ACCT 5011 Course Outline Winter 2022
ACCT 5011 Course Outline Winter 2022
Learning Modality
In total, attending class for this course will require the following approximate time commitment
(excluding readings and assignments): 18 hours in-person (i.e., remote attendance not possible)
Course Description
This course takes a user-oriented approach to the study of financial statements. It introduces the role of
the financial statements and disclosures in the financial reporting process. The focus is on the use of
financial ratios and analytical methods to evaluate firm performance and make forecasts of future
performance. The overall objective of the course is to develop students’ knowledge and skills to be
better able to assess firms’ financial position, cash flows, earnings quality, and financial prospects.
Course Objectives
This course presents an overview of financial statement analysis (FSA) from a user perspective. The
objective is for each student to become an informed and critical user of financial accounting
information. This includes: 1. familiarizing students with financial statement analysis concepts and
techniques; 2. addressing the role of financial accounting and financial statements in decision-making;
and 3. introducing participants to current debates and challenges in financial reporting.
This course introduces a mix of practical tools and theoretical concepts used in FSA. FSA combines
applied knowledge of business, accounting, governance, and finance to support decision making. FSA
supports decision making in the following broad areas: investing, lending, and performance
measurement. FSA can include both historical and future-oriented analysis. Financial statement ratios
and other analytical tools will be introduced and applied in real-world corporate analyses. Accounting
policy choices and their implications will be addressed. Current issues in financial accounting and
corporate reporting will be discussed. In addition, we will emphasize the importance of supplementing
FSA with critical thinking and contextual knowledge.
Course Approach
The teaching method uses a varied approach and focuses on active and co-operative learning by the
student. The following approaches are used: in-class cases, corporate analyses, real-life examples,
ACCT 5011 Course Outline page 1
readings, lectures, team work, research activities, and classroom discussions. This approach requires
you to prepare in advance of each class, and it requires your active participation and involvement in
class discussions and cases. The case discussions are designed to facilitate classroom interaction and
learning through sharing and cooperation.
Recommended Texts
Financial Reporting & Analysis: Using Financial Accounting Information, South-Western Cengage
Learning, 13th edition (May 10, 2012), by Charles H. Gibson
Financial Reporting and Analysis, McGraw-Hill, 8th edition (2021), by L. Revsine, D. Collins, B.
Johnson, F. Mittelstaedt, and L. Soffer
International Financial Statement Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, 2nd edition (May 2012), by Thomas R.
Robinson, Elaine Henry, Wendy L. Pirie, Michael A. Broihahn, and Anthony T. Cope
Financial Reporting, Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation, South-Western College Pub, 9th
edition (September 2017), by James M. Wahlen, Stephen P. Baginski, and Mark Bradshaw
Grading Scheme
Course Deliverable Weight on Final Due Date
Grade
Class Participation 10% Weeks 1 - 6
Group Company Profiles 10% Week 3
Group Financial Statement Exhibits 5% Week 4
Group Cash Flow Analysis 5% Week 5
Group Presentation 10% Week 6
Group Financial Statement Report 20% Week 6
Final Exam 40% Tuesday, April 19
Total 100%
Note that attendance is a minimum prerequisite for participation. A student who attends class regularly,
yet does not participate actively in class activities and discussions should expect a participation grade
of no more than 6.0/10.
Groups of four members will be formed by the professor prior to the first class. Each group will be
assigned one major group project in this course. However, the project is broken down into smaller
deliverables, each of which builds on the previous parts. There will be group presentations (10%) in
class in Week 6.
Deferred Examination
Students unable to write a final examination because of illness or other circumstances beyond their
control must contact the instructor in writing to request a deferred exam. Permission may be granted
when the absence is supported by a medical certificate and or appropriate document/s to support the
MBA Learning Goal Not Covered Introduced Taught but Taught and
Not Assessed Assessed
No Scents
This classroom and my office are scent-free environments. In accordance with the no-scent university
policy and in consideration for students, faculty and staff who have environmental and chemical
sensitivities, students are asked to refrain from wearing strong perfumes, colognes and scented
products.
PROFESSIONAL DEPORTMENT
It is expected that each student’s behavior will meet professional standards for attendance,
attentiveness, courtesy and respect for others, particularly during other classmate’s presentations.
Unprofessional behavior during class, such as talking during a lecture or presentation, will be
reflected in the student’s class participation mark.
Further, students are called to maintain a high standard of ethical behavior. This requires students to
avoid all types of academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, cheating, and submitting someone else’s
work as your own. This also requires students to advise the professor of any instances of academic
dishonesty of which they become aware.
To assist you in fulfilling your ethical responsibilities as a student, the ethical standards for this course
require: group work to be performed exclusively by members of the group and all group members must
contribute their fair share to each assignment; all exams must be the exclusive work of the individual
student. If outside research is performed, sources are to be cited and information discovered via outside
research is to be clearly labeled as such. Cheating or plagiarism will not be tolerated. All infractions
will be dealt with according to University regulations. These regulations are found in the university
calendar.
