Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "FIN 202-4"
COURSE NAME: "Managerial Accounting"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2020

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Silvia Pulino
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: TTH 8:30-9:45 AM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisite: FIN 201
OFFICE HOURS: By appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course focuses on the role of accounting in the management process and where accounting can provide critical support to management decision making. Cost-volume relations are introduced, along with identification of costs relevant to management decisions. Process costing and job costing systems, the development of a master plan, preparation of flexible budgets and responsibility accounting are covered, and the influences of quantitative techniques on managerial accounting are introduced.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

Review of Financial Accounting (Recording Business Transactions, The Adjusting Process, Completing the Accounting Cycle, Merchandising Operations, Merchandise Inventory, The Balance Sheet). The Statement of Cash Flows. Financial Statement Analysis. Job Costing. Process Costing. Activity-Based Costing and Other Cost Management Tools. Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis. The Master Budget and Responsibility Accounting. Flexible Budgets and Standard Costs. Short-Term Business Decisions. Capital Investment Decisions and Time Value of Money.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Students having successfully completed the course should be able to:

Prepare and interpret simple financial statements (income statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flows)
Distinguish financial accounting from managerial accounting
Identify trends in the business environment and use cost-benefit analysis to make business decisions
Identify ethical issues in managerial accounting decisions
Distinguish between job costing and process costing and use each method as appropriate to determine cost of goods sold
Use cost-volume-profit analysis to compute breakeven points and to perform sensitivity analyses
Prepare operating and financial budgets and use sensitivity analysis in budgeting
Prepare a flexible budget and use it to show why actual results differ from the static budget
Use activity-based management (ABM) to make business decisions
Appropriately use payback, accounting rate of return and discounted cash flow models to make short- and long-term capital budgeting decisions

TEXTBOOK:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number	Library Call Number	Comments	Format	Local Bookstore	Online Purchase
Accounting	Horngren, Nobles, Mattison and Matsumara	Pearson,	9781292056517

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
Class preparation and participation	The class participation grade will reflect preparation, attendance and quality and frequency of participation. Class preparation will require students to read all the assigned material and, at the end of each unit, to practice problems at home for further discussion in class. Class participation will help students understand the material better and build confidence in public speaking. In each class, I will ask a student to make a brief presentation of the material s/he prepared, but all students are encouraged to participate in almost every class at least once and if possible more than once, actively engaging in the debate. The instructor may also indicate university open lectures that are relevant to the course; students are expected to attend such lectures (unless there is a scheduling clash with another course) as part of their class participation activities. Assignments and deadlines will be posted on Moodle. Students are required to sign up and keep up to date with all Moodle postings for the course.	10%
Three Mid-Term Exams	The tests will consist of 4-5 problems and/or concept questions. This portion of the grade will consist of the simple average of the three tests; there will be no make-ups for missed tests, regardless of the justification. The specific dates of the tests will be posted on Moodle.	60%
Comprehensive Final Examination	The final examination is comprehensive and will test students on all the topics covered throughout the course. The exam will require the use of a financial calculator.	30%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the cou
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:

Students are expected to come to class and to arrive on time.

Absences: Students are encouraged to attend and participate in class as part of their learning. As the final is comprehensive, students who miss 3 classes or less will have the option of dropping TWO of the grades obtained in the Topic Tests (i.e. only the top seven grades will be averaged for that portion of the grade).

Tardiness: students arriving more than 5 minutes late for class will be marked as absence (though they may stay and follow the lesson).

Persistent absence or tardiness usually precludes satisfactory performance in the course, and will result in a lower class participation grade. In any case, students are responsible for all material covered by the syllabus and/or discussed in class, whether or not they are actually present.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

SCHEDULE AND ASSIGNMENTS

The following schedule is tentative and subject to change. The up-to-date schedule and assignments will be posted on Moodle.

Topic	Learning Outcomes
Introduction. Review of financial statements. Statement of Cash Flows.	Course roadmap. Syllabus. Differences between financial accounting and managerial accounting. Fundamentals of financial statements. Statement of Cash Flows, Direct Method.
Statement of Cash Flows: Purposes. Direct Method.	Understand the management uses of a Statement of Cash Flows Interpret meaning of uses and sources of cash Identify the purposes of the Statement of Cash Flows Distinguish among operating, investing and financing cash flows Prepare the Statement of Cash Flows by the indirect method Prepare the Statement of Cash Flows by the direct method
Financial Statement Analysis	Perform a horizontal analysis of financial statements Perform a vertical analysis of financial statements Prepare and use common-size financial statements Compute the standard financial ratios Assess the performance and health of a company on the basis of financial ratio analysis Understand the limitations of FSA
Job Costing	Distinguish management from financial accounting Classify costs and prepare an income statement for a service, merchandising or manufacturing company Understand the role of overhead allocation
Process Costing	Compute cost per unit under the process costing method Prepare a production cost report using the process costing method Journalize all transactions affecting a department or company that uses process costing
Activity Based Costing	Develop activity-based costs Use activity-based management to achieve target costs Understand problems in cost management Learn when and how to apply an activity-based costing system Calculate the cost of a product using ABC and compare traditional volume-based costing to ABC Evaluate the benefits and limitations of ABC system
Cost-volume-profit analysis	Understand the relationship between fixed and variable costs Identify how changes in volume affect costs Calculate the break-even point and the margin of safety Use CVP method to perform sensitivity analysis
The Master Budget	Learn why managers use budgets Understand the components of the master budget Prepare an operating budget Prepare a financial budget Use sensitivity analysis in budgeting
Flexible Budgets	Prepare a flexible budget for the income statement Prepare an income statement performance report Identify the benefits of standard costs and learn how to set standards Compute standard cost variances for direct materials and direct labor Analyze manufacturing overhead in a standard cost system Record transactions at standard cost and prepare a standard cost income statement
Short-term business decisions	Describe and identify information relevant to business decisions Make special order and pricing decisions Make dropping a product and product-mix decisions Make outsourcing and sell-as-is or process decisions
Time Value of Money	Use the time value of money to compute present and future values of single lump sums and annuities
Capital Budgeting	Describe the importance of capital investments and the capital budgeting process Use the payback and accounting rate of return methods to make capital investment decisions Use discounted cash flow models to make capital investment decisions