Accounting Auditing Syllabus ACCTG 5510 FALL 2017

Instructor: Paige P. Witt, CPA

Office: SFEBB 8220B

Phone: 720.352.2578 (m)

Email:

Class Information

Section 001 – Monday & Wednesday, 10:45AM – 12:05PM, Room SFEBB 3106

Section 002 – Monday & Wednesday, 12:25 – 1:45PM, Room SFEBB 160

Office Hours

Monday & Wednesday 2:00 – 3:00PM

Tuesday & Thursday, generally available from 1:00 – 3:00PM – by appointment only

Virtual Office Hours

Anytime by email

Required Course Materials

Text: Auditing and Assurance Services, Arens, Elder, Beasley (Pearson, Sixteenth Edition).

Canvas: Additional reading material, lecture notes, copies of PowerPoint slides, and solutions to quizzes will be posted to Canvas during the semester. Prior to each class, you should access the

PowerPoint presentations so you can take notes during class.

Hand-held response “clicker” OR Free App – Turning Technologies. Older versions of the device work fine – please try to borrow a device if you do not already own. Free app is also available for smart phones. Please purchase the necessary license as well.

Course Description and Objectives

This course is an introduction to auditing and assurance services and will provide real-time, quality, audit instruction. The primary emphasis will be on the auditor’s decision-making process in both an audit of financial statements and an audit of internal control over financial reporting.

Students will find auditing/assurance relevant for varying reasons. Some may wish to pursue a career in public accounting. Others may find themselves interested in governmental auditing in such agencies as the State Auditors Office, General Accounting Office, Internal Revenue Service and other such regulatory bodies. Internal auditing is an option that often offers appeal in industry with the added feature that there may well be international travel. For most students, exposure to audits will be limited to the audit of companies with which they are employed. These individuals may actually be involved with the preparation for the auditor's attestation engagements. Most students will be users of audited financial information in one form or another. All of us are currently affected by the legislation and future regulation of the audit profession. It is a dynamic environment with ongoing changes in the regulatory and standards areas.

In order to facilitate the differing degrees of relevance, this course will cover each of these areas in some detail. The major focus of this course, however, will be on the assurance function and its relationship to auditors themselves, users of financial statements, and clients of CPAs.

Americans with Disabilities Act

The University of Utah seeks to provide equal access to its programs, services and activities for people with disabilities. If you will need accommodations in the class, reasonable prior notice needs to be given to the Center for Disability Services, 162 Olpin Union Building, 801-581-5020. CDS will work with you and the instructor to make arrangements for accommodations.All written information in this course can be made available in alternative format with prior notification to the Center for Disability Services.

Prerequisites

"C-" or better in ACCTG 5410 AND Full Major status in Accounting.

Important Dates to Remember

Events / Dates
Classes begin / Monday, August 21
Last day to add without a permission code / Friday, August 25
Last day to drop (delete) classes / Friday, September 1
Last day to withdraw from classes / Friday, October 20
Last day to reverse CR/NC option / Friday, December 1
Classes end / Thursday, December 7
Final exam period / Monday-Friday, December 11-15

Evaluation

Item Date Points

Participation/Professionalism Every class 10

Quizzes In-class 40

Cases See schedule 80

Exam I See schedule 50

Exam II See schedule 50

Exam III See schedule 50

Group Project / Paper See schedule 50

330

Grades are calculated on a modified curve at the discretion of the instructor. Often, in upper-level accounting classes, the curve tightens because of excellent performance by the entire class. The DESB requires that a certain GPA average is met at each level of the program.At the 5500 level, the class average is 3.0.A likely event is thatall students in the class mayperformexcellent on the projects and cases. As this occurs, it will shift the focus of your grade onto more individual work such as exams and participation.

Learning and Performance Mechanisms

ALL MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR GRADING MUST INCLUDE YOUR NAME, ID NUMBER, COURSE NUMBER AND SECTION TO RECEIVE CONSIDERATION!

Text Reading

Reading the text iscrucialfor understanding the concepts presented in this course. It isalmost impossible to adequately pass exams, and produce quality group papers if you do not read and understand the text. You are expected to read the chapters that will be discussed in class prior to the lecture and you will be quizzed on this material. Lectures assume you already know the material and take the subjects beyond the text and into the professional application.

Lectures/Discussions

Lectures and discussions will be offered for each chapter in the text. The lectures and discussions serve to review the subject matter and to bring real-time application and experience into the class. Lectures will evolve into discussions and your participation (questions, comments, etc.) is expected. There are many matters regarding the audit profession discussed in class that are not found inan academictextbook andthis informationwill be tested on exams. The PowerPoint slides that I supply are only structured outlines and will not be sufficient to studywithout your notes from class. Cases (see below) will be discussed in class for further clarity and these discussions are important for note-taking and study.

Although I hope you find the lectures useful, attending lectures alone will not provide you with the level of proficiency you need to succeed in this course or in your future career. It is essential that you be prepared to make a substantial out-of-class investment in the readings and assignments (estimated 2-3 hours for each hour in class). Class attendance is expected.

Quizzes

Quizzes are the means by which you will determine whether you know the material in the text well enough to move forward. There will be a quiz most class periods and these will be part of your course grade. You will be required to have atleast 50% correct to receive credit; however, you may miss one quiz without an impact on your grade.

