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School of AccountancyMission Statement

The mission of the School of Accountancy is to advance the accounting profession by providing quality accounting education to both undergraduate and graduate students, publishing quality research and providing service to the professional community. We prepare students for successful careers with increasing professional and managerial responsibility in public accounting as well as government and industry and prepare undergraduate students for admission to graduate programs in accounting and business.

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ACT 6691

MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING

Summer 2012

Tuesday and Thursday 1:00-3:40

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INSTRUCTOR:Dr. Lorraine Magrath, Ph.D., MBA

OFFICE:123 Bibb Graves

OFFICE PHONE:670-3155

E-MAIL: (the first character is the lowercase letter “l,” as in Lorraine)

OFFICE HOURS:

Appointment: I am available for specific appointments at our mutual convenience. Contact me by email to set up an appointment.

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TEXT: Accounting Text and Cases, Robert Anthony, David Hawkins, and Kenneth Merchant, 13thEdition, McGraw Hill.

OTHER MATERIALS: Reading initiative text: How the Mighty Have Fallen, Jim Collins.

Other materials required for this class may be posted to Blackboard.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: A study of the sources and classifications of accounting data, classification and behavior of revenues and costs, use of accounting data for profit planning and cost control, and the use of accounting data for special analysis.

COURSE PURPOSE: To introduce students to concepts of managerial accounting, the relationships between financial and managerial accounting, and the use of accounting information for decision making in organizations.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  1. Describe the contents and components of the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows and the relationships among these statements;
  2. Understand how business transactions affect financial accounting statements;
  3. Understand the basic operating characteristics and cost terms used by business organizations; identify and classify cost behaviors; understand the basic concepts associated with cost measurement; and understand how cost behavior and measurement are used in decision making in organizations;
  4. Understand the nature of the management control process and the use of accounting information in that process;
  5. Understand how accounting information is used in strategic planning, budgeting, and evaluation;
  6. Analyze and interpret accounting information for use in making planning and control decisions within organizations;
  7. Apply problem solving, critical thinking, and communication skills that are necessary for communicating accounting information;
  8. Use financial and managerial accounting information by identifying accounting problem requirements, identifying relevant information needed for problem solving, and adapting knowledge to problem situations.
  9. Critically analyze and discuss (oral and written) the book selected for the reading initiative for the current year.

COURSE PREREQUISITES:

  • The current course prerequisite for ACT6691 is graduate student standing. See the current Graduate Bulletin or your academic advisor for more information regarding course prerequisites. If you are required to take prerequisites (such as undergraduate or five thousand level courses) you are not eligible for this class until ALL required prerequisites are met.
  • Students will be required to submit papers and other assignments using a standard “formatting and style guide” (e.g., APA). Students are required to properly site all reference material on all assignments.
  • Students are expected to possess the “standard” oral and written communication skills (English) that would be expected for graduate-level projects, presentations, and papers.
  • The current skill prerequisite is basic computer knowledge, including the use of word processing, spreadsheet, and browser software.
  • Students may be required to access, read, and comment on papers and/or articles in the popular press or academic literature. Appropriate cite references will be provided.
  • Students may be required to take examinations using computer software and electronic equipment.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

This course will utilizes the lecture/problem solving/discussion approach. Students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss any reading and problem-solving assignments.

ASSESSMENT METHODS: Grades on written assignments will be based on students’ ability to effectively communicate acceptable solutions. Communication and presentation are important. Students are required to use computer software (i.e., word processing and/or spreadsheet software) to ensure that written assignments are presented in a professional manner. Written assignments must be prepared in good form. Financial and management reports should be properly “headed” and labeled. Assumptions and explanations should be clearly articulated.

Proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure are essential elements of good form. Accordingly, papers (including examination papers) that contain excessive grammatical errors, punctuation errors, or sentence structure errors will be assigned a grade of zero (0). For purposes of this course, excessive errors are defined as three or more grammar, punctuation, or sentence structure errors within one question or segment of an assignment, exam, quiz, or other required written material. Reports, cases, papers, and presentations have only one segment.

EVALUATION: Final grades will be based on the following weights:

Reading Initiative Presentation/Report/

Written Case Assignments/Quizzes/Other150 points 30%

Mid-Term Examination300 points 30%

Final Examination (Comprehensive)400 points 40%

Reading Initiative Presentation/Paper: Students will prepare a presentation and paper covering one portion of the Reading Initiative book.

Presentation:

  • The presentation will be from three to five minutes in length.
  • It must be presented on powerpoint or similar presentation media.
  • The presentation will accompany the paper (described below)
  • The presentation and paper are due at the same time.
  • Both must be uploaded to the assignment page in Blackboard by the specified due date.
  • The actual presentation may occur after uploading the presentation assignment.
  • No changes may be made to the uploaded assignment between the time of uploading (the due date for the project) and the physical presentation.

