COURSE SYLLABUS

* Avoid reading about REVERSING ENTRIES (pages 192-194 in Ch 4). ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS (pages 176-184 in Ch 4) and INTERNAL CONTROL (pages 297-301 in Ch 6) are interesting topics which will not be formally covered in the course.

Needles, B.E., Financial Accounting: (2001) SEVENTH Edition, and the "Workingpapers" which accompany the book.

Shannon, D.S., ACC500 - Lecture Notes

This course is designed for students who have no previous academic training in accounting. Students with significant accounting course work or training will not be given credit for this course. If you have taken more than one undergraduate accounting course, you should confer with the instructor to insure that credit will be given.

You do not have to submit any of the assignments for grading. However, developing a basic proficiency in accounting is the major objective of this course, and the examinations will test your ability to solve accounting problems. The homework assignments (above) have been selected to assist you in your efforts excel. Solutions will be provided for all these assignments.

The more you practice, the better you will perform on the examinations. You are encouraged to complete additional problems of your own choosing. If you do so, and would like to check an occasional answer, a solution manual is available for limited review upon request.

The in-class assignments are intended to stimulate discussion and more conceptual analysis of relevant financial topics. No solutions will be furnished for these assignments.

Starting with chapter 3, certain problems excercises have been incorporated into the notes for discussion in class. You should look at the outline of the material to be covered during the next class meeting, and familiarize yourself with the issues in these problems.

The midterm and final examinations will consist of between 70 and 80 multiple choice questions taken from the test bank provided by the authors of the text.

• The raw exam score is the percentage of questions answered correctly (i.e.: If there are 80 questions on the exam, and 60 are answered correctly, the raw exam score is 75% = 60/80).  
• The relative exam score shows the raw exam score as a percentage of the top raw exam score (i.e.: If the top raw exam score is 93%, the relative exam score is 81% = 75% / 93%).  
• The relative course score is the simple average of the two relative exam scores, or the final relative exam score, whichever is greater (i.e.: If the relative midterm score is 81%, and the relative final score is 71%, the relative course score is 76%. ... If the relative midterm score is 81%, and the relative final score is 91%, the relative course score is 91%). 
• The top raw exam score is the average of the raw exam scores from the top of the class. The number of students included in the "top of the class" will be 10% of students taking the final, or two students, whichever is greater.  
• Minimum letter grades for the course will be assigned according to the following table: 

You should try to read over the assignments before attending class. Obviously the more time you can allocate to this, the better. However, the major objectives of the lectures will be to help clarify and embellish the text. If a particular section begins to absorb an inordinate amount of time, you might want to deal with this material after the lecture.

It will be assumed that:

1. You have some preliminary familiarity with (not mastery of) the material before coming to class.
2. After class you return to the text and complete your understanding of the reading assignments covered during the preceding lecture.
3. Once this understanding has been achieved, you work the assigned problems.
4. You will call to my attention any problems you have in achieving steps (1) through (3).

The School of Accountancy provides tutors and solutions manuals in the DePaul Center. To check on availability call (312) 362-8770 during weekday office hours.