Course

Business Law for Accountants

Faculty
Commerce & Business Administration
Department
Business Law
Course code
BLAW 3720
Credits
3.00
Semester length
15 weeks
Max class size
35
Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Typically offered
To be determined

Overview

Course description
This course will build upon the business law foundation provided in the prerequisite course, BLAW 1320 (Introductory Business Law). As well, together with BLAW 1320, this course is intended to satisfy the breadth of business law topics mandated for students to receive transfer credit for the relevant business law prerequisite required for admission to the CPA Professional Education Program. Students who have already received credit for BUSN 3720 will not get further credit for this course.
Course content
  1. Business Organizations
    1. structure of business organizations – sole proprietorship, partnership, limited partnership, corporation
    2. features of the various types of business organizations including advantages and disadvantages of each
  2. Law of Agency
    1. creation of the agency relationship
    2. authority of the agent
    3. duties of the agent and the principal
    4. liability of the agent and the principal
    5. termination of the agency relationship
  3. Corporate Governance
    1. the role of officers, directors, and shareholders in the corporation
    2. the fiduciary duty and duty of care required by management
    3. situations of conflict of interest between directors/officers and the corporation
      1. competition with the corporation
      2. taking a corporate opportunity
      3. transactions with the corporation
    4. shareholders’ rights and remedies
    5. liability of directors and officers
  4. Regulation of mergers and acquisitions under the Competition Act
  5. Secured Transactions
    1. nature of a security interest
    2. creation of a security interest
    3. registration of a security interest and the British Columbia Personal Property Security Act
    4. determination of priority of a security interest
    5. enforcement of a security interest
  6. Bankruptcy Law
    1. the role of bankruptcy and insolvency in business
    2. the bankruptcy process under the federal Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act
    3. filing for bankruptcy
      1. bankruptcy by assignment
      2. bankruptcy by petition
    4. creditor rights in a bankruptcy proceeding
    5. proposals in bankruptcy
  7. Law of Personal Property
    1. acquisition and loss of rights
    2. bailment and licences
    3. property insurance
    4. business insurance
  8. Negotiable Instruments
    1. cheques
    2. bills of exchange
    3. promissory notes
  9. Consumer Protection
    1. British Columbia Sale of Goods Act
      1. contracts of sale of goods
      2. risk and passing of property
      3. implied conditions and warranties 
      4. special remedies under the Sale of Goods Act
    2. relevant provisions under the British Columbia Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act.
  10. Intellectual Property
    1. trade-marks law
    2. copyright
    3. patents, trade secrets and confidential information
Learning activities

Lectures, videos, analysis of legal issues, discussion of legal cases, case assignments, and/or group activities.

Means of assessment
Term Examinations (2-3) 55-65%*
Class participation and/or assignments and/or quizzes     5-10%
Final Examination 25-35%
  100%

*No one examination may be worth more than 40%

Students may conduct research as part of their coursework in this class. Instructors for the course are responsible for ensuring that student research projects comply with College policies on ethical conduct for research involving humans, which can require obtaining Informed Consent from participants and getting the approval of the Douglas College Research Ethics Board prior to conducting the research.

Learning outcomes

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

  • distinguish between the main forms of business organizations
  • identify the important legal aspects pertaining to corporate governance including the powers, duties and liabilities of officers and directors and the rights and remedies of shareholders
  • describe the use of security interests to finance personal property and set out the rights available to creditors to enforce their rights
  • recognize the main requirements for a bankruptcy claim and outline the key aspects of a bankruptcy proceeding
  • summarize the different interests and legal mechanisms relating to personal property
  • identify the main legal principles relating to negotiable instruments, insurance and guarantees
  • explain the key elements of sale of goods legislation and related, relevant consumer protection legislation
  • demonstrate knowledge of relevant aspects of the Competition Act as it pertains to mergers and acquisitions
  • recount germane facets of the law of intellectual property, including the law of copyrights, trade marks, and patents
  • apply the legal principles that are contained in this course to real world situations and cases; and
  • state the more significant provincial and federal statutes pertaining to the foregoing areas of law. 
Textbook materials

McInnes, Kerr, VanDuzer and Carmody, Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, Latest Edition (Toronto: Pearson Education Canada), or

Other textbook(s) as approved by the Business Law Department, and

Additional cases and/or readings as per the Instructor's discretion. 

Requisites

Prerequisites

BLAW 1320 (C or higher) or an approved substitute

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

BUSN 3720

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer details for BLAW 3720
Alexander College (ALEX) No credit
Athabasca University (AU) DOUG BLAW 1320 (3) & DOUG BLAW 3720 (3) = AU LGST 2XX (3) & AU LGST 369 (3)
Athabasca University (AU) AU LGST 3XX (3)
Capilano University (CAPU) CAPU BADM 307 (3)
Coast Mountain College (CMTN) DOUG BLAW 3710 (3) & DOUG BLAW 3720 (3) = CMTN BLAW 152 (3)
College of New Caledonia (CNC) CNC LAW 2XX (3)
College of the Rockies (COTR) COTR MGMT 3XX (3)
Coquitlam College (COQU) No credit
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) KPU BUSI 2XXX (3)
Northern Lights College (NLC) No credit
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU BUS 2XX (3)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) TRU BLAW 2XXX (3)
University Canada West (UCW) UCW BUSI 325 (3)
University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) UBCV COMM_V 3rd (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) No credit
Vancouver Community College (VCC) No credit

Course Offerings

Winter 2025