BU127 course outline PDF

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BU 127 - Introduction to Financial Accounting Course Syllabus Fall 2020 Table of Contents 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29.

Schedule of Classes Instructor Information Introduction and Course Objectives Classes – Mode of Delivery Zoom Instructions Privacy warnings and recordings Course My Learning Space Website Course textbook Instructor Office hours Learning Approach Optional Online Labs Optional Online Bootcamps Grade Determination Research Participation Bonus Marks Recommended Online Assignments Excel and Data Analytics Assignments Ratio Calculations and Group Report Procedures and Rules for Taking Online Quizzes and Exams Midterm Exam Information Final Exam Information Academic Integrity Missed Term Work Religious Observances Accessible Learning Centre International Students Living in Different Time Zones Campus Security Intellectual Property Course Schedule Important Dates for this course

1. Schedule of Classes Instructor Kai Chen Michael Wynes Michael D’Silva James Moore Kai Chen James Moore James Moore James Moore

Section A1/A2 A3/A4 B C D E P1 P2

Time TU TH 11:30 am-12:50 pm M W 11:30 am-12:50 pm M W 8:30 am – 9:50 am M W 4:00 pm- 5:20 pm TU TH 2:30-3:50 pm M W 5:30 pm- 6:50 pm T 7:00-9:50 pm W 7:00-9:50 pm

2. Instructor Information Name

Email

Office

James Moore

[email protected]

LH4089

Telephone Extension 4558

Kai Chen

[email protected]

LH4105

2912

Michael Wynes

[email protected]

LH2033

2802

Michael D’Silva

[email protected]

SCJ311

Office Hours Thursday 11am-1 pm Friday 10am-1pm except Sept .14, Oct. 9th and Dec. 4th Or by appointment Tuesday 4-5 pm Thursday 4-5 pm Or by appointment Tuesday and Thursday 12-2 pm By appointment

Course Co-ordinator: James Moore, LH4089, Ext 4558, [email protected] 3. Introduction and Course Objectives Accounting is the language of business. If you don’t understand the fundamental concepts, terms, principles, and tools of accounting, you will find it difficult to properly understand and analyze many of the decisions that you will be faced with during your career. Even if you don’t end up in a business career, you will likely experience various personal activities (such as getting a loan) in which a basic knowledge of accounting should prove useful to you. Accounting information is critical to the judgment and decision making involved in these personal activities. The knowledge and skills that you acquire in this course should help you to understand how accounting information is generated, measured, reported, and interpreted. The overall objective of this course is to provide you with an integrated framework for preparing, analyzing and interpreting financial information and financial statements. This framework will be applied in a financial accounting context which is primarily concerned with providing financial information to a business’s external stakeholders. These external stakeholders include shareholders, creditors, customers, suppliers, governments and others.

We will spend a considerable amount of time studying the four financial statements used by these stakeholders for decision-making purposes. The four financial statements are: 1) The Statement of Financial Position, 2) The Statement of Comprehensive Income, 3) The Statement of Changes in Equity and 4) The Statement of Cash Flows. Note that the Statement of Comprehensive Income includes the Income Statement. In this course, you should gain a thorough understanding of the items in these four financial statements and also the economic events and related accounting decisions underlying them. These include the judgment required to make these decisions and also the factors that influence them. By the end of the course, you should feel comfortable with the various components of a company’s annual report and be able to make comparisons with other firms across different periods. 4. Classes – Mode of Delivery This course will be delivered using a combination of:  Synchronous classes delivered live through the zoom video conferencing platform during the scheduled timeslot, and  Asynchronous activities to be completed by the student without participation from the instructor and outside the scheduled timeslot. There are no physical on-campus classes or activities for this course. Any group work should be completed virtually, without physical meetings. You will find the zoom classes scheduled in myls and you may access them through the myls page for this course. Fall Term begins on September 10th. Classes conclude on December 9th. Reading Week break is between October 13th and 16th and does not include weekends. December 10th and 11th are study days. The Final Examination period runs from December 12 th to 23rd . Final marks will not be official until January 2021. 5. Zoom Instructions Synchronous classes will be taught virtually in the scheduled time slot (EST) using the Zoom platform. Space is limited so students must only attend the class they are enrolled in and access will be controlled using the course myls site, registration and passwords. Scheduled classes will display as meetings on the course myls site. You can click on the Zoom meetings tab, then on the link to the appropriate meeting (e.g. Tuesday at 1:30 pm). NOTE: before you can join your class meetings you must FIRST activate your Laurier Zoom account. To do this, go to https://zoom.wlu.ca and click on 'Sign In' then use your Laurier username and password to login. This will activate your account. Here is a helpful link: https://students.wlu.ca/services-and-spaces/tech-services/assets/resources/getting-startedwith-zoom.html You must access your Zoom class through myls unless you are otherwise directed by your instructor. In such cases the instructor will send the link and the MANDATORY password.

