College of Southern Maryland Fundamentals of Accounting Practice(ACC 1015) Course Syllabus Spring 2015

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1 INSTRUCTOR: College of Southern Maryland Fundamentals of Accounting Practice(ACC 1015) Course Syllabus Spring 2015 Bonnie Harrison Office - Room #228 (PFA) Office Hours: Tuesdays: 9:00am 10:00am Wednesday: By Appointment Thursday: 9:00am 10:00am and 11:30am 1pm Phone Number: (410) (direct line) (410) (main line) Address: (Use this if Blackboard is not operational, otherwise me directly in Blackboard) ** I will respond to messages during my office hours. Do not expect a response other than those times (although I frequently check my messages and you may receive one other than those times). Many students believe that because they me late at night or on the weekend they will receive an immediate response. I will check my s Monday thru Friday but it could be before you send me an that day. So you can use the office hours as a guide to know that you should have a response during that time. Remember you have access to Blackboard 24/7 (not the instructor!!). SECTION: (Web) COURSE DESCRIPTION: The course addresses the role of accounting in society and business, with a special emphasis on fundamental concepts and the basic design of accounting systems. The course will provide an overview of the basic topics in financial and managerial accounting, with emphasis on the principles and procedures for understanding how accounting is used in business operations, as well as how accounting and accounting reports are used by managers, investors and other business stakeholders in their decision making processes. This course is recommended for non-business majors. ACC1015 does NOT meet the transfer accounting principles requirement for business majors. Note that students majoring in Accounting, Business, and Management Development programs may NOT receive credit for this course, and thus should register for ACC2010. This is a three credit course. PREREQUISITES: None

2 REQUIRED TEXT AND PROJECT: 1. Required Textbook with required CengageNOW: You have two options available for the purchase of the textbook. Option One: Ebook purchased directly from the publisher. Note you will not receive a hard copy of the textbook with this option. CengageNOW with ebook Instant Access Code for Warren s Survey of Accounting, 7 th Edition, Link to publisher website: Option Two: Survey of Accounting, 7 th Ed. Warren This is a bundled package that includes loose-leaf textbook and CengageNow access code from the bookstore. IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING TEXTBOOK: If you purchase the textbook from another source it will NOT include the CengageNow access and you will have to purchase Option One in order to receive your access code. METHOD OF GRADING: Exams (Two 20% each) 40% Quizzes 15% Homework Assignments 20% Financial Statement Assignment 10% Discussions (3) 15% SCALE: A B C D 59 and below F Borderline Grades: As a rule, numeric grades will not be rounded up, but the instructor reserves the right to adjust a borderline grade to the next highest grade or down to the next whole numeric grade based on your overall performance in the course. EXAMS: There will be two exams given as part of your grade in

3 this course. Each exam will be 20% of your grade (for a total of 40%). Exams will be based on the chapter material and questions will be similar to your homework and quiz problems. Similar is the key word. Do not expect the problems to follow exactly the same format as you have seen, although occasionally they may. If you understand the material in the chapters, you will possess the knowledge needed to correctly answer the questions. While quizzes are a combination of multiple choice and true/false, exams are problem oriented. Therefore, show all work when solving the problems, as partial credit is given. Exams will cover the following chapters: Exam 1: Chapters 1-5 Exam 2: Chapters 6-9 All exams must be taken by the deadlines I set. NO EXCEPTIONS. Refer to the calendar available in Blackboard for all due dates. Everything is due at 10PM. QUIZZES: There will be an on-line quiz after each chapter. The purpose of the quiz will be to reinforce course content. Each quiz is graded online immediately. You may take the quiz one time. Once you open the quiz you must complete it. It cannot be saved and opened again later. The quizzes will be multiple choice and the average of your quizzes will count as 15% of your grade. Quizzes must be taken through CengageNow with the exception of the Course Information Quiz that is taken in Blackboard. ASSIGNMENTS: Assignments will be posted on the assignment link in Blackboard. You will have graded homework assignments that will be due each week, as well as the Financial Statement Assignment (see detailed instructions for the project) that will be due throughout the semester. Your graded homework assignments will be completed thru CengageNow. The average of your graded homework assignments will constitute 20% of your grade and the average of your Financial Statement Assignment submission will be worth 10% of your grade. The student is responsible for meeting all due dates for assignments. DISCUSSIONS: There are three discussion postings that will be due throughout the semester. The discussion postings consist of your initial student response followed by your response to other students postings. See discussion board for details. There are two required parts to each discussion. The average of your discussion postings will constitute 15% of your grade. The student is responsible for meeting all due dates for the original posting of the discussion response as well as required responses to others.