Paper:

  • The paper will be from five to ten pages in length, not including title pages, bibliographies, and other structural elements.
  • The paper should be double-spaced, following the formatting guidelines of a standard “formatting and style” manual (e.g., APA, MLA). The style manual used must be noted in the paper or in the presentation.
  • The paper topic, problem, or question must be directly related to a topic, problem, or question in the reading initiative text.
  • The paper topic must be preapproved. There is a preapproval form posted to the website for this course. At a minimum, the form must be signed by the professor and must contain an abstract of the paper or a summary containing the topic, problem, or question and the research methodology to be used. The preapproval must indicate how the paper will be related to the book and follow acceptable written communication conventions. The paper must also indicate with of the sections listed below will be included.

Written Case Assignments: Students (or groups) are required to analyze and prepare written analyses of assigned cases, if any. The written assignments are to be posted to Blackboard via the upload instructions on the assignment page for this course. As written assignments are to be submitted electronically, absence from class is not an acceptable reason for a late assignment. Assignment pages for assignments will be open until the assignment due date, at which time the assignment upload site will no longer be available. Therefore, late assignments will be not accepted.

All written assignments will be presented in good form. Proper punctuation and grammar are essential elements of good form.

Examinations: The examinations will emphasize the material covered during the course and will evaluate the student’s comprehension of the financial and managerial topics covered. Examination questions will include multiple choice questions, short answer discussion questions, problems, and/or short cases. Students will be allowed to use financial calculators without storage capabilities. Students will not be allowed to use translators or other storage/database devices. Copying the work of another student during an examination is cheating. Students will receive a grade of zero on any examination on which the instructor believes the student cheated. It is the student’s responsibility to avoid compromising situations.

All examinations: Students are required to take all examinations at the time and place designated by the Instructor (mid-term) or the Sorrell College of Business (final). Make-up examinations will be given only at the discretion of the instructor and only if the student has a valid excuse.

Other policies: A grade of “I,” incomplete, will be given only at the discretion of the instructor and only if the student requesting the grade has demonstrated that failure to complete the work assigned by the instructor was unavoidable and due to circumstances beyond the student’s control. It is the student’s responsibility to know and abide by University policies and deadlines regarding removal of the “I” grades.

Cheating policy: Students are advised that the policies of TroyUniversity prohibit cheating.

Assignments. My policy is to (1) give a grade of “0” (zero) on any assignment on which a student cheated, including exams, quizzes, and testsand (2) lower the final letter grade in the course by one grade if a student cheats on any exam, quiz, assignment, and/or test. This means that a student who cheats on an exam (30-40% of the course grade) cannot earn a grade higher than “F” in the course (60%) in the course. A student who cheats on an assignment (20%) will receive a “0” assignment average and will not be able to earn a grade higher than “C” in the course. Once a student has cheated, he/she will no longer be allowed to drop this course with a passing grade. As a result, the best possible grade a student who cheats on a homework or other assignment can expect to be recorded on their transcript is a “C” and the best possible grade a student who cheats on an exam can expect to be recorded on their transcript is an “F.”

Cheating/plagiarism is either (1) using the creative/scholarly work of another (whether living or dead) without appropriately recognizing the creator/scholar, (2) allowing someone to use your work without appropriately identifying you as the author, and/or (3) both. “Using the work of another” means directly copying one or more words or numbers from another. Appropriate recognition involves recognizing the author of the copied work (words or numbers) by in-body citation, footnote, or parenthetical expression.

Exams. Copying the work of a fellow student during an examination situation is cheating (see point 1 in the previous paragraph). Cheating on an exam will result in a course grade of “F.” There will be no exceptions. (See above.)

Other Information about Cheating. It is the student’s responsibility to avoid the suspicion of cheating. This includes making sure that your papers and other assignments are protected from other students and that your exams are properly covered during an examination.

Common Sense about Cheating. In general, if you copy that which you do not write, you have cheated. Also, in general, if you must question whether some activity is cheating, it is!

It is not the instructor’s responsibility to show that the student has cheated. For example, if the instructor sees a student looking at a fellow student’s examination during an examination session, the instructor will inform the student that he/she cheated on the examination and grade accordingly. IT IS THE STUDENT’S RESPONSIBILITY TO AVOID COMPROMISING SITUATIONS—that is, students should focus on their own papers during examinations. Likewise, if a student turns in a paper that the instructor believes was copied, it is the student’s responsibility to show that the paper was not copied. IT IS THE STUDENT’S RESPONSIBILITY TO AVOID COMPROMISING SITUATIONS—that is, students should appropriately cite all materials used in prepared assignments and should avoid copying directly from sources.

OTHER POLICIES: To prevent cheating, students are not allowed to use electronic devices ofany kind during examinations.

