Online Course Guide of WHU –
Find all modules and courses of our degree programs.
Please use the filters below to select the term (spring or fall) as well as the respective program (BSc, MSc, MBA, Exchange, Doctoral) of your choice for an overview of all modules offered at WHU. The courses are listed under the modules. Please click on a module to see which courses are part of it. If you would like to find out more about a certain course, click on the name of the course to see detail information. The location of the lecture will be revealed after your course registration on myWHUstudies.
Spring term counts from January - August, fall term counts from September - December.
Important for Exchange Students: As the Full-Time and Part-Time MBA Programs utilize a modular course structure, the dates on which students begin and end the exchange are flexible. Please find here a chronological overview of the preliminary course offering for Fall and Spring.
Financial Statements, Group D 1
(Please note that exchange students obtain a higher number of credits in the BSc-program at WHU than listed here. For further information please contact directly the International Relations Office.)
Course Content
In addition, there is a focus onthe trade-offs that go together with certain reporting decisions and their relationship relation to past, present and future reports.
Income statement:
- Principles of revenue recognition
- Matching principle in the income statement
Asset side of the balance sheet
- Principles of asset recognition (vs. expensing)
- Depreciation/amortization
- Consequences for future financial statements
Consolidation:
- Acquiring a company
- Discussion of goodwill as an intangible
- Consolidation with minority interest
Company financing - Equity and liabilities on the balance sheet
- Earnings per share and EPS dilution
- Influences of stock based compensation (disconnection between cash flow and income)
- Overview of general types of debt
- Provisions vs. contingent liabilities
- Financing with equity vs. debt
Cash flow statement:
- Derivation of the cash flow statement
- Structure of cash flows – links to activities (operating/investing/financing)
- Usefulness of cash flow statement
Class Dates
Date
Time
Learning Outcomes
The main goal is for students to become familiar with the manner in which financial statements are presented and to understand the logic and reasoning of the accounting registration process, as well as its main benefits and its weaknesses.
This introductory course aims to improve students basic understanding of financial accounting and encourages a broader interest into how accounting is used as source of information within a firm environment.
Literature
Learning Methods
Lecturesfocus on frequent decisions that have an impact on earnings/financial statements, discuss key accounting decisions and how they impact the current and future financial statements.
In general,a stylized simplified example is discussed before discussing one (or more) real-world example(s).
In addition,some differences in GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) are highlighted.
Additional tutorials are organized.