SUMMER 1999 IDS 390W: REPORTING TECHNIQUES FOR ACCOUNTANTS

Gretchen N. Vik (Dept. Sec. SS 2411) Office: SS 3114, ext. 46024 E-mail: Gretchen.Vik@sdsu.edu Office Hours: MTWT 11:30-12:30 or as announced in class or by appointment and E-mail.

Martha Doran Office: SS 2421, ext. 46841, E-mail: Doran1@mail.sdsu.edu Office Hours: MTWT ass announced in class or by appointment and Email.

Texts: Vik and Gilsdorf, BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, Richard D. Irwin, 1994 (available in Library Reserve Room). Campus Store sells both full text (used) and custom text with fewer chapters.

Hirsch, Anderson, and Gabriel, COMMUNICATION FOR ACCOUNTANTS: STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS, Irwin McGraw-Hill, 1999.

Wilson, GROUPS IN CONTEXT, 5th ed., McGraw-Hill, 1999.

Prerequisites: Completed or being completed 60 units, completed GE Communication and Analytical Reasoning requirement in Written Communication (generally this includes English 100 and 200 and sometimes Speech, depending on the catalog you entered under), and completed Writing Competency Requirement. (Check with Evaluations or the Advising Center if you're not sure, since courses taken out of sequence do not earn the W required for graduation and you will have to take the Upper Division Writing Competency Text to earn the W.) IDS 390W must be taken before or concurrently with ACC 322.

Course Objective: Since accountants spend a great deal of time communicating in written reports and oral presentations, this course is designed to improve your communication skills so you can present financial and business information more effectively. Both content (analysis of business risk, use of relevant and current sources, etc.) and execution (audience analysis, format, layout, style, clarity, diction, and proofreading mechanics) are part of your grade, but since this is a graduation writing requirement, in-class writing must attain an acceptable level for you to get a C in the course. Other Objectives on which you will be graded:

• Make at least your final presentation without notes.
• Use a presentation package such as Powerpoint to create at least one set of visuals.
• Discuss number analysis appropriately (analysis, not just descriptive information).
• Understand the difference between description and analysis.
• Think with the numbers.
• Work effectively in teams.
• Find and evaluate research sources, both print and online.
• Learn to create professional document design.

The texts and your instructors are resources for you in your active learning. Assignments overlap, so it's especially important to keep work on projects current in this class. As in your professional life, you will have to make choices about how to balance and complete your various assignments.

You will receive a number of handouts: read and use them, as they contain important information about your assignments and how they will be graded.

Team work: Your team will be assigned by Dr. Doran based on courses completed, work experience, and other criteria. After attempting to solve team problems yourselves, you may fire a member. This person must come to the instructors and arrange to write an individual paper and give an individual presentation. Since this is a project-based course, all class members must do every assignment to complete the course. Missing a project or a presentation grade means failing the course.

Grading: You must get a C or better to get the W credit--if you need help with writing skills, get a thorough handbook and look things up--you can't get a C without good proofreading skills. For common errors: The Goof-Proofer by Manhard (Collier, 1987, $3.95). A good handbook: The Elements of Grammar by Shertzer (Collier, 1986, $4.95). Handbook with lots of exercises and answers: The Least You Should Know About English by Glazier (Holt). Serious proofreading errors include subject-verb agreement (remember that company=it, not they), noun and verb endings, punctuation errors that interfere with meaning such as apostrophes and semicolons, and spelling. Run your spellchecker FIRST and then proofread for homonyms, of/or, etc.

Tentative percentage division is 20 for two in-class case exams, 20-25 other individual writing, 20 group writing, 20 oral presentations, 10 final exam, 5-10 participation and attendance. Confidential team evaluations affect your participation grade and can affect your total grade.

Semester Assignments

• Introductions, In-Class Exercises and Activities
• Writing Sample (scored but not part of your grade)
• Individual Article Summaries, Team Summary, Team Presentation
• Individual Company Research Report (two parts)
• Individual Not-for Profit Briefing Memo, Team NFP Proposal and Budget, Team Presentation, Team Board Questioning and Funding Decision
• Team Workplan Memo, Team Payroll Cycle Report and Working Papers, Team Presentation
• Two In-Class Communication Case Exams
• Final Exam (Scantron 20788—multiple choice/TF over the reading in texts)

The article summaries, team summaries, company reports, not-for-profit reports, and the payroll reports will be retained by the instructors.

Presentations will all use visuals, including overheads from Powerpoint or a similar program and potentially a computer-driven Powerpoint presentation of your visuals. Presentations will be from brief notes but NOT read from a script (that's a formal speech, not a powerful selling presentation). Remember: your final presentation needs to be without notes! A good site for presentation help: presentersuniversity.com

GIVE CREDIT TO SOURCES OF PARAPHRASES, QUOTED, OR BORROWED IDEAS: PLAGIARISM (STEALING IDEAS AND WORDS) IS CAUSE FOR A FAILING GRADE AND LOSS OF BUSINESS SCHOOL CODES! (CBA Policy) The least SDSU penalty for plagiarism is to receive a zero grade on the assignment and have your name reported to the Campus Judicial Authority. Further penalties include receiving an F for the course, having business major codes blocked to you at registration, and expulsion from the University.

Listing and/or attaching sources at the end of a report does NOT cite them; place individual parenthetical citations in the text when you borrow words or ideas. See VG App. C for documentation systems (modern systems no longer use superscript notes). One good documentation site:http://libweb.sdsu.edu/cite/html

Generally, cite an electronic source by author, title, etc. as if it were a print source, then add the electronic address and date of document and date of access.