estimation & Hypothesis Testing (60 points)
Complete the following questions in a 1-3 page Word document formatted per CSU-Global Guidelines for APA
Style.
Lane Chapter 7 exercise 25.
Lane Chapter 8 exercise 25.
Lane Chapter 9 exercise 27.
Week 7
Critical Thinking: Linear Models (60 points)
Complete the following questions in a 1-2 page Word document formatted per CSU-Global Guidelines for APA
Style.
Lane Chapter 4 exercises 17 and 18.
Lane Chapter 12 exercise 18.
Week 8
Portfolio Assignment (350 points)
Select one of the organizations below.
1. CH2M HILL COMPANIES LTD
2. MEDTRONIC INC
3. LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS INC
You can find historical company financials in the library through LexisNexis and Datamonitor (EBSCOhost) as well
as at the SEC.GOV website.
Research this organization using 5-10 credible sources, at least three of them scholarly.
Conduct an analysis of your selected organization's accounting and financial issues per the following outline:
1. Describe the company’s organization. Provide key statistics and graphs regarding employees,
customers, trading volume, and share price for at least the last three years. At a minimum, provide
measures of central tendency and dispersion.
2. What was your organization's stock price over the last three years? Generate a scatter plot with the
vertical axis being the price and the horizontal access the time and interpret it. Interpret whether the
company's stock price foreshadows any problems or shows only positive gains for the company.
3. What were some of the organization's key financial ratios for the last three years? Interpret them. At a
minimum, you should discuss earnings per share, liquidity ratio, debt ratio, debt to asset ratio, return on
assets, and return on equity ratios. Interpret what these financials mean and if they are indicative of any
problems that the company may be experiencing.
4. In your estimation, will this organization be around for awhile or is it destined to fail? What quantitative
evidence can you show for your choice? At a minimum, you should discuss the elements of accounting,
finance, probability, and statistics that indicate that the organization is either going to last or fail.
Your paper should include discussion and citation of 5-10 credible sources, at least three of them scholarly. The
CSU-Global Library is a good place to search for credible and scholarly sources.
Your paper should be 12-15 pages in length, well-written, and formatted per CSU-Global guidelines for APA
Style.
For project details, see the Portfolio Project Description, which can be accessed from the Week 8
Assignments page.
Course Policies
Course Grading
20% Discussion Participation
45% Critical Thinking Activities
35% Final Portfolio Paper
Grading Scale and Policies
A
95.0 – 100
A-
90.0 – 94.9
B+
86.7 – 89.9
B
83.3 – 86.6
B-
80.0 – 83.2
C+
75.0 – 79.9
C
70.0 – 74.9
D
60.0 – 69.9
F
59.9 or below
In-Classroom Policies
For information on late work and Incomplete grade policies, please refer to our In-Classroom Student Policies
and Guidelines or the Academic Catalog for comprehensive documentation of CSU-Global institutional policies.
Academic Integrity
Students must assume responsibility for maintaining honesty in all work submitted for credit and in any other
work designated by the instructor of the course. Academic dishonesty includes cheating, fabrication, facilitating
academic dishonesty, plagiarism, reusing /re-purposing your own work (see CSU-Global Guide to Writing and
APA Requirements for percentage of repurposed work that can be used in an assignment), unauthorized
possession of academic materials, and unauthorized collaboration. The CSU-Global Library provides information
on how students can avoid plagiarism by understanding what it is and how to use the Library and Internet
resources.
Citing Sources with APA Style
All students are expected to follow the CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA Requirements when citing in APA
(based on the APA Style Manual, 6th edition) for all assignments. For details on CSU-Global APA style, please
review the APA resources within the CSU-Global Library under the “APA Guide & Resources” link. A link to this
document should also be provided within most assignment descriptions on your course’s Assignments page.
Netiquette
Respect the diversity of opinions among the instructor and classmates and engage with them in a courteous,
respectful, and professional manner. All posts and classroom communication must be conducted in accordance
with the student code of conduct. Think before you push the Send button. Did you say just what you meant?
How will the person on the other end read the words?
Maintain an environment free of harassment, stalking, threats, abuse, insults or humiliation toward the
instructor and classmates. This includes, but is not limited to, demeaning written or oral comments of an ethnic,
religious, age, disability, sexist (or sexual orientation), or racist nature; and the unwanted sexual advances or
intimidations by email, or on discussion boards and other postings within or connected to the online classroom.
If you have concerns about something that has been said, please let your instructor know.