ACC Advanced Managerial Accounting Course Outline Fall 2013

Transcription

1 University of Manitoba I.H. Asper School of Business Department of Accounting and Finance ACC Advanced Managerial Accounting Course Outline Fall 2013 Instructor: Debbie Mortimer, B. Comm. (Hons.), M. Acc., FCGA Fall 2013 Office: 366 Drake Phone #: Office Hours: Tuesdays 4pm-6pm (until Nov. 12) or by appointment debbie.mortimer@ad.umanitoba.ca Course Learning Objectives and Approach: Objectives: This undergraduate course is designed to broaden and deepen your conceptual and technical understanding of management control systems (MCS). MCS are considered broadly to include everything that managers do to ensure good performance or, more specifically, to ensure that the company s strategies get implemented effectively. But the emphasis in the course is on financial controls, which dominate in importance at managerial levels in all organizations. Using financial controls requires managers to make decisions about: (1) responsibility structures (e.g., cost centers, profit centers), (2) performance measures (e.g., market, financial, and/or nonfinancial measures and their combinations), (3) performance evaluations, which take into consideration performance targets or other benchmarks, and (4) rewards (including performance-dependent compensation). Additionally, this advanced course is designed to - integrate prior management accounting course material with other course material through the use of case studies, research papers, and group projects, - help students develop analytical, decision making, application, oral communication, time management, interpersonal, creative and written communication skills, and - prepare students to write professional accounting exams. Required Reading Material: Management Control Systems. 3rd Edition. Merchant and Van der Stede, Prentice Hall ISBN: Journal articles: 1. Ghosh, D, Complementary arrangements of organizational factors and outcomes of negotiated transfer pricing in Accounting, organizations and society, 25, 2000, pages Gaffney, K, Glankikh, V and Webb, RA, A case study of a variance analysis framework for managing distribution costs in Accounting Perspectives, 6, 2007, pages ACC4040 is a 3 credit hour course; Prerequisite: ACC3040 minimum grade of D

2 Grading: Course grade is based upon: Group Work: 15% Group Project, due November 29 Oral presentation (5%) Written report (10%) 5% Group Case Due November 5 Individual Work 15% Participation: 5% online 10% - in class 25% Midterm Examination (case analysis), October 24, 6pm-8pm, room 343 Drake 40% Final Examination (case analysis), to be scheduled by registar s office Final grades are based on the student s weighted mark and performance relative to other students. The following are the tentative grade cut-offs: Cumulative Marks Grade GPA A A B B C C D 1.0 Below 50 F 0.0 These tentative cut-offs are subject to adjustment up or down depending on the relative performance of the current class compared to prior classes that have taken the course with the same instructor. Group Work: Group Project: In assigned groups, you will have to decide on a company to report on/investigate. The company chosen must employ at least 50 full-time staff (a franchised type business with less than 50 employees may be approved); it may be of profit or non-profit orientation. Instructor approval of the chosen company is required before starting the project. When contacting the approved company please inform them of the scope of their involvement which includes an onsite interview with company executives (or equivalent) and a tour of the company s facilities. Also, your company will be invited to attend the group presentations at the end of the term. You will be required to submit a report evaluating the company s control systems. The report should be between 6-8 pages, typed and double-spaced. The group will also be required to present their findings to the class in an oral presentation of about minutes. All group members must participate in the presentation portion of the project. The following is a tentative timetable for the project:

3 Submit group company for approval include company name, September 27 contact name, contact information ( or phone) and company industry Contact company to set up a time for the interview and tour via By October 12 phone or or in writing Research company (website, other available information), design By October 21 interview questions Interview and tour By November 12 Conduct other relevant research regarding company and ask follow- By November 19 up questions from the interview Oral Presentations and Written report due November 29 The following are examples of interview questions: What is the strategy or mission of your company? What are the company s key success factors/competitive advantage? How do you ensure the strategy is being followed? How is your company organized formal or informal? Do you have a strategic planning process? Who is involved? How does it work? Do you have a budgeting system in place? How does it work? How do you evaluate each of your key success factors? How do you evaluate your people, on financial measures, or on non-financial measures? How do you compensate your people? How would you describe the culture of your workplace? How would you describe the management style of your company? What are your management control procedures (e.g. Standard costing, variance analysis, observation (gut feel), other measures)? How do you measure success or failure in your organization? Group Case As a group, you will be required to prepare a response to the case Formosa Plastics Group (page 536 of textbook). Your case response should be between 5-7 pages, typed, double spaced with a minimum 11 point font. Appendices are not included in the page count. More information will be posted in D2L. Group Evaluation Each group member will evaluate each of the other group member s performance. If all members contributed equally to the group work (case analysis, and project) each member should receive a contribution score of 100%. If one or more members did not contribute fully he or she should be given a contribution score of less than 100% (minimum = 0%). The grade for each member will be equal to the grade assigned for the group work, multiplied by that individual s average contribution score as determined by the other group members. Please submit your evaluation of your team members via (Mortimer@ms.umanitoba.ca) no later than December 6, Non-submission of a group evaluation will result in each group member receiving 100% contribution score.

