BA 612

Financial Accounting Seminar

Syllabus and Course Schedule--Fall 1999

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Instructor: Dr. Johnson, 259 Rockwell, 491-6126 direct, 491-5102 department

Office

hours: Monday, Wednesday: 12:30-2:00 p.m.

Tuesday, Thursday: 9:30-10:30 a.m.; 3:00-3:30 p.m.

other days and times by appointment

Course

objectives: To explore the development of financial accounting theory and practice and selected contemporary issues.

Texts: # Wolk and Tearney, Accounting Theory, 4th ed., South-Western, 1997.

# Improving Business Reporting: A Customer Focus, aka the "Jenkins Committee" Report (available from the AICPA web page)

# Various journal and magazine articles (generally available from the internet)

Course

conduct: This is a seminar; accordingly, daily course conduct will involve in-depth discussion of the assigned readings. Responsibility for leading discussions will rotate among class members on a daily basis

Grading: Your semester grade will be based on total points earned according to the following:

Contributions to in-class discussion ............................. 100

Contributions for "class's choice" discussions ............... 10

Final exam .................................................................. 25

Total points possible ................................................... 135

Discussion leadership involves only what the term implies. The DL is not responsible for presenting the day's material. Accountability for the quality of each day's discussion rests with the class as a whole.

The class's choice assignment involves obtaining one or two good recent (i.e., late 1998-1999) practitioner articles related to financial accounting topics.

I reserve the right to change this syllabus and course schedule as may be necessary during the semester.

BA 612 Fall 1999 Course Schedule

Tuesday	Thursday
August 24 Welcome, introduction	August 26 Karen "Back from the U.S.S.R" Vasko tells us how she spent part of her summer; distribution of discussion leader assignments
August 31 Wolk & Tearney (WT) Ch 1 (including Appendix 1-A)	September 2 WT Ch 2
September 7 WT Ch 3	September 9 WT Ch 4
September 14 WT Ch 5 (including Appendix 5-A)	September 16 WT Ch 6
September 21 WT Ch 7	September 23 WT Ch 8
September 28 Library Day	September 30 WT Ch 9 (omit pp. 275-282) Reading: "The FASB Under Fire," Institutional Investor, November 1997
October 5 WT Ch 10	October 7 WT Ch 10 Reading: "How Companies Report Income," Journal of Accountancy, 5/98
October 12 Readings: Quality of Earnings	October 14 WT Ch 11
October 19 WT Ch 11	October 21 WT Ch 12
October 26 Readings: Earnings Management	October 28 WT Ch 13
November 2 WT Ch 14	November 4 WT Ch 15
November 9 Jenkins Committee Chs 1-3	November 11 Jenkins Committee Chs 4-6
November 16 Jenkins Committee Ch 7-8	November 18 WT Ch 17
November 23 Thanksgiving Break !!	November 25 Thanksgiving Break !!
November 30 WT Ch 18	December 2 WT Ch 19; Readings: Harmonizing International Accounting Standards
December 7 Readings: Class's Choice	December 9 Readings: Class's Choice
Final exam as scheduled by the University, week ending 12-17-99