AC2101 ACCOUNTING RECOGNITION & MEASUREMENT (4.0 AU)

Prof: Jian Ming
Course taken in: AY21/22 Sem 1
Textbook: NA
Assessments: Class participation + mid-term test + 1 group project + finals

#0 About my Prof
She’s very nice and approachable. My friends and I always stay back awhile to ask her questions and she’s always willing to answer them. She doesn’t really divulge any advice for presentations although I heard some other profs do.
She demonstrates better ways to answer questions. For example, while doing the share-based payments topic, she showed us this step, “Price * Quantity * %” which truly helped me a lot in answering such questions. Just wished she could do something similar for the leases topic because that topic is really a killer which follows no formula.
She’s also very encouraging and allows students to participate equally in classes, specifically requesting those particularly participative groups to refrain from presenting tutorial questions to give others a chance. Felt kinda bad for her during the online lessons though (due to stricter safe-distancing measures) since many students switched off their cam. Tbh felt that AC2101 is also not an easy topic to teach, so I think Prof Jian Ming did a decent job.

#1 Topics Covered
The topics covered for AC2101 is actually not a lot per say, but the depth of each topic is quite intense given that there is a lot of “rules/steps” to remember and most of them might not make sense. So, just have to memorise.
🟢 = okay 🔴 = not okay 🔵 = not that okay, but manageable

Topics covered:
1. Fundamental concepts & issues 🟢
Concepts are relatively easy to grasp. Only math questions that are usually asked are about the fair value in principle markets/most advantageous markets. Otherwise, true/false questions asked for the mid-term test are not easy haha because really don’t know what they are asking sometimes.

2. Leases 🔴
Many concepts don’t make sense lmao. For example, how to calculate the lease receivable for lessor, the annual lease payment, different journal entries for sales-type lease for lessor, different journal entries for sale & leaseback transactions for lessor and lessee, and basically many different scenarios that could happen. Literally a whirlwind of emotions studying for this topic. Advised to make notes to remember the “rules/steps”, and to separate lessor and lessee accounting treatments.

3. Financial assets 🟢
Only need to remember the different situations for debt securities, equity securities, and derivatives when they are classified as FVOCI, FVPL, and AC. Plus, the credit impairments for financial assets classified at AC and FVOCI, and the modifications of financial assets. Then, the questions usually ask the same things. However, the more difficult part is making sure that you classify the financial assets correctly, because then, it affects all the subsequent workings.

4. Financial liabilities 🟢
Very similar to financial assets.

5. Equity 🟢
Quite simple to do workings for convertible bonds since they usually ask the same thing as well. Just need to know how to handle retirement of convertible bonds and different scenarios for conversion of convertible bonds since the lectures don’t really teach how.

6. Deferred tax 🔴
Super confusing at the start since the lecture is super long as well which made the content go from 1 ear in, 1 ear out. Questions are usually not phrased very well, so I was always unsure when something is taxable/tax-deductible (i.e., deducted from tax). Useful to know that revenue is usually taxed, while expenses are usually tax-deductible. Also need to know a lot of situations such as change in tax rate, tax carry forward, tax carry back, and how to do analytical check (quite difficult actually haha).

7. Revenue 🔵
Semi-recap of revenue topic taught in AC1103 but add-on about additional goods/services like loyalty points. Also learnt about construction contracts. But mostly, just follow a template for construction contracts. The journal entries are also mostly the same. I don’t think the finals will test about the revenue learnt in AC1103 but more on construction contracts since it’s the new content.

8. Share-based payments 🔵
Seems okay as there is also a template to follow, and the steps are kind of the same as well. Just that there are contract modifications that are difficult to know what “rules” to apply. More difficult bit is the “share appreciation rights” since the accounting treatments are a little different and there are more journal entries to do. Furthermore, if they also combine deferred tax with share-based payment questions, it’s kinda tough.

9. Employee benefits 🟢
A very touch-and-go topic that is covered at the end. I don’t think they’ll test in finals as well, but more for presentation questions.

#2 Group Presentations
Presentation style is like AB1201 where there are true/false questions and then math questions. Presentation questions is more challenging for AC2101 compared to AC1103 and AC1104. Some questions are killers, especially the last question for each topic. There are usually 2 presentations for the more difficult topics like leases and deferred tax + equity. Like AC1103 and AC1104 though, they like to ask questions that are not taught in lectures so good luck to you. Good to have reliable and knowledgeable teammates for presentation. Prof Jian Ming will ask questions as you present so its quite nerve-wrecking tbh and you are expected to answer on the spot (although she will give some time for you to discuss with your teammates). The good thing is that Prof Jian Ming allows the group to choose where to present (if physical presentation) so if you’re uncomfortable with presenting at the teacher’s table, you could choose an alternative.

#3 Mid-term Test
Mid-term test includes true/false questions and math questions as well. For my semester, they tested until financial liabilities. According to my prof, they made the mid-term test easier than previous years already, but I still felt that it was quite tricky, especially for the true/false parts. The duration of the test is also quite short, like every other accounting test. Need good time management. There will be self-study practices for all topics, so be sure to use them as they will help with revision. Heard they adjust the bell-curve a lot for the mid-term test. Not sure why though.

#4 Finals
Tough as always haha. It is open book so make sure to bring in all the materials you need. Also, since AC2101 requires us to follow a lot of “rules/steps” that doesn’t really make sense, it’ll be good to be able to rely on notes. Fortunately, the profs release mind maps which certainly help to recap the important parts of each topic. While self-study questions are also released for students, the last self-study practice might be released quite late though, so need to check out NTULearn often.

Lastly, they close the NTULearn MAIN site for AC2101 literally on the same day as the final exam, so if there’s anything you need to download beforehand, please remember to do so.