You need a reliable internet connection and a microphone, speaker and camera on your laptop, desktop or phone in order to participate in the class. Dialing into the class is available but may trigger long distance charges. 6. Privacy Warnings and Recordings Zoom classes will be recorded so that they may be viewed again by clicking Cloud Recording. The red button on the screen is notice to you that the class is being recorded. Students, instructors, IA’s and program administrators may view the recordings for teaching, grading, misconduct investigations and other administrative and academic purposes. The red light in “Record” on the Zoom toolbar is notice to you that the class is being recorded. You are not authorized to make a copy of the recorded class; it is provided for viewing purposes of students enrolled in the class and further distribution of sharing is strictly prohibited. Recordings of classes will be deleted one week after the relevant class. The recordings may capture your name, image or voice through the video and audio recordings. By attending in these live classes, you are consenting to the collection of this information for the purposes of administering the class and associated course work. If you are concerned about the use or collection of your name and other personal information in the class, please contact the course instructor to identify possible alternatives. To learn more about how your personal information is collected, used and disclosed by the University, please see Laurier’s Notice of Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information. Policy 9.3: Classroom Use of Electronic Devices. In addition, students writing exams will be videoed. The software (described below) flags suspicious conduct but all students are hereby notified that that videos and/or screenshots of their behaviour during online exams (flagged or not) may be viewed by instructors, instructional assistants, administrative staff and other proctors. These recordings will be used in academic misconduct proceedings against the subject student or others suspected of academic misconduct. If misconduct is found, the recordings will be saved for the duration of the student’s degree and if more than one incident occurs during the student’s time at Laurier for up to 10 years after the student graduates. 7. Course My Learning Space Website: MyLearningSpace (MyLS) will be used to coordinate the online activities for the course, including all emails and announcements from the course coordinator. You will complete all of your quizzes and exams on MyLS. Your instructor will inform you of how they plan to communicate with you between classes, if at all. If you wish to have MyLS email forwarded to a personal email account, you can do so by making the appropriate setting within MyLS. It is your responsibility to regularly check MyLS for announcements and to check your MyLaurier account (or to have email forwarded to a personal account that you regularly check). Neither the coordinator nor your instructor will be responsible for you missing the information in any MyLS announcements or emails. You should verify as soon as possible that you can both log in to MyLS and access the course website once logged in. The MyLS login page is at http://mylearningspace.wlu.ca/. Questions

