assignment for financial accounting

• Introduction to Financial Accounting

(4 reviews)

David Annand, Athabasca University

Henry Dauderis

Copyright Year: 2017

Last Update: 2021

Publisher: Lyryx

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Katheryn Zielinski, Assistant Professor, Minnesota State University Mankato on 6/14/23

The text reading follows typical financial accounting flow. Beginning with the foundational introduction to what accounting is through the full accounting cycle, while including financial statement analysis towards the end of the book. Students... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text reading follows typical financial accounting flow. Beginning with the foundational introduction to what accounting is through the full accounting cycle, while including financial statement analysis towards the end of the book. Students will find the format helpful; the voice is student-friendly. There is online homework help for students. Instructors will find the text format friendly to semester-long class as concepts broken down into 13 chapters. The chapters explain the learning outcomes, use examples to express concepts, with chapter summary at end. The topics included are consistent with intro accounting courses.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

No issues noticed with accuracy. The text includes accurate financial accounting information.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

For an introductory accounting class with focus on US the concepts covered are typical.

Clarity rating: 5

The content is presented in a student friendly manner. Answers are provided. The extra information is helpful for students wanting extra practice.

Consistency rating: 5

The format and layout of the book chapters are consistent. All users will quickly understand the format as it is applied the same to each chapter. This helps provide consistency for students learning introductory accounting.

Modularity rating: 5

The content within the chapters can be broken-down and assigned as instructor plans for the course length. The manner is which the material is presented flows easily as reading.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The text organization is consistent and coherent. Each chapter is presented in same manner.

Interface rating: 5

No observed tech issues. PDF downloaded and used with ease.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammar or language issues.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

No cultural insensitive or offensive context noted.

This is a student friendly text. However, students might find a glossary helpful, as well as an index.

Reviewed by Lawrence Overlan, Part-time Professor, Bunker Hill Community College on 6/4/20

I appreciate how the Statement of Cash Flows has a separate chapter towards the end of the book. Might be better to wait until that chapter instead of also discussing it in Chapter One.....lots of material for opening week.... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

I appreciate how the Statement of Cash Flows has a separate chapter towards the end of the book. Might be better to wait until that chapter instead of also discussing it in Chapter One.....lots of material for opening week....

I sampled several problems...all correct.

Hard to make accounting obsolete. All the required material is present.

Problems are presented clearly and with good font size. Excellent color schemes and graphics.

Yes....no problems detected in this area. Very straightforward.

Chapters contain the right amount of content. Not too long with out breakup diagrams or examples etc.

Standard flow of chapters with excellent subdivisions.

To the contrary, the graphics and flow charts break up the material very nicely.

No issues noticed in this area.

Nice work! I will definitely consider adopting.

Reviewed by Patty Goedl, Associate Professor, University of Cincinnati Clermont College on 3/27/18

The text covers all of the topics normally found in an introductory financial accounting (principles of accounting I) text. The table of contents essentially mirrors the table of contents found in the leading texts in this field. I like that... read more

The text covers all of the topics normally found in an introductory financial accounting (principles of accounting I) text. The table of contents essentially mirrors the table of contents found in the leading texts in this field. I like that this text also covers the classified balance sheet, financial disclosures and partnerships.

Content is error-free, accurate, and unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The content is up-to-date. Introductory accounting does not change often so future updates should be minimal. The authors used the year 2015 in most of the problem and examples. This might make the text "seem" out-of-date in a few years.

The book is clear and concise. The topics are clearly explained and the technical terminology is appropriate for an introductory level.

The writing, style, and formatting are consistent throughout this text.

The text is divided into topical chapters, which is appropriate considering that the concepts build on each other. The chapters are further subdivided into sub-topics. This makes it easy for an instructor to pick which sub-topics to cover.

Excellent organization and flow. The concepts logically build upon each other and the material is presented in a clear fashion.

The HTML interface is excellent. The book has good graphics, end of chapter content, and even video examples.

I did not notice grammatical errors.

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way

Excellent book that is comparable to any of the leading financial accounting titles. The authors even provide end of chapter problems, videos, and interactive Excel problems for students. Overall, a great resource! I commend the authors for making something of this caliber freely available.

