TEXAS A&M INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY A.R. SANCHEZ, JR. SCHOOL OF BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL BANKING & FINANCE STUDIES DIVISION. COURSE SYLLABUS Fall 2015

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1 TEXAS A&M INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY A.R. SANCHEZ, JR. SCHOOL OF BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL BANKING & FINANCE STUDIES DIVISION COURSE SYLLABUS Fall 2015 Course Title: Course Instructor: Course Schedule: Course Location: Office Hours: Issues in Accounting ACC Credit Hours: 3 Professor Oscar Cisneros Tuesday and Thursday; 8:30-9:45 p.m. TBA ocisneros@tamiu.edu or Via Blackboard Appointments upon Request Additional Contact Information: Lesly E. Cedillo Staff Assistant Division of International Banking and Finance Studies A.R. Sanchez, Jr. School of Business WHTC 203 Tel. (956) Course Description: This course examines current topics of interest in accountancy. May be repeated once when topic changes. (University Couse Catalog) Prerequisites: Permission of Instructor. Course Goals: This course reinforces the concepts of accruals and adjustments and the importance of accruals and adjustments in the preparation of financial statements and the impact on decision-makers if adjustments or accruals fail to be part of the accounting cycle. In addition, this course will emphasize the importance of the accounting cycle to the preparation of financial statements and in having accurate and reliable financial (accounting) information. Instructional Activities: Lectures using PowerPoint presentations, problem solving and exercises, and examinations. ACC 4399 Issues in Accounting Page 1

2 Required Resources: Access to Internet for student online course material and review, course textbook and a financial calculator Textbook: Material and assignments to be provided by Instructor. Grading Policy: Grades will be based entirely upon performance of three regular examinations, homework, and a final exam. The examinations will be based on the text, class lectures, projects, and any handout materials. Student responses on every assignment, examination, and project will be graded for content, organization, grammar and spelling. Evaluation will be based entirely upon performance on tests, written assignments, and projects. Course Evaluation Weights: Exam I = 15% Exam II = 15% Exam III = 20% Final Exam = 20% Project = 10% Assigned Problems = 15% Class Attendance = 05% Grading Scale: A = % B = 80-<90% C = 70-<80% D = 60-<70% F = < 60% (not passing) Course Evaluation Policy: The exams may consist of problems, questions, and short-answer essay questions. Please note that the problem assignments make up 15% of the total grade. Consequently, assignments contribute to a significant portion of your overall class grade. The grade on late assignments will be subject to a penalty of 20 points for each day the assignment is turned in late. Assignments must be submitted via on Angel (Blackboard) or in the designated assignment folder for each chapter as instructed by the professor. Class participation is required and students are required to prepare in advance for the class material to be presented in order to participate in class discussions and for a better mastery of the material to be covered. The Professor will assume that students have read the assigned chapters, as per the timeframe outlined, before attending class in order to engage in class discussions. Students are expected to answer questions asked during the presentation of the class material. In addition, students will be required to participate in the solving and review of assignments. In this course, the professor develops the exams, quizzes, projects and other assignments to ensure students have sufficient accounting basic competence. Students should hold full accountability / responsibility for their own performance. The professor has the obligation to follow his/her professional integrity to record students performance objectively and credibly. Any modifications on grading policy are upon the professor s discretion. Students should not use any unduly means to influence the grading policy. Examination Format. The format of exams will be multiple choice and short problems / short essay (answer). The exams will be worth 100 points each. Exam questions will not be identical to in-class exercises and homework. Efforts are made to balance the weight of multiple choice and short-problems for each exam. In addition, students must complete a comprehensive final exam. THE FINAL EXAMINATION WILL BE ADMINISTERED ON THE DATE INDICATED ON THE UNIVERSITY FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE. ACC 4399 Issues in Accounting

