Course Descriptions — Accounting Professionals MBA
MGT 477 Cases in Management Accounting: Organizing Power from Self-referral Activity (2 units). In this MBA level course, students review key concepts in managerial and cost accounting and then proceed to graduate level case studies in selected topics. The case study method will be presented as a flexible learning modality that can be utilized for class discussions, small group and individual papers, and management presentations.Topics may include responsibility accounting, variance analysis, capital budgeting, incremental analysis, special decision-making, and a variety of management issues. From the perspective of Vedic Management, students will discover how organizing power springs from the collapse of attention in the gap between actual and budgeted performance. Prerequisites: financial and managerial accounting.
Mgt 513 Business Law and Taxation for Accountants: Laws in their Role toward Fulfilling Natural Law (2 units). This course examines key legal concepts (e.g., torts, contracts and negotiable instruments) that may affect the work of management accountants in the USA. In addition, students will be exposed to basic personal and corporate income tax laws and tax preparation forms. Students will explore the relationships between man-made laws and the purposes of natural laws including behavioral and ethical issues.
Mgt 534 Career Development: In this course, graduate students explore professional options in their chosen fields. In light of Maharishi’s Consciousness-Based principles of success, students conduct occupational research, locate Internet and networking resources, interview successful professionals, and design an action plan and effective strategies for achieving their next career target. They also develop scripts for introducing themselves and describing their achievements and capabilities in various formats, including writing cover letters, resumes, and portfolios, and speaking to potential colleagues, funding sources, and employers.
MGT 541 Management Information Systems: Do Less and Accomplish More (4 units). Students explore basic concepts of accounting system design and development, including terminology related to systems, networks, electronic commerce, and ERP systems. This course develops hands-on skills with software programs utilized by management accountants including EXCEL spreadsheets, ACCESS databases and POWERPOINT presentations. Students will learn advanced tools such as how to use EXCEL pivot tables, a technique for extracting and analyzing data with greater insights.
MGT 551 Corporate Finance: Enlivening the Intellect (4 units). This course examines quantitative tools for intelligent management of corporate finances, including managerial and real options, warrants and convertibles, and risk management. Investment decision-analysis topics include discounted and non-discounted cash flow analysis, ranking investment projects, income tax implications, and risk analysis. Students discover how various quantitative tools empower decision-makers with broad awareness that sharpens the ability to focus on key variables.
MGT 570 Business Analyses for Management Accountants: Swinging Attention from Analysis to Synthesis (4 units). Enlightened managers easily move from broad awareness of strategic issues to the fine points of operational business decisions. In this course, students exercise the swing of their awareness by working case exercises in economics, global business issues, internal controls, analytical decision-making, and financial statement analysis. A survey of subjects covered in part 1 of the CMA examination.
MGT 577 Accounting Reporting and Control: Progress Moves in Cycles of Rest and Activity (4 units). Managers, who experience regular cycles of rest and activity in their mind and body, enliven organizing power. This course offers mini-cases in budgeting, cost management, performance measurement, information management, and external financial statement preparation – all of which facilitate insightful decision-making. A survey of subjects covered in part 2 of the CMA examination.
MGT 585 Strategic Management for Management Accountants: Foresight Shapes the Future (4 units). Managers, who foresee dangers before they arise, creatively shape the future rather than react to events. The course examines forward-looking topics in strategic planning and marketing, corporate finance, decision analysis, and investment decision-making. A survey of subjects covered in part 3 of the CMA examination.
MGT 587 Business Applications and Communications: Resonating with the Language of Nature (4 units). Management accountants are required to collaborate and communicate effectively with co-workers and top executives. This course examines topics and requires essays related to organizational management, behavioral and ethical considerations, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. A survey of subjects covered in part 4 of the CMA examination.
