ClassInfo - Summer 2015 Public Affairs Classes Taught by P. Jay Kiedrowski

Summer 2015 | PA 5003 Section 001: Introduction to Financial Analysis and Management (83992)

Instructor(s): P. Jay Kiedrowski
Class Component:: Lecture
Credits:: 1.5 Credits
Grading Basis:: A-F or Audit
Instructor Consent:: No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:: In Person Term Based
Times and Locations:: Regular Academic Session

07/06/2015 - 07/30/2015

Mon, Thu 06:00PM - 08:45PM

UMTC, West Bank

Hubert H Humphrey Center 184
Also Offered:: (Tentative) Spring 2025
(Tentative) Fall 2024
(Tentative) Spring 2024
(Tentative) Fall 2023
(Tentative) Spring 2023
(Tentative) Fall 2022
(Tentative) Spring 2022
(Tentative) Fall 2021
(Tentative) Summer 2021

Course Catalog Description:

Finance/accounting concepts/tools in public/nonprofit organizations. Fund accounting. Balance sheet/income statement analysis. Cash flow analysis. Public/nonprofit sector budgeting processes. Lectures, discussions. Cases. prereq: Public policy major/minor or major in development practice, public affairs or liberal studies or grad nonprofit mgmt cert or instr consent

Class Notes:

http://classinfo.umn.edu/?kiedr003+PA5003+Summer2015

Class Description:

The financial environments for public and nonprofit organizations are changing. Governments are pressured to "do more with less" and nonprofit organizations are expected to "do better at doing good." In order to meet these challenges, it is important that managers of public and nonprofit organizations possess the fundamentals of financial analysis and management.

This is an introductory course to financial analysis and management in the context of public and nonprofit organizations. The primary learning objective of this course is how to obtain accurate financial information to make sound management decisions through the analyses of financial documents such as budgets and financial statements. The processes of producing such documents will be introduced but are not the focus of this course. Conceptual frameworks and analytical techniques will be emphasized and applied to analyze real-world financial problems.

By the end of the semester, students should be able:

To obtain basic knowledge and terminology of budgeting and financial management;
To summarize budgetary process, revenues, and expenditures of a public or nonprofit organization;
To apply basic tools of financial analysis, such as break-even analysis and marginal cost analysis, in making simple financial decisions;
To know how financial information is organized and reported in the accounting system;
To interpret data in financial statements and relate them with each other; and
To determine and calculate financial ratios to assess financial condition

Grading:

Each class there will be an assignment that you are to prepare in writing (You may work with others in completing the assignments.). These will not be graded, but will be collected at the end of class. You should actively participate in class discussions and class problem-solving. Class discussion, timely assignment completion, and attendance count toward your participation grade. Participation represents 12 points of your grade.

There will be a first exam (30 points) and a second exam (30 points) for this course. The first exam will be an analysis of a real budget and real financial statements of nonprofit and public organizations, word questions, and financial problems. The second exam will be an analysis of real annual financial reports of nonprofit and public organizations, word questions, and financial problems. The second exam ONLY covers material from the second half of the course.

The final assignment is a group project in which you will review the financials of a real government or nonprofit organization and present your findings to the class. You will be assigned to groups in the second week of class. The group should submit a 5+ page paper of your findings at the last class. The group will also present a power point presentation (no more than 10 minutes) of the findings at the last class. The group should provide me a copy of the power points and any other information that would be helpful. This group paper (20 points) and presentation (8 points) are worth 28 points.

First Test 30 points Second Test 30 points Group Project 28 points Class Participation 12 points Total 100 points

Exam Format:

Class Format:

This class is "flipped." Traditional lectures are videotaped and made available on Moodle. There are 8 class periods generally an hour and 45 minutes. Class time is used to review assignments, review additional videos and/or material, and take exams.

Workload:

6 Homework Assignment(s)
2 Exams
1 Presentation Students indicate that the workload is similar to other Humphrey courses. Generally, 3-5 hours per class is required.

Textbooks: