Westermann, Kimberly  

Prof. Westermann is a great instructor for Accounting Ethics and makes this class very engaging. During class time she has a lot of class discussion and movies related to ethics. Mixed feelings on the assigned reading. The Honest Truth About Dishonesty is by far one of the best books I have read in school, however, the textbook is so rough. I could not stay awake to read one chapter from start to finish but the previous instructor for this class, Prof. Mintz, wrote the textbook. The exams were very fair despite what I had heard prior to taking this course so I believe she took the feedback and adjusted the course appropriately. The groups are small (2-3) and are chosen by students, which helps a lot. There are 5 short case assignments and a bigger (very enjoyable) movie project at the end of the quarter, along with one mid term and one final. Highly recommend this course.

She has a very weird teaching style that some students like, but I felt like it was ineffective. I did not take much away from the lectures and often found myself getting lost or confused by them. The videos seemed to drag on for forever too. Lectures did not match up with anything on the tests for the most part in my opinion, and good luck with the boring ass textbook. Oh, and she comes off as nice, but I think she believes she is above all because she has her PhD, smh.

Don't recommend, avoid if possible

Kim is awesome!! Please take her if you can! I am so inspired by her and she is just so kickass. Her exams are very fair but difficult but I enjoy going to class. She is super nice and always willing to answer questions and makes every student feel important.

Kim was a really great professor. We had no tests only pop quizzes and a few group projects throughout the course. It was a really manageable course and I learned a lot of important information about the CPA rules that I did not know before.

Readings are really really long, probably longer than any other class I've had. Everyone around me seems to agree and often falls asleep while reading. In her group assignments, she emphasizes "short and concise" writing......the authors/articles she chooses seem to not follow that. I think she's a nice woman but maybe doesn't have a good understanding of her students.

Too hard

DO NOT TAKE, AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Honestly, Westermann deserves more credit. Her polyrating score should be so much higher because I honestly enjoyed her ethics class so much! Her discussions in class are so insightful and it encourages so many students to participate. I do agree that the reading load is a bit much, but her reading quizzes are very manageable IF you do the reading. I did every reading and I was worried about the quizzes, but managed to score 23-25 (out of 25) for almost all my quizzes. She also DROPS your two lowest scores, which is great and allows you to have "off-days" where you just don't feel like doing the reading. I love how she doesn't have any midterms or exams. She replaces what WOULD be your exam grade with these quizzes, so honestly, the amount of reading you must do and the preparation for the quizzes is SO worth it. The time you spend reading for quizzes and how much you would spend reading and studying for an exam anyways (just distributed over time). Everyone has differing opinions about the quizzes though, and I can see why some may not find it agreeable because of the time commitment per week. If you have a light-ish load, this class is very manageable.

Don't be deceived in thinking this class will be easy because there isn't a midterm or final. Most of your grades depend on quizzes and case assignments. The grading of both are highly subjective and since Westermann doesn't use a grading rubric, she's able to artificially create a grading distribution of whatever she wants; by doing this, almost no one gets any form of A in her class (mostly Cs and Bs). She also gives next to no feedback on how she graded a paper so when I went to office hours to ask her why my group did poorly on a case she said she couldn't remember the specifics but was "sure there was a good reason." Also quizzes are graded unreasonably: For example I put "khashogi" and got it wrong since the answer was "khashoggi." RIDICULOUS. She's a nice person and acts like she's understanding, but isn't when your back is turned. I think this is either because she's just not a great teacher, or because she's partly sociopathic; Not the best traits for an ethics professor.... If you decide to take her class, you'll find out soon enough.

Kim's class is extremely organized. She does an awesome job making her audit lectures awakening and interesting, which is challenging considering the nature of material covered. Her teaching style is refreshing as she incorporates videos, personal experiences, and real life examples. She comes off as a young professor who is very laid back and genuinely willing to listen to our feedback. Midterms tend to be challenging, but you will probably have to sit for the CPA at some point if you are taking this class and should expect a level of difficulty at least similar if not higher. There is exra-credit available to make up for a midterm that did not go too well, so from a difficulty standpoint I would say it's fair game. If you are looking for an easy A without putting some work into it, this is probably not the best class for you. Yet if you want to learn and understand what audit is about while putting moderate amount of work and getting a good grade, she gets the job done. It definitely takes a lot of effort to FAIL her class so you should be fine!

