Intermediate Accounting II

[cannoda]

Yeah I noticed that myself. It appears UAlbany only has these courses for LL Accounting Credits


Just my little rant of the day: I get why they have Pre-Reqs in place, however, if I want to pay a school money to let me take a course. What is it to them if I fail it. My money, my time.

ACC 312 at UAlbany is a standard intermediate accounting II course. The textbook they use (Kieso) is the most popular Intermediate Accounting textbook in the US.

Intermediate Accounting I and II are normally upper-level courses at a 4-year school. You may not be aware that intermediate accounting II is frequently considered the toughest course offered in an AACSB business school.

There are several reasons that a school will not allow someone to take a course without pre-reqs, especially in a business school where group work and projects are common.

• Many schools believe that it is unethical to accept tuition and enroll a student in a course which they feel the student is unlikely to complete
  
• An unprepared student can create major problems in group assignments and projects.
  
• Many business school have secondary-level admission policies where a student is admitted based on their performance in their first two years (gen ed) of coursework and limit enrollment in UL business courses to those that are admitted or admissible to the business school,
  
• Questions may be raised about the appropriateness of pre-reqs if they are not consistently enforced. Such questions may be raised by the registrar, a college or university curriculum committee, or worse, the program's or university's accrediting body.
  
• A seat in a class, especially a class intended for a department's majors can be a scare resource. Scheduling for the second course in a sequence is likely to have been planned based on enrollments in the first course. When classes are full, a school will want to make the class available to those most likely to successfully complete it. For many reasons guest students from other universities are uncommon in the Intermediate II course.
  

That being said, not all pre-reqs are the same. Some programs occasionally use pre-reqs for reasons other than required foundational knowledge. I've seen pre-reqs used to create defacto cohorts in a program or to implicitly exclude students from particular majors. I've also seen pre-reqs implemented to make the class scheduling process easier. In the Intermediate Accounting sequence you learn and gain experience with the financial accounting framework and authoritative guidance in Intermediate I. It is assumed that you are competent and experienced in accessing and applying the framework and guidance by Intermediate II.

[davewill]

It might worth while to reach out to the department head at the school you want to take it at. It may be possible to get the prereq waived if you can make the case that you have done the coursework in a different way.

[bghill]

Keep in mind that what I say below is not only for you, but for anybody reading over our shoulders who may have the same situation as you have.

I'm one of those "reading over your shoulders" -- and looking at doing the BSBA in Accounting from TESU.

I'm currently in an unrelated field (libraries) and have no significant background in accounting -- although some of what I currently do would be called accounting clerk work in other contexts.

I'd like to work in the non-profit field, or, failing that, government. I have little interest in business and less than none in doing individual tax work. (I saw down-thread the statement that tax prep and accounting are two different things, but many accountants do seem to end up doing tax work.)

Given that, I would appreciate any thoughts from tesu-acct-student and cannoda (or anyone else with accounting experience) on the best way(s) to move forward. It sounds like there may be some deviation between the best way to get the degree and the best way to learn accounting.

Some specific questions that occurred to me while reading this thread:

1) Do either of you have any opinion about the CSU-Global CBE exams?

2) I see that LSU requires Calculus as a prerequisite for Intermediate Accounting. Do you think that calculus is actually necessary for accounting, or is this a holdover from the days before computers?

3) cannoda mentioned that Intermediate Accounting I and II are normally upper-level courses at a 4-year school. Do you think there is a significant difference between the Intermediate Accounting courses at 4-year schools vs. 2-year schools?

[tesu-acct-student]

I'd like to work in the non-profit field, or, failing that, government. I have little interest in business

Don't let the phrase "non-profit" fool you. All of the "back end" of non-profit work is business. A solid business education will serve you very well in the non profit sector. If you are responsible for running a non-profit, you will be responsible for all of the ordinary business activities, such as running payroll, payroll tax payments, payroll tax return filings, bookkeeping, vendor bill payments, accounts receivable, preparing financial statements, overseeing the 990, interacting with outside professionals (lawyers, auditors, etc.), business license filings, sales tax returns and payments, etc. You might not take care of each of those activities yourself, but you will still be responsible for overseeing them.

and less than none in doing individual tax work. (I saw down-thread the statement that tax prep and accounting are two different things, but many accountants do seem to end up doing tax work.)

Yes, that is true, but they are two different skill sets.

Given that, I would appreciate any thoughts from tesu-acct-student and cannoda (or anyone else with accounting experience) on the best way(s) to move forward. It sounds like there may be some deviation between the best way to get the degree and the best way to learn accounting.