about how to use MyLS, including your inability to log in, should be directed to Educational Technologies staff ([email protected]) and not to your instructor. If you can log in to myLS but do not have access to the BU127 site, then send an email with your name and ID# to [email protected] and they will look after getting you added to the access list. 8. Course Textbook Text: Financial Accounting (Seventh Canadian Edition) by Libby, Libby, Hodge, Kanaan and Sterling. Published by McGraw Hill. This text is available in the bookstore ($149.95+tax) and includes a shrink-wrapped ‘Connect’ card to access the text website. This website includes the eBook version of this text and practice problems to support your studies. It also provides access to the on-line assignments that are an important learning resource for this course. As an alternative to purchasing the hard-copy text, you can purchase only the eBook version of the text and access the book’s website which, as noted above, includes the eBook version of the text, practice problems, and provides access to the On-line Assignments. Note: Connect can be purchased at the bookstore ($89.50+tax) or online through the publisher’s course link provided for each class ($89.50+tax). A free trial of the Ebook version will be offered for 14-days. If you choose to purchase a Connect card with eBook access, you can also purchase a loose-leaf printout of the text directly from the publisher for an additional $30+tax. Do not purchase a used text. McGraw Hill sells the textbooks with connect cards that can only be used by the original purchaser of the text. If you purchase a used text (any edition), you will not have a usable ‘Connect’ card and will not be able to access the on-line assignments that are an important component of the course. 9. Office Hours Your instructor will be available to answer your questions during office hours. Your instructor’s office hours can be found in Section 2 Instructor Information. These sessions will open to all students in a group format and you may benefit from hearing the questions of others. Content is student driven and your instructor will respond to specific questions by students during these office hours. Your instructor will not be re-teaching missed lectures during office hours. Students who have missed classes should review recordings of the subject class as discussed in Section 6 above. If you require a private discussion, arrangements should be made with the instructor in advance of scheduled office hours. 10. Learning Approach Accounting is a subject that you learn by doing. Hence we place a lot of emphasis on having you complete a series of low stakes assignments and quizzes that are designed to help you learn the material and to keep up to date. Each week you should to do the following:

1. Read the assigned chapter and complete a pre-class Smartbook assignment designed to gently test your understanding of the chapter you have just read. 2. Complete the demonstration case at the end of the chapter. 3. Prepare solutions to exercises and problems at the end of each chapter. The class schedule provides a list of recommended exercises and problems that will be taken up in class or are intended for self-study. There is some repetition of coverage in the selfstudy exercises and problems so do as many as you need to in order to feel comfortable with the material. The course MLS website contains solutions to all exercises and problems so you can check your own work and learn from your mistakes. If you do not understand why your solution varies from the posted solution on MLS take the time to ask a lab leader in one of our optional labs. 4. Attend class. Your instructor will go through the major concepts and topics in the chapter and will take up the exercises and problems listed in the weekly schedule. 5. Prepare a connect assignment before or after attempting class. This online learning platform has a check my work feature and other aids that will help you to learn from your mistakes. 6. Attend optional labs if you need help understanding the course material or completing any of connect or excel/data analytics assignments. 7. Most weeks you will either have an excel/data analytics assignment to do or a quiz. 11. Optional OnLine Labs The optional online zoom labs start on Monday September 14 and end on Friday December 11. Feel free to take advantage of them if you find yourself struggling with any of the material. Think of these labs as free tutoring. Regardless of what section you are in, you may go to any of the labs listed below. Please note that the labs are structured in a way that students go in with their own questions and the Teachers Assistants (TAs) then assist them. The TAs will be happy to help you with any homework problems you have and will provide you with some assistance in completing the online assignments. They can also help you prepare for exams and can answer questions on the group project. The lab numbers, days of the week, times and rooms are as follows: Day Monday Tuesday Wednesda y Thursday Friday

Time 7:00 PM – 8:15 PM 5:30 PM – 6:45 PM 7:00 PM – 8:15 PM 7:00 PM – 8:15 PM 12:30PM - 1:45 PM

12. Optional Online Boot Camps We will hold an accounting ZOOM boot camp on Friday October 9th from 10am-2 pm with a 3045 minute break in the middle. The boot camp is optional. There is no requirement to attend. The purpose of this boot camp is to bridge the gap that exists between students who have had high school accounting and those who have not. The boot camp will start with a brief review of the rules of debits and credits. You will then be asked to complete three comprehensive

problems covering chapters 1-4. Instructional assistants will be available to answer any questions you have. For those of you who cannot attend, we will post slides on MyLS as well as a video recording of the online ZOOM bootcamp. We will hold a second boot camp covering chapters 8-11 on Friday, December 4th, 2019 from 10am - 2pm using ZOOM. 13. Grade Determination Your grade in this course will be evaluated as follows: Higher of Option A Smartbook pre class assignments Connect post class assignments Connect accounting life cycle assignment Data Analytics and Excel assignments Ratio Calculations assignment Group project Quizzes Online midterm exam Online final exam Or Option B Ratio Calculations assignment Group project Quizzes Online midterm exam Online final exam

