This course counts toward the following majors: Accounting.

This course acquaints students with the process used to construct and understand the financial reports of organizations. The objective is to understand the decisions that must be made in the financial reporting process and to develop the ability to evaluate and use accounting data. Emphasis is placed on understanding the breadth of accounting measurement practices and on being able to make the adjustments necessary for careful analysis. The course highlights the linkages between accounting information and management planning, and decision making and control.

Turbo Accounting (ACCT-434-0)
An accelerated version of the core accounting course (430), intended for students with recent exposure to accounting principles. In contrast to 430, this course assumes students already have a working knowledge of the journal entry process. The course explores the principles of financial accounting and the structure and meaning of financial statements and footnote disclosures. The additional time made available by not covering the journal entry process allows for an in-dept study of many financial reporting issues, and for extra coverage of current financial accounting topics.

Financial Reporting and Analysis II (ACCT-452-0)

This course counts toward the following majors: Accounting, International Business,

This course covers a series of financial reporting topics that have received considerable attention from the financial community in recent years. These include accounting for share-based compensation, pensions and other post-retirement benefits, market value accounting, business combinations, intangible assets, foreign operations, and off-balance sheet structures such as special purpose entities. Each of these topics entails important international dimensions, and students will gain familiarity with several of the most important differences between U.S. and non-U.S. accounting. ACCT-451 is not a prerequisite for this class; however, some of the material is comparatively technical, and students will need a firm understanding of basic financial accounting.

Sustainability Reporting and Analysis (ACCT-459-0)

This course counts toward the following majors: Accounting.

Traditional financial reporting is often criticized for ignoring some of a company’s most important economic assets and liabilities. On the assets side, mainstream accounting often ignores brands, human resources, intellectual property, supplier and customer relationships, and more generally the goodwill that accrues to a business through its involvement in the wider community. On the liabilities side, accountants tend to ignore many of the risks, or contingent liabilities, posed by deleterious environmental and social policies. This course introduces students to sustainability reporting, a system of analysis and reporting that attempts to bridge some of these gaps and provide a more expansive view of an organization’s social and environmental performance (sometimes called the “triple bottom line”). Through lectures and case studies, we will examine markets for sustainability reporting and metrics that have been developed to supply information to these markets. The class will address socially responsible investing, carbon disclosure initiatives, accounting for legal and environmental liabilities, and the role of intangible assets in long-run performance.

Financial Analysis for Strategic Marketing (ACCT-920-0)
Some of the accounting discipline’s most fundamental concepts have important implications for marketing that are insufficiently developed in general-purpose classes. This course will explore these concepts with the explicit goal of applying them to the measurement and management of marketing activities. The class is divided into three broad areas: 1) Measurement and management of return on marketing investment and brand equity. The traditional accounting model treats marketing expenditures as expenses rather than investments, a shortcoming with many potentially deleterious consequences for marketing managers. We will explore this problem and possible responses in depth. Topics to be covered include brand valuation models and non-financial performance metrics connected to marketing activities. 2) Marketing applications of managerial accounting frameworks. Topics to be covered include customer profitability analysis (including customer life-time value) and activity-based pricing. 3) Accounting and financial statement analysis for selling activities. Accounting for selling activities is one of the most critical and controversial areas of financial reporting. Topics to be covered include revenue recognition in retailing or in selling to retailers, as well as the financial analysis of major retail and CPG companies. The class will combine lectures and cases. It should be of interest to anyone pursuing a marketing career as well as students interested in the financial analysis of an organization’s marketing activities. The prerequisite is one prior course in accounting.

Global Initiatives in Management (GIM) (INTL-473-0)

This course counts toward the following majors: International Business

This course offers students an opportunity to learn about non-U.S. business environments within an innovative and flexible framework that combines traditional classroom-based learning with structured in-country field research. From its inception in 1989 as one class of 34 students covering the Soviet Union, the program has grown to become a cornerstone of the Kellogg experience for many students. The school currently sponsors 13 GIM courses composed of approximately 400 students traveling to 15 countries. Evanston full-time students gain admission to GIM classes through the bidding process in the fall quarter. Classroom instruction is held during the winter quarter, followed by two weeks of field research abroad and seminar presentations of written student reports during the spring quarter. (TMP and EMP GIM classes sometimes follow different schedules.) GIM courses are organized by student leaders under the guidance of a faculty adviser. If you would like to become a GIM student leader, please contact the IBMP office for more information.