Group Work
The Sprott School of Business encourages group assignments. They provide you with opportunities to
develop and enhance interpersonal, communication, leadership, followership and other group skills.
Group assignments are also an effective way to learn integrative skills for putting together a complex
task. Your professor may assign one or more group tasks, assignments, or projects in this course. Before
embarking on a specific problem as a group, it is your responsibility to ensure that the problem is meant
to be a group assignment and not an individual one.
To deter social loafing and ensure fairness in grading, you will be asked to assess
the contribution of your fellow group members. This information will be used when
assigning the grade for the final project. The procedure is as follows: Each student
should take 100 points and allocate those points to the various members of the group
(including him/her/themself) to reflect the contributions made by each member. For
instance, if there are four members in a group and everyone contributed equally,
each individual would receive 25 points. Conversely, if an individual contributed
relatively little, the remaining group members might allocate few points to that
member. To ensure that these peer evaluation scores are reasonable and free from
personal bias, you will be asked to provide a detailed written explanation for your
point allocation. See Appendix 4 for more information and the Peer Evaluation form.
Letter Grades
In accordance with the Carleton University Undergraduate Calendar (p. 34), the letter grades assigned
in this course will have the following percentage equivalents:
A+ = 90-100 B+ = 77-79 C+ = 67-69 D+ = 57-59 F = Below 50
A = 85-89 B = 73-76 C = 63-66 D = 53-56
A - = 80-84 B - = 70-72 C - = 60-62 D - = 50-52
• Pregnancy
Please contact your instructor with any requests for academic accommodation during the first two
weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist. For more
details, visit the Equity Services website: https://carleton.ca/equity/wp-content/uploads/Student-
Guide-to-Academic-Accommodation.pdf
• Religious Obligations
Please contact your instructor with any requests for academic accommodation during the first two
weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist. For more
details, visit the Equity Services website: https://carleton.ca/equity/wp-content/uploads/Student-
Guide-to-Academic-Accommodation.pdf
• Student Activities
Carleton University recognizes the substantial benefits, to both the individual student and the
university, that result from participating in activities beyond the classroom experience. Reasonable
accommodation will be provided to students who compete or perform at the national or
international level. Please contact your instructor with any requests for academic accommodation
during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is
known to exist. https://carleton.ca/senate/wp-content/uploads/Accommodation-for-Student-
Activities-1.pdf
For more information on academic accommodation, please contact the departmental administrator or
visit: https://students.carleton.ca/course-outline/
ACCT 5011 Course Outline page 7
Academic Integrity
Violations of academic integrity—presenting another’s ideas, arguments, words or images as your own,
using unauthorized material, misrepresentation, fabricating or misrepresenting research data,
unauthorized co-operation or collaboration or completing work for another student—are a serious
academic offence, weaken the quality of the degree, and will not be tolerated. Penalties may include; a
grade of Failure on the submitted work and/or course; academic probation; a refusal of permission to
continue or to register in a specific degree program; suspension from full-time studies; suspension from
all studies at Carleton; expulsion from Carleton, amongst others. Students are expected to familiarize
themselves with and follow the Carleton University Student Academic Integrity Policy which is
available, along with resources for compliance at: https://carleton.ca/registrar/academic-integrity/
Week 1 – March 8
Topics: FSA Framework; Common Size, Trend and Ratio Analysis
Readings: PowerPoint slides, relevant chapters from the textbook,
FSA – Questions to Guide Analysis
Cases/Exercise: Matching Exercise - Industry Profiles with Industry Descriptions
Method/Pedagogy: Lecture and case discussion
Skills/Competencies: Analytical skills; core knowledge development
Companies: Publicly traded Canadian companies
Week 2 – March 15
Topics: The Dupont Model; Investment Ratios
Readings: PowerPoint slides, relevant chapters from the textbook
Cases/Exercise: Comparing two restaurant chains
Method/Pedagogy: Lecture, examples and case discussion
Skills/Competencies Analytical skills, core knowledge development
Companies: McDonalds and Buffalo Wild Wings
Week 3 – March 22
Topics: Analysis of the Cash Flow Statement
Readings: PowerPoint slides, relevant chapters from the textbook
Cases/Exercise: Preparing and analyzing the cash flow statement
Method/Pedagogy: Lecture and in-class exercise
Skills/Competencies: Analytical skills; core knowledge development; team work;
presentation skills
Companies: Opus One, Inc.
