ACCOUNTING
Instructional goals
This course prepares students with a broad set of accounting/business vocabulary and develop students' ability to understand, prepare, and compare financial reports.
Intended learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding: The student, by participating in the lectures and practical activities of the course, will have developed the ability to understand and prepare financial reports. Moreover, she would have developed competences in financial analysis. At the end of the course there will be a written test aimed at verifying the acquired skills.
Applying knowledge and understanding: The student, acquiring the correct tools and method, will be able to prepare and understand financial reports, but also carry out practical projects. Specifically, the student will have the opportunity to apply the acquired knowledge in analyzing real-world companies.
Making judgements: The student, using the methodologies acquired during the course, will have acquired problem analysis skills and the ability to identify the information necessary for their analysis. Specifically, problem solving, self-management, teamwork, relationship and communication skills will be adequately developed, which enhance and make their analytical skills more usable.
Communication skills: At the end of the course the student will be able to use a broad vocabulary of financial reporting. Through the various activities that will take place during the course, lessons with discussion, written tests, workshops, the student will be able to put these communication skills into practice, thus gaining rhetorical skills necessary for her professional career.
Learning skills: The knowledge acquired during the course will allow the student to autonomously understand and interpret financial reports and adapt them to specific contexts. The student will develop a solid knowledge of the fundamental aspects of the subject that will allow her to continue to deepen the topics addressed independently and to undertake the various post-graduate professional training courses.
Course Contents
1 Financial statements and business decisions
2 Investing and financing decisions and the accounting system
3 Operating decisions and the accounting system
4 Adjustments, financial statements, and the quality of earnings
5 Communicating and interpreting accounting information
6 Reporting and interpreting sales revenue, receivables, and cash
7 Reporting and interpreting cost of goods sold and inventory
8 Reporting and interpreting property, plant, and equipment; intangibles; and natural resources
9 Reporting and interpreting liabilities
10 Reporting and interpreting bond securities
11 Reporting and interpreting stockholders’ equity
12 Statement of cash flows
Reference Books
Mandatory: Robert Libby, Patricia A. Libby, and Frank Hodge. ISE Financial Accounting, 10th/11th Edition. McGraw Hill Education, 2020/2023. ISBN: 9781260565430/9781398921801
Teaching Methods
Frontal lectures.
In-class exercises.
Online tutorial sessions.
Practical teamwork.
Assessment Method
Attending students: Attendance, 10%. Midterm exam, 30%. Group project, 20%. Final exam, 40%.
Non-attending students: Final exam, 100%.
Detailed rules are available on the course's Luiss Learn site.
Thesis assignment criteria
No.
Week 1 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
Course introduction.
Financial statements and decision makers (LO 1-1).
GAAP (LO 1-2.)
Conceptual framework (LO 2-1).
Week 2 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
Business transactions (LO 2-2).
Transaction analysis model (LO 2-3).
Journal entries and T-accounts (LO 2-4).
Trial balance, classified B/S, and the current ratio (LO 2-5).
Cash flow (LO 2-6).
Business operating cycle, accounting cycle, I/S (LO 3-1 & 3-2).
Accrual basis accounting (LO 3-3).
Transaction analysis model extended (LO 3-4).
Classified income statement (LO 3-5).
Cash flows (LO 3-7).
Week 3 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
Online tutorial.
Adjustment (LO 4-1).
Financial statement presentation (LO 4-2).
The closing process (LO 4-4).
Profit and efficiency ratios (LO 3-6, 4-3 & 5-4).
Week 4 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
People in accounting (LO 5-1).
Accounting communication (LO 5-2).
Financial statements revisited (LO 5-3).
Revenue recognition (LO 6-1).
Week 5 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
Online tutorial.
Bad debt (LO 6-2).
Receivables turnover ratio (LO 6-3).
Report, control, and safeguard cash (LO 6-4).
Week 6 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
Inventory and cost of goods sold (LO 7-1).
Inventory costing methods (LO 7-2 & 7-3).
The lower of cost or net realizable value (LO 7-4).
Inventory turnover ratio under different inventory costing methods (LO 7-5 & 7-6).
Controlling inventory, accounts payable turnover, and inventory on cash flows (LO 7-7 & 9-2).
Cash conversion cycle.
Week 7 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
Online tutorial.
Long-lived assets and the fixed asset turnover ratio (LO 8-1).
Acquisition and maintenance of property, plant, and equipment (LO 8-2).
Midterm exam.
Week 8 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
Midterm review.
Depreciation (LO 8-3).
Impairment and disposal (LO 8-4 & 8-5).
Intangibles and natural resources (LO 8-6).
Long-lived assets on cash flows (LO 8-7).
Group project assignment.
Week 9 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
Online tutorial.
Current liabilities and working capital (LO9-1 & 9-5).
Notes payable and the time value of money (LO 9-3).
Present values concept and application (LO 9-7 & 9-8).
Contingent liabilities and long-term liabilities (LO 9-4 & 9-6).
Week 10 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
Bond securities (LO 10-1&10-8).
Bond securities issued at par (LO 10-2), at a discount (LO 10-4), and at a premium (LO 10-5).
Times interest earned ratio and debt-to-equity ratio (LO 10-3 & 10-6).
Early retirement of bond securities (LO 10-7).
Week 11 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
Online tutorial.
Stock in the capital structure (LO 11-1 & 11-7).
Common stock (LO 11-3 & 11-2).
(Cash) dividends (LO 11-4 & 11-5).
Stock dividends and stock splits (LO 11-6).
Preferred stock (LO 11-8).
Week 12 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus
Cash flow statement items (LO 12-1 & 12-7).
Reporting cash flows (LO 12-2, 12-4 & 12-6).
The direct method (Supplement).
Cash flow related ratios (LO 12-3 & 12-5).
Current events in world business.