Course Information/Objectives for Accounting, Business, Finance, Management, and Marketing

ACCOUNTING COURSES:

• ACCT 220: Survey of Accounting - This course will provide students' with a basic understanding of accounting terminology and concepts. Upon completion of this class students' will be able to use the concepts and terminology of accounting to communicate with accounting professionals and be able to assess accounting information in making business decisions.
• ACCT 223: Principles of Accounting II - This course will help students accomplish the following learning objectives: Apply critical thinking skills to common financial and business decisions; Analyze and record financial transactions; Analyze and record adjusting journal entries; Apply the concept of present value to market value of bonds; Prepare financial statements, including Statement of Cash Flows, according to GAAP; Analyze and communicate financial statement information; Define and discuss key accounting and business terms such as bonds, audits, depreciation, amortization, fixed assets, etc.
• ACCT 325: Accounting Information Systems - Upon completion of this course, the student should be able to: Describe the basic activities and related data processing operations of various business processes; Explain fundamental internal control concepts and describe the various types of preventive, detective, and corrective controls commonly used by organizations; Prepare flowcharts describing the documents, data flows, and processes of a system using a flowchart software program; Record, analyze, and report accounting information using both manual and computerized accounting systems; Prepare a research paper on an information technology topic.
• ACCT 327: Intermediate Accounting I - Students who successfully complete this course should be able to: Describe underlying accounting theory; Analyze business transactions and apply the related professional accounting pronouncements; Prepare the required accounting entries; Prepare financial statements, including proper classifications, and be familiar with the type of information provided in footnote disclosures; Describe accounting alternatives and the resulting impact in the financial statements.
• ACCT 328: Intermediate Accounting II - For each of the following complex financial accounting topics - stockholders' equity, earnings per share, investments, revenue recognition, accounting for income taxes, pensions, leases, accounting changes and error analysis, and statement of cash flows - students who successfully complete this course will be able to: Explain the related financial accounting pronouncement; Describe the underlying accounting theory; Analyze the business transactions; Describe the accounting alternatives as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative; Prepare the required accounting entries; and Prepare financial statements including the related disclosures in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP").
• ACCT 400/531: VITA - This course provides the student with the opportunity to learn how the tax system affects low-income individuals by participating in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. The purpose of this course is to provide students with the skills to prepare federal and state income tax returns for a variety of low-income taxpayers.
• ACCT 432: Governmental Accounting I - A student in this course will learn how to accomplish the following: Distinguish between the working environment of state and local governments and of businesses; Describe and discuss the accounting and financial reporting practices unique to governments; Apply generally accepted accounting principles applicable to state and local governments to a variety of transactions and events, common to these governmental entities; and Demonstrate an improved level of critical thinking.
• ACCT 434: Cost/Mgmt. Acct. II - Students in this course will learn how to plan for decision outcomes, from both operational and strategic perspectives; apply cost accounting frameworks to complex decisions; employ decision analysis tools to evaluate managerial decision making and operational results; demonstrate problem solving and communication skills; critically evaluate quantitative models and results from a strategic/managerial lens.
• ACCT 521: Advanced Auditing - This objective of this course is to provide students with a solid foundation for an entry-level auditing position, as well as help to prepare students to pass the Auditing section of the CPA Exam. Specifically, students will develop the ability to describe the audit process and be able to explain the responsibilities, procedures, and documentation requirements for each of the following auditing topics: Planning, Internal Control, Evidence, and Reporting.
• ACCT 526: Advanced Taxation - The objective of this course is to assist students in developing their knowledge of how tax laws affect partnerships, corporations, S-corporations and other business entities. In addition, the tax laws applicable to tax administration, estate and gift taxation, and multi-jurisdiction issues will be explored. Tax reporting, tax planning, and tax research skills will be emphasized. Prerequisite: ACCT 425, Income Tax Accounting.
• ACCT 527: Estate & Gift Taxation - The objective of this course is to assist students in developing their knowledge of the tax laws related to the transfer of wealth. In addition, students will become familiar with issues surrounding the transfer of wealth and learn to apply appropriate techniques to estate plans given the climate of legislative uncertainty that exists today. Tax reporting, tax planning, and tax research skills will be emphasized.
• ACCT 528: Legal Issues for Accountants - Accounting 528 covers many legal topics that are subject to testing on the CPA Exam, including legal liabilities of accountants, debtor-creditor law, bankruptcy law, securities law, antitrust law, negotiable instruments, sales, secured transactions and real property law. It is a fast-paced and demanding course that puts a premium on student motivation to learn. While the course will help you prepare for the business law portions of the CPA exam, it is not designed to serve only that purpose.

