Smeal College of Business Pennsylvania State University Managerial Accounting B A 521 Professor Huddart Course Introduction Instructor Office Phone e mail Office Hours Steven Huddart 340 Business Building 865 3271 huddart psu edu Staff Assistant Office Phone e mail Lara Wilks 354 Business Building 865 1809 ljw21 psu edu Tuesday 9 30 a m to 10 20 a m Wednesday 11 00 a m to 11 50 a m Thursday 9 30 a m to 10 20 a m Course Objectives This course emphasizes the use of accounting information for internal purposes as opposed to the external disclosure focus of the financial accounting course We shall cover the vocabulary and mechanics of cost accounting and the design of management accounting systems for planning and controlling operations and for motivating personnel The course integrates accounting with ideas from data analysis decision analysis finance microeconomics and operations management There are four themes we shall stress throughout the course information is costly allocations arise because markets are absent different costs apply for different purposes and what gets measured gets attention Readings The text is Accounting for Decision Making and Control 6th edition by Jerold L Zimmerman Boston MA McGraw Hill Irwin 2009 ISBN 9780 07 0337948 7 You can probably make do with an earlier edition but be aware the page numbers and problem references in the course outline refer to the latest edition c Steven Huddart 1995 2009 All rights reserved www personal psu edu sjh11 B A 521 Course Introduction The coursepack contains questions caselets cases and articles The problems referenced in the outline e g P2 14 University Tuition Benefits are from the text Class Organization The course outline lists readings from the text articles lecture notes questions problems caselets and cases to be prepared for each class Reading the assigned text material in advance is essential for each class The articles are included to increase your awareness of management accounting practices The lecture notes summarize key ideas Your learning is enhanced by applying the underlying principles to specific situations and contexts I expect you to prepare in advance all of the questions problems caselets and cases The questions and problems should be straightforward You need not submit solutions to the questions and problems They serve primarily to stimulate discussion or to illustrate the mechanics of certain accounting techniques Unless you tell me are having difficulty with a particular problem or question little class time will be spent on them The caselets and cases are tough I do not expect you to have mastered them before coming to class I expect you to have invested three hours tackling the issues in the case by reading the background materials absorbing the facts in the case thinking about the issues and pushing the numbers The difficulties you encounter with this material will be the basis for our class discussions Since they are tough and often open ended few of you will have completely solved them before class Everyone should have attempted them I expect each of you to be willing to lead the class to the point where you got stuck and explain why you got stuck The bulk of class time will be spent on the cases It is my philosophy that our time in class together should fall in the middle of the process by which you master a given topic in this course I think it is very important that you develop a reasoned opinion on the issues before class Independent thinking before class is a low risk opportunity to practice your analytical skills and develop a manager s perspective on important business issues In class approaches to the problem that differ from your own will emerge You may find your view of a situation changing as class progresses I think this is the most productive learning experience I can help create I recommend you spend time after class reviewing and organizing in your own mind the substance of our discussion Page 2 Course Introduction B A 521 I suggest dividing your time outside class on a given topic as follows 80 before class and 20 after class Resist the temptation to neglect the last 20 It is easy to overinvest before class and underinvest after class because you want to get a jump on the next topic 1 Reviewing the material from the last class is essential to mastering that topic Also review is often excellent preparation for the next topic It is normal to flounder a bit in preparing for class Be strict with yourself about the amount of time you invest in a topic before class Recognizing where you got stuck and why you got stuck is a big step in tackling the cases Give yourself credit for this Do not spend globs of time perfecting an analysis for next class if you have yet to internalize the last class I often start class by asking many questions Partly I do this to gauge your understanding of the issues what you found easy about the day s assignment and what you found hard Based on your answers I decide on the fly and somewhat imprecisely the issues to emphasize in the discussion Please recognize that your responses are critical to steering the class The more you contribute the more the class is tailored to suit your interests and needs Workload and Performance Evaluation You are encouraged to work on most assignments in groups Each of you must turn in original analyses for four case assignments i e all the caselets and or cases assigned for that day For these assignments you need turn in only one solution per group Group members will receive the same grade for these assignments To ensure that all group members contribute to the assignments each group member will be asked to evaluate the effort of the others at the end of the term I shall take these evaluations into account when I assign grades for the course Case writeups may not exceed two single spaced 12 point font 1 inch margin typewritten pages Appendices for calculations and exhibits are permitted You may choose which assignments you turn in subject to the following constraint You must turn in an at least one assignment each week we meet Assignments are due at the beginning of the class in which the problems and 1 You may tell yourself that you can catch up on the last topic when there is more time Probably there won t be more time Page 3 B A 521 Course Introduction cases are discussed Keep a copy of each assignment you turn in so you can refer to it during class The assignments will be graded as either A B C D or F These