COURSE SYLLABUS School of Management The University of Texas at Dallas Accounting and Information Management Programs

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1 COURSE SYLLABUS School of Management The University of Texas at Dallas Accounting and Information Management Programs Course: Strategic Cost Management, AIM6342.0G1 Instructor: Constantine Konstans Semester: Spring 2005 Course Information Technical Requirements Course Access Communications Student Assessment Scholastic Dishonesty Course Evaluation Course Outline Course Information Course Description Instructor: Constantine Konstans, Ph.D., CPA, CMA, CIA, CFE Professor of Accounting and Information Management Executive Director, Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance Telephone: Office: SM FAX: Course internal as primary contact Web site: Office Hours: By appointment Course Description This course extends the perspective of cost management/analysis from a primary focus on tactical short-run/micro concerns to an emphasis on strategic long-run/macro issues. The linkage between cost management/analysis and strategy is facilitated by utilizing three powerful strategic management tools: value chain analysis, strategic positioning analysis and cost driver analysis. Supported by these as well as by other financial and non-financial tools, cost management analysis evolves into Strategic Cost Management (SCM). SCM exists to support decision-makers as they develop, communicate, implement, evaluate and modify organizational strategy. There are three course themes: 1. Developing new ways of looking at familiar problems and concepts an SCM look at such familiar issues as product line profitability, make/buy or new product introduction. 2. Introducing some relatively new and/or interesting topics/tools in cost analysis that facilitate SCM, to include but not limited to: a. Activity Based Management/Budgeting SCM for Line of Business Evaluation b. Economic Value to the Customer SCM for Product/Channel Decisions c. Life Cycle Costing SCM for Sourcing Decisions

2 d. Strategic Cost Drivers Technology Costing e. Target Costing Environmental Cost Measurement/Management f. Value Chain Analysis Quality Cost Measurement/Management g. Lean Production Balanced Scorecard h. Strategy and Management Accounting Measuring and Managing Capacity i. Theory of Constraints and Throughput Accounting 3. Interacting with practitioners of SCM. This course is designed for students who plan to pursue careers as management consultants, as internal consultants or as business managers. Regardless of the career path selected, all students will benefit from exposure to the unique perspective of contemporary practitioners. Therefore, two professional consultants will be featured as teleconference guest lecturers on selected aspects of SCM. In addition, recorded presentations of others will be available for students. Course Prerequisite The course is designed for MBA/MS students who have completed Accounting for Managers (AIM 6305) or its equivalent. Course Approach The course will rely heavily on student-intensive activities. Student teams will have the responsibility for presenting case analyses and topics as shown in the course schedule below. Course Preparation and Participation Each student must accept the responsibility for course preparation. Thus, for each session, every student must study the assigned readings and analyze the assigned cases. In addition, each student is expected to participate actively in teleconferences and chat room sessions. The course uses cases extensively. In order to derive maximum benefit, it is essential that you mentally "get inside" the case situation. Do not approach a case as you would a chapter in a book or an article in a journal. You are not an observer but a participant. If a case centers on a decision that needs to be made, put yourself in the shoes of the decision-maker. Feel the frustration (s)he feels with respect to data limitations. Feel the pressure (s)he feels with respect to difficult tradeoffs, limited resources, potential conflicts, etc. Share your ideas with others as we work jointly to resolve the issues. I will guide you in your case and topic presentations (see below). For topic presentations, you are required to find and use a minimum of three references from the internet or a variety of publications such as, but not necessarily limited to, the Journal of Cost Management, the Journal of Management Accounting Research; Accounting, Organizations and Society; Harvard Business Review; and Sloan Management Review. I will be available to review your plans for these activities.

3 Professional Linkages SCM represents a lucrative, important and growing area for consulting services both domestically and internationally. SCM consulting services are provided by management consulting firms as well as by the Big Four accounting firms. Course Materials Texts (and their abbreviations) BCL CCM COST MANAGEMENT: A STRATEGIC EMPHASIS 3d. Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 2005, by E. J. Blocher, K. H. Chen, G. Cokins and T. W. Lin. CASES IN COST MANAGEMENT: A STRATEGIC EMPHASIS Second Edition. South-Western, 2001, by J. Shank. Textbooks and other materials can be ordered online through MBS Direct Virtual Bookstore or Off-Campus Books web ordering site. They are also available at UTD Bookstore and Off- Campus Books. Technical Requirements In addition to a confident level of computer and Internet literacy, certain minimum technical requirement must be met to enable a successful learning experience. Technical requirements include but are not limited to: Hardware A Pentium processor or equivalent Mac system; Windows 98/Me/2000/XP or Mac OS 9.x or OS X Internet access with 56.6 modem (minimum). A high-bandwidth connection is recommended. 32 MB system Ram; 200 MB free disk space or sufficient storage Sound card CD-ROM capabilities Software Internet Explorer 5.0 to 6.0 (but 5.5 SP1 not supported), or Netscape Navigator 6.2.x (see notes) and 7.0 (4.78, 4.79 and not supported), or AOL 7.0 and 8.0. See browser configuration information below. MS Office 2000 is the minimum standard. (Microsoft software is available at a nominal cost from the UTD/Microsoft Program. For more information, visit the Global MBA Online Student Service web page at: Virus detection/protection software (such as McAfee) Plug-ins including the most current version of RealPlayer (available at: and Adobe Acrobat Reader (available at:

4 A zip file expansion tool such as WinZip or Stuffit Expander (available at: Web Browser Configuration For WebCT courses to work properly, you will need one of the WebCT supported browsers listed above with JavaScript enabled and cookies enabled. It is also important that you set the cache settings of your browser to verify web documents Every Time. The methods for configuring these settings vary among browsers. Please follow this web link provided by WebCT to tune-up your browser: Course Access and Navigation This course was developed using a web course tool called WebCT. It is to be delivered entirely online. You will be notified by about the course access information at the start of the course. You ll need to have a UTD NetID and password to access the course. If you have not set up a UTD NetID account yet, please go to the UTD NetID page at to initiate your account shortly before or at the start of the semester. Your UTD NetID is your WebCT ID. It is to be used to access all of your UTD WebCT courses plus other UTD computing systems e.g. your UTD account. Please note that it s required that your account password to be updated every 6-12 months. UTD IR will send you reminding messages to your UTD account towards the time when your password is getting expired. To update your password, please login at the above NetID page. For more information, please visit the NetID FAQs page. The URL for the course login page is: The course may be accessed at any time. You are required to meet all assignment and exam deadlines. Participation in scheduled class activities is required. You should login to the course site regularly (at least three times per week) to check course updates, and discussion board messages. You ll access the My WebCT page after you login. The page lists all courses that you have registered for. You can click the course title to access the course Home Page which displays several icon links. Clicking each icon link will take you to different subsidiary pages containing the course content elements or built-in course tools. Some navigation components such as the Navigation Bar with Course Menu on the left side, the Menu Bar and the path link on the top, and the Action Menu on the content page can help you navigate within the course site. To get started with a WebCT course, please see the Getting started: Student WebCT Orientation link. For more information about WebCT tool usage, please see the WebCT Student Help Index. Within the course site, you can always click HELP on the WebCT Menu Bar to find information and answers. You can also check out the Orientation Center to Online Learning and WebCT provided on WebCT s web site. For more WebCT information and its learning resources, visit If you have any problems with your UTD account or any problem with the UTD WebCT server, you may to: assist@utdallas.edu or call the UTD Computer Helpdesk at: If you encounter any technical difficulties within the course site, please send an to gmbasupport@utdallas.edu.

5 Communications WebCT built-in communication tools: There are four built-in communication tools to facilitate learning, communication, and collaboration. A course conferencing system, the Discussion, allows communication among all course participants. Discussion topics or groups can be set up for topic discussions and homework assignments. You can use the course Mail tool to communicate privately with the instructor and any class participants. The Chat tool can be used for real-time communication among course participates. Please see specific information for accessing Chat tool. Finally there is a graphic interface Whiteboard tool which allows real-time interaction among course participants. If necessary, I will schedule times to use the Chat and/or Whiteboard tools for office hours and/or class discussion sessions. Small groups may also use the Chat tool for group discussions. Interaction with Instructor: I will communicate with students mainly using the Discussion board. Students may send personal concerns or questions to me using the course tool. I will reply to student s or Discussion board messages within 3 working days under normal circumstances. ing: Besides using the WebCT course internal , if there is any need, students may contact me via external regular s. UTD provides each student with a free account that is to be used in all communication with university personnel. This allows the university to maintain a high degree of confidence in the identity of all individuals corresponding and the security of the transmitted information. Beginning September 1, 2004, the Administration has informed faculty to require any communications to be through UTD accounts. To access your UTD , please go to: and login with your UTD NetID and password (same as WebCT login). The Department of Information Resources at UTD provides a method for students to forward from other accounts to their UTD address and have their UTD mail sent to other accounts. Students may go to the following URL to establish the forwarding if necessary: For any assistance with UTD account, call or assist@utdallas.edu. MeetingPlace TeleConference System: UTD maintains a telephone conferencing system. All participants in the course can use the system for teleconferences throughout the semester. Participants access a meeting by dialing either a 972 area code number or a toll free number if outside the Dallas area (but within the continental U.S.) with a touch tone phone. When prompted, you will enter a code. If a teleconference is scheduled for the course, you will be notified of the time and given access instructions. A class teleconference is usually recorded and can be reviewed over the phone after the conference. Please see TeleConference Guide for general instructions. If you would like to reserve a time to meet with a group of your classmates, please send an one week in advance to gmbasupport@utdallas.edu. Be sure to include the course name, student names and addresses, choice of date, and start and end times. Once a reservation has been made, students will receive a confirmation with access instructions.

6 Student Assessment Grading Information Team Case Analysis and Critiques 100 Team Topic Presentation and Critiques 100 Timed Final Examination 100 Possible Points 300 Translation of the total point score into a letter grade will be based on the instructor s judgment. The letter grade will reflect each student's performance relative to the course and standards expected of MBA students. Important / Time-Sensitive: Study teams will be formed immediately at the start of the course and posted on the Discussion Board. To facilitate the process, the following information, formatted as shown below, must be sent to the instructor immediately upon logging-in to the course through course internal Last Name; First Name; UTD Degree Program and Expected Graduation Semester 2. Day-Time Telephone Number and FAX Number; Day and Evening Addresses 3. Collegiate Degree(s) Earned; Year(s) Earned; Name(s) of the Granting Institution(s) 4. Number of Earned Collegiate Semester Hours of Accounting; Where Earned (Institution) 5. Name of Current Employer; Your Position or Title; Months with Employer 6. Short Summary of Prior Business Experience with Most Recent Experience First 7. A Short Statement of Your Career Objectives and How You Expect This Course to Help Guidelines on Case Presentations Each team will present one case during the semester. These will be assigned at the instructor s discretion on the basis of student interest, first-come, first-serve, and other criteria. Two weeks prior to the week that a team s case solution is due, team members should discuss the case and develop a tentative solution using various modes of communication to include the use of the team s private discussion forum. One week prior to due date, team members should provide the instructor their tentative solution using the course internal . The instructor will provide comments for enhancing the case solution by return or other form of communication. On the week that a team case solution is due, a team member should post the team solution on the Discussion Board by Wednesday morning at 10 A.M. for all students to review. By Friday at 6 P.M., the other teams will post their one-page critique of the case solution on the Discussion Board. Team critiques should be developed through interaction among members of the critiquing teams using their teams own discussion forums or other means of communication. Critiques will represent 10% of the each team s Case Analysis and Topic Presentation grades. Grades will reflect the team s ability to critically analyze the case

