Instructor choice comes up often
Student threads commonly compare sections and teaching styles.
Rutgers catalogResearched guideSIRS history48 section records
33:010:272
Introduction To Financial Accounting
ACCOUNTING
- credits
- 3
- Core
- None listed
- Typical seasons
- Fall, Spring, Summer, Winter
- Fall 2026 sections
- 13
- Open snapshot
- 5 open in snapshot
Course guide
AI-generated overview
Course fingerprint 10 AI-generated signals
Difficulty
4/5Why
The syllabus covers recording, adjusting entries, statements, and interpretation, and student advice warns not to fall behind because it builds.
Workload
4/5Why
Twice-weekly pre-assignments, weekly WileyPLUS homework, and three exams create steady work all term.
Pacing
4/5Why
It moves through Chapters 1-13 plus Appendix H with two midterms before a cumulative final.
Projects
1/5Why
The syllabus is centered on pre-assignments, homework, and exams rather than projects or presentations.
Exams
5/5Why
Midterm I, Midterm II, and the cumulative final make up 80% of the grade.
Math
3/5Why
Students do calculations and financial-statement analysis, but the math stays closer to accounting arithmetic than higher math.
Memorization
3/5Why
Terms and account rules matter, but success also depends on practicing journal entries and statement interpretation.
Abstraction
2/5Why
The work is more procedural and statement-based than deeply theoretical.
Prerequisites
2/5Why
There is no formal prerequisite, though the course becomes cumulative quickly once the core mechanics start stacking.
Reading
3/5Why
Students read textbook chapters and some optional financial-press pieces, but practice work appears to carry more weight than reading alone.
What students tend to say
Public discussion is mostly professor and section focused rather than topic focused, so it is best read as scheduling advice, not evidence of a single course experience.
Practice is the safer strategy
Because the course is cumulative, students tend to benefit from doing problems rather than rereading definitions alone.
Topic breakdown
A practical chapter-by-chapter view from foundations to applications.
4 modules
Module 1
Accounting as business language
Students start with why organizations record transactions and how accounting information supports comparisons across firms.
business eventsaccounting equationusers of statements
Basic concept overview
Statements tell connected stories
Income, assets, liabilities, equity, and cash flow are separate views of the same business activity.
Mechanics matter
Small debit-credit mistakes can change the meaning of a financial statement.
Accounting is interpretive
Rules standardize reporting, but students still need to ask what assumptions and estimates are embedded.
Things to watch for
Treating debits as always good and credits as always bad
Tie debit and credit effects to the account type instead.
Memorizing statements separately
Practice tracing one transaction through multiple statements.
Skipping vocabulary
Keep definitions precise because later problems combine many terms quickly.
Fall 2026 sections
5 open · Livingston
| Section | Status | Instructor | Meeting | Campus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0121820 | Closed | CHEN, WEI | Monday 7:30 PM-8:50 PM at BRR 1071; Wednesday 7:30 PM-8:50 PM at BRR 1071BRR 1071 | Livingston |
| 0221821 | Closed | O'ROURKE, SARAH | Monday 2:00 PM-3:20 PM at BRR 1095; Wednesday 2:00 PM-3:20 PM at BRR 1095BRR 1095 | Livingston |
| 0321822 | Closed | O'ROURKE, SARAH | Monday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at BRR 1095; Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at BRR 1095BRR 1095 | Livingston |
| 0424456 | Closed | CHEN, WEI | Monday 12:10 PM-1:30 PM at BRR 3085; Thursday 12:10 PM-1:30 PMBRR 3085 | Livingston |
| 0521823 | Closed | NATHAN, BRAD | Tuesday 2:00 PM-3:20 PM at BRR 1071; Thursday 2:00 PM-3:20 PM at BRR 1071BRR 1071 | Livingston |
| 0821824 | Closed | NATHAN, BRAD | Tuesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at BRR 1071; Thursday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at BRR 1071BRR 1071 | Livingston |
| 0921825 | Closed | JOUAN, NATALIA | Tuesday 2:00 PM-3:20 PM at TIL 258; Thursday 2:00 PM-3:20 PM at TIL 258TIL 258 | Livingston |
| 1221826 | Open | Wasserman | Wednesday 10:20 AM-11:40 AM at BRR 1095; Friday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at BRR 1095BRR 1095 | Livingston |
| 1321827 | Open | Wasserman | Wednesday 12:10 PM-1:30 PM at BRR 1095; Friday 2:00 PM-3:20 PM at BRR 1095BRR 1095 | Livingston |
| 1721829 | Closed | BYRNES, JACK | Wednesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at BRR 2071; Monday 3:50 PM-5:10 PMBRR 2071 | Livingston |
| 1821830 | Open | BYRNES, JACK | Saturday 10:20 AM-1:20 PM at BRR 1071BRR 1071 | Livingston |
| 2021832 | Open | SARATH, BHARAT | Tuesday 2:00 PM-3:20 PM at BRR 3085; Thursday 2:00 PM-3:20 PM at BRR 3085BRR 3085 | Livingston |
| H121834 | Open | SARATH, BHARAT | Tuesday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at BRR 4071; Thursday 3:50 PM-5:10 PM at BRR 4071BRR 4071 | Livingston |
cachedSource: Checked-in Rutgers Schedule of Classes snapshotsUpdated when term datasets are refreshedMay be stale
SIRS teaching signals
Historical student surveys
Teaching
4.08
Course quality
3.96
Response rate
53.0%
Coverage
154 offerings · 2014–2025
| Instructor | Offerings | Teaching | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saunders, Marshall | 23 | 4.18 | 4.00 |
| O'Rourke, Sarah | 22 | 4.54 | 4.30 |
| Wasserman | 20 | 3.97 | 3.87 |
| Wasserman E | 10 | 3.81 | 3.72 |
| Huang, Disen | 9 | 3.94 | 3.83 |
| Sarath, Bharat | 9 | 2.98 | 2.99 |
Course stats
Catalog and planning context
Credits
3
Current campuses
Livingston
Current availability
5 open of 13
Catalog terms
Fall, Spring, Summer, Winter
Core codes
None listed
Loaded terms
6
Prerequisites
No prerequisite note appears in the checked-in Rutgers catalog snapshots.
Degree requirement lists
No direct degree-list membership appears in the checked-in requirement index.