4 Chapter Reinforcement Assignments: Suggested assignments are listed for each chapter we will cover. The assignments will NOT be graded, but the purpose is to reinforce the subject matter and to indicate to the student if they comprehend the material. Though you receive no credit for these assignments it is important to do them. This homework reinforces the course content. If you understand the homework you should be able to do what will be on the exam. I have enabled you to access the solutions manual for these problems as well as additional problems. Please do not use them as a crutch, but as an aid for you to check your answers. It does no good to not work through the problem and just study the answer. If you do not understand how an answer is arrived at you need to contact me for help. The problems listed serve as a guideline for the minimum number of problems you should be reviewing. You are encouraged to do extra problems to increase your understanding of the course material. In addition, each Chapter Learning Module has listed Tell Me More Videos, Show Me How Exercises and Problems as well as Animated Activities to enhance the learning process. Late Policy for All Graded Work: As a rule, no late assignments/quizzes/tests (i.e. any graded work for this class) will be accepted, except in the case of EXTREME emergencies and I am notified in advance. Please note, that working while taking numerous classes does not constitute an extreme emergency, but a choice you made and therefore is not a case for granting an extension on due dates. If the assignment is not accepted a grade of ZERO will be recorded. Failure to log on for an extended period of time will not excuse you from assignment due dates. It is your responsibility to check in on a regular basis. All time deadlines are 10PM Eastern Standard Time. If you happen to be in another time zone, you must submit by EST. Note that Blackboard allows you to submit things after the 10PM deadlines that are set for all of your work, but if it is submitted after the deadline it will be marked late. If it is marked late a grade of zero will be recorded. You must plan accordingly and submit work ON TIME. Do not log on at 9:55pm and expect to get your work turned in by the deadline. I will not open any assignments that are submitted after the deadline and marked late. Cengage also allows you to access the assignments/quizzes after the due date, but it is set to give you a grade of zero if submitted after the due date, as a 100% penalty applies for late work. When can you expect to have feedback on graded work: Quizzes and graded assignments completed through CengageNow will be graded immediately.

5 I will scan and return tests and assignments with comments within one week of the due date, provided there are no extenuating circumstances. Discussions will be graded through Blackboard utilizing a rubric and feedback will be available within one week of the due date, provided there are no extenuating circumstances. STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY: The retention and comprehension level of the material in this course depends on the degree of the student s commitment to learning. The instructor hopes that the students in this class will be challenged and encouraged to accept learning responsibilities. There is a tutor available at each of the campuses. Feel free to call any location and find out the tutor hours and use as needed. Students with disabilities who believe they may need accommodations in the class are encouraged to contact Disabled Student Services in the Learning Assistance Department at as soon as possible to better ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion. A link to tutoring services and the Learning Assistance Department is available in the Student Services tab in Blackboard. AUDIT/CREDIT: A student may register for audit (not for credit status). One may change from credit to audit or audit to credit, with the instructor s permission, at any time before March 30. In order to change from audit to credit status you must have completed all of the assignments of the class up until that time. WITHDRAWAL: The last day to withdraw from the class without a grade is March 30. Keep this date in mind. Incomplete's will only be given if all assignments are completed and a student has a personal emergency that cannot be avoided. If this occurs before March 30 you must withdraw from the course rather than receive an incomplete. ACADEMIC HONESTY: Any student discovered cheating, fabricating, and/or plagiarizing will be appropriately penalized in grade, possibly including a semester grade of F, and may receive further disciplinary action by the college. Your work must be your own. Students are responsible for reading the college policy on Academic Honesty in the Student Code of Conduct section in the Student Handbook.

6 UNAUTHORIZED PERSONS: Individuals not registered for the class are not allowed access to the course. This is a college-wide policy, and more information may be found in the Student Handbook. COURSE ORGANIZATION: This course is presented in a week by week schedule only to help the student pace themselves. This is only a suggestion to aid the student so that they do not fall behind. If a student desires to move faster they are more then welcome to do so. Note that if you submit assignments early they will not be graded until after the due date. I grade each assignment at the same time for consistency purposes. You will find other important information for the course under the READ THIS FIRST section in Blackboard. This should be your starting point for the course and nothing else should be completed until this section has been read thoroughly. Course Objectives: 1. To teach non-accounting majors principles of accounting as language of business so that they understand terms, concepts and accounting numbers used in business decisions. 2. Identify accounting information that is needed for economic decision making and understand the role of accounting in making informed decisions. 3. To expose students to how accountants prepare financial statements, schedules and other information. 4. To integrate financial analysis techniques that use accounting information in discussion of several accounting concepts. 5. Examine and evaluate company data derived from annual reports, research and personal experience. 6. Examine techniques used in cash management and control.