This is a course in the fundamentals of budgeting and accounting for public, health, and not-for-profit organizations. Together, budgeting and accounting constitute financial management: a framework of tools and techniques by which all organizations plan for and control the use of financial resources, implement policies, and report on financial position and performance.
The first half of the course focuses on budgeting, or managerial accounting. Topics in this portion of the course include operating budgets, cash budgets, break-even analysis, cost allocation, variance analysis, the time value of money, capital budgeting, and long-term financing.
The second half of the course focuses on financial accounting. Topics in this portion of the course include the preparation and analysis of financial statements (balance sheet, activity statement, and cash flow statement), ethics in financial management, government accounting, and government financial condition analysis.
The course consists of lectures, exercises, review, and problem-based learning (PBL) spread across two class sessions each week. Weekly homework assignments will both reinforce course material and train students to use Microsoft Excel to perform financial calculations and create budgets and financial statements. In addition, weekly reading quizzes on the course Canvas site will incentivize students to prepare for class while providing them immediate feedback on their comprehension of the course material.