Reviewed by Margarita Maria Lenk, Associate Professor, Colorado State University on 1/7/16

The content of this textbook matches the content and organization of most introductory financial accounting textbooks. It is written by Canadian authors, but is relevant to US students. The text begins by explaining the role of financial... read more

The content of this textbook matches the content and organization of most introductory financial accounting textbooks. It is written by Canadian authors, but is relevant to US students. The text begins by explaining the role of financial accounting in society, and then describes the underlying structure of double entry accounting systems and the process of recording economic events that impact the value of the organization through the journals and the ledger. The records of these events are then summarized into the primary financial statements. The numeric subtotals and totals on these statements are used to calculate standard financial measures and ratios used to evaluate the organization's performance. The text's organization then proceeds sequentially through the balance sheet accounts, explaining in more detail how the accounting for each category of economic value is recorded and reported. The author's decision to move the most complex content to the end of the book matches how most faculty choose to organize their coverage of these topics.

My reviewed resulted in highest marks regarding accuracy. The only possible concern I would mention here is that the authors use a commonly used technique in chapter two which sometimes leads to students misunderstanding that revenues and expenses are not part of owners' equity until the revenues and expenses are closed at year end to retained earnings. It is my preference to teach introductory students that revenues and expenses are distinct and separate from equity, and then explain that revenues and expenses ultimately get closed to equity. So, this is not an inaccuracy by the authors, just a point that some instructors may want to know before adopting the textbook.

It is my opinion that the content of this textbook will be relevant and current for at least a decade. Any changes made to accounting principles, Canadian or International, will be very easy and straightforward to update.

It is my opinion that the clarity of this text is very high. The authors are succinct and use visuals often to highlight the theoretical structures.

This test is very consistent with the framework that is set up by the authors in the beginning of the text.

The textbook is very clearly divided into separable modules, making it easy for both students to read and for instructors to choose which modules to include in their course.

The content of this textbook matches the content and organization of most introductory financial accounting textbooks. It begins by explaining the role of financial accounting in society, and then describes the underlying structure of double entry accounting systems and the process of recording economic events that impact the value of the organization through the journals and the ledger. The records of these events are then summarized into the primary financial statements. The numeric subtotals and totals on these statements are used to calculate standard financial measures and ratios used to evaluate the organization's performance. The text's organization then proceeds sequentially through the balance sheet accounts, explaining in more detail how the accounting for each category of economic value is recorded and reported. The author's decision to move the most complex content to the end of the book matches how most faculty choose to organize their coverage of these topics.

The online text worked perfectly in my Chrome browser. The end of chapter exercises and problems are perfectly formatted on the screen. All assessment materials (quizzes, exams, etc.) are located on a different site that requires registration to have access.

I found the grammar to be very clear, concise and very effective. Because the book is written by Canadians, expenses are sometimes referred to as revenue expenditures, which does not match how US textbooks refer to expenses, but is perhaps a better learning tool, as the expenses are always recorded in the period in which they match the revenue generation, so I support the authors' choices regarding how they refer to the difference between assets (capital expenditures) and expenses (revenue expenditures).

The textbook adequately refers to the international accounting standards. That is the only cultural relevance which is relevant to introductory financial accounting.

I found this textbook and its exercises to be a useful teaching and learning tool. Instructors and students have access to pre-made PowerPoint slides, exercises and problems, and there is the option to enrol in an online service for online assessments, which seem to have student feedback capabilities in addition to assessment gathering capabilities.

Table of Contents

• The Accounting Process
• Financial Accounting and Adjusting Entries
• The Classified Balance Sheet and Related Disclosures
• Accounting for the Sale of Goods
• Assigning Costs to Merchandise
• Cash and Receivables
• Long-lived Assets
• Debt Financing: Current and Long-term Liabilities
• Equity Financing
• The Statement of Cash Flows
• Financial Statement Analysis
• Proprietorships and Partnerships

Ancillary Material

About the book.

This textbook is an adaptation by Athabasca University of the original text written by D. Annand and H. Dauderis. It is intended for use in entry-level college and university courses in financial accounting. A corporate approach is utilized consistently throughout the book.

The adapted textbook includes multiple ancillary student and instructor resources. Student aids include solutions to all end-of-chapter questions and problems, and randomly-generated spreadsheet problems that cover key concepts of each chapter. These provide unlimited practice and feedback for students. Instructor aids include an exam bank, lecture slides, and a comprehensive end-of-term case assignment. This requires students to prepare 18 different year-end adjusting entries and all four types of financial statements, and to calculate and analyze 16 different financial statement ratios. Unique versions can be created for any number of individual students or groups. Tailored solutions are provided for instructors.

