Preliminary, Subject to Change

Posted: 07.27.11

Financial Accounting - B30000 Fall 2010

Professor: Office: Section-01 Section-81 Pingyang Gao HPC 318 Wednesdays Wednesdays E-mail: Phone: 1:30PM-4:30PM 6:00PM-9:00PM
Pingyang.Gao@ChicagoBooth.edu

(773) 702-4971 HPC C05 GLC 304

Course Description This course provides an introduction to financial statements and the financial reporting process from a user's perspective. The focus of the course is on fundamental accounting concepts and principles. Students learn how economic transactions of a firm are reported in the financial statements and related disclosures. The objective of the course is to provide students with basic skills necessary to read and analyze financial statements as well as to prepare students for more advanced financial statement analysis courses. Classes combine interactive lectures and discussions about financial accounting concepts and practice. Short cases involving corporate financial statements are used to illustrate accounting concepts and to explore disclosure strategies of companies. Students are expected to complete assigned problems, readings, and cases in preparation for each class. Course Materials Required: Stickney, Weil, Schipper, and Francis. Financial Accounting: An Introduction to Concepts, Methods and Uses (13th Edition). Thomson South-Western Publishers, 2009. Recommended: Stickney, Weil, Schipper, and Francis. Solutions Manual to Accompany Financial Accounting: An Introduction to Concepts, Methods and Uses (13th Edition). Thomson South-Western Publishers, 2009. Course materials will be posted at http://chalk.uchicago.edu.

1/6

Preliminary, Subject to Change

Posted: 07/ 25/ 2011, Preliminary, SubjectPosted: 07.27.11 to Change

Course Details Outside Classroom Help: Details of review sessions will be announced later. E-mail is a convenient way to ask questions. If you have any question and need my help outside of class, please send me an email to set up an appointment. I will also be available before and after the class to answer brief questions. Course Website: I will be using the Universitys Chalk system (http://chalk.uchicago.edu) extensively. All course related announcements, lecture notes, articles, cases, solutions, home work assignments, old exams, and other course material will be available only through Chalk. Please ensure that you are able to use the Chalk system. Print-outs of lecture notes will be provided in the class room for your convenience. Examinations: The mid-quarter exam will take 1 hour and 30 minutes in length and cover materials from chapter 1 to chapter 8. The mid-quarter exam schedule is as follows: Section-01 Section-81 Wednesday, November 2 Wednesday, November 2 1:30PM-3:00PM 6:00PM-7:30PM

Following the mid-quarter exam, there will be a lecture in the second half of the class. The final exam will take three hours in length and will be comprehensive of all course topics and materials. The final exam schedule is as follows: Section-01 Section-81 Wednesday, December 7 Wednesday, December 7 3:00PM-6:00PM 6:30PM-9:30PM

Note: All students should plan to take both exams at the scheduled time for their sections with no exceptions. There will be no changes to the mid-quarter or final exam schedule set by Chicago Booth. Check your schedules carefully if you cannot attend the mid -quarter or the final exam at the scheduled times then do not enroll in this section. Make-up exams are not possible.

Homework: Self-study homework I assign weekly readings and homework sets from the textbook. The assignments are to be completed before class they relate to. The self-study textbook homework assignments are not collected.

2/6

Preliminary, Subject to Change

Posted: 07/ 25/ 2011, Preliminary, SubjectPosted: 07.27.11 to Change

Graded homework To provide feedback and additional evaluation opportunities, I will assign homework every week during the quarter except the first and last weeks. 7 out of the 8 weekly homework assignments of your choice will be collected and graded and will account for 21% of your final score. Group work is allowed with the size of group up to four members. Each group submits only one copy of the homework. Grading: Graded homework Mid-quarter exam Final exam 21 % 22 % 57% 100 % If your final exam score is higher than your mid-term score, the mid-term score will be updated by the score on the final exam. In such cases, the final exam is worth 79% of your final grade. Requests to re-grade the mid-quarter exam must be made in writing within one week of the return of the exam. Re-grade requests for the mid-quarter and the final will result in the entire exam being re-graded and may result in a higher or lower grade. Class participation: Please do not hesitate to ask questions or make comments during the class. Class participation makes a class more interesting and ensures that the class is going at an acceptable pace. Although class participation is not an explicit part of your grade it may be taken into account for students at the grade cut-offs. Please have your name card displayed. Honor code: Students are required to adhere to the standards of conduct in the Chicago Booth Honor Code and the Chicago Booth Standards of Scholarship. These documents are available on the Web at: http://programs.chicagobooth.edu/parttime/docs/handbook.pdf. All graded assignments and exams are subject to the Chicago Booth honor code. In accordance with the Honor Code, students will be required to sign the following pledge on every examination and homework: I pledge my honor that I have not violated the Honor Code during this examination. Any communication among students during the exam is strictly forbidden. Students are not permitted to discuss any part of an exam (including both questions and answers) with other students until the exam has been taken by all sections of B30000. For graded homework assignments, students may not communicate with anyone outside of their group. Class Courtesy: Students are expected to be in their seats with their cell phones turned off prior to the start of class. Please note that laptop computers are NOT allowed in class because they could distract other students.

