ACCT 6201: Financial Accounting, Page 1 of 6 EMBA Class of 2013

Course Syllabus
Course Information Course Number/Section ACCT 6201 EMBA Course Title Financial Accounting Term Fall 2011 Professor Contact Information Professor Suresh Radhakrishnan; Office Phone 972 883 4438; Office Location SM 4.426; Email Address sradhakr@utdallas.edu; Office Hours Tuesdays 2:30PM to 3:30PM OR by appointment Course Description Financial statements are an important channel through which firms communicate with providers of capital. Financial statements also provide a basis for writing contracts both within and outside the firm. This course is designed to provide an understanding of what these statements/reports contain, what assumptions and concepts are used by accountants to prepare them, and why they use those assumptions and concepts. The course will provide a disciplined way of thinking about information that will help to manage and report a firms financial status and performance. It will also provide basic institutional knowledge and highlight some of the controversial accounting issues. We will use simple examples to illustrate basic concepts. We will stress the application of the basic concepts to real world cases. For this purpose, we will use financial reports of U.S. Corporations. Student Learning Objectives/Outcomes 1. Be able to summarize the information provided in the balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows and interpret individual amounts (assets, liabilities, equities, revenues and expenses, cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities). 2. Be able to compute financial ratios and use financial ratios and other information to compare companies competing in an industry in terms of profitability and liquidity (short and long term). 3. Be able to recognize ethical issues in reporting financial results and assess the impact of those issues on shareholders and external users of the information. Required Textbooks and Materials Required Texts Required Text: Financial Accounting for Executives and MBAs, Kenneth R. Ferris and James S. Wallace, 2nd edition, Cambridge Business Publishers [ISBN: 13-978-1-934319-62-8]. Required Materials Lecture notes and supplementary problem solutions will be posted on eLearning. Suggested Course Materials Read the business section from any leading newspaper Assignments & Academic Calendar SEE ATTACHMENT A FOR TENTATIVE COURSE OUTLINE AND DUE DATES Grading Policy There are three parts to the evaluation. 1. Three Quizzes (Individual): The Quizzes are designed to test your understanding of the basic accounting concepts. All quizzes are cumulative. Each quiz will contain about 60%

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to 75% of the questions taken directly from the textbook, lecture note, lecture note supplements, and class discussions. The rest will be problems/questions that are based upon the materials that we cover. All quizzes will be closed book and closed notes. No make-up quizzes will be given. Quiz III will be weighted 40% and the best of the first two quizzes will be weighted 20% [see table below]. This weighting scheme implies that you cannot miss Quiz III. 2. Annual report project (Group): Each group will select one company of their choice/interest and obtain three or four recent annual reports. You will need to perform a ratio analysis and provide a brief prognosis of the company. I strongly recommend that you choose and obtain the annual reports of the firms for the project as early as possible. Each group will turn in one hard-copy of the report on or before the due date. [SEE ATTACHMENT B FOR PROJECT GUIDELINES & REQUIREMENTS] 3. Group peer evaluation: Each group member will evaluate the other group members. A peer evaluation form is provided at the end of this handout. Please turn-in the evaluation form in a sealed envelope along with your project report. [SEE ATTACHMENT C] The grades will be based on relative performance. The weights for evaluation are: Quiz [Best of Quizzes I and II 20%; Quiz III 40%] Annual report project (group) Peer evaluation - Individual contribution to the group 60% 25% 15%

Course Policies Make-up exams As a policy no make-up exams will be given. I will consider each students request for a make-up made before the exam date in writing to me, and will decide on the merit of giving a make-up purely at my discretion. As such, there is bound to be considerable subjective judgement on my part. I strongly suggest that you assume that your request for make-up will not be granted so as to decrease ex post disappointment. Extra Credit No extra credit will be awarded. Late Work Late submission of project will be given a grade of zero. Class Attendance No grades are awarded for class attendance. Classroom Citizenship Accounting is the language of business. As with learning any new language, you will need to practice the language at two levels. First, you will need practice with the basic grammar, which is the mechanics and concepts of accounting. Second, you will need practice with interpreting and understanding the language, as it is used in the real world. To help you with the first level, we will introduce the concepts and mechanics in-class with simple examples. We will also be going over some select problems, so that you become comfortable with the mechanics of accounting. To help you with the second level, I have designed the project where you perform a ratio analysis. You will be responsible for going over the chapters in the textbook and do the practice problems in the lecture notes and lecture note supplements. I strongly urge you to go over the materials before class. This will help you grasp the important aspects and internalize them

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when we go over them in class. It will be your responsibility to let us know if you are having difficulties with the materials. I will attempt to help each and every one of you. I will use a mix of lecture and discussion. You are strongly urged to participate in the class discussions. Please feel free to share any report or article that you may read in the popular press about the language. In fact, I strongly urge you to read the business section of the New York Times and/or the Wall Street Journal. Overall, let us try to help each other make it a nice experience. Student Conduct & Discipline, Academic Integrity, Email Use, Withdrawal from Class, Student Grievance Procedures, Incomplete Grade Policy, Disability Services, Religious Holidays
See UTD policies for all these topics. IMPORTANT NOTE: These descriptions and timelines are subject to change at MY discretion.