The original Annand/Dauderis version of the textbook including .docx files and ancillary material remains available upon request to D. Annand ([email protected]).

About the Contributors

David Annand, EdD, MBA, CA, is a Professor of Accounting in the Faculty of Business at Athabasca University. His research interests include the educational applications of computer-based instruction and computer mediated communications to distance learning, the effects of online learning on the organization of distance-based universities, and the experiences of instructors in graduate-level computer conferences.

David completed his Doctorate in Education in 1998. His thesis deals with the experiences of instructors in graduate-level computer conferences.

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Financial Accounting and Reporting Classroom Materials

Financial Accounting and Reporting is an important part of the accounting curriculum. The skills students learn in your classroom will not only prepare them for more advanced courses, but to one day succeed in a career.  The below are supplemental curriculum resources that the AICPA Academics team have reviewed and think can be used in the classroom.

Award-Winning Curricula

The Academics team is proud to offer award-winning curricula designed to encourage faculty and expand the knowledge of accounting students. The curricula below is from the  Accounting Professors Curriculum Resource tool  and has been recognized for excellence with the  Bea Sanders/AICPA Innovation and Teaching Award , the  George Krull/Grant Thornton AAA Innovation in Junior and Senior-Level Teaching Award,  or the  Mark Chain/FSA Innovation in Graduate Teaching Award . 

