Accounting (ACCT) 352

Overview

Accounting 352: Intermediate Financial Accounting II is the second course in the two-course intermediate accounting sequence. It provides in-depth coverage of the following:

• accounting issues associated with the equity side of the Balance Sheet (liabilities and shareholders’ equity). This includes both procedural and conceptual issues, as well as consideration of matters related to presentation and disclosure.
• other issues, including accounting for income taxes, employee future benefits, accounting for leases, and financial statement analysis.

Many of these topics were covered in introductory financial accounting and are repeated in intermediate financial accounting but in a much more comprehensive fashion. The prerequisite for ACCT 352 is Accounting 351: Intermediate Financial Accounting I or its equivalent from another post-secondary institution.

If you have gaps in your prerequisite knowledge, it is your responsibility to review the relevant Intermediate Financial Accounting I material. Academic Experts for this course will not review prerequisite material, but may suggest what Intermediate Financial Accounting I topics should be reviewed.

Outline

• Chapter 12: Current Liabilities
• Chapter 13: Long-Term Financial Liabilities
• Chapter 14: Complex Financial Instruments
• Chapter 15: Income Taxes
• Chapter 16: Pensions and Other Employment Benefits
• Chapter 17: Leases
• Chapter 18: Shareholders' Equity
• Chapter 19: Earnings Per Share
• Chapter 20: Statement of Cash Flows
• Chapter 21: Changes and Errors
• Chapter 22: Disclosures and Analysis

Learning outcomes

After completing ACCT 352 you should be able to 

• explain and account for various types of current liabilities, including financial and non-financial liabilities, provisions, contingencies, commitments, and guarantees, while applying appropriate accounting treatments, presentation, and disclosure requirements under both IFRS and ASPE, and utilizing ratio analysis to evaluate a company’s liquidity.
• analyze and account for various types of long-term financial liabilities, including notes payable, bonds payable, and off-balance sheet financing, while applying appropriate measurement, reporting, disclosure, and data analytics techniques, and comparing ASPE and IFRS standards.
• analyze and account for complex financial instruments, including convertible debt, convertible preferred shares, and derivatives, by applying IFRS and ASPE methods for classification, measurement, and disclosure, while evaluating stock option plans and utilizing data analytics techniques to assess differences in recognition, measurement, and reporting between ASPE and IFRS.
• calculate and account for current and deferred taxes, including the effects of temporary differences, tax rate changes, and tax losses, while preparing financial statement presentations and disclosures, and analyzing the differences between IFRS and ASPE in the treatment of income taxes.
• account for defined contribution and defined benefit pension plans, including the calculation of pension expenses, the treatment of net defined benefit assets, and the challenges in post-employment and other employee benefits, while addressing presentation, disclosure, and the differences between ASPE and IFRS.
• account for and classify leases as capital/finance or operating leases under ASPE and IFRS, prepare the corresponding journal entries for both lessees and lessors, including sale and leaseback transactions, and address the disclosure requirements and differences between ASPE and IFRS.
• account for various forms of shareholders’ equity, including share issues, reacquisition of shares, and dividends, while applying relevant accounting standards, preparing financial statement presentations and disclosures, and describing the differences between IFRS and ASPE.
• calculate and report basic and diluted earnings per share (EPS) for firms with simple and complex capital structures, analyze the impact of various factors on EPS, and assess company performance using EPS and the price-earnings ratio, while describing the differences between ASPE and IFRS.
• prepare, analyze, and interpret the statement of cash flows using both the direct and indirect methods, including required disclosures, key analysis techniques, and differences between ASPE and IFRS.
• Apply the appropriate methods for accounting policy changes, estimate changes, and error corrections, including required disclosures and key differences between IFRS and ASPE.

Evaluation

To receive credit for ACCT 352, you must achieve

• a mark of at least 50 percent on each of the Midterm and Final examinations
• an overall composite grade of D (50 percent).

The following chart summarizes the evaluation activities for this course.

The midterm and final examinations for this course must be requested in advance and written under the supervision of an AU-approved exam invigilator. Invigilators include either ProctorU or an approved in-person invigilation centre that can accommodate online exams. Students are responsible for payment of any invigilation fees. Information on exam request deadlines, invigilators, and other exam-related questions, can be found at the Exams and grades section of the Calendar.

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.

Note: Students planning to transfer this course to a Chartered Professional Accountant designation are advised that they will be required to achieve a grade higher than the minimum passing grade. See CPA Requirements for details.

Materials

Digital course materials

Links to the following course materials will be made available in the course:

Arnold, G., & Kyle, S. (2021). Intermediate financial accounting (Vol. 2, revision A edition).

The eTextbook is available in multiple formats through Lyryx.

Other Resources

All other learning resources will be available online.

Students re-registering in this course should be aware that any work previously completed in Lyryx will not carry forward.

The Sharp EL-738 series calculators are recommended. The TI-BAII Plus, HP-10BII+, Casio FC-200V, or Casio FX-300MS non-programmable calculators may be used when writing examinations in this course.

Important links

• Academic advising
• Program planning
• Request assistance
• Support services
• CPA Requirements