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BUSINESS COURSES:

• BUS 101: First Year Seminar - Introduction to the language of business and integration into the culture and expectations of higher education. Through a variety of assignments, readings, and activities in a seminar setting, the course focuses on written and oral communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and issues facing prospective business professionals.
• BUS 201: Managerial Communication - This course has two separate, but integrated, key objectives. One is to develop an understanding of some of the typical models used to convey different types of managerial communications. The other is to provide the opportunity to become a more skilled communicator through practical exercises that use those models. Students individual communications skills will be enhanced through written assignments, oral presentations, and team assignments.
• BUS 221: Financial Accounting - Students in this course will learn how to: Describe how accounting meets information needs of investors, creditors, regulatory agencies and taxing authorities; Apply elementary critical thinking skills to common financial and business decisions; Explain the elements of, relationships among, and the accounting concepts underlying the primary financial statements; Explain the uses and limitations of financial statements and related information in making business decisions; Recognize how the accounting cycle accomplishes the task of processing financial transactions to create financial statements; Define key business terms such as bonds, stocks, audits, fixed assets liabilities, etc.
• BUS 222: Managerial Accounting - Designed for non-accounting majors, this course focuses on how managers use accounting information for decision-making. Students will study product, service, and activity based costing; analyze costs for budgeting and pricing decisions, evaluate performance using financial and nonfinancial measures, and practice making a variety of short-term and long-term managerial decisions.
• BUS 301: Management and Organization - This is the business core management course. It introduces fundamental concepts and models relevant to strategic management, organizational behavior, and decision making. Major emphasis is on the principles and practices of managing as an interpersonal activity. Our desire is to be a dynamic learning organization. Students and instructors together will confront issues facing managers today, will learn about the theories and models of management, and will work to develop the skills and characteristics, which managers must possess to effectively deal with those issues.
• BUS 302: Career Perspectives - This one credit course reinforces the processes of career planning and development through self-assessment, exploration of career options, early planning, and goal setting as they relate to careers in business. Individualized feedback is provided on career-related isues such as internships, interviewing, and self-presentation. The course is highly interactive and incorporates guests such as alums and other corporate mentors, faculty, and senior students. Experiential exercises include career development tools that help individuals asses their strengths and weaknesses, interests and preferences.
• BUS 311: Information Systems - Upon successful completion of this course the student should be able to: Understand foundation concepts of information systems; Understand the roles of information systems in business functions and processes; Understand basic knowledge of information technology, including data resource management, and telecommunications; Understand the roles of information systems in gaining competitive advantage; Understand the process of designing and developing information systems; and, Understand the challenges of information technologies including security and ethical challenges.
• BUS 331: Operations Management - Operations Management is the study of how companies and organizations provide their products and services. Major activities in this process include resource optimization, process design and control, forecasting, statistical process control, inventory management, scheduling and project management. There are a large number of topics such as reliability, decision analysis, capacity planning, workplace layout and organization, and value or supply chain management that supplement the major activities listed above. There are two primary areas of learning in this effort: understanding the operational issues and concepts and then developing quantitative tools to aid in decision making. When you complete this course you should: Have a good overall understanding of the concepts and issues facing Operations Managers in today's business world; and, have a toolkit of quantitative models useful in analyzing operational problems and have a good level of proficiency at utilizing them.
• BUS 341: Marketing - This course is designed to strengthen students understanding of marketing principles so that they are able to apply this knowledge in a real-world setting. Topics covered will include marketing, strategy, segmentation, targeting, promoting, positioning, differentiation, distribution and pricing, among other things. Consistent with the goals of the CoB, there will be a strong emphasis on integrated experiential learning by gaining marketing knowledge from real-life examples in an interactive setting.
• BUS 351: Finance - The objective of this course is to develop an understanding of the fundamentals of financial decision making, particularly as applied in the corporate organizational form. Topics addressed include: the time value of money, financial markets, corporate financial statement analysis, the risk/return trade-off, security valuation models, and capital budgeting.
• BUS 361: Introduction to Law - The two main and equally important objectives of BUS 361 are 1) to expose the student to some basic legal, social and ethical issues and rules which students should be aware of as citizens and business people, and 2) to help students improve critical and creative thinking skills.
• BUS 474: Senior Seminar - In BUS 474 students will: do excellent industry- and company-level analyses; make well-reasoned, actionable recommendations based on analyses of complex information; listen to, build on, and critique constructively others' rationales for analyses and decisions; and make and execute strategic decisions, drawing on analyses of complex information.

