ACC 660 is SNHU’s Controllership course. It centers on controllership: the controller's role and ethics, the financial close, budgeting and forecasting, cash management and covenant compliance, performance measurement and KPIs, internal control across locations, acquisition integration, management and board reporting and building the finance function. Every module below opens a full sample paper or takes a free request for one; searches like "acc 660 module 3", "ACC660 sample paper" and "ACC 660 milestone example" land on this page.
What ACC 660 is really about
ACC 660 is SNHU's graduate controllership course, and its assignments ask how a controller would actually run a process: what to change in the close, which drivers belong in a budget, how much cash headroom is enough, which add-back to refuse. Strong work combines accounting knowledge with operating judgment and states recommendations with their costs and risks. A paper that describes best practice without fitting it to the company's size, systems and owners earns less than one that makes choices.
The samples on this shelf share one composite company, a group of 14 specialty and emergency veterinary hospitals in Colorado and Utah, about $210 million of revenue, owned by a private equity fund since 2022 and financed with a term loan that carries debt-to-EBITDA and fixed charge covenants. It buys one or two hospitals a year. The company and its figures are illustrative.
What ACC 660’s modules ask for
Across ten modules, ACC 660 typically asks for discussions on the controller's role, adjusted earnings and ethics, and controls across sites, assignments on the close process, cash forecasting and acquisition integration, three final project milestones on budgeting, a KPI dashboard and the lender and board package, and a final project presenting a plan to improve the finance function.
Where students lose points in ACC 660
The most common ACC 660 deduction is a recommendation with no cost, owner or timeline, which reads as a wish list. The second is treating management reporting like external reporting, so dashboards and budgets carry accounting detail no operator uses. Graders also mark down ethics discussions that stop at naming the IMA standards without saying what the controller would do. Writing each recommendation as an action, an owner and a measure fixes most of these.
The ACC 660 drawers
ACC 660 Module 1 Discussion example
An opening post on how a controller's job changes when a private equity fund owns the company, told through a composite group of 14 veterinary hospitals in Colorado and Utah: the scorekeeper, steward and business partner roles, faster and more frequent reporting to the sponsor and lenders, covenant compliance, acquisition work and the tension between serving operators and the owner, with Kaplan and Stromberg, Maas and Matejka and Roehl-Anderson. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 660 Module 2 Close Process Assignment example
A close process assignment for the controller of a composite group of 14 veterinary hospitals whose monthly close takes 12 business days while its private equity owner wants a flash by day three and full reporting by day five: the current close mapped by day, the bottlenecks in revenue feeds, pharmacy counts, payroll accruals and late reconciliations, a redesigned calendar from day minus three to day five, automation and a materiality policy for accruals, staffing, costs of about $216,000 in the first year and measures of success, with Roehl-Anderson, Ettredge, Li and Sun and Merchant and Van der Stede. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 660 Module 3 Milestone One example
A first final project milestone building the 2026 operating budget for a composite group of 14 veterinary hospitals from operating drivers rather than last year plus a percentage: visits and average invoice for revenue, veterinarian headcount and productivity, support staff per doctor, drug and supply costs as a share of revenue, fixed facility and overhead costs, a budget of $227 million of revenue and $48.6 million of EBITDA, the participation process and slack, sensitivity to visits and veterinarian hiring, and a quarterly rolling forecast, with Hansen, Otley and Van der Stede, Libby and Lindsay and Indjejikian and Matejka. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 660 Module 4 Discussion example
A discussion post on a request from a private equity sponsor's operating partner to add back $5 million to a veterinary hospital group's EBITDA before a covenant test: deal fees that qualify, recurring recruiting and IT costs that do not, and unrealized synergies the loan agreement may cap, what the IMA's ethical standards require of the controller, the steps for resolving the conflict and what research says about adjusted earnings, with the IMA statement, Black, Christensen, Ciesielski and Whipple and Dichev, Graham, Harvey and Rajgopal. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 660 Module 5 Cash Management Assignment example
