Business Law Fundamentals for Accountants

This course is specifically intended for Accounting students, and is meant to provide a basic level of understanding regarding an array of business law topics. More particularly, the course will expose students to basic concepts regarding the Canadian legal system, as well as the law of contracts, torts, business organizations, agency, intellectual property, real and personal property, environmental protection, consumer protection, creditor's rights, secured transactions and bankruptcy. Accounting students who wish to obtain greater understanding of business law topics are advised to enrol in BUSN 1320 (Introductory Business Law) and BUSN 3720 (Business Law for Accountants). BUSN 1320 and 3720 can be counted towards the Concentration in Business Law. BUSN 1005 does not meet prerequisite requirements for any upper level Business Law course.

Course Content

1. Sources of Canadian and British Columbia law
2. Law of Torts
1. general principles including liability insurance and vicarious liability
2. intentional torts
3. strict liability torts
4. the tort of negligence
3. Law of Contracts
1. nature of a contract
2. elements of a contract
3. terms of a contract
4. factors affecting the contractual relationship (ex. misrepresentation, illegality, undue influence)
5. discharge and breach of contract
6. contractual remedies
4. Law of Agency
5. Business Organizations
1. sole proprietorships
2. partnerships and limited partnerships
3. corporations
6. Consumer Transactions, including Sale of Goods
7. Real Property Law and Environmental Protection
8. Personal Property Law
9. Negotiable Instruments
10. Secured Transactions and Creditor's Rights
11. Bankruptcy Law
12. Intellectual Property Law
1. trade-marks
2. copyright
3. patents, trade secrets and confidential information

Methods of Instruction

Lectures, assignments, anaylsis of legal issues, discussion of legal cases, and group activities.

Means of Assessment

 *No one examination may be worth more than 40%

Learning Outcomes

Upon completing this course, successful students will be able to:

• describe the structure of the Canadian legal system;
• recognize the main aspects of the Canadian judicial system including the sources of law, and the levels and roles of courts in the judicial system;
• set out the difference between common law, statute law, administrative law, and criminal law;
• demonstrate a basic understanding of the law of contracts;
• describe fundamental principles of tort law and identify some of the important common law torts;
• distinguish between the main forms of business organizations;
• identify the important legal aspects pertaining to corporate governance;
• recognize key principles of the law of intellectual property, personal property, and real property (including environmental protection);
• summarize the rights and priorities that arise in a secured transaction;
• set out the main features of bankruptcy proceedings;
• recognize general characteristics of the law of negotiable instruments; and
• describe basic sources of consumer protection, including sale of goods legislation.

Courses listed here must be completed prior to this course:

• No prerequisite courses

Corequisites

Courses listed here must be completed either prior to or simultaneously with this course:

• No corequisite courses

Equivalencies

Courses listed here are equivalent to this course and cannot be taken for further credit:

• No equivalency courses

Below shows how this course and its credits transfer within the BC transfer system. 

A course is considered university-transferable (UT) if it transfers to at least one of the five research universities in British Columbia: University of British Columbia; University of British Columbia-Okanagan; Simon Fraser University; University of Victoria; and the University of Northern British Columbia.

For more information on transfer visit the BC Transfer Guide and BCCAT websites.

If your course prerequisites indicate that you need an assessment, please see our Assessment page for more information.