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PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY

THE GEORGE L. GRAZIADIO


SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

PROFESSOR: John Briginshaw

COURSE NUMBER: ACCT 652.24

COURSE NAME: Accounting Information and Control Systems

TRIMESTER/YEAR: Spring 2011

DAY OF CLASS: Thursday

CLASS TIMES: 6-10 p.m.

UNIVERSITY CENTER: West LA

SYLLABUS
Wk Date TOPICS AND CHAPTERS Homework Due
1 13-Jan-11 Accounting Statements and Transaction Analysis Q1-14, M1-21, M2-19, E2-28
FAM Ch 1-3 (including Appendix 1B)
2 20-Jan-11 Introducing Cash Flow and Financial Ratios E1-28, M2-21, M2-26*, M3-12*, M4-
FAM Ch. 4 and Appendix B (at back of book) 21, M4-23
Compound interest review and NPV
FAM Appendix 8A
3 27-Jan-11 MINI TEST P B-36 (see appendix B at back of
Analyzing Operating Income book), P4-39#, M5-16, E5-25, E8-34
FAM Ch 5 (use formulae)
4 3-Feb-11 Reporting and Analyzing Operating Assets M5-17, P5-38, M6-13, M6-16, M6-17,
FAM Ch 6 M6-18, M7-19
5 10-Feb-11 Reporting and Analyzing Nonowner (Debt) Financing E6-25, E6-31*, E6-34, M8-8*, M8-9,
FAM Ch 8 M8-20, E8-26
FAM Ch 10: Operating Leases only (pp. 10-1 to 10-12)
6 17-Feb-11 Reporting and Analyzing Owner (Equity) Financing E8-24, E8-36*, M9-19*, E9-38, E9-39,
FAM Ch 9 M10-11
Airlines case hints n tips
7 24-Feb-11 Operating Assets and Depreciation
Case: Depreciation at Delta and Singapore Airlines Airlines case write-up
Midterm Review
8 3-Mar-11 MIDTERM EXAM
9 10-Mar-11 M1: Introducing Managerial Accounting Problem sheet MA1
M2: Cost Behavior and CVP Analysis
M3: Relevant Costs and Decision Making
10 17-Mar-11 M4: Job Costing Problem sheet MA2
M5: Activity Based Costing Also preliminary hand-in of financial
Wilkerson case Hints n Tips analysis project (draft) for feedback.
11 24-Mar-11 Activity Based Costing (Case) Wilkerson Case Write-up.
Case: Wilkerson Company
M6: Operational Budgeting
12 31-Mar-11 Financial Analysis Presentations Group: Financial Analysis projects.
Individual: Budgeting problem (MA3a)
13 7-Apr-11 Course Summary and Final Exam Review P2-47, P4-36 to P4-38#, E6-22, E6-33,
E8-31, Problem sheet MA3b
14 14-Apr-11 FINAL EXAM

* Show financial statement effects template or debit and credit method representation
# For these questions, calculate all the ratios shown in exhibit 4.5
Accounting Information and Control Systems
ACCT 652.24
Spring 2011

Day/Class time: Thursday, 6-10 p.m.


Location: West LA Campus (WLA)

Professor’s Name: John Briginshaw


Office: 450
E-mail address: john.briginshaw@pepperdine.edu

Course Description

This is a course which introduces the two main areas of accounting: financial and
managerial accounting.

This course provides a structural model of business and its operation. Financial accounting
information is examined as a means to make rational strategic decisions. Students learn to
gauge a firm’s position of liquidity and profitability. Business operating cycles are
explained. Pro forma and budgeted financial statements are constructed using Excel®
spreadsheets. Traditional and globally competitive management control systems are
critiqued for their utility in guiding management’s resource allocation decisions.

Course Objectives

1. To allow students to gain understanding of key concepts in financial and


managerial accounting
2. To give students the confidence to discuss accounting issues in the workplace
setting
3. To allow students to grow academically and professionally by independent study,
group work and by classroom interactions with the professor and other students
4. To give students a grounding in accounting terminology and thinking
5. To help students think about how accounting information is used in decision
making in the firm using case studies

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COURSE MATERIALS

Textbook (required)

Financial Accounting for MBAs (“FAM”) Fourth edition


by Peter D. Easton, John Wild, Robert Halsey, Mary Lea McAnally
Publisher: Cambridge Business Publishers; 4th edition (2010)
ISBN-10: 1934319341
13 Digit ISBN: 978-1-934319-34-5
website: http://www.cambridgepub.com/mbafinancialaccounting_ed4/
Publisher Telephone: 888-606-8398 (ordering)

Case studies (required)

Harvard Cases
1. Depreciation at Delta Air Lines and Singapore Airlines (A) (Product#: 9-198-001)
2. Wilkerson Co. (Product#: 9-101-092)

Textbook and case studies may be obtained from the campus bookstore.