ATTENDANCE POLICY: There is no attendance requirement for most non-exam class meetings, although students are encouraged to attend all classes. There is an attendance requirement for exam classes and for classes in which student presentations are made. Students must have a valid, written excuse approved in advanced if an exam is missed. Severe illness or severe emotional distress (documented) brought about as a result of a family emergency are the only valid excuses for missing an exam.

GENERAL SUPPORTS: Students enrolled in ACT6691 are invited to use the resources of TroyStateUniversity, including the WritingCenter, Computer Labs, and Library.

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STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES:

Individual Assignments: It is the student’s responsibility to read assigned chapters and prepare solutions to Chapter Problems before participating in class or group discussions. Failure to do so will inhibit the student’s ability to assess his/her knowledge.

Workgroup management: Student interaction is critical to effective learning when working in groups. For this course students may be assigned to small groups. Successful completion of a Written Group Assignments requires that students (1) discuss (by e-mail or other means) the text materials, assigned problems, and assigned cases, and (2) prepare written analyses of the assigned cases.

Effective workgroup management suggests that group members require that all group members actively participate and join in discussions (e-mail or otherwise) and that group members do so based on the knowledge of text materials and possible case solutions gained through reading assigned chapters and performing individual assignments prior to group discussions.

Workgroup coordinator: Each workgroup should have a group coordinator, who will be assigned the responsibility of e-mailing written assignments to the instructor. The role of group coordinator may rotate among the group members. Group members should select the group coordinator for the first assignment and rotate the responsibility for the remaining assignments.

Standards of conduct: All students are expected to abide by the standards published in the TroyStateUniversity publication, The Oracle, including those related to cheating, plagiarism, and furnishing false information to the university or faculty.

Preparation for Class: Because class discussions are intended to supplement, not reiterate, text material, reading assigned chapters before class lectures and discussions is essential to an understanding of the material discussed during class sessions. In addition, students who prepare by reading assigned chapters and materials with adequate “lead time” will have an opportunity to think about the concepts presented and develop questions that will aid in understanding cost/managerial concepts.

The Assignment Schedule prepared for this course lists “Individual Assignments” for each Topic (Chapter). The problems were selected to reinforce the concepts covered in the Chapters. It is expected that students will (1) read chapter and the assigned problems, (2) attempt to develop answers/solutions prior to the class for which the problems are assigned, and (3) come to class prepared to discuss the problems or ask questions about any question/problem solution that is not clear.

Class Participation: In the business world, developing acceptable solutions to cost/managerial “problems” requires active participation by all organization members. Therefore, it is expected that all students will come to class prepared to participate in class discussions.

AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT

TroyUniversity supports Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which insure that postsecondary students with disabilities have equal access to all academic programs, physical access to all buildings, facilities and events, and are not discriminated against on the basis of disability. Eligible students, with appropriate documentation, will be provided equal opportunity to demonstrate their academic skills and potential through the provision of academic adaptations and reasonable accommodations. Further information, including appropriate contact information, can be found at the link for TroyUniversity’s Office of Human Resources at

CELL PHONE AND OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICE

Use of any electronic devise by students in the instructional environment is prohibited unless explicitly approved on a case-by-case basis by the instructor of record or by the Office of Disability Services in collaboration with the instructor. Cellular phones, pagers, and other communication devices may be used for emergencies, however, but sending or receiving non-emergency messages is forbidden by the University. Particularly, use of a communication device to violate the TroyUniversity “Standards of Conduct” will result in appropriate disciplinary action (See the Oracle.)

In order to receive emergency messages from the University or family members, the call receipt indicator on devices must be in the vibration mode or other unobtrusive mode of indication. Students receiving calls that they believe to be emergency calls must answer quietly without disturbing the teaching environment. If the call is an emergency, they must move unobtrusively and quietly from the instructional area and notify the instructor as soon as reasonably possible. Students who are expecting an emergency call should inform the instructor before the start of the instructional period.

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COURSE ASSIGNMENTS: The assignment schedule is subject to modification at the instructor’s discretion and is posted to Blackboard.

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ACT 6691

Topic Outline

  1. Financial vs managerial accounting
  2. Cost behavior, measurement, and analysis
  3. Cost driver identification
  4. Cost functions
  5. Cost-volume-profit analysis
  6. Activity based costing
  7. Using relevant information for decision making (pricing and operation decisions)
  1. Static and master budgets
  2. Flexible budgets and variance analysis
  3. Responsibility accounting
  4. Capital budgeting
  5. Cost allocation/Accounting for overhead

Note: The reading initiative book will be integrated into various topics as appropriate. The following discussion questions will be discussed and integrated within the above topics:

Reading Initiative Grading Criteria

The paper will be graded for content (55%) and writing style and mechanics (45%).