ACCT 742: Governance and Ethics
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Course Website: Canvas
Course Description
This course focuses on developing an understanding of corporate governance issues and decision-making. The course topics include an examination of internal, external, and international governance issues in the current business environment. Examples of topics covered include studying the role of boards of directors, managers, stockholders, CEO succession, COSO framework, executive compensation, financial reporting issues, and corporate control within a governance framework.
Course Objectives
Upon completing this course, students should:
- develop an understanding of the corporate governance and internal control frameworks
- be able to identify the role of internal and external corporate governance on business decisions
- be knowledgeable about best practices in corporate governance
Course Materials
Lecture slides and other materials are available on Canvas. You will need access to a computer that has basic business software like Microsoft Office Suite and Adobe Acrobat Reader. You will also need speakers or headphones to listen to course content as well as a headset microphone for live audio sessions. Please note that a fast reliable internet connection will be necessary to download course content and upload deliverables.
Book: Corporate Governance Matters: A Closer Look at Organizational Choices and Their Consequences, 3rd Edition by David Larcker and Brian Tayan. Published by Pearson FT Press
Case Studies: Harvard/Darden/Rottman/Stanford
Class Notes/Readings: Lecture slides and other materials available on Canvas website and/or University Library
Course Policies
The course would be conducted over 8 weeks. Course instruction will be delivered of lectures, online resources and assigned readings. Please refer to the most recent course schedule posted on Canvas for detailed information.
Assessment
The table below shows all required activities with corresponding deliverable weeks and grade weights. Exact due date for each deliverable would be available on Canvas. Day 1 of a week is Monday.
| Description | Work Type | Grade Weight |
| Reflection Paper | Individual | 10% |
| Participation | Individual | 10% |
| Exam | Individual | 20% |
| Case Analyses | Individual | 30% |
| Research Project | Group | 30% |
Note: Late submissions of deliverables carry a penalty of 10% for each day of delay. Submissions that are 5 days after due date would receive a grade of 0. I reserve the right to grant or deny exceptions and/or extensions and may require acceptable documentation. Any changes to assignments or schedule will be announced on the course web page in Canvas and via e-mail. You are expected to check the course webpage and email at least once every 24 hours. Inability to access the course webpage or failure to read e-mails cannot be an excuse for late submissions or non-completion of assignments. No make-up assignments or exams are available in this course.
The overall grade for the course will be assigned according to the percentage components outlined above. Your score for any graded assignment during the semester will be the number of points out of the total possible. A letter grade is calculated at the end of the semester, and is based on your cumulative score on all graded assignments.
Your final letter grade may be determined by your proximity and relative position to the class mean. If you are very motivated to get a high grade in the class, you need to make sure that you are doing better on the grade components than your peers. The indicative grade cut-offs are:
- A+/A/A- 89-100%
- B+/B/B- 70-88%
- C/F < 70%
Deliverables
All submissions should be saved as “Last name_first name_assignment name” for individual assignments and as “Group name_assignment name” for group assignments before submission through Canvas.
Individual Work
The course requires you to complete a set of individual and group work that includes readings, assignments and activities. Individual work includes items such as readings, discussions, research project, and an exam. You are required to complete the assigned tasks on or before the due date and time mentioned in the course schedule. Please inform me immediately if you are unable to complete any of the tasks within the mentioned due dates. Individual work will consist of the following assignments:
- Reflection paper: The primary goal of the reflection paper is to express your experiences and thoughts about ethics. More details on the paper requirements are provided separately on Canvas.
- Participation: A key component of the course is to actively participate in class discussions. Your preparedness and engagement should be reflected in the form of positive comments in class that add/enhance to the ongoing conversation. Unrelated or disruptive comments would earn negative points. Participation points can be earned in each class and you would be assigned zero points if you are not present and/or did not engage in a meaningful manner.
- Case Analyses and discussions: You would submit a written report on each case that focuses on key course topics. Additional instructions on how to prepare a case report/presentation are provided separately on Canvas.
- Exam: The exam would involve working on questions based on course readings, lecture notes, case analyses and class work.
Group Work
The following policies are applicable to individual and/or group assignments:
- Students may discuss assignments with fellow classmates. Feel free to bounce ideas off each other and brainstorm possible solutions.
- Students must submit their own original work.
- Plagiarism is considered cheating, and such actions will not be tolerated. Plagiarism is defined as "the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work." Plagiarizing the work of classmates, former accounting students, internet authors, websites, etc. constitutes cheating.
- Brainstorming and collaboration becomes cheating when students execute individual assignments together. Another example of cheating can occur towards the end of an assignment. A student who changes an assignment to largely conform to the answers/style/format of another person is cheating.
- Using answer keys, case solutions from the web, students' work from prior semesters, etc. constitutes cheating.
Quizzes and Exams
The following policies should be noted for all assignments including quizzes and exams etc.
- Using any unauthorized information on quizzes and tests is obviously cheating (i.e., looking at another student's answers, using notes, storing information in a calculator or cell phone, communicating with other test takers, etc.).
- Obtaining possible test questions through a test bank or obtaining case or problem solutions from web sources constitute cheating.
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