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FINANCE COURSES:

• FIN 251: Personal Finance - This course is designed to give students the ability to: appreciate the importance of developing and organizing financial records as a prerequisite to personal financial planning; learn how and why to set up a personal budget, construct financial statements, and to understand the meaning and importance of financial planning; gain an understanding of the various types of financial institutions and their interrelationships with each other; acquire a basic understanding of the purposes, techniques, and problems of obtaining credit; gain an understanding of the factors involved in federal income taxation, home buying, health, life, automobile and homeowners' insurance, and retirement and estate planning; and explore the securities market (stocks, bonds, and mutual funds) and how they operate.
• FIN 352: Intermediate Finance - This course is an in-depth extension of financial management topics introduced in BUS 351. Topics include: risk, valuation, cost of capital, capital budgeting, capital structure, dividend policy, ethical and professional standards for finance professionals, and quantitative methods essential for effective financial analysis. The time value of money, financial statements, and ratios, portfolio theory, and derivative securities are also be covered.
• FIN 400: Investment Challenge - This course will cover most aspects of portfolio management with special emphasis on stock selection and analysis. Students will learn how to purchase and sell securities and gain an understanding of how the securities business operates.
• FIN 450: Real Estate Finance & Investment Analysis - This course is designed to prepare students for careers in real estate, construction lending, real estate valuation, acquisition and asset management, and market and investment analysis. Much of the course material is also applicable to personal financial planning. The FIN 450 course, besides preparing a handful of students for careers in the field, should primarily serve to help students better understand real estate, for their own personal investment and financing decisions.
• FIN 451: Entrepreneurial Finance - The objective of this course is to provide a better understanding of corporate finance issues confronting entrepreneurial firms. The issues will be explored by considering the differences between firms for which the standard corporate finance model is appropriate and firms for which the investment and financing issues are interdependent. Class participants will be expected to use developed financial principles and concepts to make business decisions. This class is designed to prepare students to be able to: forcast financial needs; identify and evaluate real options; understand and be able to explain the difference between value and venture; and identify and evaluate risk sharing opportunities.
• FIN 456: Investments - This course provides a foundation for the concept and technique to manage investment. Security and portfolio analyses using fundamental and technical indicators along with the evaluation of micro and macro economic environments. Using spreadsheet and statistics to analyze risk and returns embedded in investing for both individual investors and mutual fund managers. Investment games using financial markets and Internet exercises using real-life financial data to practice investment management.
• FIN 458: Financial Institutions and Markets II - The primary objective of this course is to provide the student with a thorough understanding of the role and operations of the primary financial intermediary in the U.S. economy: the commercial bank.
• FIN 480: International Finance - The objective of this course is to introduce you to the complexities of financial management in an international context. This course will prepare the student to be able to: provide a convincing argument regarding the benefits of international trade; describe the international monetary system and international markets for foreign exchange; describe in words and mathematical models the parity relationships between foregin currencies; manipulate the models to show their equivalence and compute their values; and outline how derivatives can be used to hedge against foreign exhange risk.

MANAGEMENT COURSES:

• MGMT 366: Managerial Analysis and Action I - This course is part of a sequence of courses designed to provide students with the opportunity to learn How to Manage. The course will use hands-on experiences to promote students' development of the knowledge, skills, and behaviors consistent with success in introductory management jobs. Students will be exposed to detailed, in-depth knowledge of a limited number of management subjects that support the practical management skills and behaviors being emphasized.
• MGMT 413: Managerial Support Systems - Practical application of Microsoft Excel including Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to Decision Support problem types common in business. 
• MGMT 415: Management of Information Technology - This course focuses on a number of critical issues pertaining to the management of the information technology resource. Since management of the information technology resource is the prevue of the Chief Information Officer, much of the subject material will be presented from the perspective of the CIO. Alignment of Business and IT strategies remains a major challenge. A significant portion of the course looks at measuring that alignment as a means to identifying how best to improve alignment. This course is designed to provide students with background knowledge of the components of Information System Strategic Alignment as well as tools and techniques to assess an organization's maturity level. The ultimate purpose is to prepare students to assess an organization's Information Systems and identify specific approaches to increasing the organization's Strategic Alignment Maturity.

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MARKETING COURSES:

• MKTG 441:  International Marketing - This course aims to develop student skills in developing and implementing international marketing strategies and programs in diverse contexts. The course materials cover both large and small firms marketing a broad range of consumer and industrial products and services, and operating in developing and developed country markets in all geographic regions. Special focus will be on the emergence of experiences in a post-industrial society. Students will develop a critical appreciation of the external forces that are shaping the international marketing manager's job; learn when to use different product-market entry and penetration strategies, when to standardize or adapt marketing programs, and when to centralize or decentralize marketing decision making; and determine how to organize international marketing operations for maximum effectiveness.