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ACC 300: Introduction to Financial Accounting

Contents

  • Introduction to business activities, overview of financial statements and reporting process
  • Record keeping basics and financial statement preparation: Balance Sheet
  • Record keeping basics and financial statement preparation: Income Statement
  • Balance Sheet: Presenting and analyzing resources and financing
  • Income Statement: Reporting the results of operating activities
  • Statement of Cash Flows
  • Revenue recognition, receivables, and customer advances
  • Working capital
  • Long-lived tangible and intangible assets
  • Notes, bonds, income taxes, and other liabilities
  • Shareholders’ equity: capital contributions and distributions

Learning outcomes
Financial reports are a key source of reliable and relevant information about the financial position, profitability, and risk of an enterprise, on which investors and creditors depend in making resource allocation decisions. This course is designed to enable students to understand financial reports and the underlying reporting process and develop skills necessary in various decision-making situations. During this course, students would also have the opportunities to organize themselves into groups, meet regularly and work together on case-study assignments, and finally present their work. In this process, they are expected to acquire the important group communication skills and build teamwork and leadership that are vital for the future business environment.

Necessary prerequisites

Recommended prerequisites

Forms of teaching and learningContact hoursIndependent study time
Lecture2 SWS4 SWS
Exercise class2 SWS4 SWS
Tutorial2 SWS3 SWS
ECTS credits6
Graded yes
Workload180h
LanguageEnglish
Form of assessmentWritten exam (90 min, 90%), presentation (10%)
Restricted admissionno
Further information
Examiner
Performing lecturer
Prof. Dr. Felix W. Vetter
Prof. Dr. Felix Fritsch
Rotating: Prof. Dr. Dirk Simons, Prof. Dr. Felix Fritsch, Prof. Dr. Felix Vetter
Frequency of offeringFall semester
Duration of module 1 semester
Range of applicationB.Sc. Bus. Adm.
Preliminary course work
Program-specific Competency GoalsCG 1, CG 2, CG 4
LiteratureFinancial Accounting: An Introduction to Concepts, Methods and Uses, 13e or 14e, by Weil, Schipper, Francis.
Course outlineUpon completion of the course, the students are expected to understand the fundamentals of the accounting process and be able to read, interpret, and analyze corporate financial reports. At the end of the course, the students will:
Have a comprehensive knowledge of the field of financial accounting including ethical, moral, and managerial issues; Understand the role of financial accounting in the decision-making process of business organizations; Be able to apply financial accounting frameworks to business situations; Be able to form critical judgment covering an ability to identify and define accounting and business problems, apply analytical and quantitative techniques, make and justify decisions; Be effective in communication through collection, analysis and organization of information and ideas; Demonstrate teamwork, independence and creativity. This includes working, learning and problem solving as a team and independently.
Further information is provided in the outline.