4 Individual Work: Online Participation: For 10 of the assigned cases of your choice you will be required to post a pre-class comment to a discussion board in D2L. There will be assigned questions posted on the discussion board for you to comment on. Your comment should not be more than 2-3 sentences. For the same 10 cases you will be required to post a post-class comment to D2L detailing what you learned from the case. Your comment should not be more than 2-3 sentences. Pre-class comments to be posted by: Post-class comments to be posted by: 1pm on the day of the case discussion 12pm (noon) the day following class discussion In-Class Participation: Assigned cases/research papers are to be prepared for class. We will discuss each case/research paper as a class and will learn what makes a management control system work and/or not work. Oral participation marks will be allocated based on the QUALITY of the student's participation. You can earn ½ of the oral participation grade by attending every case class, meaning to increase your grade you must speak. The final oral participation grade will be based on the consistent quality of class participation. The onus for speaking in class rests entirely upon the student, who must indicate desire to speak in context of the ongoing discussion by raising a hand. In addition to the instructor's evaluation of oral participation, a student will be chosen for each class case discussion to evaluate his or her peer s participation. Participation will be graded on a scale of 0-5. The following will aid as a guide to participation grading: 0 = no participation. 1 = stating a case fact. 2 = stating a case fact and giving a reason for its importance to the discussion. 3 = analysis of case facts/data and/or comments that add to the case learning experience. Ideas offered provide useful insights. 4 = analysis of case facts/data and/or comments that move the case discussion forward and add to the case learning experience. Ideas offered provide good insight and direction for the class. 5 = exceptional comment, pinpointed the case's essence and purpose. Ideas are well substantiated and persuasively presented. Examinations: For students who miss the midterm for legitimate reasons, the weight of the midterm exam will be allocated to the final examination. Absence from exams due to illness requires a medical certificate. If you miss the midterm for non legitimate reasons you will be given a score of 0 (zero). Students who miss the final exam must apply to the Undergraduate Program Office in their faculty for possible deferred examination privileges. Any request for re-reads of term examinations must be made, in writing, within 10 working days of the class when it was returned. Note: November 13 is the last day for voluntary withdrawal without academic penalty.

5 Class Preparation The most important requirement for this course is a thorough preparation and analysis of the assigned case, reading material and active participation in the classroom. The course is built around the case method. The learning in the class focuses more on the thought process in analyzing business situations, not just on the solution per se. Most of the cases included in this course represent broad organizational situations and encompass many facets of a company's control system. In some instances, the case may represent a good system and you are expected to learn what makes the system work well. Other cases may present a system which has failed and the purpose here is to learn from the failures. Any recommendation for changes when analyzing cases should carefully weigh the organizational costs involved. Assigned questions for in-class discussion purposes will be posted in D2L for each case/research paper. In the Classroom My expectation is that you will come to the class having already thought and analyzed the cases both individually and in small group discussions. I encourage active student participation in class. I should point out that most students typically tend to underestimate the worth of what they have to say. Thus, if ever in doubt, speak up. My role in the class is to help facilitate discussion. In part, I serve as a recording secretary, clarifier, and questioner in order to help you present and develop your ideas. Remember, there is no single correct solution to any of the case problems. There are however, wrong solutions, or solutions which are inadequately supported with analysis. Evaluation Cases Certain assigned cases are denoted as evaluation cases. These cases have rubrics available for you to assess your response to the case. It is encouraged you prepare a written response to each of these cases, which you can then self-assess against the rubric to identify areas of strength and weakness. The rubric will be made available during the class discussion of the case. The intent of evaluation cases is to give you practice on writing case responses and develop an understanding of how cases are graded. This will help you develop skills for writing case exams, including this course s midterm and final exam, as well as, professional accounting case exams.

