The University of Texas at Dallas

School of Management

Introductory Management Accounting [AIM 2302-501]

Spring 2006

Instructor: Jiangxia Liu

Office: SOM 4.421
Phone: (972) 883-4442
Fax: (972) 883-6811
E-mail: jxl010300@utdallas.edu
Office Hours: Thursday 4:00-5:00 PM, or by appointment

Class meetings: Wednesday 7:00 – 9:45 PM (SOM 2.804)

Overview and Objectives

This is an introductory course in management accounting. This course will help you to
understand accounting techniques used by managers for planning, directing, controlling,
as well as decision-making in their organizations. The emphasis of financial accounting is
to communicate economic information to individuals and organizations that are external
to the company. However, the emphasis in managerial accounting is to provide
information to internal decision-makers.

One of the main objectives of this course is to familiarize you with the requisite
technical skills for problem solving; for example, determining unit product costs,
measuring production process costs, budgeting, allocating resources efficiently within the
firm, and maximizing profits while maintaining the ability to meet long-term goals.

Knowledge of managerial accounting can help you to have a thorough

understanding of a company’s internal operations. What you learn in this course will help
you understand the operations of your future (current) employer (and enable you to be
successful at your job) and other companies you encounter in your role as competitor,
consultant, or investor. Furthermore, the topics covered in this class are of great value in
personal financial management. For example, the understanding of budgeting yields life-
long returns.
Course Organization

We meet every Wednesday. For most of the lectures, half of the class time will be spent
for discussing the concepts and the other half for solving applied problems. In addition to
understanding what is discussed in the class and the class handouts, you also need to read
the textbook to reinforce the concepts discussed in the class. This can be done effectively,
only if you read the textbook on an ongoing basis without waiting for the exams.

Learning is a complex process. Various aspects of this course have been designed
to help you with the learning process. I am giving below a set of guidelines, which may
help you to get the maximum benefit out of this course. Of course, the learning process
is highly individualistic and hence you may want to explore and find out what works for
you the best.

(i) Textbook: The textbook is meant to supplement the class discussion.

I will not discuss, in class, everything in the textbook. Nor should you
expect to find everything that was discussed in the class in your
textbook. I would strongly encourage you to read the textbook
chapters ahead of the class. This will familiarize you with what we
will discuss in the class and put you in a better position to participate
in class discussions. For each session, I have indicated the chapter
from the textbook that will be covered in the class. Please spend at
least an hour reading the textbook before each class.

(ii) Practice Problems: Pay attention to the problems solved in the class
and the problems included in your assignments. Detailed solution will
be provided for all the homework problems. It is a good idea to try to
solve as many problems as possible. Just like any mathematics course,
the more problems you solve, and the better you are in an accounting
course!

(iii) Exams: You will have three exams in this course. You are not
allowed to refer to textbook or class notes during the exams. If you
miss an exam without my prior permission, you will be given a grade
of zero. If you have any valid reason for missing an exam, you have to
get in touch with me before the exam (through phone or e-mail) in
order to make alternate arrangements. If you have a personal illness, a
note from your physician should support it. As a general rule, no
make up exam will be given. The exams will determine 95% of your
course grade.

(iv) Class handouts: I will post a copy of my lecture notes on WebCt.

You are required to download the notes and bring a printout to
class. This will save a lot of time that may otherwise be spent on
notes taking. My lecture notes are not intended to be self-explanatory
and they are probably not much of use unless you attend the lectures.

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 (v) Grading Scheme: Your course grade will be computed based on the
following scheme:

Participation 5%
Exam I 30%
Exam II 30%
Exam III 35%
Total 100%

The final letter grade will be determined based on your combined score from the three
exams and participation.

Academic Honesty

All students in the class are expected to behave in accordance with academic integrity.
Strict adherence to the Policy on Cheating as stated in the Regents’ Rules and
Regulations, part one, Chapter VI, Section 3, Subsection 3.2, subdivision 3.22 is
expected. This policy reads:

Students are expected to be above reproach in all-scholastic activities. Students

who engage in scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the
possibility of failure in the course and dismissal from the university. Scholastic
dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission
for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another
person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair
advantage to a student or attempt to commit such acts.

Required Text:

Horngren, Sundem, and Stratton, Introduction to Management Accounting, 13th edition

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 Class Schedule

Week Date Topic Chapter

1 Wed 1/11 Introduction to Management Accounting Chapter 1
Wed 1/18
2 Cost Management Concepts and Cost Behavior Chapter 2
3 Wed 1/25 Cost -Volume-Profit Analysis Chapter 2
Traditional Cost Management Chapter 3
4 June 9,2004 Assignment 2 due in class
5 June 16,2004 Activity -Based Cost System Chapter 4
Midterm Exam
6 June 23,2004 Pricing and Product Planning Chapter 6
7 June 30,2004 Assignment 3 due in class
8 July 7,2004 The Impact of Relevant Cost On Managerial Decision Chapter 5
Value Chain Chapter 7
Budgets-Managerial Tool for Planning and Control Chapter 10 &Chapter 11
9 July 14,2004 Assignment 4 Due in Class
10 July 21,2004 Introduction to Variance Analysis
Review for Final Exam
Final Exam
11 July 28,2004

chapters listed under "Reading" refer to the textbook.

Course Outline
Date Reading Topic
Wed 1/11 Ch. 1 Course overview, Introduction to Management Accounting
Wed 1/18 Ch. 2 &3 Cost Management Concepts and Cost Behavior I
Wed 1/25 Ch. 4 Cost Management Concepts and Cost Behavior II
Wed 2/1 Ch. 3 Cost-volume relationship I

Wed 2/8 Ch. 3 Cost-volume relationship II

Review

Wed 2/15 Exam #1

Wed 2/22 Ch. 5 Review Exam #1
Relevant information and decision making I
Wed 3/1 Ch. 5 & 6 Relevant information and decision making II

Wed 3/15 Ch. 14 Job-costing and process-costing systems I

Wed 3/22 Ch. 14 Job-costing and process-costing systems II

Review

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 Tue 3/29 Exam #2

Tue 4/5 Ch. 4 Review Exam #2

Activity-based costing

Tue 4/12 Ch. 7 Master budget

Tue4/19 Ch. 8 Flexible Budgets and Variance Analysis

Review
Tue 4/26 Final Exam

Note: This is a tentative schedule. Changes, if any, will be announced in class and will be put on
WebCt. You are responsible for all announcements made in the class.