MGT 591 Business Practicum: Stabilizing the Knowledge (0.5 credits per month up to a maximum of 4 credits). Action creates the steps of progress. Students gain hands-on accounting experience with a US company as a financial analyst, staff accountant, internal auditor or another type of accounting-related work. Training goals and objectives will be developed in conjunction with the on-site company supervisors. Students provide regular progress reports.
MGT 594 Industry Analysis for Strategic Planning: The Whole is More than the Sum of the Parts (4 units). The goal of this MBA program is to cultivate the holistic and specific values of management in the awareness of the student so that whatever management responsibility one may have, the process of management is always spontaneously upheld by the infinite organizing power of Natural Law. This capstone course weaves together the student's knowledge of the specific areas of accounting, finance, marketing, operations, and management and organization. Students research a firmin the context ofits industry to identify the firm's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.Each student'sproject concludes with either a strategy formulation for the firm, a valuation of its stock, or a plan for a mock jobinterview.
MGT 597 Special Topics in Management: A Field of All Possibilities (4 units). This survey course has two themes: (a) American accounting practices, including GAAP, GAAS, legal and ethical issues, financial statement analysis, payroll accounting and business case studies, business presentation skills and (b) leading management concepts and skills, including behavioral-based interviewing, managing employee performance, creative employee recruitment techniques, resume writing, memo writing. Students will be challenged by small group assignments, PowerPoint presentations, case studies, class discussions of management articles, field trips, business simulations and guest speakers.
MGT 5151 The Business Environment for Financial Accountants: Enlivening the Laws of Nature (4 units). The course explores the fundamental laws of nature that structure success in financial accounting. Content covered includes knowledge of alternative business organizations, economic concepts, financing and working capital, information technology, and management accounting. Topics covered in CPA Exam Part 1.
MGT 5152 Auditing for Financial Accountants: Principle of Second Element (4 units). As independent auditors, CPA’s verify the fairness of corporate financial statements and thereby enhance the confidence of those making investment decisions. Auditors play the role of the Second Element by dispelling doubts about the truthfulness of financial statements. Topics include audit engagement planning, verification and testing of internal controls, and evidence sampling, collection and testing. In addition, the various types of audit report formats are examined. Topics covered for CPA Exam Part 2.
MGT 5153 GAAP for Financial Accounting: Structuring Collective Coherence (4 units). Students explore and gain the knowledge of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for business enterprises, not-for-profit organizations, and governmental entities, and the skills needed to apply that knowledge. GAAP is seen as structure of collective consciousness that specifies rules for financial reporting. Topics covered in CPA Exam Part 3.
MGT 5154 Ethical & Regulatory Environment for Financial Accountants: The Path to Right Action (4 units). Man-made laws are created to restore the path to right action and meet social needs. In this course, students gain knowledge of legal and ethical responsibilities required for professional accountants. Topics include business law concepts (such as contracts and agency) as well as specific laws (such as Sarbanes-Oxley Act). In addition, the course covers federal taxation for individuals, partnerships and corporations. Topics covered in CPA Exam Part 4.
SCI 500 Science of Creative Intelligence: Water the Root to Enjoy the Fruit (4 units). The 33-lesson Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) course presents the interdisciplinary basis of the entire graduate MBA program. This first course in the MBA program is based on a series of videotaped lectures by Maharishi on the nature, range, qualities, and principles of creative intelligence — as expressed in human consciousness and the laws of nature studied by the sciences. Maharishi also presents the expressions of creative intelligence in individual life and its application in every area of society to realize the highest potential. Because MBA like all other disciplines is based in the intellectual understanding and experience of the structures of Natural Law, the general principles brought out in this course provide a unifying theme for all of the more specific principles studied in all other courses in the curriculum.
FOR 510 Forest Academy: Rest is the Basis of Powerful Action (2 units). Students experience a schedule of extended rest and rejuvenation. During class meetings, students see videotapes and discuss issues about the relationships between SCI (Science of Creative Intelligence) and business management. Tapes are selected by the faculty from the library’s extensive course of videotapes of Maharishi discussing practical business issues and SCI.