7 or topic. Teams should use the same criteria in preparing the critiques of cases and topics as the instructor uses in grading the cases and topics (see below). The case solution will be in two parts. The major part will be a written report that does not exceed six pages, double-spaced exclusive of exhibits. The report should address each of the case questions succinctly, yet completely. The second part will be a PowerPoint presentation of the case that could be used in a traditional classroom setting. Use no more than 15 slides. Case solutions will be graded using the following criteria: A. Analyzing each question effectively 20 B. Identifying and evaluating alternative solutions 20 C. Linking the case to strategic issues 20 D. Organizing the case logically 20 E. Quality of the PowerPoint slides 20 Total 100 Guidelines on Topic Presentations Each team will present one topic. The procedure for team topic presentations and critiques is the same as for team case presentations and critiques regarding critical events and their timing, the requirement for one-page critiques by non-presenting teams, etc. However, the timing of case presentations will try to spread each team s workload fairly evenly over the semester. Topic presentations will be graded using the following criteria: A. Organization and balance between too much and too little detail 20 B. Well researched with emphasis on the important aspects of a topic 20 C. Linking the case study to strategic issues covered in the course 20 D. Cutting edge developments are identified and introduced. 20 E. Quality of the PowerPoint slides 20 Total 100 Final Exam Timed case write-up. Short case available within Course Site as an online exam. Exam must be taken within the scheduled time window and must be completed online in 2.5 hours. You can access the exam by clicking the Final Exam icon and then clicking the available exam title link. The exam is timed and can only be accessed once within the scheduled time window. Please read the on-screen instructions carefully before you click the Begin Quiz button. After the exam is graded and released, you may go back to the exam page and click the View scores button to review your exam results. Scholastic Dishonesty The University has policies and discipline procedures regarding scholastic dishonesty. Detailed information is available on the Scholastic Dishonesty web page. All students are expected to maintain a high level of responsibility with respect to academic honesty. Students who violate

8 University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University. Since such dishonesty harms the individual, all students and the integrity of the University, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced. Course Evaluation As required by UTD academic regulations, every student must complete an evaluation for each enrolled course at the end of the semester. An online instructional assessment form will be made available for your confidential use. Please look for the course evaluation link on the course Homepage towards the end of the course. Course Outline/Schedule Date Case (CCM) Topic/Activity Reading (BCL) 1/10-1/16 Week 1 Orientation to WebCT and Course Site. Send instructor timesensitive data requested in syllabus. Chapter 1 Lecture #1 Cost Management: Strategic versus Conventional Approaches Instructor Provides Course Overview. PowerPoint slides and streaming audio available under Course Materials on the course site. Teleconference #1:1/16/05; 9:00-10:00 PM 1/17-1/23 Week 2 Lecture #2 Baldwin Bicycles; Instructor Presents Case to Illustrate SCM. Call: (or toll free within continental USA: ). Enter the Meeting ID as: Please use this same info for all the following meetings. PowerPoint slides and streaming audio available under Course Materials on the course site. Chapter 2

9 1/24-1/30 Week 3 1/30-2/6 Week 4 Lecture #3 Mavis Machine Shop; Instructor Presents Case to Illustrate SCM Case #1 Bridgewater Castings PowerPoint slides and streaming audio available under Course Materials on the course site. Teleconference #2: 1/30/05; 9:10 10:30 PM. Topic #1 Cost Drivers and SCM. Chapter 3 2/7-2/13 Week 5 2/14-2/20 Week 6 Case #2 DairyPak Case #3 Montclair Deep Colors Topic #2 Value Chain Analysis. Topic #3 Target Costing Chapter 4 Chapter 5 2/21-2/27 Week 7 2/28-3/6 Week 8 Case #4 Chalice Wines Case #5 Tijuana Bronze Machining Topic #4 Quality Cost Measurement/Management. Topic #5 Activity Based Management Budgeting Chapter 6 Chapter7 3/7-3/13 Spring Break Spring Break 3/14-3/20 Case #6 Topic #6 Jones Ironworks Learning Curve Analysis 3/21-3/27 Week 10 3/28-4/3 Week 11 Case #7 Wellington Chemicals Case #8 Boston Creamery Teleconference #3: Live Guest Speaker: 3/20/05, 7:00 8:30 PM Topic #7 Strategic Positioning and SCM. Topic #8 Supply Chain Management and SCM. Chapters 15 & 17 Chapter 16 4/4-4/10 Week 12 Case #9 Kinkead Equipment Topic #9 Technology Costing and SCM. Chapter 8 4/11-4/17 Week 13 Lecture #4 Balanced Scorecard: Instructor Presentation PowerPoint slides and streaming audio available under Course Materials on the course site. Chapter 18 4/24-4/25 Week 14 Teleconference #4: Live Guest Speaker: 4/17/05, 7:00 8:30 PM Final Exam: Timed case write-up. Short case available within Course Site as an online exam. Exam must be taken within the scheduled time window and must be completed online in 2.5 hours.