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IDEAS ON HOW TO STUDY FOR THIS COURSE

Some students find accounting to be a difficult course, since it has high demand on
quantitative skills and there is a lot of material to cover, so these hints are offered.

Pre-lecture preparation is vital. Firstly, skim-read the assigned chapter(s) - with your
calculator by your side – to ensure that you can follow the calculations that are shown as
examples. Next, do the homework. Each homework problem has the relevant “Learning
objective” (LO) noted next to it – this refers you back to the relevant section in the book so
that you can follow examples and read in detail the explanatory passages, while doing the
homework. The homework is a key part of the course.

Before lectures, photocopy homework so that you can refer to it in lecture (since the
homework must be handed in at the start of lecture), and make notes on the copy or
original (whichever one you do not hand in) as homework problems are discussed. Also
print out a copy of the lecture slides to make notes on. Carefully follow examples on the
board, make notes as you feel appropriate, and ask questions if you cannot understand
items. If you do not feel comfortable asking question in front of the class, you can talk to
the professor privately during office hours or by making an appointment. Not all
homework problems are discussed in class due to time constraints, but solutions are posted
to all assigned problems on the “Sakai” system (courses.pepperdine.edu) – you should
download the solutions and reconcile them with your homework as soon as possible after
doing the homework.

Before exams, how much work you need to do depends on how much you did in the
preceding weeks. The first things to review are the homework problems, to recheck if
there are any parts of the answers you do not understand. Next, review lecture notes and
the book, paying particular attention to “mid module review” problems. If you wish to do
extra problems from the text book, you can email the professor your answer and he will
check it. Unless mentioned in the syllabus (Appendices B, 1B and 8A are part of the
course), you are not responsible for material contained in the appendices to the textbook.

Typically, instructors across the MBA suggest that students spend 2 hours on class
preparation for each hour of lecture time, meaning 8 hours per week. In accounting,
however, the amount of time you need will depend very much on your aptitude for the
subject - it may be somewhat less, but it may be much more than 2 hours per lecture hour.
For example, if you have a quantitative background (such as an undergraduate
qualification in engineering, physics or math) you will be able to solve most of the
problems (and attempt the others, thus achieving full marks) and read ahead for lectures in
8 hours per week. If you are involved in accounting, costing or financial analysis in your
employment, you may even be able to dispose of the homeworks more quickly. If you do
not have much background or facility with numbers and do not use accounting or financial
analysis in your job, you will have to devote at least 3 hours per hour of lecture. Note that
it is not advanced mathematical knowledge that is needed (the course does not, for
example, require any calculus) but a facility with calculating percentages, ratios and
ranking numbers.

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GRADING (SUMMARY)

Overall course grades will be based on:

Mini-test in week 3 10%


Midterm in week 8 20%
Final examination in week 14 (last week) 30%
Homework and Attendance 10%
Project and Presentation due in week 12 15%
Case Write ups due in weeks 7 and 11 5%
Class Participation 5%
Case Participation 5%
Total 100%

Letter grades will be awarded based on relative performance within the class (“curve”). In
accordance with accounting department policy, average GPA of the class will be between
3.1 and 3.4. Historically, the main reasons for disappointing grades have been poor
performance in exams and not completing the homeworks.

Examinations (60%)

Examinations will be closed book. All examinations will begin at 6pm on the appropriate
day. Multiple choice questions will be answered on scantron forms, which are available
for purchase at the student bookstore. Please bring a scantron form, soft pencil and eraser
to class on exam days. Calculators which are not capable of storing text may be used.
(Cell-phone or PDA calculators may not be used).

The mini-test will consist of multiple choice questions only and will last for one hour and
twenty minutes. The midterm and final exams will consist of multiple choice questions
and short written problems, and will last for three hours. There will be no breaks in the
examinations, and in recognition of this students will be released at the close of the
midterm and final examinations (but not the mini-test). All examinations will be
“comprehensive” (i.e. questions on the examinations may refer to any course topic covered
up to that point, even if that topic has already been covered in a previous exam), but with
an emphasis on the course work which most immediately precedes the exam.

