Accounting I

URL study guide

https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/E_EBE1_ACC1

Course Objective

To succeed, managers, investors, and financial analysts need to understand accounting information. Accounting I emphasizes the importance of accounting information for businesses. You will learn that there are various kinds of users of accounting information
- with their own specific needs and demands for information. You will also learn that there are several accounting methods and techniques to meet these information demands. This course provides you with basic tools to report and analyze accounting information. Accounting is much more than bookkeeping, but bookkeeping is an integral part of accounting. This course provides the first fundamental tools that will allow you to:trace individual components that determine the success or failure of a firm;evaluate whether assets are utilized in an efficient manner;make forecasts about financial sustainability or distress;compare performance against prior periods or other firms;support managerial decisions about prices, production, and employee performance.After having finished Accounting I you:can explain the basic theories and concepts of financial and managerial accounting and explain the difference between financial and managerial accounting (Academic & Research Skills);can explain what type of information management of a company needs in order to make decisions (Academic & Research Skills);can explain how the core financial statements are construed and how they relate to each other (Academic & Research Skills);can explain how the most important accounting methods are applied in practice (Bridging Theory & Practice);can analyze and interpret financial information for decision-making (Bridging Theory & Practice);are informed about current accounting practices and understand that accounting is not static but being affected and influenced by current affairs, changing norms and values, and new insights (Broadening your Horizon).

Course Content

Accounting is the language that allows to do business. It allows executives, managers and employees to communicate how an organization is doing; it allows investors, analysts, and governmental authorities to understand how an organization is doing. Accounting is much more than bookkeeping. Without accounting, it is not possible to evaluate a new business opportunity, assess the performance of a company, or design a solid business strategy for the near future. This course provides a thorough introduction to financial and managerial accounting and provides you with important tools to report and analyze accounting information. This course teaches how to formally record and report economic events and transactions, how to read accounting information to make inferences and support decisions, and how accounting plays an active role in the success or failure of a company. The course also explains that the accounting activity involves discretion in how information is recorded and reported. Moreover, the course offers a first look at what the accounting profession entails.

Teaching Methods

- Knowledge clips
- Lectures
- Tutorials

Method of Assessment

Individual assessment with partial exams and participation assignments.

Literature

Textbook: J.J. Weygandt, P.D. Kimmel, J.E. Mitchell, Financial & Managerial Accounting (publisher: Wiley, 2020, 4th ed. ISBN 978-1-119-75252-3)Other course material provided on Canvas

Custom Course Registration

After registering for this course, you need to sign up for a tutorial group as well. Please make sure to do this within the applicable registration period.