J-Term 2011

Introduction to Accounting
January 18-21, 2011 (TBD)
Instructor: Matthew Packard, Harvard Business School
Location and Time: 2 Divinty, 10:00-11:30am and 1:00-2:30pm
Enrollment Limit: 200

Course website: http://isites.harvard.edu/k78211

Online syllabus with course sessions for Introduction to Accounting

The course will be designed to be very similar to the Accounting Analytics course that is taught using the case method to incoming MBA students. For students to get the most out of the experience, they need to come to class highly prepared for the case discussion. The required time commitment to thoroughly prepare for class is significant. I estimate that 2-4 hours of preparation time is required for each of the ten classes for a total of 20-40 hours of total out of class preparation time in addition to the approximately 10 hours needed to complete the tutorial.

This course will focus on the basics of accounting – how to record transactions and prepare the fundamental financial statements, such as the Income Statement, the Cash Flow Statement, and the Balance Sheet. The role of accounting in performance evaluation of managers and in the valuation of companies and the impact of these uses of accounting information on the accounting choices of managers will be also explored.

The course will consist of eight, 80-minute sessions, two per day for four days. The course will also involve an on-line tutorial that students must complete before the first class; this tutorial gets the basic mechanics of book keeping out of the way so that more detailed material can be covered in the classes proper. The course is not for credit and will not appear on your transcript.

The instructor for the class will be Teaching Fellow Matthew Packard. Matt is a teaching fellow at the Harvard Business School for the first-year accounting course. He has an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and extensive experience in practicing and teaching Accounting. Packard has worked in financial management and investment management industries for over ten years.

Cost: $70.05 per student; limited assistance available for those with need.

Sponsored by: Department of Economics

Enrollment Conditions: Enrollment is limited; advanced registration required

Enrollment Limit: 200

Deadline to RSVP: January 18, 2011

Attendance: Multi-session event: participant should attend ALL sessions

Purpose of Activity Fee: course materials, per student cost; limited assistance available for those with need.

For inquiries about future offerings: Please contact Caitlin DeCosta at 617-495-0586 or decosta@fas.harvard.edu.