College Accounting Tutoring

Typical College Accounting Program:

Financial Accounting

Financial accounting is typically the first course in accounting that is required. It is a great introduction to the world of business. Sometimes accounting is referred to as the language of business. Accounting is intended to provide meaningful financial information to individuals and institutions that have an interest in business, whether they be investors, creditors or managers.

Common Topics In Financial Accounting:

• Financial statements, transaction analysis, debits and credits, adjusting and closing process, accounts receivable, inventory, statement of cash flows, investments, property-plant-equipment and depreciation, time value of money, debt financing, equity financing.

Managerial Accounting

Typically, Managerial Accounting is the second required course. This course is designed to teach students the fundamentals of managerial accounting including how to navigate the financial and related information managers and internal users need to help them make decisions. Students will take a deeper dive into cost behavior, cost allocation systems, how to conduct cost-volume-profit analysis, and how to determine if costs and benefits are relevant to specific business decisions.

Common Topics In Managerial Accounting Classes:

• Cost behaviors, cost-volume-profit analysis, relevant costing, cost concepts, job-order costing, process costing, variable/absorption costing, standard costing, budgeting, responsibility accounting, capital budgeting

Financial Reporting & Analysis

Designed to inform students about financial reporting of accounting information about firms for decision making by external stakeholders, including investors, creditors, and others.

Student objectives include:

• Provide examples of how the objectives of financial reporting can help to mitigate agency problems between the firm and external stakeholders

• Defend the definitions of financial accounting elements according to U.S. GAAP

• Analyze a set of information and identify the accounting transactions. Analyze these transactions and determine how to categorize and record them in general journals and T-accounts. Apply accounting vocabulary such as debits, credits, accruals, and deferrals.

• Apply and explain how different accounting measurement attributes enhance the usefulness of financial accounting information.

• Prepare the four financial statements required by U.S. GAAP. Determine the elements to be measured and reported on each statement. Explain how the four statements are interrelated.

• Calculate selected financial ratios to analyze and interpret the company’s financial position and performance. Predict the impact of the analysis on decision-making by investors and creditors.

Audit

This course is designed to provide students with the understanding of the responsibilities of an auditor and the study of auditing concepts utilized in the investigation and appraisal of economic information. Auditors explicitly target the process of examining business data and documents to ensure compliance with laws and regulations. Careers related to auditing can include tax auditor, internal auditor, external auditor, or a government auditor.

Common Topics and Objectives In Audit Classes:

• Identify the differences between preventive and detective internal controls

• COSO internal control framework

• Employee fraud, embezzlement, defalcation (misappropriation of assets), accounting errors

• Controls testing and substantive testing

• Dual direction tests in auditing

• Positive confirmations, negative confirmations and blank confirmations

• Sample sizes

• Four major components of the Auditor’s report

• Professional skepticism

• Ten generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS)

• Four types of audit opinions

• Differences between Audits, Reviews and Compilations

• Design effectiveness and operating effectiveness of internal controls

• Related party transactions

• Going concerns

• Materiality

Governmental & Non-Profit Accounting

This course introduces the fundamentals of accounting associated with governmental and nonprofit organizations. It provides detail on fund accounting including general and special revenue funds, debt service funds, capital project funds, internal service funds, and enterprise and fiduciary funds. It will address the similarities and differences in accounting and reporting for nonprofit and governmental entities.

Common Topics in Governmental & Non-Profit Accounting Classes:

• Governmental accounting’s purpose

• Relevant standards applicable to governmental accounting

• Analyzing, recording, summarizing, reporting and interpreting the financial transactions of governments

• Fund accounting

• Budgeting

• The governmental environment and GAAP

• Measurement focus and basis of accounting

• Governmental, proprietary and fiduciary funds

• Annual comprehensive financial report

• Deferred outflows of resources and deferred inflows of resources

Federal Income Tax

Federal Income Tax typically is the first course in taxation. It will cover and focus on the U.S. federal tax system as it relates to individuals, employees, and sole proprietors.

Common Topics in Federal Income Tax Classes:

• Tax rate structures

• Taxes that comprise federal revenue and state revenue

• Horizontal equity concept

• Factors that determine filing necessity

• Dates to file and pay

• Statute of limitations

• Types of possible auditors

• Correspondence letters from the IRS

• Tax base

• Personal and dependency exemptions

• Tests for qualifying children

• Income limits

• Filing status

Helpful Resources

Accounting can be challenging, but it can also absolutely become a rewarding and satisfying career!  What you do during class can make or break your learning:

• Read assigned material thoroughly before class sessions.

• You will get more out of class discussions and practice problems if you go to class prepared to engage on a given topic.

• Take handwritten notes during class.

• Review your notes after class. Even consider rewriting your notes after class.

• Focus on learning the concepts first. Then, once you master the concept, do practice problems. Practice problems are the key to mastering accounting. However, practice problems will be easier and make more sense once you thoroughly understand the concept and why an item is accounted for in a particular way.

Accounting concepts require ample time to play with the material using real-life examples in order to succeed on test day.

• Rework practice problems from class as well as homework problems.

• Keep up with the material! Accounting builds on itself as you go throughout the semester. Do not get stuck in a hole. Success in an accounting class typically requires several hours of work each week.

• Seek help with a teaching assistant or visit your professors office hours if you have specific questions.

• If needed, meet weekly with a 1-on-1 virtual tutoring that is willing to teach the concepts and also go through numerous practice problems to ensure you have mastered that weeks content.