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Instructor:     Stephen G. Morrissette

(click here to see Instructor's biography)

Office:            University of St. Francis, S-242
                                   500 North Wilcox Street
                                   Joliet, Illinois

Contact Numbers:    Office: 815-740-3698
                                   Graduate School General Number: 800-726-2600
                                   Fax: 815-740-3537
                                   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:            Monday 1:00 to 5:00 and Tuesday 9:00 to Noon 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 accounting, provides an overview of product costing, presents a fulsome process for budgeting and variance analysis.  Additionally, the course covers an advanced topic such as cost management, product pricing or performance measurement.

Course Objectives:
 

1. Students will understand the vocabulary and concepts of financial accounting and managerial/cost accounting, but will not construct accounting transactions.

2. Students will understand the concepts of product costing including allocation of indirect costs.

3. 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.

4. Students will demonstrate the ability to use various tools and models to support business decisions such as cost management, product pricing or performance measurement.

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

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

Required Materials:

Accounting: Information for Decisions 2e, 2001, by Robert W. Ingram, Thomas L. Albright, Bruce A. Baldwin, and John W. Hill, South-Western, 2nd ed.  (click here to check out the textbook's website)

WebTutor for Accounting: Information for Decisions 2e, 2001, by Robert W. Ingram, Thomas L. Albright, Bruce A. Baldwin, and John W. Hill, South-Western, 2nd ed. Note: Access to these textbook materials requires an access ID.  This ID was purchased with your textbook.   Instructions to access these textbook materials will be provided.

Additional Readings (to be distributed in class).

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

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]

The Wall Street Journal, Crains Chicago Business
 
 
 
 

Student learning will be assessed using the following:
 

30% Weekly Assignments/Activities
20% "Check-Ups"
25% Final Project (including PowerPoint presentation)
25% Presentations/Participation

Weekly Assignments/Activities: Each week there will be assignments and in-class activities to reinforce and/or apply concepts covered. Most assignments be financial/accounting homework problems; other assignments include 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: Four brief quizzes will be used to assess individual student learning of key concepts and skills in the first two units. 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.

Project: Students will perform a project applying the concepts and skills developed in this course to an actual business situation such as pricing a product at their company, developing a profit plan/budget for their division, designing a performance measurement system for their firm, etc. A student can also select a book related to the course and apply the theory/concept from that book to their workplace. Students will design the project topic, but it must be approved by the instructor; the topic 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 including interviews.

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 on-line students typically involves 3-5 thoughtful reactions/observations per week.

In addition to general participation, students will make three formal presentations during the semester:

1. For one presentation, the student will present their answer/solution to an assigned homework problem. For the homework presentation, on-line students will provide fellow students a written/narrative explanation/presentation or a PowerPoint presentation.  At the discretion of the instructor, students may do additional presentations for extra credit depending on time available.

2. The second presentation will be a brief "reality check" using PowerPoint showing how a topic covered in the course is connected to their workplace (5-10 minutes; 5-6 slides).  For the "reality check " presentation, on-line students will provide the PowerPoint slides with notes (using PowerPoint notes features).  At the discretion of the instructor, students may do additional presentations for extra credit depending on time available.

3. The third presentation will be on the student's final project.  On-line students will provide a video tape (in standard VHS format) of their project presentation.  Other presentation options include presenting at the on-site class and presenting one-on-one with the instructor by phone or in person.
 

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 on-line 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 97, Excel 97, PowerPoint 97. Alternate formats will not be accepted.

On-Line Student Hardware: The quantity of materials downloaded on-line each week is significant. On-line 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: Students with disabilities who require reasonable accommodations to fully participate in course activities or  meet course requirements are encouraged to register with the Office of Disability Services to discuss access issues. Please contact Dr. MeShelda A. Jackson by email mjackson@stfrancis.edu or phone 815-740-3461.

Academic Integrity:  Students in this course will be expected to comply with the USF guidelines regarding academic integrity that appear in the university catalog (2000-2002 catalog, p.62). Honesty in all academic work is expected of every student. This means giving one's own answers in all class work, quizzes, and examinations without help from any source not approved by the instructor. Written material is to be the student's original composition. Appropriate credit must be given for outside sources from which ideas, language, or quotations are derived. You are expected to do your own work in this course.

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. Mid-course, we will modify/determine advanced topics for 2 of the 14 weeks.