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Instructor:    Stephen G. Morrissette

(click here to see Instructor's biography)

Office:        University of St. Francis, S-421
                                   500 North Wilcox Street
                                   Joliet, Illinois

Contact Numbers:    Office: 815-740-3698
                                   Graduate School General Number: 800-726-2600
                                   Fax: 815-774-2920
                                   Email: smorrissette@stfrancis.edu

Note: On-line students should use email within WebCT to contact instructor; use stfrancis.edu email as emergency backup.

Office Hours:            Mon 11:00-2:00, Tues 1:00-3:00, Thur 1:00-3:00 and by appointment.
 
 
 
 
 

Course Description:

This course covers key concepts used by managers to understand and manage a firm's financial performance. The course builds a quick foundation in the vocabulary and concepts of cost accounting, presents a fulsome process for budgeting, and provides an overview of various financial tools/models used to support managerial decision making such as performance measurement and expense management.

Course Objectives:

1. Students will understand the vocabulary and concepts of managerial and cost accounting information (cost accounting data is the foundation of the financial information base used to make business decisions).

2. Students will be able to construct a complete budget (sales budget, production schedule, pro forma income statement, cash budget) and analyze/explain variances between actual results and budget.

3. Students will demonstrate ability to use measures of financial performance (profit, ROI, EVA, etc.) and various models (balanced scorecard) to measure and manage performance.

4. Students will examine the ethical issues in these topics.

5. Students will continue development and application of critical thinking skills, communications/presentation skills and teamwork skills.

Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis, 2006, by Charles Horngren, George Foster, and Srikant Datar, Prentice Hall, 12th ed. (Note: Students can use also 11th edition; contact professor if using 11th ed.)

Additional Readings (to be distributed in class; via mail to online students).

MBA's Guide to Microsoft Excel 2002: The Essential Excel Reference for Business Professionals, 2001, by Stephen L. Nelson and David B. Maguiness, Redmond Technology Press  [Previous students have found this a useful resource; it can be found at sources such as Amazon.com for around $40]

Accounting: Information for Decisions 3e, 2004, by Robert W. Ingram, Thomas L. Albright, Bruce A. Baldwin, and John W. Hill, South-Western, 3rd ed. [A good introductory level text that offers basic/simplistic explanations of the many of the concepts covered in Horngren]

Management Accounting: A Road to Discovery, 1999, by James T. Mackey and Michael F. Thomas, South-Western, 1st ed.  [A text we have used in the past which approaches the material like a "novel" by telling the story of one company's struggles with managerial accounting issues]

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5^th Ed.

The Wall Street Journal, Crains Chicago Business

 
Learning Assessment:

Student learning will be assessed using the following:

30% Weekly Assignments/Activities
30% "Check-Ups"
15% Advanced Topic Report
25% Presentations/Participation

Weekly Assignments/Activities: Each week there will be assignments and in-class activities to reinforce and/or apply concepts covered. Assignments range from simple problem solutions to more substantial assignments such as case analyses, article reviews, and write-ups connecting a course topic to the workplace.

All assignments must be typed (financials prepared in Excel).  Late work will not be accepted. Assignments are   due at the beginning of class; if a student will be late or absent the work must be emailed before the beginning of class. On-line student assignments are due by midnight on the due date. Because internet service providers sometimes experience down-time, on-line students are encouraged not to wait until the last minute to submit assignments. All on-line assignments must be submitted/uploaded through the WebCT assessment room.

Assignments/activities are graded satisfactory or unsatisfactory. A satisfactory grade will be awarded full points;   an unsatisfactory will be awarded no points. At the instructor's discretion, a student may "redo" the assignment by completing a similar activity or reworking the original activity.

Check-Ups:  Three brief quizzes will be used to assess individual student learning of key concepts and skills in the first part of the course. The quizzes will be take-home and open book. They are not group work. They will not be cumulative. The content will typically mirror the assignments.

