Bellaire Clinical Labs, Inc Case

To help students gain an overview of the entire accounting process in the real world and to become competent financial managers able to apply their knowledge to the situations they will encounter in the workplace. Furthermore, through class discussion and participation, students will gain an understanding of the all-important people skills they will need in order to successfully apply their technical knowledge and to carry out all the functions of their position. In this course you will be expected to not only master the subject matter, but also to improve your written and oral communication skills so that you can lead your team in problem definition, analysis, possible solutions and, ultimately, good and proper recommendations for the course of action to be taken.

Expanded Objectives
The role of the corporate controller is rapidly changing. In this course, we will examine the various responsibilities that will be expected of the controller and the various perceptions and expectations that others in the organization will have of the controller. Accounting knowledge and transaction oversight is only the starting point. The corporate controller will need to have knowledge of how to deal with, and potentially the ability to manage, human resources and benefits administration, information technology, strategy formulation, operation metrics and reporting, cross-functional teams. We will discuss the various areas where the controller will have direct or indirect influence and how s/he can best operate within the corporate environment.

When you complete this course, you will have had the opportunity to gain a great deal of insight into the real-world realities of corporate controllership and you should have a good understanding of the dynamic business environment you will be entering along with the role of the controller within it. If you have participated fully, you will have a better understanding feel reasonably knowledgeable stepping into the corporate environment and knowing what may be expected of you.

Grading Policies
The grading opportunities in this course will be as follows:

Discussion Board/Participation – Each week, there will be three questions on the Discussion Board. You should participate in the discussion of each of these questions. To earn full credit for participating in the Discussion Board, you should post at least two substantive comments to the Discussion Board on at least three different days. That means that you should post a minimum of six substantive comments to the Discussion Board each week, and those six substantive comments should be spread out over a minimum of three different days each week. Keep in mind that the initial posting to the question does not count towards participation.

It is best to establish a routine in which you log into the Discussion Board early in the week and post your initial thoughts about the weekly discussion questions. Then at mid-week you should log into the Discussion Board, read what others have posted with regard to both questions and post responses to some of those comments. At the end of the week, you should log into the Discussion Board, read the new comments, and post your final thoughts. I hope you will be interested in the discussions and that you will participate much more than the minimum. Your posts to the Discussion Board must be made during the week that the questions are assigned.

Case problems– After the first week of the course, each week there will be a case assignment that you will be asked to submit. Your work must be submitted via the Assignments link. Case write-ups must be submitted by midnight Eastern Time on Sunday of the week assigned. Note: for problems involving calculations, you must show all relevant work. Full credit will not be given for including the answer only.

Final Project – During the last week of the course, there will be a final project that will require both a written and PowerPoint slide component. The final project must be submitted by midnight Eastern Time on March 31, 2013.

Attendance Policy

Failure to participate during the first week of the course (12:00 AM Monday through 11:59 PM Sunday) will result in automatic withdrawal. Participation is defined as posting activity within a discussion board, wiki, or blog, and/or an assignment submission. Students who do not participate during the first week forfeit their rights to be reinstated into the course. While Online Education classes are asynchronous, they are not correspondence or self paced. Although only a portion of student’s grades are tied to discussion, participation is mandatory. Students are expected to login and participate at least three times per week (twice per day), on separate days throughout the term.

Extended absences, defined as failure to post into the Blackboard classroom for more than five days, must be coordinated with the instructor. Students who fail to coordinate any such absence with the instructor or who fail to withdraw from the course in accordance with Online’s official drop and withdrawal policy will be graded appropriately.

For more specific information, please access Online’s official withdrawal policy, found at https://www.snhu.edu/648.asp and the Student Handbook

Administrative Withdrawal Policy
Once a student has missed enough classes that the instructor believes that the student cannot meet the goals of the course within the remaining time frame, the student may be given a failing grade, withdrawn from the course, or be considered for an incomplete at the instructor’s discretion. Faculty members may give a student a grade of incomplete (I) only if the student and instructor have agreed, in advance, to plan or schedule for completion. Withdrawal is allowed due to lack of attendance or unusual circumstances, not as a method to prevent failing grades. No withdrawals are permitted during the last week of the term. Participation Policy

As ongoing collaboration and dialogue are essential for effective online course delivery, it is imperative that students participate regularly. Those who do not participate regularly according to the guidelines outlined above may receive no credit for participation, and are subject to course failure at the discretion of the instructor. To earn full credit for participating in the COURSE, you should post at least two substantive comments to the Discussion Board on at least three different days. Please refer to the Grading Policies section for more information on what is considered substantive participation.

Use of TURNITIN

Please understand that in taking this course your assignments may be submitted to Turnitin.com and reviewed for textual similarity suggestive of plagiarism. All submitted papers are subsequently included as source material in the Turnitin.com database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism in other submitted work. Please review Turnitin.com “terms of use agreement” should you have any questions.

Discussion Rubric

• Frequency of Postings – Students will be required to submit at least two substantive postings per forum spread out over three separate days. Posting three times in one day per forum is not an acceptable frequency. The quality of participation and learning increases when postings are spread out over the course of the forum. This method of posting provides a greater ability to synthesize other perspectives, demonstrate and increase student listening skills, and contribute more fully to an evolving discussion. Note: Responding to the initial DQs does not count towards participation.

• Quality of Postings – The quality of your postings will be evaluated using the following criteria: • Evidence that you have synthesized readings and main concepts

• Clear demonstration that you are listening to peers and synthesizing their comments

• Demonstration of a solid understanding of the topic area

• On-topic postings that contribute to the quality of the discussion

• Attention to correct grammar and spelling

• Well-organized, well-constructed postings that exhibit the following:

o Evidence that you can present multiple informed opinions or points of view based on rational discourse, readings, observations of others,
relationship to your past experiences, etc.

o Reference where possible to personal experience that is related to the topic area

o Inclusion of additional resource information, links, news, or other elements that go beyond the minimum posting requirements to enhance the dialogue and take it to a deeper level

o Use of proper “netiquette”

• Things to Avoid
o Excessive use of “I agree” responses without explanation – provide reasoning for agreement or disagreement o Excessive postings in one forum (informally known as “hogging” the forum) – the key to success in this area is balance

– keep in mind that other students will be reading the postings – stay on topic and let others share their knowledge o Lack of respect for divergent opinions – show the respect to others that you would like bestowed on yourself o Off – topic comments – heading down a new road may be healthy and of value occasionally but try to be mindful of the discussion at hand o Overly long threads – try to make responses no longer than one to two screen lengths – quality trumps quantity in this area

Discussion Rubric: Grading

Fifteen percent of the assessment criteria for this course will involve quality and quantity of your participation in the discussion forum. The following is an outline of my expectations for your discussion board postings and how they will be assessed. • Quantity of postings: A minimum of two postings per forum on at least three separate days. You need to spread out your postings.

• Discussion contributions are graded on the following points:
o Relevance to the discussion topic
o Substance/content of the postings
o Grammar and spelling usage