Accounting

Summer

• Financial Accounting
  This course develops the basic concepts and procedures underlying corporate financial statements and introduces tools for analyzing profitability and risk. We explore the impact of the alternative policies and procedures available within generally accepted accounting principles on financial statements, especially in terms of management's financial reporting strategy.

Fall

• Taxes and Business Strategy
  This course has two objectives: First, you will gain exposure to key areas where taxes play a role in implementing business strategy. Business strategy broadly refers to a firm’s working plan for achieving its vision, prioritizing objectives, competing successfully, and optimizing financial performance. Taxes affect many strategic business decisions such as forming a new business and raising capital, investment strategies, financing projects, compensating employees, making shareholder distributions, expanding through acquisition, divesting lines of business, or expanding internationally. There are trade-offs in meeting organizational objectives at the lowest tax cost. Second, this course will introduce you to a framework for thinking about tax strategy. A tax code is a living set of regulations that are constantly changing and adapting in response to politics, perceived abuse, and business innovation. It is precisely this ebb and flow that creates both challenges and opportunities in the world of business. The details of tax law are quite nuanced (and will often require advice from a tax lawyer), but there is a thematic approach to effective tax planning that can guide decision-making even as specific laws and governments change.

Winter

• Managerial Accounting
  This course provides a comprehensive, graduate level exploration of managerial accounting. The course focuses on the use of accounting data in the management of an organization. Naturally, what accounting data are interesting and how they might be used depend on what the manager is seeking to accomplish and what other information is available. This course uses the concepts of opportunity cost and organizational architecture as a framework for the study of managerial accounting. Opportunity cost is the conceptual foundation underlying decision-making; organizational architecture is the conceptual foundation underlying the use of accounting as part of the firm’s control system. We examine these issues using both a textbook and case discussions. Students may not take Managerial Accounting (MA) and Managerial Accounting Mini (MAM), or Managerial Accounting (MA) and Cost and Control (CNC) for credit.
• Financial Reporting and Statement Analysis
  Financial Reporting and Statement Analysis (FRSA) is designed to prepare you to analyze, interpret and use financial statements effectively, both from a general manager and investor perspective. The primary focus will be on developing your ability to engage in accounting analysis, which is the process of assessing how the financial metrics reflect the firm’s underlying economic constructs, as well as your ability to use financial data to gain insight into a firm’s business strategy, economic performance, and outlook.

Spring

• Cost and Control
  This course focuses on the internal use of accounting information as opposed to the preparation and evaluation of financial statements. Internal uses of accounting information include decision making and the implementation of control systems. The course framework is based on the concept of opportunity costs. The course's targeted audience includes students intending to become management consultants, entrepreneurs, brand managers, line managers, and non-profit managers. Topics covered include breakeven analysis, keep versus replace decisions, inventory accounting, overhead allocation, activity based costing, the opportunity cost of excess capacity, working capital management, performance evaluation, and internal controls. Students cannot take both Cost and Control (CNC) and Managerial Accounting (MA), or Cost and Control (CNC) and Managerial Accounting Mini (MAM) for credit.