ACCT 252 Financial Accounting Taylor NMSU Spring, 2009 1 ACCT 252 -- Financial Accounting College of Business Administration New Mexico State University Course Outline Spring, 2009 Professor: Benjamin L. Taylor Gutherie Hall Rm 320 Office Phone: 575-646-7237 E-Mail: [email protected] Web-CT Address: http://salsa.nmsu.edu Office Hours: 13:30 – 14:30 MWF 08:00 – 10:00 TR and by appointment Class Meetings: Section M01 – 10:20 - 11:35 TR Hardman Hall, Rm 212 Section M02 – 11:45 -13:00 TR Hardman Hall, Rm 101 Course Objective: To introduce students to the basic concepts of financial accounting. Financial accounting statements are prepared mainly for investors, creditors and other interested external users. The main emphasis of this course will be on teaching the student to use accounting information. The course will provide enough knowledge of accounting to enable a person to use financial statements to assess a company's financial strengths and weaknesses. At the end of the course students 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. Upon 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.ACCT 252 Financial Accounting Taylor NMSU Spring, 2009 2 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 Project—annual report 100 Semester exams (4 each) 400 Final Exam (Comprehensive) 100 Total Points Available 700 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/Quizzes/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, submit your work 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. In addition, students may be asked to complete online quizzes before class or in class quizzes covering the topics for that day. 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 shows assignments due the following class period. Rather than collect homework, online or in class multiple choice quizzes over the chapter may be given. 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. Project: An annual report project will allow students to apply concepts from this course to an annual report of an existing company. You will select a company and complete a template using information about the company. Exams: There will be four regular semester 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, problems, and financial statement preparation. The final will include new topics and comprehensive coverage of topics covered in earlier exams. The grade earned on comprehensive portion of final exam may replace your lowest exam grade on an earlier exam. Course Standards:ACCT 252 Financial Accounting Taylor NMSU Spring, 2009 3 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. For students who are participating in university