You should expect examinations to be slightly more challenging than those in similar
classes, even though the material we are studying is the same. Since the course is graded
on a curve, this allows examinations to be set which give a wider distribution of percentage
marks, which increases the fairness of final letter grades. For example, a good student will
not drop from an A to a B+ just because he or she is careless and misses one or two
questions. The distribution of final letter grades, however, will be the same as for
concurrent and previous ACCT 652 classes.

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Make-up Exam Policy

Make-up exams are offered only in the event of cause such as serious illness requiring
unscheduled overnight hospitalization of the student, spouse or children, in the event of
death in the immediate family, or similar events. Supporting documentation (doctor’s
letter, death certificate, other documentation) will be required.

Make-up exams or assignments for other reasons are not normally offered, and are not
offered at all for homework or for group work of any kind. In the event of the professor
granting a make-up for an examination for other reasons than illness requiring unscheduled
hospitalization or death
1) The grade will not be curved and will follow the Pepperdine University guideline
90-100% A, 80-90% B etc (ordinarily course exams are curved)
2) The make-up must be taken in the week immediately following the main exam.

Homework and Attendance (10%)

For accounting, there is really no other way to learn than to work the problems yourself.
Please hand in a photocopy of your homework at the beginning of the class – you can then
mark up your own copy in class and when looking at the solutions (which will be
published on the web). Since we will go over some of the problems in class, no late
homeworks will be accepted.

You must be present in class and personally hand in your homework to receive credit
for it. No mailed, emailed or faxed homework is accepted and, since homework is used to
track attendance, you may not ask a friend to hand in your homework. Lowest scoring two
homeworks are excluded when calculating the homework percentage.

Homework will be graded on the following simple scale:


0/2 – no homework handed in, homework handed-in late, homework handed-in at different
campus or on different day, homework emailed, homework mailed or homework faxed
1/2 – only part of the homework attempted
2/2 – all parts of the homework attempted.

There is no premium for perfect work, so do not be afraid to experiment and “have a go”
even if you are not sure of the method.

However, homework must be your own work. Copying is strongly discouraged and, if
detected, will open you to University sanctions as discussed on the last page, as well as
getting an “F” grade in the course. Even if copying is not detected, copiers will be in for a
shock at exam time - without prior practice they will have no clue what to do.

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Project (15%)

15% of the grade will be a group project in which you carry out a financial analysis of 3-4
competitor companies. The companies must be quoted on the NYSE or NASDAQ. This
project should be carried out in groups of between 3 and 5. Groups of other sizes or
individual persons doing a project will receive a maximum grade of 7.5% out of the
available 15% (half marks). The project will consist of producing an 8-12 page report
(page count includes tables, exhibits and any other content), a 15 minute presentation, and
a copy of the Excel spreadsheet analysis of the company and competitors.

It is almost impossible to evaluate the performance and accounting policies of a company


without comparing it to other companies, for this reason you are asked to compare three to
four companies in the same industry.

The four key areas of content in the report are:-


 Compare and contrast companies selected (1-2 pages max)
 Financial performance
o calculate past 5 years of ratios as shown in exhibit 4.5 from the textbook
and also calculate annual revenue growth for each year
o show charts of most interesting ratios and discuss in detail how they
compare between companies and the reasons for differences
o discuss reasons for any discontinuities
o calculate and discuss industry-specific ratios and any other interesting
financial indicators
 Discuss accounting policies
o key areas such as depreciation policies and timescales, inventory valuation,
other accounting policies which are different between the firms and/or are
important
o which companies have the most conservative policies (“conservative” –
least likely to overstate income and assets)
 Future prospects
o what do trends in the financial ratios suggest for the future?
o 5 forces analysis (exhibit 1.9) and what this suggests for the future

Feedback on your group’s project is available if you hand-in a draft two classes ahead of
the due date.

Please see page 2 for the project due date. The project write-up is to be handed in at start
of class, presentations will be given during class. Please be nice and stay to listen to the
others after your presentation(!). Excel spreadsheets showing the financial analysis must
also be submitted on CD-ROM.

Assistance on analyzing the company’s financial performance is found in Chapter 4 of the


FAM textbook. Analysis of accounting policies will require integrating the understanding
from all of the first section of the course (financial analysis). Analyzing the future
prospects of the company can and should incorporate understanding of the company’s

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business from your studies in other parts of the MBA, such as assessment of its strategy
(example – Porter analysis see figure 1.9). From the accounting standpoint, the plotting of
trends in past data can be a useful starting point in predicting future performance, as
discussed in chapter 11 of the FAM textbook.

