Smeal College of Business Analytical Models: ACCTG 597EPennsylvania State University Professor HuddartCourse IntroductionInstructor: Steve Huddart Staff Assistant: Lara JacksonOffice: 354B Business Building Office: 354 Business BuildingPhone: 865–0041 Phone: 865–1809e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] Times: Monday and Wednesday, 1:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m. in 353 Business BuildingCourse ObjectivesThis course is designed to equip you to understand theories used inaccounting research and to give you some practice in formal economicmodeling. The course has two parts. The first part deals with contractingamong economic agents where the natureand availability of informationyields important strategic interactions. The second part deals with theoperation of capital markets, focusing particularly on the role of financialdisclosure.ReadingsThe text is Managerial Uses of Accounting Information, second edition,by Joel S. Demski, Springer, 2008.Important reference works are Economics of Accounting: Volume I,Information in Markets by Peter O. Christensen and Gerald A. Feltham,Springer, 2003 and Economics of Accounting: Volume II, PerformanceEvaluation by Peter O. Christensen and Gerald A. Feltham, Springer, 2005.The text will be supplemented by outside readings from other books andespecially journal articles.The course outline contains the readings to be completed and problemsto be worked on before each day’s class. The problems referenced in theoutline are from the Demski text so that, e.g., 2–12 indicates problem 12 atthe end of chapter 2.cSteven Huddart, 2001–2014. www.smeal.psu.edu/faculty/huddartACCTG 597E Course IntroductionClass OrganizationYour learning is enhanced by applying the underlying principles tospecific situations and contexts. Accordingly, you are expected to prepare inadvance problems and readings assigned for each class session.Time in class together should fall in the middle of the process by whichyou master a given topic in this course. It is very important that youdevelop a reasoned opinion on the issues before class. You should spendtime after class reviewing and organizing in your own mind the substance ofclass discussions.Workload and Performance EvaluationStudents will be graded on class participation, problems sets, and twoexaminations. Unless otherwise indicated, all problems listed in the courseoutline are to be turned in for a grade. Your participation grade is based ona subjective assessment of your contributions to class.While you are encouraged to discuss assignments with your classmatesafter you have turned them in, each of you must turn in original andindependent analyses of the assigned problems.Your final grade will be based on the following weights:(i) Assignments 30%(ii) Class Participation 30%(iii) Examinations 40%100%Examinations are closed book. During the exam, you are permittedto use a calculator. You are also permitted to bring to the exam a single81/2× 11 inch sheet of paper on which you may include whatever summaryinformation about the course you deem necessary.Smeal has established grade distributions for its courses. I will use theseas a guideline in setting grades, but will make adjustments as necessary toreflect clear distinctions in performance.Page 2Course Introduction ACCTG 597ENote to students whose mother tongue is not English. I think you deserverecognition for succeeding in a rigorous academic program in what, for you,is a foreign language. In order for this distinction to be real and meaningfulto you and your eventual employers, I do not make accommodations for theadded difficulties you may face in class participation, written assignments,and examinations except as follows: while I expect your written assignmentsto be free of misspellings and grammatical errors, I do not penalize youfor mistakes of idiom (i.e., I expect your written English to be clear andcorrect, but this does not mean that you must use the same turns of phraseand expressions as a native speaker of American English). I encouragethe formation of student groups composed of native and non-native Englishspeakers.Academic IntegrityThe learning process requires that you (as enrolled students, collectively)work through the course material independently of others who have studiedor are studying this same material. The learning process also requires thatyou complete individual assignments independently of others, and groupassignments independently of people not in your group. In preparing forclass and in reviewing after class, I encourage you to discuss the coursematerial with classmates currently enrolled in this course subject to certainlimitations. I consider:• cribbing answers to course assignments prepared by other students,presented in another section, or gathered from any other unattributedsource,• receiving lecture notes, case approaches, case analyses, solutions and thelike from persons not currently enrolled in my sections of this course,• distributing answers to course assignments where such distributionfacilitates academic dishonesty by another student,• distributing lecture notes, case approaches, case analyses, solutions andthe like to persons not currently enrolled in my sections of this course,• submitting for course credit an assignment containing analysis, discus-sion or calculations that are the product of someone whose name doesnot appear on the assignment, orPage 3ACCTG 597E Course Introduction• submitting for course credit in this class work done for credit in anotherclassto be violations of the the University Faculty Senate Policies for Students.It is also a violation of these policies to know of a violation and notreport it. This means you have a positive obligation to report cheating.If you are in doubt whether a particular act or omission would violatethese policies, ask me.You may read the University Faculty Senate Policies for Students §49–20“Academic Integrity” on line at:http://www.psu.edu/ufs/policies/47-00.html#49-20.More on Acadmic Integrity from the Dean’s OfficeAccording to the Penn State Principles and University Code of Conduct:Academic integrity is a basic guiding principle for all aca-demic activity at Penn State University, allowing the pur-suit of scholarly activity in an open, honest, and respon-sible manner. According to the Universitys Code of Con-duct, you must neither engage in nor tolerate academicdishonesty. This includes, but is not limited to cheating,plagiarism, fabrication of