Eh, so-so professor, grades okay, not very helpful in office hours, you should be able to pass, but this class is not an easy A, requires a good portion of your time, most get C's

Overall, I really enjoyed this class and this professor. She presented the material clearly every day. She does cold call on students and there are extra credit quizzes once a week, so make sure that you keep up with the reading if you don't want to look foolish in class. She seems genuinely interested in teaching students and seemed very receptive to feedback. Her class consisted of 5 cases (group), 2 midterms, one group project, and one non-cumulative final. Her midterms were extremely difficult to do well on. First midterm the highest grade was an 80. Definitely NOT an easy A class. I would say majority of people got Bs and Cs. The weekly extra credit definitely does make a difference though so keep up with reading and choose a good group for your cases and project!

She is a good addition to the accounting department at Cal Poly because she tries to convey the material that is most applicable to real world application. The cases are easy and the midterms and final are difficult. The best way to do well in this class is to take notes before class on the chapter and then doing the questions at the back of the book after class. DO NOT BUY THE EDITION SHE TELLS YOU TO GET. GET THE PREVIOUS EDITION! It is exponentially cheaper and everything is the same, even the questions at the end of each chapter.

In class lectures are good and easy to comprehend. However, she fails to understand the gaps where students have problems. She also thinks her exams are easier than they really are- listen to those below, the exams are extremely difficulty-listening in class will not help you pass these exams. I'd say everyone I talked to thought the exams were more difficult than they were meant to be. Try to take Tad if possible

Kim is an extreamly nice person and is easy to talk to and get along with. She does make the class interesting in her lectures. However her tests are impossible to get an A on and she's terrible at recognizing student difficulties. "Hey Kim since the average was a 70 and the high was an 80 do you think you'll make the test a little more forgiving next time".... "Nope test seemed fair". She really underestamates how hard she makes the exams. overall fun and nice professor but incredibly DIFFICULT if you want a good GPA don't take Kim try to get Tad instead. You will put in a lot of work and not see much in the way of a good grade

I really enjoyed taking Audit with Kim and am glad I took her class over Tad's. I was never bored in class, she kept information relevant and applicable to the real world, and was a breath of fresh air compared to the older professors in the accounting department. She is extremely knowledable in her field, but also has first hand experience of working for the big four accounting and would share the positives and negatives of the accounting industry. Her tests were very hard to well on, I got solid C+'s on every exam and I studied soooo much. That being said, her multiple choice questions are definitely similar to the CPA exam which we all have to take at some point! Although I only got C's i always thought test were fair and reasonable. The assignments pad your grade so much they're super easy points, and once you figure out how to do well on the extra credit quizzes you can start acing those too. I was super close to getting an A- at the end, ended up with a B+ and feel like I learned a lot. Take her class she's a wonderful teacher!!!

I cannot say enough good things about Dr. Westermann. She is without a doubt the best professor I've had from the accounting department. Her lectures are engaging and interesting and the midterms challenging but fair. I got a D on the first and C on the second, but there were no trick questions. She is everything the accounting department should be. I wish I was staying at Cal Poly longer so I could take more classes from her. She really listens to student feedback and actually adjusts her course in response to their critique. She is such a valuable resource to the accounting department and I hope she remains at Cal Poly for a long, long time.

Kim makes the class as interesting as she can. She really cares about all the students and makes an effort to answer questions and makes sure everyone understands. There were 3 tests which were all very reasonable, the concepts are not too difficult there is just a lot of information that you need to know. Memorizing all the parts of the different topics was what I found helpful. The projects aren't too bad, just make sure you are concise. The ECO's help a ton in the end.

Her tests were way too hard and her grading of projects was very subjective. Her lectures were interesting but will not help you for exams. I wish I had taken Tad. Her class was extremely stressful and not worth it. She is new teacher and will be around for awhile. I am graduating but I feel bad for all the students to come and will have to taker her. Avoid if possible.

Kim is very passionate about Auditing and she is an effective lecturer. Having said that, she is not very personable, and I felt as though she was very uninterested in her students on an individual level. Despite not getting along on a personal level, her class is EFFECTIVE, and it is possible to do well if you are willing to work very hard.

This professor is does not do a good job teaching and does not know how to connect with students. She gives arbitrary grades and thinks she is the best teacher around. The class is structured weird and does not help you learn to audit. Hopefully she will find a better way to teach if not try and take auditing with a different professor.

Kim is the karen of OCOB: a lady on a power trip who has somehow convinced herself she's the shit despite all signs pointing otherwise. On top of that, her teaching and people skills are subpar at best and class is a waste of time. Could be useful material but Kim sucks the soul out of anything remotely interesting or fun. Think of a narc or teacher's pet, but grown up. Not to mention, she is difficult to respect as a person. Would avoid if possible.