6 Tentative Course Schedule Date Case Reading Sept. 5 Introduction to course N/A Sept. 10 Management Control Systems - Overview N/A Sept. 12 Management Control Systems Overview N/A and How to Analyze a Case Sept. 17 Atlanta Home Loan Chapter 1 Test run for on-line discussion Sept. 19 Houston Fearless 76, Inc. Chapter 2 Groups Assigned Sept. 24 Axeon N. V. Chapter 3 Sept. 26 PCL: A Breakdown in the Enforcement of Chapter 4 Management Control Oct. 1 Air-Tex Aviation Chapter 6 Oct. 3 Ghosh Research paper posted in D2L Oct. 8 Zumwald, AG evaluation case Chapter 7 Oct. 10 Kranworth Chair Corporation evaluation Chapter 7 case Oct. 15 Raven Capital, LLC evaluation Case Chapter 9 Oct. 17 Catalytic Solutions Inc. Chapter 11 Oct. 22 Berkshire Industries PLC evaluation Case Chapter 10 Oct. 24 No Class - Midterm Exam 6pm-8pm Room 343 Oct. 29 Gaffney research paper posted in D2L Oct. 31 Olympic Car Wash Chapter 12 Nov. 5 Formosa Plastics Group Chapter 12 Group Case Due Nov. 7 Corporate Governance and Ethics - Lecture Chapters Nov. 12 Vector Aeromotive Corporation Chapter 13 evaluation case Nov. 14 Conservative Accounting in General Chapter 15 Products Division The Sales Acceleration Program The Expiring Software License Nov. 19 Entropic Communications Inc. evaluation Chapter 13 case Nov. 21 University of Southern California: Chapter 17 Responsibility Center Management System Nov. 26 No class in lieu of Nov. 29 presentations Friday, Group Presentations 10am 2pm Nov 29 Nov. 28 No class in lieu of Nov. 29 presentations Dec. 3 No class in lieu of Nov. 29 presentations

7 Academic Integrity It is critical to the reputation of the Asper School of Business and of our degrees that everyone associated with our faculty behave with the highest academic integrity. As the faculty that helps create business and government leaders, we have a special obligation to ensure that our ethical standards are beyond reproach. Any dishonesty in our academic transactions violates this trust. The University of Manitoba General Calendar addresses the issue of academic dishonesty under the heading "Plagiarism and Cheating". Specifically, acts of academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to: - using the exact words of a published or unpublished author without quotation marks and without referencing the source of these words - duplicating a table, graph or diagram, in whole or in part, without referencing the source - paraphrasing the conceptual framework, research design, interpretation, or any other ideas of another person, whether written or verbal (e.g., personal communications, ideas from a verbal presentation) without referencing the source - copying the answers of another student in any test, examination, or take-home assignment - providing answers to another student in any test, examination, or take-home assignment - taking any unauthorized materials into an examination or term test (crib notes) - impersonating another student or allowing another person to impersonate oneself for the purpose of submitting academic work or writing any test or examination - stealing or mutilating library materials - accessing tests prior to the time and date of the sitting - changing name or answer(s) on a test after that test has been graded and returned - submitting the same paper or portions thereof for more than one assignment, without discussions with the instructors involved. Group Projects and Group Work Many courses in the Asper School of Business require group projects. Students should be aware that group projects are subject to the same rules regarding academic dishonesty. Because of the unique nature of group projects, all group members should exercise special care to insure that the group project does not violate the policy on Academic Integrity. Should a violation occur, group members are jointly accountable unless the violation can be attributed to a specific individual(s). Some courses, while not requiring group projects, encourage students to work together in groups (or at least do not prohibit it) before submitting individual assignments. Students are encouraged to discuss this issue as it relates to academic integrity with their instructor to avoid violating this policy. In the Asper School of Business all suspected cases of academic dishonesty are passed to the Dean's office in order to ensure consistency of treatment.

8 UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA Asper School of Business Absenteeism Form Student Identification: (please print clearly) Last Name First Name Middle Initial U of M Student Identification Number I hereby authorize to verify with the attending physician or his/her (Name of Instructor/Administrator) staff or colleagues that the contents of this form are true. Student s Signature Date To be completed by the attending physician: (after the above section is completed) Physician s Last Name (please print clearly) Physician s First Name Middle Initial Street Address City, Province Postal Code Telephone Number Fax Number To the attention of the physician: Your evaluation of the student s condition is being used for the purpose of determining whether or not the student has a valid reason to miss an important exam or assignment. Your professional evaluation is necessary to ensure that only valid cases are excused. I certify that the nature of the student s condition is severe enough to prevent the student from taking an exam or completing an assignment. If requested, my associates or I will verify for the above-named instructor/administrator that this information is accurate. The student s condition will likely span the following dates: (indicate start date) until (indicate end date) Physician s Signature Date Notes to physician: Please make a note in the student/patient s file indicating that the student has given the above-named instructor/administrator permission to verify with you, your staff, or your colleagues, that the information contained on this form is correct. Thank you for your professional evaluation of this student s condition. PLEASE ATTACH THIS FORM TO YOUR REGULAR OFFICE STATIONERY THAT INDICATES THE STUDENT VISITED YOUR OFFICE. Note to student: The use of this form is at the option of the student. However, in order to obtain an excused absence for an assignment or exam, the student must obtain a doctor s certification that the student s condition is severe enough to prevent the student from taking the exam or completing the assignment. It is NOT SUFFICIENT to provide a note that only indicates the student visited the doctor s office.