3 Correction of Grading Errors. All requests regarding course record corrections (e.g. exams, projects, attendance) must be submitted in writing within one (1) week after graded materials were handed back, reviewed in class and/or after grades have been posted on e-learning. After that time, all grades and records become final. Please note that any change is at the sole discretion of the instructor. Homework Assignments. 1. Homework assignments help students understand the subjects and concepts; and practice their understanding; students should turn in the assignments for the completed chapter as indicated in the syllabus or by the professor. 2. Accountants hold high moral standards for their professional career. Submitting assignments from the publisher s instructor manual is an example of plagiarism. Any behavior of plagiarism is subject to the TAMIU Honor Council for possible disciplinary action. See the plagiarism and copyright sections below. Attendance Policy. Prompt and regular attendance at all class sessions is essential if the student is to achieve the most benefit and learning from this course. If you do not attend, you do not learn. In the event that you miss a class, it is your responsibility for finding out what topics were discussed, what additional assignments may have been made and what material may have been distributed in class from your classmates. Class Rules Students are expected to maintain proper class decorum. Come to the class on time and remain in the class until the end. All cell phones, pagers, beepers, ipods and any other electronic communication devices must be turned to the off or vibrate position during class. Students are required to act in a professional, respectable, and courteous fashion at all times in each and every interaction with other students and with members of the faculty. Unprofessional and disrespectful conduct includes, but is not limited to, text messaging or talking on cell phones, talking among and between students outside of the context of the classroom discussion and the wearing of headgear or earphones by any student. Students who use a laptop computer during the class are expected to refrain from surfing the Internet or engaging in any other distracting activities during class time. Attendance: Required. Statistics show that students who miss three or more classes do poorly; frequently, they earn a failing class grade. Note that attendance can be used as a factor in the subjective rating of students. Academic Integrity. You should learn about honesty, morality, and ethics long before entering the University. This course will follow a zero-tolerance policy on student academic misconduct. Make-Up Policy. Since attendance is required, there will be NO Make-Ups, unless there is an extremely good reason for the absence. Make up exams will be given only for the following excused absences: 1. Illness of the student. A letter from the doctor is required. 2. Death in the immediate family. A copy of the death notice or newspaper obituary is required. 3. Court appearances. A copy of the court document is required. ACC 4399 Issues in Accounting Page 3

4 Note: Car trouble is not a sufficient reason; get a taxi, if necessary. A letter from the doctor should not be to your father, mother, uncle or aunt unless you can obtain another document from his/her peer to prove that he/she is the best person to treat you. If you miss a test, you must provide proper documentation within ten (10) days of the missed test, unless circumstances exist in which it is reasonable for you not to be able to do so. If you are anywhere on campus for any reason within ten days of the missed test, then it is assumed that you were able to provide proper documentation. If the documentation is turned in later than ten days following the missed test, your test grade is zero. Academic Effort. It is expected that you do your own best work, whatever that best work is and turning in required work on time. Classroom Behavior The A.R. Sanchez, Jr. School of Business encourages classroom discussion and academic debate as an essential intellectual activity. It is essential that students learn to express and defend their beliefs, but it is also essential that they learn to listen and respond respectfully to others whose beliefs they may not share. ARSSB will always tolerate diverse, unorthodox, and unpopular points of view, but it will not tolerate condescending or insulting remarks. When students verbally abuse or ridicule and intimidate others whose views they do not agree with, they subvert the free exchange of ideas that should characterize a university classroom. If their actions are deemed by the professor to be disruptive, they will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action, which may include being involuntarily withdrawn from the class. Copyright Restrictions The Copyright Act of 1976 grants to copyright owners the exclusive right to reproduce their works and distribute copies of their work. Works that receive copyright protection include published works such as a textbook. Copying a textbook without permission from the owner of the copyright may constitute copyright infringement. Civil and criminal penalties may be assessed for copyright infringement. Civil penalties include damages up to $100,000; criminal penalties include a fine up to $250,000 and imprisonment. Copyright laws do allow students and professors to make photocopies of copyrighted materials, but you may copy a limited portion of a work, such an article from a journal or a chapter from a book for your own personal academic use or, in the case of a professor, for personal, limited classroom use. In general, the extent of your copying should not suggest that the purpose or the effect of your copying is to avoid paying for the materials. And, of course, you may not sell these copies for a profit. Thus, students who copy textbooks to avoid buying them or professors who provide photocopies of textbooks to enable students to save money are violating the law. Plagiarism and Cheating Plagiarism is the presentation of someone else s work as one s own. Recently, the Internet has complicated the picture. Getting something from the Internet and presenting it as one s own is still plagiarism. Copying another student s paper or a portion of the paper - is usually called copying. Neither plagiarism nor copying will be tolerated. Should a faculty member discover that a student has committed plagiarism, the students will receive a grade of F in that course and the matter may, if necessary, be referred to the TAMIU Honor Council for possible disciplinary action. Students with Disabilities ACC 4399 Issues in Accounting

