Accounting skills

Want to become a successful registered accountant, financial analyst, or entrepreneur? Invest in developing strong bookkeeping skills and important accounting techniques.

This minor is addressed to students who aspire to become successful registered accountants, financial analysts, or entrepreneurs. For these students, investing in developing strong bookkeeping skills is fundamental. This course supports the learning of essential bookkeeping skills by outlining the conceptual underpinnings of important accounting techniques while focusing on applications of these techniques.

In this course, accounting techniques which span from recording a wide range of transactions (e.g., sales transactions, adjusting transactions and consolidation transactions) to preparing financial reports (e.g., worksheets and financial statements), are applied for different types of businesses (e.g., service business, merchandise business) and different business structures (e.g., sole-proprietorship, partnership and corporation). Even more, the applications of accounting techniques include, but go beyond, textbook exercises and assignments by pushing students to develop real accounting skills through the application of the knowledge gained in the course in a real context.

• Prepare and use financial statements and other accounting reports (e.g., consolidation worksheets)
• Demonstrate understanding of the fundamental principles and concepts that underpin accounting (e.g., double-entry bookkeeping, the accounting equation, assets, liabilities, equity, accrual accounting, measurement, reliability, relevance)
• Use accounting techniques (e.g., the accounting cycle, worksheets) for the accounting purposes of different types of business entities (e.g., service and merchandising business) and different business structures (e.g., sole-proprietorship, partnership and corporation)
• Have an understanding on the role of accounting information systems
• Use accounting techniques to explore complex business transactions of multi-corporate entities (e.g., business combinations, the consolidation technique)
• Evaluate the limitations of accounting information

This minor is a pre-requisite for post-master education in accounting (i.e., Register Accountant/CPA).

This minor is solely for RSM students.

Students should have a good command (both oral and written) of the English language.

All RSM minors have mandatory attendance.

Teaching methods
The course has lectures and workshops. During the lectures, the conceptual underpinnings of important accounting techniques are underlined. Although the instructor will take a central role in introducing accounting topics, lectures have a strong component of group work and group discussion (e.g., students are expected to work in small ad hoc groups on class exercises or mini-cases). The workshop sessions are focused on applications of accounting concepts. More specifically, during the workshops, students review together with the instructor solutions to homework assignments and participate in collaborative work during breakout sessions.

Additionally, this course has class quizzes and a project. Class quizzes serve to test the active participation of students in class and can be taken only by students who are physically in class during the quiz. The project is a group project with the application of the course content in a real-world setting. The project also aims to have you think about limitations of accounting information.

Teaching Materials
Main mandatory readings:

• Book1: Franklin, M., Graybeal, P., Cooper, D. OpenStax College. (2019). Principles of accounting (Volume 1, Financial accounting). OpenStax, Rice University. Access to open ebook via the university library at https://eur.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1136611409 or directly at openstax.org
• Book 2: Jeter, D. C., & Chaney, P. K. (2012). Advanced accounting (5th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. Access to open ebook via the university library at https://eur.on.worldcat.org/oclc/869747963
• Book 3: Welc, J. (2020). Reading between the lines of corporate financial reports : in search of financial misstatements. Palgrave Macmillan, Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61041-8. Access to open ebook via the university library at https://eur.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1225068716

Method of examination

• Class quizzes
• Project
• Written test.

Composition final grade

The final grade consists of the following elements:

• Written test (60%). The written test consists of open questions.

• Class quizzes (10%) – individual quizzes during the class

• Project (30%) – group project

• To pass this course the written test grade has to be at least 4.5.

• There is no minimum grade requirement for quizzes and project.

• To pass this course the final grade has to be at least 5.5.