Your data sources should be original 10-K forms or company annual reports
incorporating the 10-K data, rather than data from online databases or other sources. This
is important because reading the original reports will expose you to the diversity of data
available and also because the 10-Ks include information on company accounting policies
that you will need in order to analyze the firms’ accounting conservatism. Companies
often make their 10-K forms available for download from their websites.

The project will be graded based on assessment of the following items:-


 Write-up clarity and appearance (extra weighting)
 Choice of competitor companies and discussion in the write-up
 Analysis of company’s financial performance and comparison to competitors’
performance in the write-up (extra weighting)
 Analysis of company’s accounting policies and comparison to the accounting
policies of competitors in the write-up
 Discussion of future prospects based on the accounting data and strategic analysis
 Quality and content of oral presentation (extra weighting)
 Ability to answer questions during the oral presentation
 Excel model: model is easy to understand, formulae are linked to the raw data

Grading on any group work, including the project, may include information based on
student peer evaluations from group members.

Case write-ups (5%)

5% of the grade will be based on your write-ups of the two cases listed in the syllabus grid.
These case write-ups should be carried out in groups of between 3 and 5. Groups of other
sizes or individual persons doing case write-ups will receive a maximum grade of 2.5% out
of the available 5%. Case write-ups are due at the start of the relevant class. Case
questions to address in your write-ups are posted on the “Sakai” system. As you will see
noted on the syllabus grid, I will give some hints and tips on each case at the previous
class, however, I would advise you to read the cases before then to get a flavor of their
subject matter and the questions they discuss. The cases should be purchased from the
campus bookstore.

A case write-up should be between 2 and 4 pages in length (page count to include any
tables, appendices or any other content), and should include your group’s view on what
decisions the company at the center needs to make, backed by the relevant numbers. There
is often a lot of interesting discussion on other issues in the cases, but for the purposes of
this course you need to focus on the accounting. There is no need to give an introduction
repeating or summarizing the situation depicted by the case, and extraneous information on
the company will attract no extra credit. Also, looking back at the historical record, which

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is now often easy using the internet, and stating what the company actually did is not
helpful – the case is intended to encourage you to reason based on the (incomplete)
information that the firm had at the time the case is set.

As mentioned above, specified case questions (posted on the Sakai system) will help to
guide your write-up. Frequently the first question is a simple numerical example of the
accounting principle the case hinges on, and the following questions look at the specifics
of the case. The case discussions in class will consist mainly of students describing and
justifying the decisions that they made in the case write-ups. I will guide the discussion
but you will do nearly all of the talking.

What scores well in the write-ups is fact-based reasoning: in other words, for decisions or
arguments you make you should be able to point to evidence from the case that supports
you. There is not always enough information in the case to stay on a firm evidence-based
platform, but you should seek this platform as a goal. What lifts a good write-up to the
“great” level is combining that fact based thinking with innovative ideas and solutions,
based on the case or from your external knowledge, but which are relevant in the situation
the case describes, and which are sensible and achievable. Be wary of prescriptions of a
very general nature, such as “the company needs to make these customers more profitable”
or “there needs to be more sales effort” – if the actions required were obvious, they would
have already been done.

Class Participation and Case Participation (10%)

Attendance is necessary but not sufficient for gaining class participation points. Maximum
points will be gained for regular helpful comments and input, for assisting colleagues in
their learning and helping move the class forward. A passing grade will require
responsiveness to instructor questions and some unprompted comments and input. Staying
quiet all trimester will result in a low grade!

Your efforts in the case discussions are particularly important and will account for half of
the 10% allocated. Your standard of preparation for the case study discussion should be
as follows:-
 You should be prepared to verbally answer all of the case study questions without
extensive reference to your group write-up or asking for hints from colleagues
 You should have a clear idea of the reasoning by which your group has answered
each question and be able to clearly explain that reasoning verbally
 You should be prepared to discuss accounting issues related to the case, even if
they are not specifically mentioned in the case questions
 You should be prepared to discuss extensions and business issues related to the
case and to the case questions

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Attendance Policy

Attendance at all class meetings is expected. Failure to attend may cause a loss of class
participation and homework points, missing hints and other useful information.
Attendance at first class is necessary to maintain registration.