A cash management assignment for the controller of a composite veterinary hospital group: a 13-week direct cash forecast from $4.37 million of weekly card receipts, biweekly payroll, supplier, rent, tax, bonus, interest and capital payments and a $14 million hospital acquisition, cash falling near zero in weeks 9 and 13, revolver draws to hold a $2 million operating minimum, the liquidity covenant, a debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 5.4 against a 5.5 limit after the deal, and actions to widen the margin, with Kim, Mauer and Sherman, Roehl-Anderson and Graham, Harvey and Rajgopal. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 660 Module 6 Milestone Two example
A second final project milestone designing a monthly KPI dashboard for the directors and medical directors of a composite group of 14 veterinary hospitals: a balanced set of financial, client, process and people measures, leading indicators such as referral sources and emergency wait times, targets and peer comparisons, data sources and owners, what the dashboard leaves out, links to bonuses and how to avoid gaming, with Kaplan and Norton, Ittner and Larcker and Banker, Potter and Srinivasan. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 660 Module 7 Discussion example
A discussion post on internal control across a composite group of 14 veterinary hospitals where each site handles its own client discounts, cash, controlled drugs and time entry with a handful of front-desk and pharmacy staff: why segregation of duties breaks down at small sites, which risks matter most, what central monitoring and analytics can replace, and how to keep local autonomy, with Doyle, Ge and McVay, Ashbaugh-Skaife, Collins, Kinney and LaFond and Roehl-Anderson. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 660 Module 8 Acquisition Integration Assignment example
An acquisition integration assignment for the controller of a composite veterinary hospital group that has just bought a Fort Collins emergency hospital for $14 million: the opening balance sheet and purchase accounting with a noncompete and goodwill, the working capital true-up against a $600,000 peg, payroll, banking and card processing cutover, chart of accounts mapping and the revenue feed, controlled substance registrations, the first close, retaining the selling veterinarian and measures of a successful integration, with Hoyle, Schaefer and Doupnik, the FASB's business combinations standard and Roehl-Anderson. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 660 Module 9 Milestone Three example
A third final project milestone preparing the third-quarter reporting package for the board and lenders of a composite veterinary hospital group: an executive summary, revenue $1.7 million below budget split into a $1.27 million volume shortfall and a $0.45 million mix effect, an EBITDA bridge from $12.0 million budgeted to $10.9 million actual, liquidity and the covenant calculations, acquisition updates, risks and outlook, and how adjusted EBITDA is presented and reconciled, with Roehl-Anderson, Bradshaw and Sloan and Dichev, Graham, Harvey and Rajgopal. Full sample paper, read it free.
ACC 660 Module 10 Final Project example
A final project laying out an 18-month roadmap for the finance function of a composite private equity-backed veterinary hospital group preparing for a sale in 2027: an assessment of people, process, systems and reporting against what a buyer will examine, eight initiatives from the five-day close and driver-based budget to a consolidation tool and a quality of earnings readiness review, a revised team structure, costs of about $640,000 a year, sequencing, risks and measures, with Kaplan and Stromberg, Maas and Matejka and Roehl-Anderson. Full sample paper, read it free.
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Using a ACC 660 sample the right way
Read an ACC 660 sample by looking for the decision in each section and the cost, owner and measure attached to it. When those are present, the sample shows the practical judgment this course grades. For ACC 660, send the case, the guidelines and the rubric, and the first custom sample comes back free within 24-48h.
ACC 660 questions, answered
What does ACC 660 cover?
The controller's role, the close, budgeting and forecasting, cash and covenants, performance measurement, controls, acquisitions, reporting to boards and lenders and building the finance team.
Is ACC 660 more managerial or financial accounting?
Both: it uses financial reporting knowledge for the close and lender reporting and managerial methods for budgets, KPIs and decisions.
What does the ACC 660 final project involve?
Most sections ask for an improvement plan for a case company's finance function, built from milestones on budgeting, performance measurement and reporting.