5 Texas A&M International University seeks to provide reasonable accommodations for all qualified persons with disabilities. This University will adhere to all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations and guidelines with respect to providing reasonable accommodations as required to afford equal education opportunity. It is the student s responsibility to register with the Disabilities Services Coordinator located in the Student Counseling Center and to contact the faculty member in a timely fashion to arrange for suitable accommodations. Safety and Security- You are the Difference Your safety and security are of prime concern here at Texas A&M International University, and the University police department work hard to ensure the campus is a safe place to live, learn, work and play. TAMIU is not, however, exempt from crime. To be safe and secure, you must take common sense precautions. Be alert and aware of those around you; look out for the safety of others. Do not leave valuables unattended; do not attempt to touch or interfere with our wildlife. Student Responsibility for Dropping a Course It is the responsibility of the STUDENT to drop the course before the drop date. Faculty are not responsible for dropping students who suspend class attendance. Student Attendance and Leave of Absence (LOA) Policy: As part of our efforts to assist and encourage all students towards graduation, TAMIU provides LOA s for students, including pregnant/parenting students, in accordance with the Attendance Rule (Section 3.24) and the Student LOA Rule (Section 3.25) which includes the Leave of Absence Request form. Both rules can be found in the TAMIU Student Handbook: Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, harassment based on sex, including harassment because of pregnancy or related conditions, is prohibited. A pregnant/parenting student must be granted a leave of absence (LOA) for as long as the student s physician deems the absence medically necessary. Specifically, a pregnant/parenting student is afforded the following: (1) Submit work after a deadline that was missed because of a LOA due to pregnancy or childbirth. (2) If grading is based in part on class attendance or participation, earn the credits missed so that the student can be reinstated to the status held before the LOA. (3) At the conclusion of the LOA, return to the same academic and extracurricular status held when the LOA began. Final Examination The University requires all final Examinations be comprehensive and be given on the day specified. THE INSTRUCTOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MAKE CHANGES TO THIS SYLLABUS AS NEEDED AND WITH NOTIFICATION TO STUDENTS ACC 4399 Issues in Accounting Page 5

6 Date Chapter 8/20/2015 Syllabus & Introduction 8/25/2015 Financial Accounting & Financial Standards 8/27/2015 Financial Accounting & Financial Standards 9/1/2015 Conceptual Framework 9/3/2015 Conceptual Framework 9/8/2015 Accounting Information Systems 9/10/2015 Accounting Information Systems 9/15/2015 Review for Exam 1 9/17/2015 Exam 1 9/22/2015 Income Statement 9/24/2015 Income Statement 9/29/2015 Balance Sheet & Cash Flow Statement 10/1/2015 Balance Sheet & Cash Flow Statement 10/6/2015 Time Value of Money 10/8/2015 Time Value of Money 10/13/2015 Assets & Accruals / Adjustments 10/15/2015 Assets & Accruals/ Adjustments 10/20/2015 Assets & Accruals/ Adjustments 10/22/2015 Review for Exam II 10/27/2015 Exam II 10/29/2015 Liabilities & Accruals/Adjustments 11/3/2015 Liabilities & Accruals/Adjustments 11/5/2015 Liabilities & Accruals/Adjustments 11/10/2015 Liabilities & Accruals/Adjustments 11/12/2015 Review for Exam III 11/17/2015 Exam III 11/19/2015 Post Balance Sheet ACC 4399 Issues in Accounting

7 11/24/2015 Post Income Statement 11/26/2015 Thanksgiving Break 12/1/2015 Review for Final Exam 12/3/2015 Review for Final Exam 12/8/2015 Reading Day 12/10/2015 Final 8:30 pm per University Schedule ACC 4399 Issues in Accounting Page 7