ACCT 301 - Accounting Skills for Non-Business Majors

Description:
An overview of accounting, tax, and finance from the viewpoint of the financial statement user. Students will learn basic financial language and analysis skills for assessing enterprise performance. Customized topics for students in various majors. Course will be offered every year (Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer).

Prerequisites:
The course is recommended for any individuals not majoring in accounting or business. This course is not open to accounting or business administration majors.

Credits: (5)

Learner Outcomes:
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

Outline the basic financial statements, explain their purposes, and describe how people use them to assess the performance and the value of for-profit and not-for-profit enterprises.
Prepare a financial analysis of a public company in your field of study or an industry of interest to you. Calculate key financial ratios, formulate questions on the basis of these ratios, and explain how they can be used to solve business problems.
Describe the politcal origins and social implications of accounting and tax regulation, and the importance of ethical decision-making. Describe the concept of internal controls and give examples.
Describe the basic principles of personal and corporate taxation and perform basic tax calculations.
Distinguish between debt and equity financing, describe the rights of creditors and shareholders (owners), and explain the pros and cons of financing a business with debt versus equity.
Demonstrate how managerial accounting information, such as fixed and variable costs, can be used to solve business problems and create value for various constituents.

Learner Outcomes Approval Date:
11/03/17