ACCT 252 -- Financial Accounting College of Business Administration New Mexico State University Summer, 2007 Professor: Sherry K. Mills, Ph.D., CPA Business Complex Building, Room 335 Office Phone: 646-5681 E-Mail: [email protected] Web-CT Address: http://salsa.nmsu.edu Office Hours: MTuWTh 9:30-10:00 AM and by appointment Class Meetings: Monday-Thursday 10:20 AM to 12:20 PM, Guthrie Hall, Rm GU101 Prerequisite: ACCT 251, Managerial Accounting for business majors. Course Objective: To introduce students to the basic concepts of financial accounting. Companies prepare financial statements primarily for investors, creditors and other interested external users. In this course, we emphasize the use of financial accounting information to prepare financial statements and to assess a company's financial strengths and weaknesses. At the end of the course you should be able to 1. List the purpose of the four required financial statements 2. Create a balance sheet, income statement and retained earnings statement 3. Define assets, liabilities, stockholders’ equity, revenues and expenses 4. State the accounting equation and illustrate how changes affect it 5. Explain the difference between cash and accrual bases of accounting 6. Prepare basic journal entries 7. Prepare adjusting entries 8. Compute and analyze basic ratios Required Materials: • Financial Accounting. Kimmel, Weygandt, and Kieso, 4th ed. Wiley Publishing • Scantron forms 882-ES, one per exam Learning Methods: You have the opportunity to learn from lectures, in class team activities, and writing tasks. Ask questions frequently in class. Please come to class well prepared and ready to participate actively in class discussions by reading the material before each session, and attempting assigned homework problems and exercises. Other resources: Powerpoint presentations, self-study quizzes and self tests for each chapter are available at Http://wiley.com/college/kimmel. You will see the book. On the right side of it, you will click on “student companion site”. A graduate assistant will also be available. ACCT 252 Financial Accounting Mills NMSU Summer II, 2007 1Upon registering for this course you will enrolled in the WebCT Page for this course. You may access it via the Internet at http://salsa.nmsu.edu. You will be expected to visit this site regularly and use it as one of the key tools for this course. Grade Composition: Determination of the final course grade will be based on the cumulative points you earn from the following evaluations: Element Points Homework/Participation 100 Semester exams (4 each) 400 Final Exam (Comprehensive) 150Total Points Available 650 Grades are guaranteed according to the following scale: A: 90% and above, B: 80-89%, C: 70-79%, D: 60-69%, F: below 60% A grade of “C” or better must be earned to qualify as satisfactory performance on an S/U option for undergraduates. Graduate students must earn a grade of “B” or better to qualify as satisfactory performance under an S/U option. There will be NO extra credit projects available to individual students. Homework/Participation: Homework assigned for a particular day must be completed prior to that meeting day. You should be prepared to submit any assigned problem in the chapter being discussed that has not yet been covered in class. An acceptable solution is one from which the instructor can infer that you have made a genuine attempt to learn the content of the assignment. NO LATE HOMEWORK WILL BE ACCEPTED. If you must be gone for a particular class meeting, arrange to have someone else bring your homework or hand it in early. The homework may be picked up on a random basis and graded upon effort. Or, students may submit responses to homework on a separate sheet of paper. A solutions manual will be available for you to check your answers prior to class time. The assignments for this course can be found in this syllabus and on WebCT under the Assignments icon, arranged by class date. The “Work Due” column states what assignments are due on each class day. Participation: 1. I expect to start classes promptly and end promptly according to the published class schedule times. I expect students to come on time and prepared to learn. I expect students to behave professionally in class. Permission to attend and participate in class is contingent upon such non-disruptive and appropriate behavior. 2. Excessive absences, aside from impact on in-class assignments, will have negative consequences. Most important is the lost learning opportunity, followed by low performance on exams. In accordance with university policy, the instructors reserve the right to administratively withdraw students from the class for lack of attendance. ACCT 252 Financial Accounting Mills NMSU Summer II, 2007 2Exams: There will be four regular exams and a final. The exams will be based upon text material, homework assignments and class discussion and will consist of multiple choice questions, matching and problems. The final will be comprehensive. For regular excused absences, the student has the option of taking the exam early (however not more than two weekdays prior to the exam day) or allowing the final exam to be worth 250 possible points. An absence can only be considered excused if it meets university guidelines and the student has informed the instructor of his/her absence prior to the exam. For students who are participating in university activities, a letter from the sponsoring department must be provided a week prior to the activity. These students will have the additional option of taking a makeup exam during finals week at an agreed upon time. Course Standards: Absences: Regular attendance is expected. You are responsible for all materials covered and announcements made during class. To receive an excused absence for university for health reasons, you must provide a signed document excusing you from class that day. Students who miss an exam for a legitimate and documented reason will substitute their final exam score for the missed exam. Grades for all assignments will be posted to the “My Grades” section of WebCT. You have 1 week from the time grades are posted to dispute a grade. After this 1 week period, the grade will be locked and can not be changed. Dishonesty: