Learning Objectives: • Identify the financial and managerial responsibilities of the accountant.

• Cite the issues involved with different account code structures.

• Specify how information rolls up from subsidiary ledgers into the general ledger, and is organized within the trial balance.

• State the flow of various documents through the procedures used by the accountant. Also describe the structure of a procedure, and who is most concerned with its construction.

• Identify the key requirements of accounting for receivables.

• Cite the accounting for investment transfers and the impairment of securities.

• Identify the tracking and cost accumulation systems used for inventory.

• State the valuation and depreciation rules applicable to fixed assets.

• Specify the rules regarding goodwill impairment and the capitalization of intangible assets.

• Cite the rules related to the accounting for various equity transactions.

• Identify the evaluation criteria for a contract, the components of the transaction price, and when a contract modification triggers treatment as a new contract.

• Identify the proper accounting for the full range of payroll transactions.

• Specify the accounting requirements related to stock-based compensation.

• Itemize the treatment of tax differences, tax assets and liabilities, and the determination of tax rates.

• Cite the accounting for a variety of transactions related to business combinations, as well as the uses of different types of acquisition structures.

• Identify the accounting treatment for transactions involving foreign currency.

• Cite the applicability of the accounting standards for accounting changes and error corrections to different scenarios.

• Identify the steps required to close the books and generate financial statements.

• Itemize the different formats in which the financial statements can be constructed, as well as the manner in which they are compiled.

• Specify the theories under which interim period information is presented, as well as the rules for segment reporting, and the process of compiling public company reports.

• State the types of variances and management report formats that an accountant may use.

• Cite the process improvements that can be applied to the management of cash.

• Identify the different types of collection tactics, as well as when they should be used.

• Specify the best practices and confidentiality issues that should be implemented for a payroll system.

• Identify the contents of the various budgets and which techniques should be used to populate the budgets.

• State the methods used to examine proposed fixed asset purchases, and their outcomes after being installed.

• Cite the calculation methods employed for those ratios most applicable to the role of the accountant.

• Specify which costs are to be included in or excluded from the examination of cost objects, as well as how cost objects should be interpreted.

Role of an Accountant Chart of Accounts General Ledger and Trial Balance Accounting Procedures Accounting for Receivables Accounting for Investments Accounting for Inventory Accounting for Property, Plant, and Equipment Accounting for Intangibles Accounting for Equity Revenue Recognition Accounting for Payroll Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation Accounting for Income Taxes Accounting for Business Combinations Foreign Currency Matters Accounting Changes and Error Corrections Closing the Books Financial Statements Public Company Financial Reporting Management Reports Cash Receipts management Collection Tactics Payroll Management Budgeting Capital Budgeting Business' Ratios Cost Object Analysis