Online Accounting Degree Program Course Details

Program Goal and Outcomes

Program Goal

The Accounting Associate Degree program is primarily designed to prepare students for opportunities in entry-level positions in the field of accounting, but can also be used as a foundation for further training.

Program Outcomes

Upon completion of the program, students will be able to...

Demonstrate effective written and interpersonal communication skills
Demonstrate a high level of inquiry, analytical, and problem-solving skills
Demonstrate effective quantitative skills
Demonstrate computer and information literacy
Demonstrate an understanding of the liberal arts, natural sciences, and social sciences
Demonstrate an understanding of the principles and processes involved in various functional areas and the need for collaboration among the different functions
Complete the accounting cycle and create and analyze financial statements to ensure that they are accurate and comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Procedures.
Explain the key issues of internal control of cash in balance and cash flow statements and external financial reporting
Create, organize, and maintain financial records
Discuss and apply ethical and legal standards to the business environment
Demonstrate an understanding of economic and financial markets and the business economy
Demonstrate how to assess financial data and make best-practices recommendations to management

Semester 1

Basic Skills Assessment

All degree applicants are required to complete two Basic Skills Assessments, one in reading and one in math, to determine the level of readiness for beginning their selected program. Additional studies may be required.

Business Orientation (1 credit)

In this course, you’ll develop the necessary skills to ensure your success in the program. You’ll learn how you can improve your study skills and use a number of tools that will help you to be successful.

You’ll also learn about the similarities between personal financial goals and business goals and how to determine personal financial goals. You’ll cover setting up a budget and researching, planning, starting up, and maintaining a business.

Objectives:

Demonstrate effective written and interpersonal skills
Demonstrate computer and information literacy
Identify skills needed to be a confident and independent online learner
Analyze the interdependent goals of life and business and the steps needed to achieve them

Information Literacy (1 credit)

Information literacy is a fundamental skill of writing and recording research. In this course, you’ll learn what it means to formulate correct and effective research questions. You’ll also learn how to go about conducting and refining that research for any given project.

Objectives:

Identify how to formulate focused and specific research questions and the need for information
Explain the different types of research tools, how they’re used to conduct different searches, and how to evaluate the quality and usefulness of the information found
Explain how to cite sources properly using various citation styles in consideration of academic integrity, plagiarism, and ethical use of resources

Introduction to Business (3 credits)

This course outlines the elements of business and the challenges businesses face in a global environment, such as competition and economic factors. You’ll learn why accounting, technology and information systems, marketing, and management are essential to starting and growing a business. You’ll also learn the basics of managing financial and human resources and the ethical and social responsibilities required of a successful manager.

Objectives:

Identify different elements that distinguish capitalism, socialism, communism, and mixed economies
Define the role of small business in the free enterprise system
Assess elements of the global economy, such as labor, capital, trade, and natural resources, and how they influence business
Analyze the functions of business, such as management, organization, human relations, marketing, financing, and ethics
Identify the purpose of business policy and strategy

Art Appreciation (3 credits)

In this course, you’ll gain an understanding of artistic media, historical periods and artistic movements, the roles of the artist and the viewer, and the principles of art criticism.

Objectives:

Define the language, visual elements, and principles of design of art
Identify two-dimensional media
Identify three-dimensional media
Explain the evolution of art from ancient Mediterranean cultures through eighteenth century Europe
Identify features and popular examples of art throughout the history of African, Asian, Pacific, and American cultures
Compare the genres of the Modern and Postmodern eras of art from around the world

Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Living with Art

Mathematics for Business and Finance (3 credits)

This course will provide the student with a foundation in basic mathematical operations. Topics covered include percentages, discounts, interest, present worth, sinking funds, installment buying, pricing, depreciation, investments, insurance, use of symbols and their applications, equations and formulas, and the importance of statistics.