Communication

Please regularly check your Pepperdine email account and also the Sakai system, which
can be accessed at courses.pepperdine.edu. In the event you do not wish to access your
Pepperdine email, have the email permanently forwarded using the instructions at
http://services.pepperdine.edu/it/email/redirect/students.htm

Plagiarism

Copying, quoting or paraphrasing the work of others without clear attribution (attribution
meaning crediting of the original author or source) in your handed-in assignments
constitutes “plagiarism.” This will be penalized by a zero on the assignment and reference
to the University disciplinary procedure (which may in turn lead to probation, suspension
or dismissal from the program) in serious or repeated cases. On group work all group
members will receive a zero if all or part of the assignment is plagiarized. Anti-cheating
tools such as turnitin.com, scrambling of test questions and other means may be used in the
class.

Grade Appeal and Document Destruction Policies

Any grade appeals must be made no later than the last week of the second semester after
the end of the course. Most student material, such as homeworks and cases, is returned to
students during the course. Any exams or papers retained by the Professor will be
destroyed one year after the end of the course. By remaining registered for the course, you
agree to these policies.

Instructor Bio

John Briginshaw graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Ph.D. in
Accounting in 2003. He has worked in commodity trading and management consulting
and has an MBA from London Business School where he graduated with Distinction. He
has taught at Berkeley, London Business School, UC Davis and on several executive
courses. John is the author of a book, Internet Valuation, published by Palgrave.

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SELECTED GRAZIADIO SCHOOL POLICIES AND INFORMATION

Conduct

Courses may require electronic submission of essays, papers, or other written projects through the
plagiarism detection service Turnitin (http://www.turnitin.com). Turnitin is an online plagiarism
detection service that conducts textual similarity reviews of submitted papers. When papers are
submitted to Turnitin, the service will retain a copy of the submitted work in the Turnitin
database for the sole purpose of detecting plagiarism in future submitted works. Students retain
copyright on their original course work. The use of Turnitin is subject to the Terms of Use
agreement posted on the Turnitin.com website. You may request, in writing, to not have your
papers submitted through Turnitin. If you choose to opt-out of the Turnitin submission process,
you will need to provide additional research documentation and attach additional materials (to be
clarified by the instructor) to help the instructor assess the originality of your work.

The University expects from all of its students and employees the highest standard of moral and
ethical behavior in harmony with its Christian philosophy and purposes. Engaging in or
promoting conduct or lifestyles inconsistent with traditional Christian values is not acceptable.

The following regulations apply to any person, graduate or undergraduate, who is enrolled as a
Pepperdine University student. These rules are not to be interpreted as all-inclusive as to
situations in which discipline will be invoked. They are illustrative, and the University reserves
the right to take disciplinary action in appropriate circumstances not set out in this catalog. It is
understood that each student who enrolls at Pepperdine University will assume the
responsibilities involved by adhering to the regulations of the University. Students are expected
to respect order, morality, personal honor, and the rights and property of others at all times.
Examples of improper conduct for which students are subject to discipline are as follows:

 Dishonesty in any form, including plagiarism, illegal copying of software, and knowingly
furnishing false information to the University.
 Forgery, alteration, or misuse of University documents, records, or identification.
 Failure to comply with written or verbal directives of duly authorized University officials
who are acting in the performance of assigned duties.
 Interference with the academic or administrative process of the University or any of the
approved activities.
 Otherwise unprotected behavior that disrupts the classroom environment.
 Theft or damage to property.
 Violation of civil or criminal codes of local, state, or federal governments.
 Unauthorized use of or entry into University facilities.
 Violation of any stated policies or regulations governing student relationships to the
University.
Disciplinary action may involve, but is not limited to, one or a combination of the
alternatives listed below:

Dismissal – separation of the student from the University on a permanent basis.


Suspension – separation of the student from the University for a specified length of time.
Probation – status of the student indicating that the relationship with the University is
tenuous and that the student’s records will be reviewed periodically to determine
suitability to remain enrolled. Specific limitations to and restrictions of the
student’s privileges may accompany probation.”

Policy on Disabilities

Assistance for Students with Disabilities

The Disability Services Office (DSO) offers a variety of services and accommodations to students
with disabilities based on appropriate documentation, nature of disability, and academic need. In
order to initiate services, students should meet with the Director of the DSO at the beginning of
the semester to discuss reasonable accommodation. If a student does not request accommodation
or provide documentation, the faculty member is under no obligation to provide accommodations.
You may contact the Director of Disability Services at (310) 506-6500. For further information,
visit the DSO Web site at: http://www.pepperdine.edu/disabilityservices/.

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