Southern Utah University

Course Syllabus

Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Fall Semester 2025

Managerial Accounting (Face-to-Face)

ACCT 2020-01

Course: ACCT 2020-01
Credits: 3
Term: Fall Semester 2025
Department: ACFN
CRN: 30070

Course Description

While financial accounting focuses on preparing financial statements for external users, managerial accounting is all about providing internal decision-makers with the information they need to run the business effectively. In this course, you’ll learn how managers use accounting data to guide day-to-day operations, improve performance, and boost profitability.

We’ll explore topics such as cost behavior, cost-volume-profit analysis, cost management, and the use of quantitative tools for planning, control, and decision support. By the end of the course, you’ll see how accounting isn’t just about keeping score—it’s about shaping strategy and driving results inside an organization.

Required Texts

Good news—you don’t need to hunt for the textbook! It’s already included in your tuition and fees through the university’s Inclusive Access Program at a 30% discount. This means you’ll have Day 1 access to McGraw Hill Connect, the online platform for our textbook Managerial Accounting by Garrison, Noreen, and Brewer, 18th Edition (McGraw Hill).

Connect is linked directly to Canvas and will be your hub for all course activities—reading assignments, homework, and exams—all in one place.

If you like having a physical copy, the publisher offers an optional loose-leaf version of the textbook you can purchase separately.

You’ll also need access to a computer with a webcam for online exam proctoring.

Learning Outcomes


By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  1. Explain the role of managerial accounting in business decision-making, including its purposes, foundational cost concepts, and ethical considerations.
  2. Apply different costing systems—job-order costing, process costing, and activity-based costing—to determine product and service costs.
  3. Use cost-volume-profit (CVP) relationships to analyze operations and guide managerial decisions.
  4. Prepare a master budget and evaluate performance by analyzing variances with flexible budgets and standard cost techniques.
  5. Make informed managerial decisions using differential analysis and capital budgeting tools.

What this means for you:

By the end of the semester, you’ll be able to look at a set of internal business reports and actually understand what they mean—and more importantly, how to use them to make better decisions. You’ll know how to determine product costs, plan for the future, spot problems early, and evaluate opportunities using the same tools managers rely on every day. These are skills you can take directly into the workplace or use to better understand how businesses operate from the inside.

Course Requirements

Point breakdowns and grade assignments are shown in the tables below. At the end of the semester, your final percentage will be rounded to the nearest whole percent if it moves you into a higher grade.

For example:
  • 86.5% would round up to a B+
  • 86.49% would remain a B

Policies for Incomplete, Withdrawal, or Unofficial Withdrawal follow the current university catalog.

GradeRangeA | 100 % to 93.0%
A- | < 93.0 % to 90.0%
B+ | < 90.0 % to 87.0%
B | < 87.0 % to 83.0%
B- | < 83.0 % to 80.0%
C+ | < 80.0 % to 77.0%
C | < 77.0 % to 73.0%
C- | < 73.0 % to 70.0%
D+ | < 70.0 % to 67.0%
D | < 67.0 % to 63.0%
D- | < 63.0 % to 60.0%
F | < 60.0 % to 0.0%

Course Outline

Smartbook


SmartBook in Connect is an interactive study tool that adapts to you as you work, helping you focus on the most important parts of the chapter and review areas where you need more practice. When you open the assignment, you can choose to read the highlighted sections of the textbook or jump right into the SmartBook questions. To earn credit, you’ll need to complete the SmartBook questions.

SmartBook is designed to help you understand the material before we start applying it in homework and other assignments. Think of it as your warm-up before the main workout.

Tips for Success:

  • Read the chapter in smaller chunks rather than all at once—your brain will retain more.
  • Use SmartBook questions to test your comprehension and revisit areas where you feel less confident.
  • Completing SmartBook before class will make our discussions easier to follow and your homework less overwhelming.
  • Your lowest SmartBook score will be dropped.

Homework


Homework will be completed in Connect and is designed to help you practice and apply the concepts from each chapter. Give yourself enough time to work through the problems so you can focus on understanding why the solutions work—not just getting them done.

Tips for Success:

  • Work with others—within limits. Study groups are encouraged, but sharing answers so someone else can complete the work without effort is not allowed.
  • Start early. Procrastination makes it harder to learn from the problems and increases stress.
  • Use the submit/review/resubmit feature. If you get stuck, submit your homework to see the solutions, then go back in to correct and finish the assignment. This way you won’t waste time on small formatting issues Connect might flag.
  • Lowest score dropped. Your lowest homework score will be dropped at the end of the semester.

Exams


You’ll have four exams this semester, taken online in Connect. All exams will be proctored through Proctorio (free to SUU students), which requires a computer with a webcam, microphone, and a reliable internet connection.

Exams are designed to test your mastery of accounting principles and their applications. Each exam will consist of 25 multiple-choice questions worth 4 points each, except Exam 4, which will have 20 questions worth 4 points each. Questions may come from anywhere in the textbook—even topics not covered directly in class—so keeping up with readings is essential.

You may use your own notes and a blank Excel file during exams. The textbook and help from others are not allowed.

Preparing for Exams:

  • Practice Exams: Available before each test to help you get familiar with the format. They’re a great tool but are not meant to be a full review or an exact replica of the real exam.

  • Study Guides: Available in Canvas under Files to help you focus your preparation.

There is no time limit for exams. If you are not satisfied with your score, you may retake each exam one time, and the higher of the two scores will count toward your grade. After each exam, you can also earn three extra credit points by completing a short self-assessment about your exam experience.


Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

All assignment and exam due dates are listed in both Connect and Canvas. Staying on top of due dates is important—accounting concepts build on each other, and falling behind makes it much harder to keep up.

To give you some flexibility, there is a two-day grace period for SmartBook assignments and homework. This grace period is there for unexpected situations, not as a reason to delay starting your work. Using it regularly will put you behind and make the course more stressful. Aim to complete assignments by the posted due dates so you can stay in step with the course.

Attendance Policy

Attendance and participation are not graded in this course. However, students who stay consistently engaged—whether through class attendance or regular online activity—tend to perform better on assignments and exams because they’re continuously working with the material instead of cramming at the last minute. Your success is much more likely if you stay involved from start to finish.

Important course updates and reminders may be posted in Canvas Announcements, so be sure to check them regularly.


ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.