writing assignment
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ACCT 332 Spring 2021
Case Assignment Instructions, and Overview of the Accounting Standards Codification (ASC)
As described in our course Syllabus, each student will submit a written case assignment. You will research the FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) for authoritative guidance regarding a client’s accounting for a specific transaction. The assignment due date is Wednesday, April 7. Late cases will not be accepted. You will submit (upload) your writing assignment to SafeAssign using the link available in the Bb Case Assignment folder. Use only “Word” format; do not upload in PDF format. For more information on SafeAssign, please see the following link: https://its.gmu.edu/service/safeassign/ The GMU Honor Code applies to this writing assignment. The collaborative learning environment of SafeAssign is used to ensure that plagiarism and other violations of the Honor Code are avoided. Submission of work obtained from a website or from another person is a serious Honor Code violation. Please carefully read the guidelines on avoiding plagiarism which follow in this document. For this Case Writing Assignment, you will demonstrate your writing skills, and you will learn to research the FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC). Your written case assignment will appropriately cite the authoritative ASC accounting guidance which support your arguments. Your written memo should be substantive in nature and to the point. However, the discussion should be thoughtful and well developed. Answers to requirements, even if correct, without adequate discussion and thoughtful analysis are not sufficient. Although you can discuss your responses with your peers, the actual writing and analysis must represent your own work.
Format to be used for this assignment:
• Please use the following page formatting for the assignment:
o One-inch margins o Required: double-spacing, single side only. o Size 12 Times New Roman font
• The minimum length should be 3 pages with double spacing. Maximum length is 4 pages.
• Your case write-up should be organized as an internal research memo from you, a member of a CPA accounting firm audit team, to your audit team manager.
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• It should have the following sections:
o Executive summary (a one paragraph condensed description of the issue and your suggested solution).
o Analysis: ▪ Brief and concise description of the issue. ▪ Analysis of facts with supporting ASC citations.
o Conclusion. o References (references are NOT required if your only sources are the ASC
and your Acct 332 Spiceland ebook). Writing:
• The memo should be well organized, should use appropriate vocabulary, and should be free of punctuation, grammatical, or spelling errors.
• The memo should use appropriate idiomatic business English.
• The memo must include ASC citations to support your discussion.
• The memo should be concise and not verbose.
• The memo should have a clear and understandable narrative with good flow of thought.
• The memo should have a logical paragraph structure.
• The tone of the memo should be appropriate to the audience (audit team manager). General Note on Writing Style: This is a business research memo, not an essay. As such it must employ a writing style appropriate to business memos. The memo must:
• Have a clear and concise, to-the-point style in responding to the 3 requirements. Therefore, it must not include things we already know and other irrelevant statements. For example, if you are asked a question about deferred taxes, there is no need to re-define deferred taxes or why they are important or difficult to estimate. Stick to the point.
• You may appropriately employ bullet points and sections which deal with different issues pertinent to the answer.
• Appropriately cite references used to develop your response to the case, including any reference to the FASB ASC. Any ASC citation should be in the form “(ASC 123-45-67-8)”. Include your ASC references as in-text citations within the text of your response where the citation applies. Do not include citations as footnotes or as a list of citations. (see page 4 for additional ASC information).
• For additional help with writing for this assignment, please refer to the “Grammar Guidelines”, the “Appendix to Grammar Guidelines”, and the “example Memo” in the Bb Case folder.
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Grading policy:
• The assignment will be graded on the following two criteria (30 points maximum): 1. CONTENT (20 points) - Original thinking and an ability to focus on the issue and the
relevance of your discussion. This component is scored by your professor.
2. COMMUNICATION (10 points) – Quality of writing including language, spelling, punctuation, and adherence to report requirements.
Your writing quality will be evaluated by an SBUS writing consultant, and based on their assessment you will earn points within the following range: Highly competent – 10 points, Competent – 8 points, Marginally Competent – 5 points, Not Competent – 0 points.
After receiving your communication grade, you will have an opportunity to improve your communication score (10 points maximum) by revising your memo only after working with a writing specialist from the GMU Writing Center (https://writingcenter.gmu.edu/). This work is performed online by appointment. You must upload your revised memo to SafeAssign with a confirmation document from the Writing Center indicating the assistance they provided to help you. The due date for revision and documentation is no later than May 4, 2021. Note that you can only improve your score for the Communication (writing) component of your grade (10 points max). Your Content score is based only on the original submission.
Guidelines to avoid plagiarism in your writing:
• For the Mason general plagiarism policy, please see: http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/plagiarism.htm
• Academic Integrity and Mason Honor Code: Any student who may choose to violate the GMU Honor Code is subject to penalties as determined by the University Honor Code Committee. These sanctions can include an “F” in this course, a notice of violation in student’s academic record, and possible suspension from the University.