Objectives:

Analyze functions of whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percents
Show calculations involved in simple interest, compound interest, and time value of money
Prepare various business math applications involving financial reports, installment buying, and depreciation
Analyze various financial concepts related to taxes, insurance, financial investments, and basic business statistics

Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Practical Business Math Procedures

Financial Accounting (3 credits)

This course will provide students with a basic understanding of the principles of Financial Accounting. Topics covered include analyzing transactions; completing the accounting cycle; merchandising businesses; inventories, assets, and liabilities; and corporations, stocks, bonds, and cash flow.

Objectives:

Solve important accounting principles and concepts by creating four types of financial statements: balance sheet, income statement, statement of retained earnings, and statement of cash flows
Explain inventory systems, the inventory process, and the role of ethics in accounting
Explain cash and receivables, assets, current liabilities, and debt
Analyze stocks and the statement of cash flows and financial statements that are used to assess the value of a business
Solve accounting problems using knowledge of accounting forms and functions

Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Financial Accounting

Proctored Exam

You will be required to complete a proctored exam on selected courses each semester. These assessments will evaluate the knowledge and skills that you learned during the semester. You choose the time, the location, and the qualified exam supervisor.

Semester 2

Computer Applications (3 credits)

This course will allow you to build your computer skills through a combination of reading and hands-on practice. You will navigate popular software tools such as Windows® and Microsoft® Office.

Objectives:

Create, edit, and illustrate Microsoft® Word™ documents.
Apply formulas and functions to large data sets in Microsoft® Excel.®
Incorporate useful charts and graphs to summarize data.
Add, delete, sort, and lay out table data.
Create presentations in Microsoft® PowerPoint® using advanced tools, tables, and charts.

Managerial Accounting (3 credits)

This course provides an introduction to managerial accounting; analysis: C-V-P and management; budgeting and performance evaluation; decentralized operations; differential analysis and product pricing; capital investment analysis, and cost activities.

Objectives:

Analyze the various concepts related to managerial accounting and the cost accounting
Show the different tools of management used for the decision-making process
Identify the various budget analysis processes and the performance measurements for decision making
Analyze the various components of capital budgeting, cash flow statements, and ratio analysis
Solve examples of real-world accounting problems using knowledge of accounting forms and equations

Textbook: Managerial Accounting

English Composition (3 credits)

This course teaches the skills and techniques of effectively developing, drafting, and revising college-level essays toward a specific purpose and audience: active reading, prewriting strategies, sentence and paragraph structure, thesis statements, varied patterns of development (such as illustration, comparison and contrast, and classification), critical reading toward revision of structure and organization, editing for standard written conventions, and use and documentation of outside sources. Students submit two prewriting assignments and three essays (process analysis, comparison and contrast, and argumentation).

Objectives:

Use writing skills to construct well-written sentences and active reading skills to understand and analyze text.
Develop paragraphs using topic sentences, adequate detail, supporting evidence, and transitions.
Contrast the revising and editing steps of the writing process.
Distinguish between different patterns of development.
Write a process analysis essay using prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing skills
Recognize how to determine the reliability of secondary sources and to give proper credit to sources referenced in an essay.
Write a comparison and contrast essay by using persuasive writing techniques to defend a claim.
Create a sound written argument using techniques of drafting and evaluating sources.

Principles of Management (3 credits)

This course will familiarize you with both the business environment and the manager’s role within it. It covers decision making, planning, organizing, leading, and controlling, as well as developing an ethical perspective.

Objectives:

Summarize the functions of management and the basic steps in various planning processes
Explain how to make effective decisions as a manager and a leader
Describe the fundamental elements of an organization’s structure and the components of an organization’s competitive environment
Explain principles for setting goals that motivate employees, why companies develop control systems, and why teamwork is beneficial
Analyze why diversity is a critical organizational and managerial issue, and describe the criteria for technology decisions and managing change

Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Management

Arts and Humanities Elective (3 credits)

(Choose one) ...

HUM104 - Music Appreciation

In this course, you'll understand how to appreciate music by learning about the roles of the composer and the listener, the principles of music theory and instrumentation, musically significant historical periods, and varying styles of music.

Objectives:

Identify the building blocks of music a composer can use to create a piece, such as rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, form, and timbre
Differentiate between the music of the baroque era and the musical styles of previous time periods
Recognize the major characteristics of classical music, including form, melody, and instrumentation
Discuss the musical trends and innovations that occurred during the romantic era
Explain the evolution of American popular music in the twentieth century
Recognize the influence of world music on modern Western composition
Relate musical styles of the early twentieth century to comparable movements in art and literature
Write an essay researching composers’ influence in their respective genres

Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Experience Music

ENG115 - Introduction to Literature

This course will allow you to develop your critical thinking skills and broaden your knowledge of the main genres of literature — fiction, poetry, and drama.

Objectives:

Explain how to effectively read fiction for both knowledge and enjoyment
Identify different styles and forms of poetry
Use what you've learned in this course to discuss, write about, and understand literature
Prepare a critical interpretation of fiction or poetry based on what you've learned in this course
Discuss how literary dramas differ from fiction and poetry
Identify different strategies of critical literary analysis

Economics 1 (3 credits)

This course will provide an overview of macroeconomics and the modern market economy. Law of supply and demand, the cost of living, monetary systems, international factors, and short-run economic fluctuations will be examined and discussed.

Objectives:

Explain the economic systems and the economic perspective
Identify the key factors in macroeconomics and how economists study the economy as a whole
Explain the macroeconomic models and fiscal policies
Explain money, banking, and financial policy
Explain extending analysis of aggregate supply, current issues in theory and policy, and international economics
Analyze foreign exchange and investment and the effects each nation’s economy has on another nation’s economy

Proctored Exam

Semester 3

Intermediate Accounting 1 (3 credits)

This course will provide students with the knowledge to apply accounting theory, concepts, and procedures to financial problems. Topics covered include: computing earnings per share; lease transactions; income tax accounting; cash flow information; pension and benefit information; financial statement analysis.

Objectives:

Discuss the process of creating journal entries and balance sheet for disclosing financial information
Analyze the fundamentals of income statement, cash flows, revenue recognition, and value of money concepts
Compare the different ways to properly account for cash, receivables and inventory
Analyze value and account for changes to long-term assets as well as intangible assets

Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Intermediate Accounting

Financial Management (3 credits)

This course will introduce students to the world of finance including financial concepts, instruments, and financial decision making. Topics covered include financial assets, investing in long-term assets, capital structure and dividend policy, financial planning, and working capital management.

Objectives:

Categorize financial management functions and organizational structure
Analyze the time value of money, financial ratios, and risks and returns from investments
Categorize the capital structure and the capital management of a firm
Perform financial calculations and analysis related to basic financial concepts

Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Finance: Applications & Theory

Business and Technical Writing (3 credits)

This course provides an introduction to the various methods of organizing material for a professional setting. Students will compose business documents using the ABC method. These include memos, emails, outlines, reports and proposals, descriptions, and organizing materials. Students also work on honing their grammar skills.

Objectives:

Recognize how to use words correctly and effectively
Produce a well-constructed interoffice memo, workplace email, and business letter
Produce a brief business report based on findings obtained using research techniques and methods of documentation
Produce an informal report that lists findings of an investigation and provides recommendation for issues raised in the findings
Describe procedures for creating proposals, descriptions, instructions, and manuals for the workplace
Create a detailed proposal designed to solve an internal human resource issue

Intermediate Algebra (3 credits)

Study basic algebraic concepts. Review the systems of equations, polynomials, and radicals. Learn how to factor polynomial expressions and simplify rational expressions.