Cases

Once you have performed the required reading,cases are an effective means of givingyou real-world application skillsand preparing you for the upcoming exams. There will be atleast onecasegiveninevery major section (see syllabus calendar). Cases may be turned in by your case groups of 3 to 5students (ideal group size is 4 students).You should organize your groups on your own. This should be done on the first day of class. Please self-enter the students’ names in your case group on Canvas under “People”. Do not put any student’s name on a case that did not significantly assist in its preparation! The cases are research based and will require your exploration of theProfessional Standards. This literatureis generally available on line. All group members will receive the same score (good, bad or ugly).Much of the case materials researched will also be tested in exams.

Exams

Exams are not the most desirable tool available for preparing you for auditing careers or related fields. However, many of you will wish to take the CPA exam to advance in your careers. As such, you will be given the opportunity to practice audit questions that may be similar to thosefound on professional exams. You will also be graded on your performance of your exams. There will betwo midterms administered during the semester and a final exam at the end of the semester (see syllabus calendar). These exams are 50 multiple choice questions worth one point each.There is an adequate amount of information that must be studied from the text, cases,and the lectures to perform well on the exams. Make-up exams will not be offered for the exams. I will attempt to arrange an alternative session if you are unable to attend the exam at the designated time for a legitimate reason. A legitimate reason includes permission from the graduate or undergraduate office or a medical professional. Permission must be obtained prior to the exam unless there is an emergency.

Group Project

A vital strategy in preparing you for auditing involves sharpening your communications and interactive skill sets. The ability to work well in teams is crucial to performing proficiently as an auditor. Auditing requires not only improving your own competencies, but pulling from the resources around you to effectively achieve the task at hand. You will have the opportunity to experience this as you work with several of your classmates to achieve a quality group project. The instructor will assign students into groups during the first week of classes. Student groups should start this project within the first three weeks of the semester. The project entails both a paper and a presentation and details are available in the “Group Projects” section of this syllabus. Attendance is mandatory for all students on presentation days (even if your group is not presenting) and your participation score will be directly affected for a no-show.After all the presentations have been made in class, there will be a class discussion and quiz on all the group presentations the last day of class. The results of this quiz, your attendance at all the presentations, as well as your paper and presentation will all affect your group project grade.

Class Attendance/Participation/Respect/Professionalism

The University expects regular attendance at all class meetings. This is your education. Take ownership of your investment in this class by contributing (quality information) in class discussions and lectures. Participation shows the instructor your concern for the subject matter and will directly affect your overall grade in the class. In addition to class attendance, promptnessand individual class input, you must actively participate with your group in order to score high in your participation grading.

Disruptive or disrespectful members of the class will lose all participation points. I grade youin this areafor two reasons. First, I do not believe you can learn auditing if you do not attend your classes. Second, it is disrespectful if you are late, inattentive ordisruptive. I owe this to the majority of the students who come to listen, participate and learn. Your upper-level accounting courses are designed to support a respectful and professional environment. If a student fails to show respect, maturity and professionalism in the classroom environment, he or she will likely struggle in a post-academic, career environment.The only warning you may receive that you are unprofessional is the unfavorable reactions of other students around you. As you are all adults, the professor will probably not take you aside and ask you to be less disruptive. Also, if you fail to participate periodically (ask good questions, give relevant input), you will lose some participation points and this may be sufficient to lower your grade one level.

This Auditing class will prepare you for your future career.

Engage yourself and take ownership of your involvement in our class!!

Plagiarism Policy

"Plagiarism" means the unacknowledged use or incorporation of any other person's work in, or as a basis for, one's own work offered for academic consideration or credit, or for public presentation. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, representing as one's own, without attribution, any other person's words, phrasing, ideas, sequence of ideas, information or any other mode or content of expression. It does not include honest error.

Aside from brief, well documented references for research purposes, do not copy and paste information obtained from the Internet into your papers. Even re-wording information can be considered plagiarism. Do not use papers written for other courses for credit in this course.Do not use the work previously done for this course by other students. You should, however, be resourceful and find relevant articles and papers, perform interviews and hold group discussions/analyses to produce a quality paper. Be sure to provide footnotes and/or a bibliography in your papers. It's simple, don't plagiarize!

Also, the use of test banks or any other information from the publisher (other than the text or solutions provided to the entire class) is expressly forbidden. The use of such information is considered cheating.

Statement of Professional and Ethical Conduct

Because of the importance of professional and ethical behavior in business, and its emphasis in our program, professional or academic misconduct is not tolerated in the David Eccles School of Business. Students are expected to adhere to the standards of behavior outlined in the University of Utah Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities (Policy 6-400). Students engaging in behavioral misconduct could be subject to suspension or dismissal from the University. Students involved in any form of academic misconduct, including but not limited to cheating on tests, plagiarism and collusion may, at the instructor's discretion, receive a failing grade in the course, examination, or academic assignment. In addition to or instead of this sanction, the instructor may refer the case to the Student Behavior Committee for hearing. If the instructor chooses not to do so, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, after appropriate investigation, may do so along with a recommendation to dismiss the student from the Business School. If, after hearing the evidence, the Committee determines that the student in question is guilty of the misconduct charged, the Committee may impose sanctions in addition to those taken by the professor. If the academic dishonesty is not proven, the instructor must rescind any sanctions imposed and will be required to evaluate the student's performance with the assumption that there has been no misconduct. The School will treat the student likewise. If a student suspects another student of academic misconduct, he/she should refer the incident to the instructor, the appropriate department, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, or the Student Behavior Committee, administered by the Associate Dean of Students, 270 Union.

Disclaimer

Some of the writings, lectures, films, or presentations in this course include material that some students may find offensive. Please review the syllabus carefully to see if the course is one that you are committed to taking. If you have a concern, please discuss it with me sooner rather than later.