Financial Reporting

Overview

Course code: COR1-GB 1306 61

The course is structured around the following major uses of accounting data by managers, financial analysts, consultants, and other professionals as described below:

• Keep a record of transactions to run the business. We will study the terms and systems accountants use to record transactions and ensure the accounting system's integrity. We will distinguish cash flows from income flows and study how financial statements are connected.
• Measure past performance to reward superior performance or penalize inferior performance: We will study how financial performance measures affect incentives and behavior and discuss the trade-off between relevance versus reliability of performance measures. We will examine some well-known cases of earnings management and fraud.
• Identify areas of strengths and weaknesses for making strategic decisions affecting the future: We will discuss a simple analytical framework (the DuPont model) that helps us compare companies and understand how their strategic choices affect their published financial statements.

Help

• My office: KMC 10-86, 212-998-0021 dgode@stern.nyu.edu
• TA: Check Brightspace next week.

Materials

I use my materials. Therefore, no textbook is required, and you need not purchase anything.

Attendance and penalty for missing classes

Requiring attendance is necessary for several reasons. First, you incorrectly assume you can catch up on a missed class by watching a recording (if available). Videos do not engage your brain as much as a live class. Second, less than 20% of you watch the recording (if available). You are then lost in class, which provides the wrong signals to me as an instructor. Third, your absence hurts class discussions. Fourth, you miss out on feedback if you do not work through the questions I pose in class. Fifth, I lose the feedback since there are fewer questions.

The policy below will be in effect only after the add/drop period.

Without mandatory attendance, attendance is often below 50%. Therefore, though I dislike doing this, I penalize absences. If you anticipate being absent for good reasons, please email me well in advance. Please enter "Excused" on the attendance sheet described below to avoid the penalty if I approve. If you miss a class due to emergencies and cannot tell me in advance, do not panic. Take care of the emergency first, and then email me. I will permit you to change the "Absent" to "Excused." But if you miss a class without a valid reason, there is a penalty, as stated below.

For sections meeting in 150-190 minute sessions, you will lose one grade (A to A-, A- to B+, B+ to B, B to B-, and so on) for EVERY missed session unless you were explicitly excused via email. Thus, if you miss two class sessions, you will lose two grades, and so on.

For sections meeting in 75-80 minute sessions, you will lose one grade (A to A-, A- to B+, B+ to B, B to B-, and so on) for EVERY TWO missed sessions unless you were explicitly excused via email. Thus, if you miss four class sessions, you will lose two grades, and so on.

Please sit in the same seat in every class and display your name tags. For Zoom classes, you must keep your video on AT ALL TIMES. You must also have a good working headset or mic, as it is extremely rude to be inaudible and force me to ask you to repeat yourself. After entering the class, please mark yourself present in the first 20 minutes on the OneDrive sheet (link posted on Brightspace). You will be marked absent if you are more than 20 minutes late unless it is because of factors beyond your control (traffic, subway, or interviews running late). You will also be marked absent if you leave the class early unless you have my permission or get it afterward. You will get an F in the course if you are caught cheating on the attendance sheet.

Almaris Assignments

• The assignments appear as tests on Almaris. I may update the deadlines as the course progresses. The deadlines shown at Almaris are the correct deadlines.
• Some assignments are short; others are long. Please manage your time.
• NO EXTENSIONS will be granted for any reason except medical or family emergencies. If you have religious or personal conflicts, please submit the assignments early. The related materials are covered well in advance of the assignments. Please do not email me to request extensions unless you have a medical or family emergency.
• You can collaborate with others while doing assignments.
• All assignments are mandatory. After the first day of class, you can view the online assignments at http://www.almaris.com/assess/ using your official NYU email (no aliases) and the most recent password emailed to you by Almaris. The Almaris password is different from the Stern password. To retrieve the password, use your full email with the domain name as it appears in Brightspace. The domain name could be @nyu.edu for some of you, while for others, it could be @stern.nyu.edu. I do not control this mess.
• Assignments are marked “late” if you do not meet or exceed the passing score described below before the deadline. There is no additional penalty for lateness other than a low score.
• Assignments have a “passing score” of either 100% or less than 100%.
  • I set the passing score at 100% if you should ace the assignment. In reality, there is no passing grade. Whatever you get on your last attempt is your final score. You are graded on accuracy but not the number of attempts. There is a difference between “passing” and getting full credit. If you get 70/100 on your final attempt, you “pass,” but you do not score 100.
  • I set the passing score of less than 100% on a few assignments if you might not get every question right. Any score above that score is rounded up to 100%. For example, if the passing score is 90%, and you get 93%, your score is rounded up to 100%. I do the rounding up in a separate spreadsheet. You will see only the raw score online.
• Almaris is not affiliated with Stern in any way. It is offering these tests to Stern at no charge.
• Almaris staff is not authorized to extend deadlines under any circumstances. Only my TAs can do that. Almaris staff will reply to your emails only if they pertain to technical issues with the Almaris system. Please contact Stern IT for technical issues with your network.

Exams and Grading

• If you have a qualified disability and require academic accommodation during this course, please contact me directly. I will arrange a separate room/time for you.
• Please read about the penalty for missing classes above.

• As per Stern policy, no more than 35% of the class can be given an A or A-. If your overall score is more than 50%, you will not get C or below in the course. It is not possible to predict the A range.

• Assignments: 20%
• Midterm: 30%. Monday, JUNE 9, 2025, in class from 6-9 PM.
• Final: 50%. Monday, JUNE 30 2025, in class from 6-9 PM.. The Final is cumulative and can replace the midterm if you score higher on the final. This option will NOT apply if you miss the midterm. Your aggregate score on the course that will form the basis of your letter grade is max(assignments*20%+midterm*30%+final*50%, assignments*20%+final*80%). The midterm will not replace the final.
• I do not give out grades for the midterm as it misleads students. Remember that the final exam is 50% of the grade, and one cannot predict the grade without the final.
• Exams will not be rescheduled for any reason except medical or family emergencies. Weddings, reunions, recruiting, or other events are not valid reasons for rescheduling. If you have a qualified disability and require academic accommodation during this course, please contact the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD, 998-4980) on time
• The instructions at the top of the login screen will tell you how many parts the exam has and their weights.
• Please immediately report any problems such as wrong deadlines or missing parts of the exam.
• Login to Almaris right before your exam. Refresh your screen to see active links for the exam.
• Your final score on each part of the exam will be max(score1, score2 - 7, score3 - 14, score4 - 21, score5 - 28).
• You must answer all questions without help from another student or anyone else.Any such communication will be construed as cheating. If you have any doubts, email the TA AND me. Whichever one of us reads the message first will respond. If the exam is held in class, you can ask the proctor.
• Manage your time. Extra time will NOT be allowed.
• The exam is an open book and open notes exam.

Important computer tips

• DO NOT WORK ON A SPREADSHEET WITHIN A BROWSER. Save the spreadsheet to your computer, work on it, and save it periodically. If you navigate away from the spreadsheet in a browser, ALL YOUR WORK WILL BE LOST.
• Organize your computer files and designate a directory to save your exam files.
• Restart your computer before the exam to minimize problems.
• Bring an external mouse with a scroll wheel to speed up test-taking. Do not waste time using the trackpad or the internal mouse.
• Maximize screen space by hiding the Excel ribbon and browser menus. The more the screen you see, the faster and more accurate you are.
• Bring a computer with as big a screen as possible.
• Do not use an unfamiliar computer.

Schedule

See Midterm and Final dates in the Grading section above.