Accounting

Chair: Dr. Jan Smolarski, Ph.D.
Ph: +966 11 215 7722
E: jsmolarski@alfaisal.edu

Web address: http://cob.alfaisal.edu/programs/accounting

General Department Information

Accounting is one of the most rewarding careers in business and the one that offers the most opportunities with the lowest risk. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) describes accounting as “The One Degree with 360 Degrees of Possibilities.” Your accounting degree prepares you to become a successful certified public accountant (CPA), chief financial officer (CFO), or chief executive officer (CEO). It is also a great major to choose if you are preparing to work in a family business.

It is interesting to note that more senior business leaders come from accounting backgrounds than any other business function. Why? There are four main reasons that make accountants indispensable in the business world. First, accountants are known for their trustworthiness and high degrees of integrity. Second, accountants have the financial acumen necessary to diagnose the financial health of their companies and determine activities that maximize the outcome of their decisions. This is why they are known in the business circle as business doctors. Third, the path from the CFO (the top accounting job) to the CEO position is increasingly seen as a natural transition. In recent years, the CFO position has become a training ground and steppingstone for the top job. Finally, they know companies’ financial drivers; they know what creates values and what does not.

Classes

ACC 201: Introduction to Financial Accounting

The course introduces students to the accounting equation, accounting cycle and preparation of financial statements, the framework within which financial statements are prepared, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), and users of such financial statements. As well, the course will cover inventory and accounts receivables.

ACC 202: Introduction to Management Accounting

The course introduces students to the role of accounting information in business and investment decisions. It covers Job Order Costing, Process Costing, and Activity Based Costing methods used in manufacturing and service operations. The course explores the cost volume profit relationship, cost classifications: variable and fixed costs, standard costing, and budgeting; it also introduces the Balanced Scorecard as a performance measure.

ACC 301: Intermediate Financial Accounting I

The course provides students with depth knowledge and applied skills about the fundamentals of financial reporting, financial statements and their components, revenue recognition, cash control, recognition and measurement of accounts receivable, accounting for perpetual and periodic inventory systems, inventory costing methods, long-term asset recognition and measurement and their depreciation/amortization.

ACC 302: Intermediate Financial Accounting II

This is the second half of intermediate accounting. It focuses on the liability and equity side of the balance sheet. The topics covered include liabilities, contingencies, stockholders' equity, and earnings per share: both basic and dilutive EPS (dilutive securities), complex financial instruments, income taxes, pensions, post-retirement benefits, leases, accounting changes and error correction, and statement of cash flows.

ACC 320: Cost Accounting

The course provides students with a practical set of tools related to the use of accounting information in making business and investment decisions. It focuses on master budgets, inventory costing and capacity analysis, pricing decisions and cost management, cost allocation and customer profitability, spoilage & scrap, balanced scorecard, inventory management, and capital budgeting and cost analysis.

ACC 330: Zakat and Income Taxes

The course provides students with knowledge, skills, and theory of Zakat and Income Taxes. It introduces students to rules and regulations governing Zakat and Income Taxes in Saudi Arabia. Students learn the incomes that are subjected to Zakat and Income Taxes. As well, students learn how to determine taxable and Zakatable income and what income components should be included in both income taxes and zakat.

ACC 390: Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation

Valuation and performance are an important part of investment decisions which heavily relies on the information in financial statements. This course will familiarize students with the framework of analysis and valuation using financial statements and focus on how to extract information from financial statements and use that data for valuation.

ACC 410: Advanced Financial Accounting

The course involves a detailed examination of equity investments, mergers, acquisitions, and consolidation of financial statements as well as intercompany transactions of depreciable and non-depreciable assets, intercompany bondholding, and other consolidation reporting issues, foreign currency transactions, and translation and consolidation of the financial statements of foreign operations.

ACC 415: Financial Statement Analysis & Valuation

ACC 420: Auditing and Assurance Services

Students learn how to assess the effectiveness of a company's accounting, internal control system, and risk management. It covers theory, concepts, professional and legal standards and procedures underlying audits of financial statements as well as techniques for gathering, summarizing, analyzing, and interpreting information reported in financial statements and procedures used in verifying this information.

ACC 425: Special Topics in Taxation

This course will cover special topics in taxation which are relevant to the decent and expected developments in Saudi Arabia. The course will cover tax policy, system design, and technical issues involved in taxation which are not covered in the regular curriculum. One issue of immediate importance in the context of Saudi Arabia, for example, is indirect taxation. The course will therefore start with a particular emphasis on value-added and goods and services tax regimes. It will include local and cross-border taxation regimes, including the construction of the tax base, tax rates, and the operation of VAT/GST regimes. The course will also look at customs duties and other indirect taxes. The list of these topics will be changed and updated based on developments in the Kingdome'92s policies and needs.

ACC 495: Accounting Theory and contemporary Issues

This course introduces students to the general nature of accounting theory and its function in relation to problems confronting the accounting profession. Accounting practices including accounting rules, principles and processes are examined within the context of contemporary theoretical perspectives and socio-political behaviors of market participants.

ACC 498: COOP Training Internship

This course requires students to complete a four month placement as an internee in various local and international organizations across various sectors and industries in KSA. This is an important part of the BBA degree requirements which bridges the gap between theory and practice. Students will get a chance to get hands-on experience in a variety of areas related to Accounting including the application of the principles of financial and management accounting in decision making; diagnosing the financial health of companies and identifying drivers of performance; and be involved in the auditing process and know its impractical importance and implications.