Objectives:

Explain basic algebraic concepts
Solve and graph linear equations and inequalities
Analyze relations, functionality, and systems of linear equations
Prepare algebraic operations on polynomial and rational expressions and equations
Solve problems involving radicals and complex numbers

Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Intermediate Algebra

Intermediate Accounting 2 (3 credits)

This course will provide students with an expansion on materials presented in Intermediate Accounting 1. Topics examined and discussed include: inventories; investments; intangible assets; current, contingent, and estimated liabilities; premium and discount on long-term debt; stockholder’s equity.

Objectives:

Evaluate how companies deal with investments, current liabilities, and the contingencies they present.
Differentiate leases, bonds, and long-term notes.
Analyze and account for other types of liabilities including income taxes, pensions, and post-retirement benefits.
Categorize the fundamentals of share-based compensation, accounting changes, and the statement of cash flows.

Additional Course Material:
eBook: Intermediate Accounting

Science Elective (3 credits)

(Choose one) ...

SCI120 - Introduction to Biology

An introductory course that explains the origin of life and the relationships between all living things. It describes how a significant number of organisms are structured and how they work, in order to enable students to discuss intelligently the various forms of life and their processes.

Objectives:

Analyze the structure and function of a cell and the chemical metabolism required for its survival
Point out the features of cellular reproduction and involvement of genetics in the process
Explain Darwin’s theory of natural selection and Wallace’s ideas on evolution adapted by various living organisms
Write responses to fundamental biology essay prompts
Summarize anatomy and physiology of plants, animals, and humans
Report the development of living communities and its impact on the ecosystem
Write responses to fundamental ecological essay questions
Summarize complex biological issues using research articles

Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Essentials of Biology

SCI140 - Nutrition

Personal decision making about nutrition; nutrition science; water; exercise; human growth and aging; safety of the food supply; the global view.

Objectives:

Explore how nutrition supports a body’s wellness
Explore the body’s use of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins
Discover the body’s use of water, minerals, and micronutrients
Discuss nutritional needs for maintaining a healthy weight
Develop a healthy and safe lifestyle

Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Nutrition for Life

SCI110 - Earth Science

Surveys a broad range of topics within the fields of geology, meteorology, oceanography, and astronomy.

Objectives:

Categorize the matter, minerals, and materials that compose the Earth.
Differentiate the elements and their ways of sculpting the landscapes.
Distinguish the various theories of forces behind Earth’s history.
Point out the geological features of oceans and the important concepts of geology.
Categorize the causes and effects of various phenomena affecting Earth’s atmosphere.
Analyze the components of the solar system and the universe.

Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Foundations of Earth Science

Proctored Exam

Semester 4

Cost Accounting (3 credits)

Students will be able to use cost data in budgeting and capital planning for various types of manufacturing operations and use a personal computer to perform various accounting functions. Topics covered include timekeeping and payroll procedures; setting overhead rates; accounting for spoiled and defective goods; development of cost analysis; process cost accounting; job-order cost accounting.

Objectives:

Analyze the fundamentals and processes of cost decision making
Categorize the various costing processes related to cost accounting
Identify the methods of analyzing cost performance and the importance of management control systems
Apply your accounting skills on cost accounting computation and analysis
Prepare a balance sheet, an income statement, and post-closing trial balance for Ice Cream Systems

Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Fundamentals of Cost Accounting

Business Statistics (3 credits)

Presentation of data; frequency distribution; averages; dispersion and skewness; index numbers; time series analysis; correlation and forecasting; the theory of probability and statistical inference.

Objectives:

Show the methods of collecting data and visualizing of qualitative data in statistics
Analyze the methods of computing probability for discrete and random variables
Apply sampling distribution methods, estimation, and hypothesis testing in business applications
Point out the process of computing inferences, linear regression, and least square

Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Statistics for Business and Economics

Business Law 1 (3 credits)

This course is an introduction to the legal environment of business. Topics covered include American court practice and procedure, torts, employment law, international law, environmental law, and contract law.

