Office: 118 Robinson ;Phone: 0343 ; Home: 616-781-4908

Office hours

EMail: JBedient

Required Materials:

Text -Financial Accounting Needles & Powers, Sixth Edition

Course material and objectives

This course is likely your first look at the inner workings of a business. The first part of the course is an introduction to the basics of how numbers and information flow through financial information systems. We'll be looking at the "circulatory system" of the firm. Then, we will visit each part of the balance sheet and examine how and why firms keep track of information about that item. In every case my emphasis will be on the economic reasons for keeping track of the information. The governing set of principles we will be studying are called Generally Accepting Accounting Principles or GAAP. These "rules" are set in a very public and political process. They are not set by a group of gnomes isolated from reality. You'll enjoy hearing about why we do what we do in modern financial accounting.

Grading

There will be three tests and a final exam. Each will be equally weighted. The final exam will cover material covered since the third exam, plus some type of comprehensive problem(s). The final is cumulative, and students will need to be able to "pull the course together."

There will be a series of unannounced quizzes. We will probably have 10-12 and drop 2-3. No makeups are allowed. Only school-sponsored events will exempt you (sports, trips, etc.). Quiz topics will come from the Questions and Short Exercises section at the back of the current chapter.

The course grade will be based on the student's total points obtained compared to total course points. The usual scale will be applied. A 4.0=90%, 3.7=87%. 3.3=83%, 3.0=80%, etc.

There may be some short papers, research projects and spreadsheet assignments. They may amount to about 20% of the grade.

Daily class conduct

Usually I'll start out the week (or the new topic) by lecturing and demonstrating examples of related techniques. After that, I will spend one or two days demonstrating the solutions to the assigned homework.

Homework will not be collected, but you must do the homework prior to the days I reveal the answers if you hope to master the material.

I may not get to all problems in class. If you want the solution to one that I don't cover just ask.