GSBA 510 USC Marshall School

GSBA 510 USC Marshall School

University of Southern California

Marshall School of Business

GSBA 510 Accounting Concepts and Financial Reporting

Fall 2015

Fundamentals of Financial Accounting

Randy Beatty

117 Accounting Building

email:

213-761-9186 (cell)

213-740-4828 (O)

310-546-9363 (H)

Class Meetings:Saturday 1:40 – 5:20 pm – JKP 202

Monday 6:00 – 9:40 pm – JKP 210

Office Hours: Saturday(1:00 – 1:40 pm) - 202 JKP;

Monday (4:30 – 5:30 pm) -117 ACCT Building;by appointment.

Virtual office hours on Go to Meeting.

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OUTLINE

  1. Course Objectives

This course is designed to provide a working knowledge of the fundamentals of financial accounting. We will pursue this objective by:

  1. covering rules, conventions, and approaches used in preparation of financial statements,
  2. understanding the core concepts of financial reporting,
  3. developing the skills to analyze financial statements,
  4. investigating various public sources of financial information used in capital markets, and
  5. considering the usefulness and limitations of financial statement analysis in specific

decision contexts.

With these objectives, we investigate the following topics:

  1. concepts, principles, and methods (GAAP & IFRS)
  2. financial statements (balance sheet, income statement, & cash flow statement),
  3. assets (current assets, PP&EQ, & Intangible assets),
  4. equities – liabilities (current & long-term) and stockholders’ equity,
  5. analysis of financial statements.

Learning Objectives

The successful student will be able to construct, compare and contrast accounting measures of operating returns and risks from publicly available financial reports. Students will be able to construct and interpret accounting based measures of financial risks facing equity and debtholders from financial statements. Additionally, students will be able to articulate the usefulness and limitations of accounting disclosures.

All students will be proficient in applying GAAP rules and conventions in the preparation of financial statements. All students will be able to construct the primary financial statements for a publicly traded firm from trial balances and they will be able to describe the typical structure, organization, and information contained in publicly available sources of accounting information (for example, annual reports, 10-Ks, and 10Qs). All students will be able to list and explain at least three major differences between GAAP and IFRS.

All students will be able to construct an analysis of financial statements and draw meaningful inferences concerning profitability, liquidity, and solvency for a medium size firm publicly traded firm. A significant proportion of students will be able to select accounting principles, conventions, implementation decisions, and estimates that would maximize reported net income or minimize financial risk measures (for example, Long-term Debt/Total Assets) for a particular year. All students will be able to describe management’s financial reporting choices and likely motivations.

  1. Course Materials
  1. Background Material

Internet Supplemental Undergraduate Class

Principles of Accounting

Larry M. Walther Professor at Utah State University

(WALTHER)

  1. Required Text

Financial Accounting: An Introduction to Concepts, Methods, and Uses, 14th Edition

by Weil,Schipper & Francis.(WSF)

  1. USC Blackboard Course Pages

All information for this course, including announcements, assignments, solutions and other resources will be posted on the USC Blackboard Course Pages under

If you have any questions or need assistance with the Blackboard Course Pages, please contact the Marshall Help Desk (Hoffman Hall Room 300, 213-740-3000 or .

Course Grade

The course grade is based on the following:

i.Mid-Term–October 3/5(Chapters 1-6) 25%

ii.Group Business Applications

  1. Aug 29/31 –Financial Statement Disclosures(15%)
  2. October 17/26- Operating and Financing Decisions (15%)

Subtotal30%

iii.Comprehensive Final Exam - (November 7th) 45%

Total 100%

Academic Integrity

Giving or receiving assistance from another person to advantage a student is considered academic dishonesty. Group work by its very nature requires the interchange of ideas, materials, and other forms of help to others. Thus, it is expected in group activities that you will be helping each other. However, individual assignments and examinations should be exclusively the work product of the MBA candidate with NO assistance from any other source. Any occurrence of academic dishonesty will be handled according to University policy.

Retention of Graded Work

Retained paperwork, unclaimed by students, will be discarded after December 31, 2016.

Course Plan:

Session / Date / WS&F Chapter(s) / Topic / ASSIGNMENTS[1]
1 / Aug 22 Aug 24 / 1 / Overview of Financial Statements / WSF Self-study: 1.33, & 1.35
Primary HW: 1.38 & 1.42
2 / The Basics of Record Keeping & Statement Preparation: Balance Sheet / WSF Self-study: 2.15 & 2.17
Primary HW: 2.18
3 / The Basics of Record Keeping & Statement Preparation: Income Statement / WSF Self-Study 3.13, 3.15 ,3.21
3.32
Primary HW: 3.28
2 / Aug 29
Aug 31 / 4 / Balance Sheet / WSF: Self-Study 4.13, 4.21, 4.23,
4.27, & 4.31
Primary HW: 4.18, 4.26, &4.32
5 / Income Statement / WSF: Self-Study 5.11, 5.19,5.27,
5.29
Primary HW: 5.12, & 5.28
Bus. App. #1: Financial Statement Disclosures
3 / Sept 12
Sept 14 / 6 / Cashflow Statement / WSF: Self-Study 6.23, 6.24, 6.29,
6.33 & 6.35
Primary HW: 6.26, 6.30, 6.34 &
6.44
Maleus Corp. – Construct Financial
Statements & Analysis
4 / Sep 19
Sep 28 / 7 / Introduction to Financial Statement Analysis / WSF: Self-Study 7.15, 7.23
Primary HW: 7.257.31
Session / Date / WS&F Chapter(s) / Topic / ASSIGNMENTS1
5 / Oct 3
Oct5 / Mid-term (Chapters 1-6)
8 / Revenue Recognition, Receivables, and Advances from Customers / WSF: Self-Study 8.19, 8.23, 8.35, & 8.49
Primary HW: 8.30, 8.48, &
8.50
6 / Oct 10
Oct 12 / 9 / Working Capital / WSF: Self-Study 9.15, 9.23,9.27,
& 9.44
Primary HW: 9.22, 9.33,
9.46
10 / Long-Lived Tangible and Intangible Assets / WSF: Self-Study 10.15, 10.17,10.20, & 10.21
Primary HW: 10.22, 10.24,
& 10.32
7 / Oct 17
Oct 26 / 11 / Notes, Bonds and Leases / WSF: Self-Study 11.17 , 11.21,
11.23, &11.29
Primary HW 11.22, 11.24, 11.28,
& 11.30
Bus. App. #2: Operating & Financing
Decisions
8 / OCT 31
Nov 2 / 15 / Shareholders’ Equity: Capital Contributions, Distributions, and Earnings / WSF: Self-Study 15.11 & 15.17
Primary HW: 15.26, 15.28
& 15.30
9 / Nov 7 / Final – Comprehensive

[1] WS&F refers to the Weil, Schipper, & Francis texts. Bold numbers refer to primary homework problems that all students should attempt. Italicized numbers refer to supplemental homework problems that may be attempted by students that wish some extra practice. Self-Study Problem answers with commentary will be available on Blackboard. While the student should attempt all of the primary problems in bold, not all of these problems will be explicitly covered in class. Solutions to all problems primary homework problems will be available electronically once the materials have been covered in class.

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