• A Better Way to Teach Effective Interest Method Related Problems in Accounting   This resource presents a simpler method of teach accounting problems involving the use of the effective interest method. The method stimulates student interest by focusing on the economics of the transaction and relating it to real-life examples.
• Accounting in the Headlines: A News Blog for the Introductory Accounting Classroom   This resource shares Wendy Tietz's "Accounting in the Headlines" blog in which she writes stories about real-life companies and events that can be used in the accounting classroom to illustrate introductory financial and managerial accounting concepts.
• Accounting Challenge (ACE): Mobile-Gaming App for Learning Accounting Accounting Challenge is the first mobile-gaming app for teaching financial accounting. ACE aims to enhance learning of accounting outside the classroom by engaging students to play and learn accounting on the go.  
• A FASB Accounting Standards Codification Project for Introductory Financial Accounting   This exercise is designed as a team project in which introductory accounting students act as a consultants to a client seeking guidance on issues surrounding a start-up venture. Students must access and cite the Codification as the basis for the materials they submit in fulfillment of the project requirements.
• Attracting the Best and Brightest to Accounting: Establishing an Honors Accounting Course   This resource presents one school's approach to attracting and recruiting the best and brightest students toward accounting by offering an honors accounting course.
• Beyond Debits and Credits... Service Learning in Accounting   This resource presents a service learning project implemented in two accounting courses to enhance student skills in communication and teamwork.
• Business From the Idea to the Seasoned Offering: Accounting and Financial Statements Reflecting Business Activities   This project takes accounting education from bookkeeping to holistic active business learning including how financial statements build to reflect the business.
• Chocolate: Accounting as a First year Seminar   This resource provides a thematic approach at combining first year seminars and accounting programs using student activities that are simultaneously engaging and assessable.
• Creative Strategies for Teaching MBA Level Accounting   This resource presents a new concept for teaching accounting to MBA level students. At its heart, accounting centers on measurement of historical transactions or the measurement of future opportunities. this course turns the focus from rules, to the tools leaders need to manage a complex organization.
• Cultivating Deep Learning in the Principles of Accounting Classes through Philanthropy-Based Education   This philanthropy project goes beyond service learning or volunteerism. Students make real decisions that have immediate impacts on their community. Students award funding to not-for-profit agencies based on a competitive proposal process.
• Digital Storytelling for Engaged Student Learning   This resource uses digital story telling, a movie, to enhance students' technical competence in accounting. The story uses 12 episodes to follow three young business graduates who started their own business and discover along the way the role of financial information in managing a business venture.
• FASB Accounting Standards Codification: Student-Authored Research Exercises   This resource is based on the notion that the best way to learn something is to teach it. Students in a financial accounting graduate class demonstrate their master of GAAP research skills by creating research assignments using the FASB Accounting Standards Codification.
• Forming Groups in the Age of YouTube   This resource uses a variation of speed dating as a means for forming groups in an introductory accounting class. By learning more about their classmates prior to self-selecting a group this method allows students to choose better groups.
• Getting Started in the Throughbred Horse Business: A Review of Some Basic Accounting Principles   This resource provides reinforcement of common accrual accounting concepts centered on the breeding and racing operations of a small thoroughbred horse business. This curriculum is appropriate to use after students have been exposed to fixed assets, inventory, profit and loss and cash flow reporting.
• IFRS Immersion   This resource provides instructions for teaching an IFRS course from the standpoint of foreign companies that have already dealt with the problems and issues associated with converting from local GAAP to international GAAP.
• IFRS Projects Using Dual Reporting of IFRS and U.S. GAAP   This resource illustrates integrating IFRS learning into financial accounting curricula by incorporating valuable contrasting information from the dual reporting.
• Integrated Accounting Principles: A New Approach to Traditional Accounting Principles Courses   This resource describes an integrated accounting principles course that combines traditional financial and managerial accounting courses into a single six hour course.
• Introducing Freshmen Students in the Accounting/Finance Course to the Library   This resource describes a series of online, interactive tutorials and quizzes to help students learn fundamental concepts and skills of company and industry related research.
• Introduction to Financial Accounting Case Project: Arctic Blast Ice Cream Store   This case provides an opportunity for students to apply accounting concepts to a simple business venture. The project lasts 4-6 weeks and covers three distinct phases of the management process: business decision making, performance and evaluation.
• Let's Go to the Movies: Using Movies as an Ethics Assignment   This project involves students watching a series of predetermined movies and noting the ethical dilemma. At the end of the semester each student must defend one of the movies as a nominee for "A Must See Ethics Movie" for accounting/business students.
• Mini-responsibility Centers: A Strategy for Learning by Leading   This resource explains the concept of using mini-responsibility centers (MRCs) to decentralize large financial, managerial and cost accounting courses. In return the students are more focused and engaged.
• Modeling Uncertainty in C-V-P Assignments: Going Beyond the Basics!   This resource provides an outline for using the Monte Carlo Simulation to offer graduate students an opportunity to rapidly come to insights about probabilistic model building and interpretation. The simulation combines quantitative skills and qualitative skills along with reports and presentations.
• Northwind Data Query Exercise   This project encourages students to consider the evolution of data sources for financial reporting and evaluate how to acquire and manipulate information in this emerging business reality; by actually practicing queries and exporting information to worksheets.
• Reinventing Student Engagement and Collaboration within Introductory Accounting Courses   This resource provides ideas for increasing engagement and collaboration in the introductory accounting class. Examples include student projects, flipped classroom applications and in-class problems.
• Responsibilities and Choices: An Active Engagement Exercise for Introductory Accounting Courses   This exercise provides students with an opportunity to perform a basic due diligence task, complete a relatively simple working paper to document their work and make a decision. The exercise has embedded moral temptation and ethical issues and examines ethical choices that students make in the presence of time pressure and reward structures that encourage aggressive performance.
• TeachingIFRS.com   This document provides information on TeachingIFRS.com which was created  in response to the rapid growth of IFRS and lack of high quality and effective teaching resources. The site consolidates and provides links to numerous freely available IFRS pedagogical materials.
• Testing Critical Thinking Skills in Accounting Principles   This resource describes a method for testing critical thinking skills in an accounting principles course. Using this method, each testing period is divided into two parts. First, students complete an individual traditional test. The second part is a critical thinking exercise called "the challenge problem".
• The Accounting Profession Post Sarbanes-Oxley: An Approach to Impart Knowledge About the Conceptual Framework and Attract Students to the Accounting Major   This document provides the description of a program entitled "The Accounting Profession Post Sarbanes-Oxley". The program provides students with an opportunity to better understand important elements of the conceptual framework. It also provides an overview of the career opportunities in accounting.
• The Accounting Tournament - March Madness in Financial Accounting   This resource describes implementation of an end of year comprehensive review using brackets as a model. Students are randomly placed in the bracket and compete against each other for extra credit points.
• The Amazing Accounting Race: An Introductory Accounting Semester Project   This project engages students with an exciting internet race around the professional world of accounting. Students obtain clues to complete tasks, encounter detours, road blocks and fast forwards. The assignments utilize students' synthesis skills and computer application skills as they collect facts about accounting careers from the internet and assemble data in an organized format.
• The College to Professional Experience   This resource outlines a program that serves to better prepare students for the "real world" by changing the perception of education from "learning by doing" to "doing and making to learn with technology". The project aims to move beyond traditional models of education to leverage technology to facilitate new methods of delivery and understanding.
• The Farming Game and the Introductory Financial Accounting Course: An Accounting Simulation   The Farming Game enables students to develop many of the skill-based competencies needed by students entering the accounting profession, regardless of career path. The Game provides experiential learning of various accounting principles. It is a learning opportunity that offers students a degree of reality and a larger view of the system.
• Understand FX Risk by Playing Monopoly   This resource uses a short version of Monopoly to understand the FX risk impact on net income.
• Back to the Future: Using Accounting History to Explore Professional Opportunities   In this project students read an article about a period of time in accounting history and present their findings to the class in a video format. Students then tie what they have learned in the presentations to the field of accounting today as well as the future.
• From Pacioli to Picasso: Using Art to Enhance Critical Thinking in Accounting Capstone Courses   This resource outlines using name cards, picture drawings and classic artwork to help students enhance their critical thinking skills. The exercise sets the tone for a course that requires them to think about more than rules and regulations and instead delve into the "why" and "what could be."
• Digging Deep: Using Forensic Analytics as a Context to Teach Microsoft Excel and Access   This resource describes a graduate level case that focuses on the development of technology skills through the lens of forensic analysis.
• Who Moved My Classroom? Community Linked Learning and Assessment   This resource describes three exercises that expand learning beyond the classroom. The first exercise allows students to discover the linkage between classroom studies and what practitioners do in the "real world". The second allows students to apply the COSO model to internal controls. The third requires students to interpret financial statements for a friend.