Deliverables: Company profiles due (10%)
Week 4 – March 29
Topics: Financial Failure; Conservatism; Accounting Policy Choice
Readings: PowerPoint slides, relevant chapters from the textbook
Cases/Exercise: Depreciation in the Canadian Airline Industry
Method/Pedagogy: Lecture and corporate examples
Skills/Competencies: Quantitative skills; problem solving and decision making skills;
synthesis skills
Companies: Air Canada; West Jet; Porter
Deliverables: Financial Statement Exhibits due (5%)
Week 6 – April 12
Topics: Select topics in Reporting & Analysis; Group Presentations
Method/Pedagogy: Lecture; discussion; illustration with real-world examples;
presentations
Skills/Competencies: Core knowledge development, analytical skills
Oral communication; written communication; analyzing complex
situations; analytical and synthesis skills; problem solving and
decision making; quantitative skills; team work; creativity &
imagination; executive summary; prioritizing issues
Deliverables: FSA Reports due (20%)
FSA Presentations (10%)
Preparation
Obtain financial statements for the past four fiscal years for each of your companies. Corporate
websites or the internet may be helpful in obtaining financial statements. The SEDAR website
(www.sedar.com) can be searched for the public filings of all Canadian public companies. (To get four
years of data, you will need only the past three annual reports).
Obtain industry averages for commonly used ratios for the industry (one source is Factiva’s Industry
Snapshot (www.library.carleton.ca then select Databases, F from the alphabetical listing, Factiva,
Companies/Markets tab) or similar reports by Dun & Bradstreet or Standard and Poor’s), or
http://www.bizstats.com/.
Objective
To analyse the financial performance of two firms and to formulate recommendations for decision
making based on your analysis.
Required
The written financial statement analysis report is due in the last class. Overall, your report (excluding
appendices) should be approximately 20 double-spaced pages. Your analysis should include each of
the following elements:
1. Briefly describe the primary business activities of the companies selected (recent Annual Reports are
often a good source of information, as are industry publications or the financial press). For
example, provide:
• a brief historical summary
• a list of key competitors
• the relative industry position of the company
• recent developments in the industry/company
• future goals.
2. Prepare common-sized statements and trend analyses for four years for both the income statement
and balance sheet of both companies.
For each of the last three fiscal years, for each company, calculate appropriate financial statement
ratios.
Provide investment ratios and calculate Dupont model components.
Submit this part of your analysis in Week 4 for grading and feedback (5%).
3. Prepare a well-written analysis of the financial statements of each company based upon your
interpretation of the common-sized statements, trend analyses, and financial statement ratios.
Comment on the ratio information for each of the companies and compare them to the industry
averages.
Calculate z-scores for each of your companies for the most recent year. Do the z-scores support or
contradict your other analyses?
4. Based upon your analysis, which of the companies would you advise a friend to invest in? As a
banker would you lend these companies money? As a manager, where would you prefer to work?
Support your recommendations.
Include graphs, charts and tables to enhance your report (these are also very helpful in preparing your
presentation).
Submit your final report in Week 6 for grading and feedback (20%). Incorporate your findings
from all components of the project.
Presentation (10%)
Group presentations will take place during the last class. Each group will have approximately 15
minutes to present their company analyses to the class (this may be adjusted once the number of groups
is determined). The group presentations are intended to allow all participants to benefit from the
insights and recommendations arising from each group’s analysis of different industries.
In your group presentation:
1. Present highlights of your analysis of each company.
2. Provide your investment recommendations for each company; support your recommendation.
3. Indicate whether you, as a corporate banker, would lend the company money; why or why not?
4. Indicate where you would prefer to work? Why? Consider both accounting and qualitative aspects
which affect your preference.
5. Address how your industry’s financial statement ratios appear to be unique, relative to other
industries you know or we have discussed in class.
Assignment
Use the two publicly traded companies you have selected for your financial statement analysis.
Obtain the cash flow statements for each of the last three years. Analyze the cash flow
statements, using the following questions as a guide.
Part 1:
1. What were the firm’s major sources of cash? Its major uses of cash?
2. Was cash flow from operations greater than or less than net income? Explain the major reasons
for the difference between these two figures.
3. Was the firm able to generate enough cash from operations to pay for all of its capital
expenditures?
4. Did cash flow from operations cover both the capital expenditures and the firm’s dividend
payments, if any?
5. If not, what were the sources of cash the firm used to pay for the capital expenditures and/or
dividends?
Part 2:
What was the trend in:
1. Net income?
2. Cash flow from operations?
3. Capital expenditures?
4. Dividends?
5. Net borrowings (proceeds less payments of short and long term debt)?
Part 3:
Based on the evidence in the statement of cash flows alone, what is your assessment of the financial
strength of the company? Why?
Name:_____________________________
PLEASE COMPLETE THIS FORM AND SUBMIT IT WITH YOUR FINAL REPORT
YOU:
TOTAL 100
1. Reliability/Commitment
Did s/he participate in team meetings
in an organized fashion & meet team
deadlines?
2. Leadership
Did s/he provide leadership through
listening to others and helping the
team to function as a team?
3. Collaborative
Did s/he participate in team activities
and contribute in a positive manner?
4. Respectful/Open
Did s/he show respect for team
members, their ideas and their other
commitments?
5. Contribution
Did s/he do his/her share of the work,
provide useful ideas, input, helpful
suggestions and feedback to the team
in accordance with team decisions?
6. Output
Did s/he produce high quality work?
Totals for each team member