ACC2012W - Financial Reporting 2

Course Description

Introduction

Financial Reporting 2 (ACC2012W) builds on your knowledge acquired in previous accounting courses and covers more advanced accounting topics such as revenue recognition, inventories, owner's equity, financial instruments and group accounting. In this course you will be introduced to GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Practice), and should be able to, at the end of the course, understand and apply those GAAP principles introduced in the course.

Entrance Requirements

Registration for ACC2012W is subject to you having obtained a minimum of 60% in Financial Reporting 1B (ACC1011X/S), either in the Oct/Nov exams, or the supplementary/entrance exams in Jan/Feb.

Important:
You need to obtain a minimum mark of 60% in ACC2012W to be able to register for Financial Reporting 3 (ACC3009W), which is a required course to continue with the PGDA (Post Graduate Diploma in Accounting) programme on your way to become a Chartered Accountant (CA(SA)).

Should you wish to major in accounting, but do not wish to become a Chartered Accountant, you are encouraged to enrol for Corporate Reporting (ACC3020W) once you have successfully completed ACC2012W. ACC3020W is a broad-based accounting major course, for which the registration prerequisite is a pass in ACC2012W.

Please note that ACC2012W will NOT be offered as part of the Summer Term programme.

Philosophy and Aims of the course

To be a successful accountant requires four basic attributes:

• Understanding of all areas of accounting;
• Practical experience in applying that knowledge to situations you will encounter;
• Dedication and integrity in performing your work;
• A lateral thinker with an inquisitive mind.

You will learn about some of the GAAP principles during this course and more during financial reporting courses at third and fourth year level. We will build on the knowledge you gained from previous accounting courses. The tutorials and tests given during this course will include exercises designed to refresh and build on your knowledge of accounting from previous courses. It is very important that you revise any areas from your previous courses that you feel need attention. Once you have gained the knowledge, you need to gain practical experience in applying it to situations. You will get this by completing tutorials and projects.

You should understand that completion of tutorials is a fundamental part of the process of training to be an accountant. Tutorials are largely derived from past exam questions and therefore give you experience in dealing with exams.

Dedication and integrity are attributes that are not taught, but will develop over time as you apply yourself to the other aspects of your learning. Accountants should not only be applying the theory being taught to them, they should have an open mind and wonder (and ask questions!) about why and how, and sometimes even question the validity of certain transactions!

You should always strive to obtain academic excellence, be a diligent student and ensure that your work is your pride, including all presentations and hand-ins. We welcome group efforts and understand that you learn from interaction with peers, however, ensure at all times that you present your own attempts of a question or assignment. Plagiarism is considered a serious offence and can ruin your studies and future career. Even if you have not signed a plagiarism declaration for a specific submission (for example your tutorials) we assume that you understand that plagiarism is wrong and have ensured that the work presented is your own, that you did not copy any work from a fellow student or allowed another student to copy your work.

The course starts with a closer examination of the key principles that apply in accounting. You need to apply yourselves diligently from day one or you will be disadvantaged for the rest of your studies of Financial Reporting.