I'm not sure what your goals are, but I'll try!

Some specific questions that occurred to me while reading this thread: 1) Do either of you have any opinion about the CSU-Global CBE exams?

I wish I could comment on this, but I've never taken these exams so I have no first-hand knowledge about them.

2) I see that LSU requires Calculus as a prerequisite for Intermediate Accounting. Do you think that calculus is actually necessary for accounting, or is this a holdover from the days before computers?

I've never heard of that pre-req. I wonder which textbook they use. After going through the Intermediate sequence, using the same textbook that cannoda described above (Kieso) for Intermediate II, I am surprised that Calc is a pre-req. Maybe cannoda can comment more on this point.

3) cannoda mentioned that Intermediate Accounting I and II are normally upper-level courses at a 4-year school. Do you think there is a significant difference between the Intermediate Accounting courses at 4-year schools vs. 2-year schools?

No, I don't, but cannoda may have a different opinion. First let me say that I was not aware that the Intermediate sequence was UL at a four year school. At TESU, it is LL. I used the Kieso book for Intermediate II (at the CC), but a different book for Intermediate I (at TESU). Both books seem to have covered the same material.

If I had transferred to a different four year school after taking the Intermediate sequence, I am not sure what they would have done with it. I'd be surprised if they refused to give me credit for those courses. There is a CC in my area that "feeds" into a state school nearby. The CC offers the Intermediate sequence at the LL, and the state school offers it at the UL (just checked). Does the state school make the CC accounting transfer students retake the Intermediate sequence? Seems doubtful. I just reviewed their transfer requirements, and it appears that the state school accepts "all major preparation courses" that were completed at the CC.

[Synicaal]

It might worth while to reach out to the department head at the school you want to take it at. It may be possible to get the prereq waived if you can make the case that you have done the coursework in a different way.

Tried this and Failed at my current CC, Hudson Valley is largely not Recommended by me. They will not work with outside credit but claim they do. The only thing I have had them take is CLEP exams. I am working with UAlbany, they seem to be okay with me taking the course if I have enough qualifying credits to consider me a Junior level student. They will waive pre-req if you enroll as an Independent Study student. Problem with this is they do accept ACE credit but I feel like they will do the same thing is HVCC seeing they are both SUNY schools.

[bghill]

Don't let the phrase "non-profit" fool you. All of the "back end" of non-profit work is business.

Oh yes, the functions are the same (or similar). It's the cultural difference that I'm thinking of.

[azt579]

I plan on taking Principals of Accounting I and II with Straighterline and then taking Intermediate I and II in person at Upper Iowa University. The thing is, the in person class will be starting January 9th and I haven't taken my accounting classes with Straighterline yet. Do you think 1 month will be enough time to take both Straighterline courses and be prepared for Intermeidate Accounting I at UIU? I have also purchsed this book Accounting Made Simple that I will use to supplement my Straighterline courses and to help me learn the basics of accounting.

[tesu-acct-student]

I plan on taking Principals of Accounting I and II with Straighterline and then taking Intermediate I and II in person at Upper Iowa University. The thing is, the in person class will be starting January 9th and I haven't taken my accounting classes with Straighterline yet. Do you think 1 month will be enough time to take both Straighterline courses and be prepared for Intermeidate Accounting I at UIU? I have also purchsed this book Accounting Made Simple that I will use to supplement my Straighterline courses and to help me learn the basics of accounting.

Hard to say. It really depends on how quickly you grasp the information. Some people get it right away, for others it takes longer. What did you think of Accounting Made Simple?

[azt579]

Hard to say. It really depends on how quickly you grasp the information. Some people get it right away, for others it takes longer. What did you think of Accounting Made Simple?

I just ordered it from Amazon over the weekend and it should be here sometime this week. I plan on reading it this weekend prior to starting my Straighterline courses so I can go into my first course with some basic accounting knowledge. I'll update when I finish reading it.

[Synicaal]

Hard to say. It really depends on how quickly you grasp the information. Some people get it right away, for others it takes longer. What did you think of Accounting Made Simple?

I 100% agree with this statement. I caught on pretty quickly myself, at least at the lower level its not hard concepts to grasp. I working on what Study.com calls Advanced Accounting which goes into some more detail on each thing, I am finding the course rather enjoyable but not really any challenge. I love that this counts as UL at TESU but it doesn't really have the feel of UL right now. I am about 70% done with the quizzes and about 1/3 done with the final project, aiming to turn in project tomorrow so I am ready to take the final on Saturday when it becomes available.