Acc 337 syllabus

Department of Accounting
College of Business
Illinois State University
Spring Semester 2006

College of Business Mission

The mission of the College of Business is o be a highly respected college of business that develops professionals with the personal dedication, ethics and lifelong learning capabilities needed to succeed professionally and to serve society. We work as a diverse community promoting excellence in learning, teaching, scholarship, and service.

The mission of the Department of Accounting is to provide high-quality, student-centered educational programs for students preparing for professional careers in accounting and information systems; to support research and other scholarly activities consistent with these programs, and to perform service activities for the Department, the College of Business, the University, and other organizations consistent with these programs. In addition, our mission includes establishing relationships with outside organizations that support our programs, students, and faculty. Providing introductory and other courses in accounting and information systems to non-major students, as a service to other departments within the College and University, is also fundamental to our mission.

Academic Integrity

All students in this course are expected to be familiar with the "College of Business Standards of Professional Behavior and Ethical Conduct" (refer to www.cob.ilstu.edu/professionalstandards). Please note that only bottled water may be consumed in the classroom wing of the College of Business Building. All cell phones and other electronic devices should be turned off and stored away during classes (unless permission is otherwise granted by the instructor).

Students enrolled College of Business classes are expected to maintain high standards of ethical conduct within the classroom and when completing assignments, projects, and/or exams. Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty such as cheating will not be tolerated. Students are expected to provide appropriate citations for non-original writing even is the original work is paraphrased. Penalties for plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty may be severe.

Advanced Financial Accounting, 6th edition, Baker, Lembke and King
Supplemental Materials, available at Pip Printing

Advanced Financial Accounting continues the financial accounting sequence in exposing the student to the basic theory of financial accounting and the application of accounting principles and procedures. This is accomplished in Accounting 337 by building on a basic accounting foundation acquired in the elementary and intermediate accounting courses. The major topics studied in Accounting 337 are business combinations and the preparation of consolidated financial statements. Other topics include partnership accounting, segment and interim reporting and foreign currency accounting issues.

Technical competencies that students will demonstrate in ACC 337 include the following:

· An understanding of the purchase method of accounting for business combinations and the ability to record a business combination

· An ability to account for an investment using the equity method and an understanding of the relationship between the equity method and the consolidation process

· An understanding of the fundamentals of consolidating financial statements and the ability to prepare consolidated data at the date of acquisition and in periods subsequent to acquisition

· An understanding of intercompany transactions and the ability to eliminate the effects of these transactions as part of the consolidation process

· An understanding of the basic financial reporting requirements for business segments and for interim financial reports

· An understanding of transactions denominated in foreign currencies and the ability to account for these transactions

· An understanding of the process of converting foreign currency financial statements to U.S. dollars and the ability to use the translation and remeasurement methods for this conversion

· An understanding of derivative financial instruments and the basic accounting requirements for derivatives

· An understanding of the use of derivatives to hedge business risks and the ability to account for derivatives used as cash flow and fair value hedges

· An understanding of the partnership form of business organization and the fundamental principles involved in accounting for partnership formation, liquidation and changes in ownership

Other competencies that students will demonstrate in ACC 337 include the following:

· Written and oral communication skills and the ability to work with others in a team setting

· The ability to apply course materials in unstructured problems or financial statement analysis

· Microcomputer skills, applied to presentation software and written communication assignments

Course Requirements

Participation/Attendance: The format of the course will consist of a combination of lecture and problem discussions. The student is expected to read the assigned material and work the assigned homework problems prior to each class meeting. Class attendance and participation are expected and are essential parts of the learning experience in any accounting course.

Homework: It should be evident to the student that in a course such as this the homework assigned is an integral part of preparation and learning. Timely preparation of assignments enables the student to test his/her ability to apply information read and discussed, to pinpoint areas of difficulty, and to keep up with the course. In addition, since examinations are based in part on problems of the same type as the assigned homework, students who make an effort to work out assigned problems before they are discussed in class will have a definite advantage over those who merely copy solutions presented in class. Notes and corrections made on assignments as they are discussed in class are also useful review tools for exams. For consolidation work paper problems, partially completed Excel worksheets are available on the textbook web site.

Student participation in discussion of homework assignments is expected. During each class period, students will be assigned to present solutions to selected homework problems to the class.

Examinations: Examinations will consist primarily of problems similar to those covered in homework assignments and CPA exam multiple choice questions. All exams will be approximately 40% multiple choice format. Make‑up examinations must be scheduled in advance with the instructor. There will be four hourly examinations during the semester. The exams will cover the chapters indicated in the tentative schedule for the semester. The fourth exam will be given during the scheduled final exam period.

Multiple Choice Problems: For each chapter, selected multiple choice problems will be assigned and responses will be collected on the dates indicated in the schedule. For multiple choice assignments, students may work individually or in teams of two. Students electing to work in teams should turn in one set of responses with the names of both students. The point score for the multiple choice assignments will be calculated as follows:

Total number of MC items X 90% = Base points

Number correct X 30 points = MC score

Base points

Consolidation Problem: A comprehensive consolidation problem will be assigned. The problem will require students to prepare the eliminating entries, post the entries to a consolidation work paper, and prepare consolidated financial statements.

Team Assignment – Business Combination Project: The team assignment consists of a class presentation (15 to 20 minutes) that discusses financial and accounting aspects of a recent or pending business combination. In addition, a written summary of the project will be entered into your student portfolios. Details of this assignment are provided in another section of this syllabus.

The course grade will be determined on the basis of total points earned. The following is the approximate allocation of the total points for the semester.

It is the policy of the faculty of the Department of Accounting to permit numeric-display-only calculators to be used on accounting examinations and quizzes. Calculators that accept alphabetic input are expressly prohibited by this policy. THIS POLICY WILL BE ENFORCED! A student who questions whether a specific calculator is acceptable is encouraged to secure advance approval of its use.

If a student calculator fails during an examination, it is the student's responsibility to finish the exam within the allocated time. The instructor is not responsible for replacing broken calculators or for allowing additional time to finish an exam or quiz in the event of a calculator failure.

Students should note that they can officially enroll in an Accounting class only twice.

Current university policy relative to the assignment of withdrawal grades will be followed. Please refer to the current university catalog for details of this policy. IMPORTANT! The last day to withdraw from a full-semester course is Friday, March 10, 2006.

Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability should contact Disability Concerns at 350 Fell Hall, 438-5853 (voice) or 438-8620 (TDD).

College of Business Mission

Academic Integrity

Accounting 337: Advanced Financial Accounting

Instructor: Wendy A. Duffy, Ph.D., CPA

Course Requirements