• Plagiarism is the presentation of someone else’s written or other creative work as your own. Obvious and egregious examples of plagiarism which will result in an Honor Code violation can include, but are not limited to, the following.
o Including in your written response any information obtained from a “homework help” type of website which is used to obtain answers to case requirements.
o Copying someone else’s assignment or part of someone else’s assignment and submitting it as your own.
o Copying a portion of an article of press or other published writing verbatim into your paper without properly citing it.
• Also, simply copying the contents of the assignment given to you and presenting it as your own writing is not appropriate. We recognize the need to sometimes re-state the problem given to you in the memo, but it must be done in your own words.
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Finding authoritative guidance in the ASC: For your written response to the requirements, reference (citation) to appropriate sections of the FASB ASC is required. Citation to the ASC should take the form ASC 123-45-67-89 and be included within the text of your response (no footnotes or list of citations). Do not include any quotation from the ASC. Use your own words. You can access the FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) using the following Mason student link to FASB Academic Accounting Access, Professional View: http://aaahq.org/ascLogin.cfm Username: AAA52638 Password: 5VkFD5b This takes you to a simple home page, click FASB Accounting Standards Codification, accept the license agreement, then you are on the ASC main page:
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OVERVIEW of the Accounting Standards Codification (ASC): All authoritative US GAAP has been reorganized and is now contained in only one location: the FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC). The ASC is the only source of US GAAP. The Codification content is organized by subject matter in a hierarchy of 4 levels. The highest level is an Area and the 9 Areas contain large collections of accounting guidance. Topics, Subtopics, and Sections represent increasingly smaller collections of guidance within Areas. The highest 3 levels (Area, Topic, Subtopic) exist merely to contain and organize the Section-level content and do not add anything to what is in the Sections. So you should focus on identifying the specific Section or Sections that are relevant to the research questions you are trying to answer. Your case assignment here concerns contingent liabilities (a chapter 13 topic). This means you would probably begin a search for authoritative guidance within the 400 Liabilities Area. FASB Accounting Standards Codification - Topic AREA structure:
General Principles 100 Presentation 200 Assets 300 Liabilities 400 (including Contingencies) Equity 500 Revenues 600 Expenses 700 Broad Transactions 800 Industry 900
An important learning goal of this assignment is for students to become familiar with the structure of the ASC, and to learn how to navigate within the ASC. Take some time to look around inside the ASC, see how it is organized, and how you can drill-down into the Sections. You can use the following example to find the “authoritative” language used by FASB to explain Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for a “Change in Accounting Estimate” related to depreciation principles. By the way, this topic, Change in Accounting Estimate, is one of the 3 types of accounting “changes” which we study and learn in our last chapter this semester, chapter 20.
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Example of ASC citation: What citation from the ASC provides GAAP guidance for a change in depreciation methods from double-declining balance to straight-line?
Answer: ASC 250 - 10 - 45 – 18 ASC 250 - 10 - 45 - 18
Area Topic Subtopic Section
Here is the language used in the ASC to provide the GAAP guidance for the question above. The text included below, from ASC 250-10-45-17 and 18, has more words (is longer) than most Sections.
250 - 10 Change in Accounting Estimate (“250” is the Area (Presentation), and “10” is the Topic (Change in Estimate)
250 – 10 – 45 - 17 (“45” is the Subtopic, “17 and 18” are the Sections)
A change in accounting estimate shall be accounted for in the period of change if the change
affects that period only or in the period of change and future periods if the change affects both.
A change in accounting estimate shall not be accounted for by restating or retrospectively
adjusting amounts reported in financial statements of prior periods or by reporting pro forma
amounts for prior periods.
250 – 10 – 45 - 18
Distinguishing between a change in an accounting principle and a change in an
accounting estimate is sometimes difficult. In some cases, a change in accounting
estimate is effected by a change in accounting principle. One example of this type of
change is a change in method of depreciation, amortization, or depletion for long-lived,
nonfinancial assets (hereinafter referred to as depreciation method). The new
depreciation method is adopted in partial or complete recognition of a change in the
estimated future benefits inherent in the asset, the pattern of consumption of those
benefits, or the information available to the entity about those benefits. The effect of
the change in accounting principle, or the method of applying it, may be inseparable
from the effect of the change in accounting estimate. Changes of that type often are
related to the continuing process of obtaining additional information and revising
estimates and, therefore, shall be considered a CHANGE in ESTIMATE for purposes of
applying this Subtopic.
End of Case Instructions and Overview of the ASC.