Advanced Topic Report:  Students will research an advanced topic related to this course and apply the concepts from the advanced topic to an actual business situation, ideally applying it to their company.  Possible topics could include developing a performance measurement system for your firm, benchmarking, pricing a product at your company, developing a profit plan/budget for your division, a TQM project for cost reduction, explanation of how product costing works at your firm, analysis of customer (or customer segment) profitabilty for your company, etc.  The advanced topic can be an deeper study of one of the topics covered in the course.  Students will determine the advanced topic; the topic must be approved by the instructor and must be related to the course topic. The paper should be 8-10 pages plus appropriate tables, graphs, appendices, etc. The paper must cite a minimum of 8 sources.

Presentations/Participation:  Overall, student participation and discussion is essential to ensure that the course topics are understood and are made relevant to actual business situations encountered in the workplace. As such, attendance and participation are an essential factor in the learning process and a tool for assessing student learning. While quality of student participation is paramount, we find that good participation from online students typically involves 3-5 thoughtful reactions/observations per week.

In addition to general participation, students will make two formal presentations during the semester. For one presentation, the student will present their answer/solution to an assigned homework problem.

The second presentation will be a brief "reality check" using PowerPoint showing how a topic covered in the course is connected to their workplace (10 minutes; 8-10 slides); the reality check ("RC") should incorporate actual samples of materials from the workplace.  For the RC presentation, on-line students will provide fellow students a narrative explanation of each slide using the PowerPoint notes feature as an approximate substitute for the content normally included in a live/verbal presentation.  All RCs must be presented by Week #12.

For extra credit, students can do a third presentation (in PowerPoint) on the student's advanced topic.

At the discretion of the instructor, students may do additional presentations for extra credit depending on time available.

Grade Scale:  90-100% A; 80-89% B; 70-79% C; < 70% F.

PC Skills:  Competency in basic PC skills was a prerequisite to your admission to the Graduate School. Word, Excel and PowerPoint skills are essential to this course. Students without these skills will find the weekly homework assignments may take 2-3 hours longer than students with these skills. If you do not have skills in these software packages, it is strongly suggested that you complete a quick tutorial. Likewise, keyboarding skills are important for efficient homework preparation; keyboarding skills are especially important for online students since all participation is via typed response.

Email Access:  Email access and skills are important in today's business world. Even for the on-site class, emails are often sent to all students by the instructor to share midweek questions/learnings from fellow students that might be helpful for the homework.

Required Software:  The University specifies that assignments be submitted in the following software format: Word 2003, Excel 2003, PowerPoint 2003. Alternate formats will not be accepted.

On-Line Student Hardware:  The quantity of materials downloaded online each week is significant. Online students must have the minimum hardware required per USF CID guidelines; students are encouraged to upgrade to DSL or broadband/cable to reduce transmission times.

ADA: All students with documented disabilities who need accommodations should contact your instructor within the first two weeks of school and schedule an appointment with the Disabilities Coordinator, Pat Vivio at 815-740-3204, Room S210.

All Other: All policies not covered in this syllabus are per the University of St. Francis Catalog.

Course Calendar:

Notes:

• Course timing is approximate.
• Each week several additional readings (articles, cases, etc) will be distributed.
• Course calendar and topics may/will be modified to respond to student needs.

Sample Advanced Topics:
A1. Additional depth on any course topic (ex. budget politics, benchmarking, etc.)
A2. Customer Profitability
A3. Risk Management
       Types (interest rate, FX, P&C, business interruption, raw materials, etc.)
       Management (contracts, derivatives, hedges, insurance)
A4. Economic Value Added (EVA)
A5. More on Performance Compensation (I've already expanded Topic 4 to 2 nights based on feedback from students in previous semesters)
A6. Decision models such as merger valuation, etc.
A7. Additional depth on cost accounting (activity based costing, job costing, etc.)
A8. TQM/CQI
A9. JIT
A10. Product Pricing
A11. Int'l issues (transfer pricing, taxation, tariffs, FX risk, etc.)
A12. Topics in Finl Acctg (Depr, Taxes, Cash Flow Stmnt, Processing Transactions, Inventory, etc.)
A13. More on Strategic Cost Mgmt
A14. Any additional topics based on student needs/interests