3/6

Preliminary, Subject to Change

Posted: 07/ 25/ 2011, Preliminary, SubjectPosted: 07.27.11 to Change

Class Schedule and Assignments There is a considerable amount of material covered in this course. It is essential that you stay current with all readings and problems. Each topic builds on the materials covered before, so you will find it difficult to keep up with the course if you are not timely in your learning. Assignments consist of readings from the text, text problems, and homework sets. Short cases will be either distributed and discussed in class or distributed ahead of time for you to prepare for discussion. You are expected to read all assignments and complete all problems before the class during which the topic/case is discussed. Problems in bold will be discussed in class. Throughout the course, I will post optional readings in the folder Course Documents\Optional Readings. These readings usually aim to connect what you (will) learn from the class to what is happening in reality. They are optional but highly recommended. See the next two pages for the weekly class schedule.

4/6

Preliminary, Subject to Change

Posted: 07/ 25/ 2011, Preliminary, SubjectPosted: 07.27.11 to Change

Class Schedule Week 1 Topic: Reading: Textbook Problems: Week 2 Topic: Reading: Textbook Problems: Week 3 Topic: Reading: Textbook Problems: Week 4 Topic: Reading: Textbook Problems: Week 5 Topic: Reading: Textbook Problems: Week 6 First Half: Second Half: Reading: Textbook Problems: Week 7 Topic: Reading: Textbook Problems: Introduction to Financial Statements Text Chapters 1 and 2 1.29, 1.33, 1.34, 1.35, 1.36, 1.38, 1.42, 2.18, 2.27, 2.28 Balance Sheet and Income Statement Text Chapter 2, 3 and 4 2.29, 2.34, 3.22, 3.24, 3.28, 4.11, 4.12, 4.13 Income Statement and Statement of Cash Flows Text Chapter 4 and 5 5.11, 5.12, 5.30, 5.32, 5.41, 5.46 Accounts Receivable and Revenue Recognition Text Chapter 7 7.23, 7.26, 7.30, 7.31, 7.41, 7.48 Working Capital and Financial Statement Analysis Text Chapter 6 and 8 6.13, 6.17, 6.26, 8.26, 8.29, 8.33, 8.44, 8.48, 8.49 Mid-Quarter Exam (Chapters 1-8) Long-Lived Assets Text Chapter 9 9.19, 9.22, 9.29, 9.30, 9.35 Liabilities and Leases Text Chapter 10 and Appendix (pages 713-726) A.15, A.19, A.21, 10.17, 10.20, 10.22, 10.26, 10.29, 10.31, 10.32.

5/6

Preliminary, Subject to Change

Posted: 07/ 25/ 2011, Preliminary, SubjectPosted: 07.27.11 to Change

Week 8

Topic: Reading: Textbook Problems:

Off-Balance-Sheet Financing and Deferred Taxes Text Chapter 11 11.20, 11.24, 11.26, 11.34, 11.37 Investments and Mark-to-Market Accounting Text Chapter 12 (skip pages 578-603) 12.20, 12.24, 12.25, 12.26, 12.27 Shareholders' Equity and Comprehensive Review Text Chapter 14 14.16, 14.24, 14.31, 14.33, 14.39, 14.40

Week 9

Topic: Reading: Textbook Problems:

Week 10 Topic: Reading: Textbook Problems:

Self-Study Review: Chapter 16 reviews materials covered throughout the course. Reading the chapter and attempting the problems provides a valuable review for the final exam.

6/6