Accounting for Healthcare

Catalog description

This course exposes MSM-Healthcare students to ways that accounting information helps managers monitor and improve the performance of organizations. After studying the nature and limitations of accounting information, we explore how financial, cost, tax, and regulatory accounting are used by various stakeholders. From this effort, students become comfortable evaluating accounting recognition, valuation, classification, and disclosure issues that arise in an executive's career. Finally, we study how accounting is a feedback loop that enables managers to assess consequences of past decisions and think about what should be done going forward. Feedback loops, in turn, can give rise to observer effects and/or unpredictable outcomes. Course content contributes to achieving the program goal of strengthening a student's ability to promote positive change in healthcare. Prereq: Master of Healthcare Management students only.