Additional Materials

Here are additional materials we reviewed and think are useful to incorporate into the classroom.

• IIRC Database of Research on Integrated Reporting The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) launched the <IR> Academic Database, a searchable collection of more than 200 articles, books, chapters, dissertations, and other pieces of scholarly research on the advancement, adoption, and practice of integrated reporting. 
• A destination is only as good as its compass. The new  My 360  is here to help you create a free plan personalized to your financial needs by helping guide you through all the resources 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy has to offer.

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Choose a content option below that suits your rigor, writing and teaching preferences.

The Spiceland-Thomas “Organized Learning Framework” presents material in a clear, concise, and balanced fashion through a widely praised conversational writing style.

Financial Accounting, 5th Edition By David Spiceland and Wayne Thomas and Don Herrmann ©2019

A highly respected and time-tested title that employs a rigorous, proven pedagogy widely used by a majority of top business programs.

Financial Accounting, 10th Edition By Robert Libby, Patricia Libby, and Frank Hodge ©2020

A decision maker’s approach that builds critical-thinking skills and drives conceptual foundations by delaying the use of terms like “debits” and “credits.”

Introductory Financial Accounting for Business, 1st Edition By Thomas Edmonds and Christopher Edmonds ©2019

A user’s approach that drives students to understand financial accounting’s overall impact on a business.

Fundamental Financial Accounting Concepts, 10th Edition By Thomas Edmonds, Christopher Edmonds, Frances McNair, and Philip Olds ©2019

A balanced approach with an engaging writing style, entrepreneurial focus, and data-driven pedagogy shown to improve Accounting Cycle understanding.

Fundamentals of Financial Accounting, 6th Edition By Fred Phillips, Robert Libby, and Patricia Libby ©2019

Fundamentals of Financial Accounting, Sixth Edition By Fred Phillips, Robert Libby, and Patricia Libby ©2019

A “building-block” approach with a visually engaging presentation and streamlined coverage, including real-world business examples and analytical decision-making tools.

Financial Accounting Fundamentals, 7th Edition By John Wild ©2019

A streamlined, visually enhanced edition that uses real business examples, analytical decision-making tools, and a highly engaging “building block approach.”

Financial Accounting: Information for Decisions, 9th Edition By John Wild ©2019

A selection of the Financial chapters from the popular Fundamental Accounting Principles title, taking a step-by-step approach to sole proprietorship examples to help build student confidence.