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ATTACHMENT A: EMBA Tentative Course Outline

s# Date (2011) Time Topic

Text Book Problems in Lecture Notes and Lecture Note Supplements E1.24, E1.25, P1.30 E2.15, E2.16, E2.17, P2.23, P2.24 E3.17, E3.18, P3.22, P3.23 P2.26, P4.23, P4.24, P4.25, P4.28

Lecture Notes and Lecture Note Supplements files LN1_Ch_1_2 LN1_Supplement_Ch_1_2 LN2_Ch_3 LN2_Supplement_Ch_3 LN3_Ch_4 LN3_Supplement_Ch_4 LN4_Ch_5 LN4_Supplement_Ch_5 LN5_Ch_6 LN5_Supplement_Ch_6 LN6_Ch_7_8 LN6_Supplement_Ch_7_8 LN6_Ch_7_8 LN6_Supplement_Ch_7_8 LN7_Ch_9_10 LN7_Supplement_Ch_9_10 LN8_Ch_11 LN8_Supplement_Ch_11 LN9_Earnings_Management

FA 1

8/29

1:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Chapter 1: Economic Environment of Accounting Information Chapter 2: From accounting events to Financial Statements

FA 2

9/01

8:00AM to 12 noon

Chapter 3: Cash Flow Statements Chapter 4: Ratio Analysis

FA 3

9/09

8:00AM to 9:00 AM Quiz I : Chapters 1 to 4

FA 3

9/09

9:00AM to 12 noon

Chapter 5: Operating Cycle, revenue recognition and receivable valuation Chapter 6: Operating expenses, inventory valuation, and accounts payable Chapter 7: Long-lived assets, Intangible assets and natural resources

E5.12, E5.17, P5.21, P5.23, P5.26 E6.13, E6.14, E6.20 E7.19, E7.23, E7.24, P7.33

FA 4

10/06

1:00 PM to 2:00 PM Quiz II : Chapters 1 to 7 3:00 PM to 5:00PM Chapter 8: Investing in other entities Chapter 9: Bonds, notes and leases Chapter 10: Commitments, contingencies, deferred tax liabilities, retirement obligations E8.20, E8.21, E8.26, P8.31 P9.26, P9.31 E10.13, E10.18, E10.19, E10.20

FA 4

10/06

FA 5 FA 5

11/04 11/04 11/19

8:00 AM to 10:00 AM Quiz III : Chapters 1 to 10 10:00AM to 12 noon 12 Noon

Chapter 11: Shareholders equity Earnings management Project Report and Peer Evaluations Due

E11.13, E11.18, E11.19, E11.21

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ATTACHMENT B: Final Project Guidelines & Requirements (Group) Financial Statement Analysis Objective: The objective is to apply the ratio analysis framework, so as to give you some experience in using and interpreting financial accounting information/data. Suggested Approach: Choose a U.S. firm that is traded in the stock market. Obtain three-four most recent annual reports for the firm. That is, at least have four years of income statement data and four years of balance sheet data for the firm. If you only have quarterly reports, choose roughly at least two years of data, i.e., 8 consecutive quarterly reports. Collect information from press releases, news reports and the MD&A. Perform ratio analyses using the primary set of ratios to provide you an understanding of the economic environment and strategy. [Hint: Hypothesize and identify the strategy.] Provide logical inference on whether the firm is going in the direction in which the press releases indicate. Given the future expectations, how would you expect the ratios to trend in the future? Source: Annual reports: You can get annual reports from the SECs database of company filings useful [the internet site is http://www.freeedgar.com/. Use 10-Ks (the annual reports) for a company. You can also find copies of the annual report on the companys home page. Please do not use databases such as the COMPUSTAT, S&PInsight, Mergent etc. Press releases can be obtained from the companys homepage or Lexis-Nexis at the UTD library or Bloomberg. Note that the above is a list of suggested sources. You will need to show some enterprise in obtaining data. Please document the source and provide a web-link OR a copy of the annual report (the relevant sections and footnotes) in the appendix of the final report if the document is not available through the web. Write-up: The report should not be more than 15 pages not including the appendix [typewritten, 1.5 or double-spaced]. Your report must include an executive summary detailing the purpose and key takeaways. The details of computations and the data can be relegated to the appendix. Include the summary of the detailed computations in the form of small tables and graphs in the main body of the report. Refrain from making obvious statements, such as ROE is increasing because net income is increasing. As mentioned above, you do not need to provide the annual reports and the support documents, but you need to provide a complete reference so that I can access the relevant documents via the web or UTD library data source. All reports should be submitted in paper form (not thru email). Do not send me excel spread sheets by email as part of the report. Do not ask me to take a look at your report and provide an opinion of how good it is (!); or is this sufficient (!) before the due date. If you have questions regarding the project, ask them in the form of questions: please refrain from asking general and leading questions such as, This is what we have done, is this enough? OR Can I stop by and show you what we have done so far, you can tell us if this is enough? Clarity of final report will be rewarded. DUE DATE: The report is due on or before 11/19 AT 12 noon. I will stop by on 11/19 at 12 noon in your classroom to collect the hard copies of your reports. Alternatively, you can drop-off hard copies in my mailbox (Room # 4.217), OR my office (Room # 4.426).

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ATTACHMENT C: Evaluation of Individual Contribution to Group NAME OF EVALUATOR:___________________________________[I will not consider the scores, if you do not have your name] Place in a sealed envelope and turn-in with your project report. Dimensions of evaluation A. Distribution of work B. Helpful in explaining difficult topics C. Helpful with ideas, questions and discussion D. Quality and timeliness of work performance E. Leadership and overall collegiality Total (0-20)

NAME OF GROUP MEMBER

A (0-4)

B (0-4)

C (0-4)

D (0-4)

E (0-4)

Each dimension is to be evaluated on a scale of 0-4 with 0 being the minimum and 4 being the maximum. NOTES Please do not evaluate yourself ! Please turn-in the evaluation form in a sealed envelope along with your project report.