Accounting
MA 601 Financial Accounting Standards and Theory III
Prerequisites: MA 302 (undergraduate),MA 813 (graduate).
This course examines accounting for not-for-profit organizations including pensions, deferred taxes, earnings per share, as well as interim and segment reporting. The relevance of these areas to financial statement analysis is considered.
MA 602 Theory and Contemporary Issues in Accounting
Prerequisites: MA 302 (undergraduate), MA 701 or MA 713 (graduate).
This course re-examines recognition and measurement issues, with emphasis on understanding the choices faced by accounting policy makers and why certain accounting methods gain acceptance while others do not. Alternate theories are presented in light of contemporary issues that affect the standard-setting process.
MA 615 Advanced Federal Taxation
Prerequisites: MA 405 (undergraduate).
The course aims to cover federal income tax law applied to planning for and executing business transactions and decisions. The focus is on the corporate entity, but some time will be spent on partnerships, "S" corporations, trusts, estates, and exempt organizations. Practical application of tax rules rather than technical analysis will be emphasized.
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MA 616 Personal Wealth Planning
Prerequisite: MA 405 (undergraduate), MA 816 (graduate).
This course is designed to help students develop a robust decision-making framework that they can use throughout their lifetimes to make thoughtful and analytically sound decisions affecting their financial and personal wealth and that of others. Important in developing this decision framework will be systematically building an understanding of common features that enter many lives. Central to the analytical focus will be identifying personal goals and objectives, alternatives to meet them, tradeoffs involved given limited resources, and tools to evaluate alternatives. Theory and empirical evidence that undergrids these decisions will be explored.
MA 634 Ethics and Professionalism in Accounting
The professional role of the Certified Public Accountant is to protect the investing public, yet the CPA's profit is dependent on controlling costs and managing a portfolio of satisfied corporate clients. These realities lead to a conflict of interest that is at the heart of this course. This course will focus on the nature of professions and the professionalism. Specific attention will be paid to the AICPA's code of ethics, economic and regulatory factors affecting the public accounting profession and various aspects of the current accounting environment.
MA 813 Financial Accounting Practice 1
This first course addressed, in a comprehensive manner, financial accounting and reporting standards. Emphasis is given to the application of accounting theory in the development of general purpose financial statements. The issues of asset valuation and income measurement are comprehensibly explored.
MA 814 Financial Accounting Practice 2
Prerequisite: MA 813.
This course extends the study of the relationship between accounting theory and practice as it applies to the measurement and reporting of liabilities and stockholders’ equity, as well as inter-corporate investments with special attention given to business combinations. A thorough analysis of cash flow reporting is also included.
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MA 815 Financial Auditing
Accountants are increasingly involved in the understanding, evaluation, design, analysis and implementation of information systems. This course will review the strategies, goals and methodologies for designing, implementing and evaluating appropriate internal controls and audit trails in integrated accounting systems. This course also examines the effect the internet has had on business, and its financial implications with respect to Accounting Information Systems.
MA 816 Federal Taxation
The primary goal of this course is to develop an understanding of the basic provisions of the federal income tax laws. All taxable and tax-reporting entities are discussed, with emphasis on the tax treatment of individuals, corporations, and partnerships. The course introduces the student to the various elements of taxation and emphasizes interpretation and application of the law. Students are challenged to consider tax implications of various economic events and to think critically about the broad implications of tax policy. The skills to prepare reasonably complex tax returns and to do basic tax research are also developed.
MA 817 Internal Cost Management and Control
This course examines the technical and strategic tools used in managerial planning and control systems, with an emphasis on decision usefulness and the impact of accounting information on the organization. Attention is directed to improving existing limitations of traditional accounting systems with the respect to global competition. Ethical dimensions of managerial decision making are also emphasized.
MA 818 Accounting Information Systems
Accountants are increasingly involved in the understanding, evaluation, design, analysis and implementation of information systems. This course will review the strategies, goals and methodologies for designing, implementing and evaluating appropriate internal controls and audit trails in integrated accounting systems. This course also examines the effect the internet has had on business, and its financial implications with respect to Accounting Information Systems.
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MA 819 Foundations for Accounting Professionals
This course is designed for graduate students who have no background in business or management. The objective of the course is to introduce the student to the various management functions, financial markets and the economy. Considerable emphasis will be given to the role of accounting information and the accounting profession in today’s rapidly changing environment.
MA 824 Financial Statement Analysis
Prerequisite: MA 701 or MA 713 Accounting.
This course covers current techniques and applications of financial statement analysis and exposes students to the contemporary financial reporting environment and current reporting practices of
MA 825 Assurance and Consulting Services
Prerequisite: MA 701 or MA 713 Accounting.
The primary objective of the course is to provide students with an understanding of the nature, types, and implementation issues related to assurance services. This course examines three broad areas: assurance/consulting services, external auditing, and engagements to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
MA 826/MA 603 Taxes and Management Decisions
Prerequisite: MA 701 or MA 713 Accounting.
This course provides students with a framework for tax planning. In this framework taxes are viewed simply as one of the many costs of doing business. However, it is stressed that the cost of taxation may vary across different businesses, across time and different tax regimes. Specific applications of the framework integrate concepts from finance, economics, and accounting to help students develop a more complete understanding of the role of taxes in business strategy (e.g. tax planning for mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures; tax arbitrage strategies; taxation of competing legal entities; employee compensation; and others).
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MA 827 Strategic Cost and Profitability Analysis
Prerequisite: MA 701 or MA 713 Accounting.
This course evaluates traditional cost accounting tools and demonstrates how these tools can be modified to meet the economic challenges of the new millennium. Issues of management control and corporate governance are given special consideration. In addition, behavioral, ethical, and international issues will be integrated into the course. For example, when discussing performance evaluation, traditional financial measures may be shown to be irrelevant and possibly detrimental to the long-term strategic goals of the firm.
MA 835 Advanced Topic: Forensic Accounting
This course will be broken down into three integrated segments with projects in each segment. The first third of the course will focus on systems documentation and controls, to give the foundation for understanding the internal operations of an organization. The focus for the second third of the course considers in-depth business and system related processes including security. Finally, the course will culminate in an understanding of the role of these accounting cycles in helping organizations monitor, control and enhance business practices.
MA 848 Business Systems Consulting
Prerequisite: MA 701 or MA 713 Accounting.
This course gives students an immersion in the consulting process and mindset and a familiarization with the techniques, mental models and tools used in several different business consulting fields. The course uses a variety of institutional techniques and technologies, including lectures by the instructor and visiting practitioners, case studies in which the students apply the mindset and techniques discussed in class, participation in an electronic group-facilitation session, use of individual personality and aptitude profiling tests and extensive class discussion.
MA 856 Advanced Topics/Risk Management
Prerequisite: MA 701 or MA 713 Accounting.
The primary role of managerial accounting is to assist management to stay in control and to mitigate risk. This course uses selected readings, case analyses and class discussions to focus on the identification, mitigation and control of operational, financial and compliance risk. Topics include risk identification and categorization; risk management and mitigation tools; internal controls; strategy, budgeting and planning; communications, monitoring and reporting; and entity governance.
MA 897 Directed Study in Accounting
Prerequisite: MA 701 or MA 713 Accounting.
Individual or group study under the direction of a faculty member to investigate an area not covered by the regular curriculum.
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MA 898 Directed Readings
Prerequisite: Permission by Department Chair.
MA 899 Directed Research in Accounting
Prerequisite: Permission by Department Chair.
Student research in the field of accounting under the direction of a faculty member. A written proposal is required and a paper of publishable quality is expected.