Principles of Financial Accounting (Chapters 1-17) 24th Edition By John Wild and Ken Shaw ©2019

Digital tools to help your students succeed in your Financial Accounting course

McGraw Hill Connect® for Financial Accounting provides the most comprehensive solution to the market. Each asset in Connect is designed to address pressing course challenges, like student engagement, student preparedness, and relevancy. No matter how your course is designed, we have a solution that’s got you covered.

Helping students get ready for your course

SMARTBOOK® – Smartbook makes study time as productive and efficient as possible. SmartBook identifies and closes knowledge gaps through a continually adapting reading experience that highlights portions of the content based on comprehension. Students have a visual representation of the areas in which they have demonstrated understanding, as well as areas in which they need to focus. The result? More confidence, better grades, and greater success.

Helping students engage in class

GENERAL LEDGER PROBLEMS – General Ledger problems offer students the ability to record financial transactions in a series of statements using the same spreadsheet-based recording system that their end-of-chapter content is built on. By hyperlinking entries between statements, General Ledger problems allow students to see how transactions post from one statement to another while giving an overview of the accounting cycle. Easy no-scroll navigation, instant “Check My Work” feedback, and fully integrated hyperlinking across tabs show how inputted data affects each stage of the Accounting process.

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Course Resources

Assignments.

The assignments in this course are openly licensed, and are available as-is, or can be modified to suit your students’ needs. Answer keys are available to faculty who adopt Lumen Learning courses with paid support. This approach helps us protect the academic integrity of these materials by ensuring they are shared only with authorized and institution-affiliated faculty and staff.

If you import this course into your learning management system (Blackboard, Canvas, etc.), the assignments will automatically be loaded into the assignment tool.

You can view them below or throughout the course.

• Module 0: Personal Accounting— Assignment: Creating a Budget
• Module 1: The Role of Accounting in Business— Assignment: Lopez Consulting
• Module 2: Accounting Principles— Assignment: Accounting Principles
• Module 3: Recording Business Transactions— Assignment: Recording Business Transactions
• Module 4: Completing the Accounting Cycle— Assignment: Completing the Accounting Cycle
• Module 5: Accounting for Cash— Assignment: Accounting for Cash
• Module 6: Receivables and Revenue— Assignment: Manilow Aging Analysis
• Module 7: Merchandising Operations— Assignment: Merchandising Operations
• Module 8: Inventory Valuation Methods— Assignment: Inventory Valuation Methods
• Module 9: Property, Plant, and Equipment— Assignment: Property, Plant, and Equipment
• Module 10: Other Assets— Assignment: Other Current and Noncurrent Assets
• Module 11: Current Liabilities— Assignment: Calculating Payroll at Kipley Co
• Module 12: Non-Current Liabilities— Assignment: Non-Current Liabilities
• Module 13: Accounting for Corporations— Assignment: Collins Mfg Stockholders’ Equity
• Module 14: Statement of Cash Flows— Assignment: Kachina Sports Company Cash Flows
• Module 15: Financial Statement Analysis— Assignment: Coca Cola FSA

Discussions

The following discussion assignments will also be preloaded (into the discussion-board tool) in your learning management system if you import the course. They can be used as is, modified, or removed. You can view them below or throughout the course.

• Module 0: Personal Accounting— Discussion: Winning the Lottery
• Module 1: The Role of Accounting in Business— Discussion: The Crafty Coffee Crook
• Module 2: Accounting Principles— Discussion: SoftSheets
• Module 3: Recording Business Transactions— Discussion: Baker’s Breakfast Bars
• Module 4: Completing the Accounting Cycle— Discussion: Closing the Books in QuickBooks
• Module 5: Accounting for Cash— Discussion: Counter Culture Cafe
• Module 6: Receivables and Revenue— Discussion: Maximizing Revenue
• Module 7: Merchandising Operations— Discussion: Inventory Controls
• Module 8: Inventory Valuation Methods— Discussion: LIFO, FIFO, Specific Identification, and Weighted Average
• Module 9: Property, Plant, and Equipment— Discussion: Cooking the Books
• Module 10: Other Assets— Discussion: Other Assets
• Module 11: Current Liabilities— Discussion: Current Liabilities
• Module 12: Non-Current Liabilities— Discussion: Off-Balance Sheet Financing
• Module 13: Accounting for Corporations— Discussion: Home Depot
• Module 14: Statement of Cash Flows— Discussion: Facebook, Inc.
• Module 15: Financial Statement Analysis— Discussion: Financial Statement Analysis
• Assignments. Authored by : Cindy Moore and Joe Cooke. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

