SO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING TO PROCRASTINATE…….THINK NOT!

THIS GUIDE WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO SURVIVE THROUGH YOUR FINAL PROJECT.

DAY 1 OF CLASS

•  Make friends with your assigned group. Not only make friends, get to know them really well.

•  Exchange numbers, emails, Skype Ids, Gmail accounts- any and all forms of communication, write them down. You will only survive if you make strong connections with your team members.

•  The number one goal is to collectively think as a group for Financial Accounting 2. Without full participation of team work, you will sink and not finish your final project.

•  Finally, pick your team lead.

ROLE OF TEAM LEAD

•  Hey Team Lead, you got a lot on your plate. You are the project manager and cheerleader in one.

•  Collect all the contact information and place it on a shared Google Doc so all your team members can access the contact information.

•  Be ready to be the guiding force for the team in the next few weeks. Five Saturdays go really really fast, so start planning your final project Day 1.

•  You must be organized and be ready to help with any and all aspects of the project.

•  Once you commit, you are the helm to make sure the final project is completed.

•  Will give you some tips and tricks in staying organized in a few slides.

FINAL PROJECT TEAM

Here are the questions you need to ask yourselves after you get the prompt from Miriam:

1.  What am I interested in learning about from the final project?

2.   What am I good at in regards to the prompt?

3.   What expertise can I bring to the table?

4.   How much time do I have to allocate to each section of the prompt?

5.   What can I bring back to the team?

6.   Am I a team player?

7.  Do I work well with a partner?

SOME HINTS WITH WORKING WITH TEAM MEMBERS

•  Buddy up on sections for the final project

•  Have a go to class mate for any and all questions

•  Be transparent and speak up if you don’t know something- the only way you learn is by asking a question, someone else is probably thinking the same thing

•  Don’t be intimidated by accounting professionals in class- they are your greatest asset. They will learn from you as well.

FINALLY-WRITE OUT ROLES OF TEAM MEMBERS

•  After you ask the questions, Team Lead write out roles for all the Team Members

•  Team Members- stick to your roles and own them

•  When the craziness of life ensues, being a beacon of information and point person for questions becomes critical.

Members Roles

Team Member 1 Helps with public speaking

Team Member 2 Good at presentations

Team Member 3 Helps with accounting skills

Team Member 4 Understand how to read financial statements

Team Member 5 Helps with forecasting

NOW THAT ORGANIZATION OF THE TEAM IS DONE, ONTO SOME TIPS AND TOOLS FOR

PROJECT MANAGEMENT!

MAKE A CALENDAR

•  Make a calendar for your project with due dates and meeting dates. Highly suggest a Google Calendar that everyone shares. Place every and all meetings onto one calendar so team members can see where everyone is with meetings at all times.

BASECAMP

•  Basecamp is a FREE project management program. You can sign up here:

https://basecamp.com/

•  Basecamp will allow you to keep track of the parts of your project. You can parse the project out and add notes/slides/pics/information to the project.

•  Word to the wise-pick one username and password and all of you sign in using it.

DROPBOX

•  Lastly, you can keep track of your project and final presentation using Dropbox.

•  Sign in here:

http://dropbox.com •  If you use Dropbox, again try to have one login and password to keep everything

streamlined.

FAWOOOEE PROJECT MANAGEMENT DONE, ONTO KEEPING IN CONTACT WITH EACHOTHER!

THE HARDEST PART OF THE CLASS IS GETTING EVERYONE TO MEET UP AND STICK TO A SCHEDULE. GOOD THING IS-YOU LITERALLY CAN MEET ANYWHERE, ANYTIME OVER THE TELEPHONE OR ONLINE.

FREE CONFERENCE LINE

•  One idea is to set up a bridge call so team members can call in later at night while they are on the train. You don’t necessarily have to be in front of a computer at all times to be able to add to the project.

http://www.freeconference.com/

SKYPE

•  Good old Skype. Will literally be your best friend online meetings. You can pay up to have screen sharing. Skype will be a great way to host discussion for the team project. Share your handles- you will need them.

http://skype.com

JOIN.ME

•  You will have to share your screen and help each other out with homework and the final project. You can share your screen using this free site called join.me. HIGHLY SUGGEST! Will make your life much easier.

http://join.me

GOOGLE HANGOUTS

•  Google Hangouts are another easy way to project manage and meet group members. I think you share your screen in Google Hangouts. Free, easy and everyone has a Gmail account.

http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/

NOW YOU ARE CONNECTED, ONTO

RESEARCH!!!!!!!!!!!!

SEC.GOV

•  The SEC will have the 10Ks and all the financial statements you will need. Because you are handling just one public company, sec.gov is a good starting point.

http://sec.gov

NEW YORK BUSINESS PUBLIC LIBRARY

•  The New York Public Library shall and and will be your best friend. In the next few slides I will describe the databases that you can use. Note to everyone, one time pulling information from the library will be enough to cover the entire project if you research correctly. Pick the best researcher for the team and send him/her. Also bring a USB stick so you can download articles.

http://www.nypl.org/locations/sibl

RESEARCH GUIDES

•  Here is a link for some interesting research guides that the NYPL offers.

http://www.nypl.org/locations/tid/65/research_guides

BLOOMBERG

•  The library has the Bloomberg terminal open for research and stock understanding in the basement. Highly suggest to check out for real time research.

D&B MILLION DOLLAR DIRECTORY

•  Newly expanded directory provides information on 14 million companies in the U.S. Search by company on first screen or use Advanced Search to select criteria to build a list of companies by location, industry, SIC or NAIC codes, size, sales.

•  You can access this database within the walls of the library.

http://www.nypl.org/collections/articles-databases/db-million-dollar-directory-total-us

STANDARD & POOR’S NET ADVANTAGE

•  Includes Standard & Poor’s Bond Guide, Corporation Records, Dividend Record, Earnings Guide , Industry Surveys, Mutual Fund Reports, The Outlook, Standard & Poor’s Register, Stock Guide and Standard & Poor’s Stock Reports.

•  Super helpful and you can download the PDF onto a USB drive

http://www.nypl.org/collections/articles-databases/standard-and-poors-net-advantage

HOOVERS

•  Provides company and industry information on 43,000 private and public companies and 600 industries.

•  You cannot download at the library- ONLY Print and view are enabled.

http://www.nypl.org/collections/articles-databases/

hoovers

NOW THAT YOU LEARNED ABOUT RESEARCHING……YOU GOT ONE MORE THING

TO KNOW…….

“ You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer

yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll

decide where to go…” ~Dr. Seuss, Oh the Places You’ll Go

GOOD LUCK