Objectives:

Categorize the various sources of law in the U.S. legal system
Analyze the formations and characteristics of sole proprietorships, partnerships, and the corporation forms of business entities
Point out the various constituents of the contract law
Show the rules of a written contract with the rights and breaching of a contract
Report the contract laws that govern principal-agent relationships, law of agency, and labor-management relationships

Textbook: Business Law with UCC Applications

Computer Applications in Accounting (3 credits)

This course builds on concepts learned in Financial and Managerial Accounting and covers Sage 50® Accounting. Combines real-world accounting systems and examples with computer-based solutions. The course is a blend of problem solving, reading, case projects, and computer applications to problems encountered in today’s accounting environment.

Objectives:

Explain the processes involved in the Sage 50 accounting software program
Demonstrate accounting functions in the Sage 50 software
Show various procedures in the Sage 50 accounting software program for setting up merchandising businesses
Demonstrate how to complete the accounting cycle for a merchandising business

Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Computer Accounting with Sage 50 2017

Speech (3 credits)

This course provides students with a foundation in the basic concepts of public speaking. Students will learn how to research, organize and write effective speeches, incorporate presentation aids, and rehearse and deliver speeches effectively. Students will prepare, rehearse, record and submit speeches in a number of rhetorical styles to be graded.

Objectives:

Analyze the different methods and principles required for effective public speaking
Point out the principles, methods, and skills required to rehearse and deliver effective public speaking
Prepare and record a narrative or speech on personal experience
Prepare and record an informative podcast for a website
Create and record an infomercial by using one of the mentioned methods
Prepare and present a motivational or reasoning speech to persuade your audience
Develop a speech by using key information delivery of a speech

Additional Course Material:
Textbook: The Essential Elements of Public Speaking

Social Science Elective (3 credits)

(Choose one) ...

SSC130 - Essentials of Psychology

This course covers biology and behavior, consciousness, memory, thought and language, intelligence, personality and gender, stress, and community influences.

Objectives:

Describe the science of psychology, basic structure and function of the human nervous system, and basic structure and function of the sensory system.
Explain various states of consciousness, learning theories, and thought processes and development.
Summarize the nature of human motivation and development, the human development cycle, and approaches to understanding and assessing personality.
Prepare an essay on the topic of conditioning, memory, or motivation and emotion.
Recognize psychological disorders and available treatments.
Explain social psychology as it relates to attitudes, influences, behaviors, and stress.
Use critical thinking skills to determine the likely causes of behaviors of individuals and groups discussed in case studies.

Textbook: Psychology and Your Life with Power Learning

SSC105 - World Civilizations

This course serves as an introduction to many of the major events of the fifteenth through twenty-first centuries and examines the causal relationships between events and trends.

Objectives:

Summarize the various causes and consequences of global trade and its conflicting worldwide impact.
Report the impact of social and industrial revolutions, fifteenth century onward, on various nations.
Analyze the conditions that led to the World Wars, decolonization, and the Cold War.
Analyze post–World War II effects on the economic and political structures around the world.
Summarize an event that occurred after the fifteenth century and had an impact on a world civilization.
Demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of World War II and its effects on the world population.

Textbook: A History of Societies Volume 2

SSC125 - Introduction to Sociology

In this introduction to the field of sociology, you’ll learn about social structure, forms of power, and social relationships, as well as deviance, crime, and social control. You’ll explore issues of identity and inequality regarding class, race, ethnicity, sex, gender, and sexuality. Social institutions including the family, religion, education, work, and the media are examined, as well as the topics of health, politics, social movements, globalization, and social change.

Objectives:

Examine foundational concepts and theories of sociology and recognize how they inform research.
Analyze the ways in which culture, social structure, and power influence daily life.
Evaluate the effects of socialization, interaction, deviance, and social control on human behavior.
Develop an essay reflecting on the importance of cultural traditions amid increasing globalization.
Examine the ways in which class, race, gender, and sexuality influence identity and inequality.
Distinguish the various social institutions and issues in the current global system.
Develop an essay examining the ways in which social inequality informs social change and movements.

Textbook: Experience Sociology

Proctored Exam