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• Options and Derivatives
• Strategy & Education

Assignment: Definition in Finance, How It Works, and Examples

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and behavioral finance. Adam received his master's in economics from The New School for Social Research and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in sociology. He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Yarilet Perez is an experienced multimedia journalist and fact-checker with a Master of Science in Journalism. She has worked in multiple cities covering breaking news, politics, education, and more. Her expertise is in personal finance and investing, and real estate.

What Is an Assignment?

Assignment most often refers to one of two definitions in the financial world:

• The transfer of an individual's rights or property to another person or business. This concept exists in a variety of business transactions and is often spelled out contractually.
• In trading, assignment occurs when an option contract is exercised. The owner of the contract exercises the contract and assigns the option writer to an obligation to complete the requirements of the contract.

Key Takeaways

• Assignment is a transfer of rights or property from one party to another.
• Options assignments occur when option buyers exercise their rights to a position in a security.
• Other examples of assignments can be found in wages, mortgages, and leases.

Uses For Assignments

Assignment refers to the transfer of some or all property rights and obligations associated with an asset, property, contract, or other asset of value. to another entity through a written agreement.

Assignment rights happen every day in many different situations. A payee, like a utility or a merchant, assigns the right to collect payment from a written check to a bank. A merchant can assign the funds from a line of credit to a manufacturing third party that makes a product that the merchant will eventually sell. A trademark owner can transfer, sell, or give another person interest in the trademark or logo. A homeowner who sells their house assigns the deed to the new buyer.

To be effective, an assignment must involve parties with legal capacity, consideration, consent, and legality of the object.

A wage assignment is a forced payment of an obligation by automatic withholding from an employee’s pay. Courts issue wage assignments for people late with child or spousal support, taxes, loans, or other obligations. Money is automatically subtracted from a worker's paycheck without consent if they have a history of nonpayment. For example, a person delinquent on $100 monthly loan payments has a wage assignment deducting the money from their paycheck and sent to the lender. Wage assignments are helpful in paying back long-term debts.

Another instance can be found in a mortgage assignment. This is where a mortgage deed gives a lender interest in a mortgaged property in return for payments received. Lenders often sell mortgages to third parties, such as other lenders. A mortgage assignment document clarifies the assignment of contract and instructs the borrower in making future mortgage payments, and potentially modifies the mortgage terms.

A final example involves a lease assignment. This benefits a relocating tenant wanting to end a lease early or a landlord looking for rent payments to pay creditors. Once the new tenant signs the lease, taking over responsibility for rent payments and other obligations, the previous tenant is released from those responsibilities. In a separate lease assignment, a landlord agrees to pay a creditor through an assignment of rent due under rental property leases. The agreement is used to pay a mortgage lender if the landlord defaults on the loan or files for bankruptcy . Any rental income would then be paid directly to the lender.

Options Assignment

Options can be assigned when a buyer decides to exercise their right to buy (or sell) stock at a particular strike price . The corresponding seller of the option is not determined when a buyer opens an option trade, but only at the time that an option holder decides to exercise their right to buy stock. So an option seller with open positions is matched with the exercising buyer via automated lottery. The randomly selected seller is then assigned to fulfill the buyer's rights. This is known as an option assignment.

Once assigned, the writer (seller) of the option will have the obligation to sell (if a call option ) or buy (if a put option ) the designated number of shares of stock at the agreed-upon price (the strike price). For instance, if the writer sold calls they would be obligated to sell the stock, and the process is often referred to as having the stock called away . For puts, the buyer of the option sells stock (puts stock shares) to the writer in the form of a short-sold position.

Suppose a trader owns 100 call options on company ABC's stock with a strike price of $10 per share. The stock is now trading at $30 and ABC is due to pay a dividend shortly. As a result, the trader exercises the options early and receives 10,000 shares of ABC paid at $10. At the same time, the other side of the long call (the short call) is assigned the contract and must deliver the shares to the long.

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