Introduction to Accounting II This course is divided into five modules. Module 1, "Transition from Introduction to Accounting I," is designed to provide a review of certain concepts introduced in Introduction to Accounting I, both to set the stage for the remainder of the second course and to assist students transferring from other institutions in making the transition to this course. The module focuses on a company - J&J Corporation - that was introduced the previous semester. The decision context for this module is whether J&J should significantly expand operations by building a new home improvement store. Module 2 is entitled, "Traditional Product Costing and Pricing." The module introduces a car manufacturing company - California Car Company (CCC) - that is used in Modules 2 through Module 5 to illustrate ideas. Specifically, in Module 2, students become familiar with CCC's production process by actually participating in a simulation of the company's daily production activities. This module also introduces students to major inputs used in production processes and how the costs of those inputs are associated with particular products and used in decision making activities involving specific products. Four different decision contexts are used in this module to explore ideas: Is CCC efficient? Specifically, are CCC's costs and markups competitive for its two products? What prices should CCC charge? Should CCC reduce the price of its compact vehicle in responding to a special order, and if so, what is the lowest price the company should entertain? Is CCC's performance adequate? Which department performed best? Where is the performance deficient? How should CCC report its financial performance to bankers and shareholders? Module 3, "Cost Management Systems," focuses mainly on the decision uses of accounting information in the new manufacturing and service environments. The module continues with the California Car Company case to demonstrate the relevance of activity-based costing (ABC), total quality management (TQM), and just-in-time (JIT) concepts. The role of accounting information in TQM and JIT settings is emphasized. Two different decision contexts are used in this module: How can overhead cost be better managed? How can CCC reduce its quality problems? The fourth module is called, "Planning and Performance Evaluation." It is designed to help students understand the basic purposes served by financial and nonfinancial plans in organizations. Students learn the basic "building blocks" (e.g., sales volumes, prices, production volumes, costs, etc. ) that must be predicted in the course of preparing a comprehensive plan, and organize those building blocks into an integrated set of financial statements. They see how nonfinancial measures of performance are used in the development of a comprehensive plan and how such measures may be linked to financial measures of performance. The module ends by showing students how budget information--both financial and nonfinancial--may be used to evaluate actual results and identify variances between planned and actual results. The last module, Module 5, is "Analysis of Financial Statements in a Global Market Economy." The concept of a foreign exchange rate, and the factors that determine foreign exchange rates on a day-by-day basis in the global economy, are introduced in this module. Students learn how transactions may be measured in a variety of foreign currencies; how a transaction measured in one currency may be restated in another currency; and how exchange gains and losses arise in moving from one currency to another. Finally, students learn how to use financial statements to analyze the financial performance of a corporation. Home | Overview | Introduction | Motivation for Change Structure of the New Courses | Obstacles | Resources | Outcome Measures Reaction of Interested Parties | Recommendations for Interested Parties | Links | Index