Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport

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Graduate School of Business
Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Course Syllabus
Course Title: Financial Accounting and Reporting
Course Code: ACC913
Course Instructor: Prof. Dr. Amr Abdel Aziz Youssef
Credit Hours: 4 Hours
Email Address: [email protected] (For assignments)
[email protected] (Personal email for queries)
Mobile Phone No.: (0020) 122-311-6470 (Please don’t use it unless there is an emergency)

Course Text Book and Readings:

 Financial Accounting by Libby, Libby & Short; 7th Edition, McGraw-Hill Company.
 Notes, Lectures and PowerPoint Presentations. Additional material outside the main text
may be prescribed from time to time by the lecturer.

Course Overview:
The module aims to enable students to develop an overview of the financial reporting process; to
properly process, classify and record business transactions and events; to acquire and demonstrate
a critical knowledge and understanding of the use of financial reporting external to the
organization: the financial statements, their underlying principles and fundamental techniques of
analysis and interpretation; to understand the principles and concepts governing the preparation of
financial statements by business organizations; and to prepare and analyze basic financial
statements for sole-proprietorships. In particular, the course is aimed at providing the students
with the tools to be able to interpret financial reports in their future roles as managers, investors,
or other users of accounting information.

Course Objectives:
The module aims to enable students to:
 develop an overview of the financial reporting process;
 properly process, classify and record business transactions and events;
 acquire and demonstrate a critical knowledge and understanding of the use of financial
reporting external to the organization: the financial statements, their underlying principles
and fundamental techniques of analysis and interpretation;
 understand the principles and concepts governing the preparation of financial statements
by business organizations;
 prepare and analyze basic financial statements for corporations.

In particular, the course is aimed at providing the students with the tools to be able to interpret
financial reports in their future roles as managers, investors, or other users of accounting
information.

Teaching Philosophy:
This module is specially designed for students with different academic backgrounds and training.
The early sessions will be devoted to the discussion and analysis of the conceptual and practical
issues related to production and communication of accounting information to fulfill the needs of
external users (mainly the investors and creditors). These sessions will include some basic

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 discussion of the conceptual framework of financial reporting, a review of the accounting system,
and discussion of the basic financial statements. This will be followed by an examination of how
to use financial statements for business analysis and valuation. Later sessions will deal with the
production and communication of accounting information for managerial use. Discussion will
emphasize the use of accounting information for planning, control and performance evaluation
and decision making.

Grading and Assessment Policy:

Performance in the formative and summative assessments for the module is judged against the
following criteria:
- Knowledge of relevant concepts and issues
- Depth of understanding and extent of critical evaluation (including evidence of wider
reading)
- Evidence of appropriate analysis
- Ability to synthesize relevant material from a range of sources
- Structure and clarity of presentation.

1. Mid-term Exam (30 marks).

2. Class Participation and Assignments (10 marks).
3. Group research project on Financial Statements Analysis (20 marks).
4. Final Exam (40 marks).

Student Workload:
In addition to attending lectures and undertaking preparation for different assessments, you are
expected to undertake independent reading and learning. The reading and homework assignments
are chosen with the intention that at least three hours of individual study per the number of
classroom contact will be required for adequate performance. Therefore, you should be prepared
to spend at least nine hours per week on this course in addition to classroom time. If you find the
assigned problems are not sufficient to give you confidence in your ability to handle the material
covered in a chapter you may attempt some of the problems that were not assigned.

Experience clearly indicates that doing (or not doing) assigned homework problems is a major
determinant of the level of achievement in this course. Neglect of the subject for one or two
weeks followed by “cramming” will simply not work. You will probably come to the same
conclusion through your own experience in the course. Your efforts regarding homework and
class assignments will likely be justly rewarded in terms of the marks you receive on your
examination.

Testing, Homework Assignments and Group Project:

 Homework assignments will be sent to the above mentioned email address (as soft copies
not printed ones) writing your name, course title, and assignment number on the subject
space in the email in addition to saving the file with the same name as well, assignments will
be due maximum the next meeting after finishing a chapter. Late submission of homework will
not be accepted. The dates for the major examinations are indicated on the class schedule. The
majors will be held in normal class hours and will cover the chapters indicated. The final
examination will cover material from the entire term. The date for the final examination will be
set by the Registrar. The mid-term and the final exam will be common across all sections of
the course.

 All testing may include material covered in class as well as in the text and any supplemental
course material that may be prescribed. The majors and final examination will be closed book.

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 The only items students may utilize to complete the majors and final examination will be normal
writing instruments (pencils, pens) and simple noiseless calculators. Programmable calculators
and electronic dictionaries will not be permitted during exams. Further details about any testing,
if necessary, will be provided in the class preceding the testing date. There will be no make-ups
for missed major examinations. Only the secretary General can grant the student a deferred
final examination.

 Homework and exams will be subject to university regulations. Cheating on course work of any
kind will result in an F grade for the course and the matter will be reported to the Academic
Committee of the University through the department chairperson.

 Group projects: Students will be put into groups at the beginning of the term. Membership of
groups will be announced in class. The groups will normally contain four to five students. Please
do not arrange yourself into friendship groups etc. as they will be determined on a
random/convenient allocation method by the module leader.

The project to be submitted after the end of the course is a summary for what you have learned
though out the course. Firstly, you have to pick a company of your choice (preferably an Egyptian
one) that is publishing its annual reports. Secondly, collect the annual reports for three
consecutive years (the most recent ones). Finally, start applying what you have already learned
and make a very professional and well-formed report.

This selection of a listed Egyptian company will be expected from each group in order to be
revised and approved. Each group will be required to analyze its own company’s financial
statements and to produce a very detailed and rich report that should be presented in the class via
any of the presentations methods such as PowerPoints. After reading the project guidelines
document in your course materials folder, the following aspects of the company might be
investigated and should be reflected in the report and/or its presentation:
 Key indicators of the firm’s financial performance
 Share price – a review of the share price over the last year
 Comparators – relevant indexes, competitors’ performance (if available)

As a group piece of work you will be expected to all contribute to the gathering of information
and the production of the report and presentation. Failure to contribute to these activities will be
seen as a ‘failure to meet an academic commitment’ and will be reflected in the project’s marks.
If any group is experiencing problems with the contributions of any group member, they should
contact me personally regarding this issue. Each student must be prepared to talk to their project
explaining the key points that they wish the project to communicate.

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Course Syllabus:

Class Schedule

Lecture Chapter Topic/Readings Homework Assignments

1 Introduction and Overview

Financial Statements and Business

2 1 M1-1, E1-2, E1-5, E1-8
Decisions

Investing and Financing Decisions and M2-2, M2-6, E2-4, E2-

3 2
the Balanced Sheet 11, E2-17

Operating Decisions and the Income M3-4, M3-5, E3-2, E3-6,

4 3
Statement P3-4

Time and mode will be

5 Mid –Term Exam
announced

M14-1, M14-8, E14-5,

6 14 Analyzing Financial Statements
E14-9, P14-5
Adjustments of Accounts and F/S
7 4 Preparation and Continuing the M4-4, M4-6, E4-6, E4-14
Accounting Cycle
Accounting for Merchandising
8 6 E6-1, E6-3, P6-2, P6-3
Operations, A/R and Cash

9 Group Presentations

Date and mode will be

10 Final Exam announced

Best Wishes, Great Future, & Have a nice semester ))))))