5% 10% 3% 7% 5% 5% 10% 20% 35% 100%

5% 5% 10% 30% 50% 100%

The second option is designed to allow students to opt out of using the publisher’s online resources. We do not recommend Option B. If you are unable to afford a textbook, please contact the course co-ordinator James Moore at [email protected] for possible options. 14. Research Participation Bonus Marks You may receive up to three bonus marks for this course by participating in the Lazaridis School Research Participation System (LS RPS). This system is designed to: (a) facilitate the research of faculty and graduate students in Accounting, Marketing, and OB/HRM area groups; and (b) enable undergraduate students taking Accounting, Marketing, and OB/HRM courses to gain an appreciation for research and the research process by participating in actual research projects. More information on the LS RPS system can be found at: https://students.wlu.ca/programs/lazaridis-school/business/research-participation-system.html The system is administered at the following web site: https://wlu-ls.sona-systems.com/.

On your first visit, you should create a user ID and password. Once you’ve done this, you may sign up for online studies. A maximum of 3 bonus marks are allowed (3% of course grade) for specific participating courses. These marks may be earned from any combination of online studies and/or journal article reviews. In-person (lab) studies are not likely to be available this term. If you are unable or unwilling to participate in research studies and still wish to earn up to three bonus marks, you can complete an alternative written assignment(s) for one or more of these marks. Directions on how to pursue this option are provided below. You must still request an account as a participant at https://wlu-ls.sona-systems.com/ if you are pursuing the research participation alternative (journal article reviews). If you are taking more than one course that is eligible for bonus marks (this information is available on the web site above) any bonus mark(s) you earn in a given study can only be assigned to one course. The deadline to participate in research studies or submit journal article reviews is 12:00 p.m. (noon) on the last day of classes of the Fall Term, December 9, 2020. No exceptions! Any study or journal article review crediting will be updated on the above website by midnight on December 14, 2020. The deadline for students wishing to reassign any bonus marks across courses within the above website is 12:00 p.m. (noon) December 15, 2020. Please note that it is the student’s responsibility to ensure the courses, sections and credit allocations are correct in the LS RPS by this deadline- no exceptions will be made after. Note that the maximum 3% bonus is contingent on the availability of research studies during the term. We do not guarantee that students will be able to earn bonus marks totaling 3% through research studies or journal article reviews. As in all courses, you should prioritize earning 100% of your grade through mandatory course components. Students should be aware that not attending class to partake in LS RPS studies is unacceptable. Research Participation Alternative: Journal Article Reviews If you are unable or unwilling to participate in research studies to earn bonus marks, we provide an alternative means of earning up to 3% (3 points) of bonus marks. This alternative entails writing reviews of academic journal articles. To learn more about and/or participate in this option, you must self-register for the MyLS course entitled Lazaridis School Research Participation Alternative | Fall 2020 via the following steps: 1. Click the “Self-Registration” link near the top right of the page when you first log into MyLS. 2. Click “Lazaridis School Research Participation Alternative | Fall 2020” (courses are listed alphabetically, so this one will be at the bottom of the list). 3. Click “Register”, then click “Submit”, then click “Finish”. 4. You should now see “Lazaridis School Research Participation Alternative | Fall 2020” in your list of courses. Directions on how to complete the reviews, format, and the submission process can be found once you register for this course. Please contact the System Administrator at [email protected] if you

have any problems with registering for the course or about the research participation alternative (article reviews) submission process. 15. Recommended on-line assignments The onl...