Five required four-credit courses and two one-credit professional development seminars
ACTG 617 Taxation of Business: Topics covered in the class include: basic structure of federal tax law as it applies to corporations and shareholders; tax and economic consequences of the creation, operation and liquidation of a corporation; tax and economic consequences of withdrawals, payments or distributions of assets from corporations; tax and economic consequences of a reorganization; reasons for and rules regarding consolidated tax returns; and theory and application of accounting for corporate income taxes under financial accounting rules.
ACTG 618 Taxes and Business Strategy focuses on the importance of tax considerations in making business decisions. Objectives for the course are to develop and apply a theoretical tax-planning framework that considers implications of a transaction on all parties, considers all explicit and implicit taxes, and all costs necessary to implement any tax plans. Among topics considered in the framework are how taxes are accounted for, the organizational form of the entity, the importance of tax planning and nontax costs. After understanding the framework, the course applies these concepts to specific decision contexts such as compensation plans, multinational tax planning, and mergers and acquisitions. At the conclusion of the class students should be able to apply a framework to future decisions dealing with taxes, even as tax laws themselves continue to change.
ACTG 630 Accounting Measurement and Disclosure focuses on what problems public reporting of information solves, what problems it creates and how these problems can be mitigated. The foundation of both why we have publicly available financial reporting and the problems that result from such public reporting is the concept of information asymmetry. Along the way, the course discusses fair value accounting vs. historical cost, reserve recognition accounting, earnings quality and management, principles vs. rules based accounting and the role and functioning of the SEC and other accounting regulatory bodies.
ACTG 631 Financial statement analysis is part of business analysis. It encompasses the evaluation of a company's past performance and risk as well as prediction of future performance and risk. This analysis may be useful for financial decisions such as equity valuation, debt valuation, credit risk assessment, etc. This course is designed to give preparers and users of financial information a framework for business analysis and valuation using financial statement data. Students will apply this framework to a variety of business decisions. The course covers many of the techniques commonly used to analyze financial statements including disclosure analysis, financial ratios, cash flow analysis, forecasting, and valuation methods. At the end of the course students will have
- An understanding of how business events are reflected in financial statements
- Literacy in reading 10-Ks and 10-Qs
- A working knowledge of the residual income valuation model
- Experience in applying asset pricing and valuation theories to business decisions.
ACTG 662 Strategic Cost Management is an advanced graduate class melding strategic issues, mathematical models, and management accounting. At the end of this class students should understand how cost information supports the creation and implementation of corporate strategies. The course uses many cases and emphasizes decision-making in a complex and ambiguous environment. Specific topics covered are customer profitability analysis, value chain and activity based management, costs of quality, environmental cost management, the theory of constraints and capacity decisions, transfer pricing, and evaluating performance via the balanced scorecard. Students explore the topics both from the view of applied use of these concepts and also academic research.
ACTG 608 Developing the Business Professional Seminars (two one-credit seminars) cover topics essential for an accounting professional to be aware of but not covered in the academic courses. Activities/topics covered vary from term to term and year to year depending upon but typically include choosing appropriate attire by occasion, resume development and interview preparation, team building exercises including a ropes course, attendance at a variety of professional events, lectures on topics such including client confidentiality, proper communication etiquette, employee legal rights and managing your career path. Typically one of the seminars focuses on an emerging area for accountants such as Corporate Responsibility reports where there is significant engagement with professionals and practice of the etiquette and communication skills.
