James McKinney

This professor has taught: BMGT310, BMGT326, BMGT422, BMGT428C, BUAC716, BUAC722, BUAC735, BUAC758A, BUAC758E, BUAC758H, BUAC758O

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James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/20/2023	One good thing about this class is you don't have to buy a textbook because he puts all the information on the slides. However, this means his lectures go over a bunch of information and it can be hard to pay attention. As much as you'll want to skip, you really shouldn't because you get graded on attendance. The homework assignments are loosely related to what we learned in class and if you ask him a question about it, he will most likely give you a vague answer that won't help you at all. Work with other people on the homework, do not do it alone. I've also heard he actually helps you if you go to his office hours. The group projects aren't that bad as long as you pay attention to the details and go through the problem document at the end. You will need to check your work multiple times. Pick a good group because you'll have to work with them all semester. We had a midterm and a final (cumulative, but not really). For both, we got one double-sided, handwritten note sheet. The midterm was reasonable, but the final wasn't. Thankfully, there was a significant curve on the final. Just try and fail less in comparison to the rest of class lol. You can also get extra credit by attending 10 accounting related club meetings, so definitely go (most provide free dinner anyway). Also, make sure you start attending those early because by the end of the semester there aren't as many meetings.
James McKinney BMGT326 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/22/2022	Prof. McKinney is a great professor, really nice guy. He's probably a very good resource when it comes to networking and whatnot, he's always posting opportunities from KPMG, Deloitte, etc. But yeah, I agree with the rest of these reviews, his slides can be fairly off topic except for a handful of multiple choice questions on the exams. Not to say you shouldn't go to class though, he takes attendance and often says some things you might miss that pertain to exams or projects. But I did find myself tuning out a bit in class when he was lecturing on and on. Exams aren't terribly difficult, you get a 2-sided note sheet and the content does pertain pretty well to the projects you do and some of the slides. I would take his class again overall.
James McKinney BMGT326 Anonymous 11/16/2022	Nice guy, but their lectures do not feel like they include any real information. The HWs are your best bet to doing well on the exams. There are no practice exams and you won't need to buy the textbook. there is a lot of conceptual information in this class so it can be hard to pick out the relevant information you need to know for exams, but its not a super hard class.
James McKinney BMGT422 Anonymous 10/21/2022	Nice person but I understand nothing from this class. His lectures just aren't that effective for me and the slides are filled with so much information. The questions he asks on the in-class assignments make no sense.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/25/2020	McKinney is an interesting guy for sure. To be frank, the lectures were some of the most driest, boring ones I've ever sat through. That being said, McKinney covers a great deal of information and provides all the material up front. Be sure to participate (in class and the online forum), watch the lectures online, check your hw with each other for accuracy, and practice the worksheets to do well on the individual portion of your grade. As for group work, be sure to join a group of reliable students for the group projects and delegate tasks accordingly. It counts for a large chunk of your grade so double and triple check your work, since it is graded harshly. The midterm is difficult, I advise prepping at least a week or two in advance. Make sure your cheat sheet is on point. The final is damn near impossible. Practically everyone fails so just try not to fail badly lol. Class is curved but don't take these exams lightly. Take the class with McKinney if you can, he's a nice dude and will answer your questions promptly.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/15/2015	Professor McKinney is a horrible teacher. He is extremely boring and he simply cannot teach. His slides are awful and provide no valuable information. His class is poorly structured and it is hell to sit through. McKinney would make a wonderful TA, but he is the worst professor I have ever had at this university. He is one of the only professors that teaches the course, so I had to take him. The assignments aren't terrible, but I can honestly say I haven't learned a thing in his class. I am not sure why McKinney has a job as a professor.. he is horrible.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/06/2014	He's okay. I also took him for BMGT428D (accounting research), and I realized he is just a weird guy. He is a decent lecturer, but he spends a majority of some classes babbling about extra credit opportunities, news articles, your group project, etc., instead of actually teaching the course material. But he does test on all the material from the slides, a lot of which he skips over. He also expects you to read the course notes before you get to the class where he teaches you that material, and will call on people to talk about what he is about to teach. That's odd, because last time I checked he is the one being paid to explain the course, not us students. It's a really odd way to inspire class participation. His tests are really difficult, and I feel like he takes some pride in making them that way. He does curve each exam though, so even if you do poorly you definitely stand a chance of getting an A/B. I'm pretty sure almost everyone ends up with an A or B in the class unless you don't study. So in summary, he isn't a bad teacher, but he isn't really good either. He's just weird. You'll do well as long as you study the course slides and listen to his small hints throughout the semester in class.
James McKinney BMGT422 Anonymous 05/31/2014	I would probably give him 3.5 stars. He's good in the aspect that he provides you all of your study materials upfront, so you can control your learning to a good extent. He seems like a relatively nice person, and he doesn't have bad intentions. In terms of his teaching, he isn't great. He mumbles a lot of the time. He's not very concise or coherent. It doesn't help that it's hard to read his handwriting too. I don't agree with the person who said his slides aren't useful without the lecture. You'll learn in his class because he gives a pretty heavy workload, not because of his lectures. If you're looking at the recent reviews, he's overrated. He's not as bad as some people think though. I'm not surprised that he used to be condescending, but he's changed.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting an A+ sukhenkoy1990 05/21/2013	Professor McKinney is a great professor - one of the best in the business school. He is extremely clear with his assignments and directions and truly wants his students to succeed. Those students who perceive his tips and tricks to do well on group assignments as being condescending are those that are foolish enough not to follow Professor McKinney's advice. Also, contrary to popular belief, all of his assignments are very fair. His midterm exam was very similar to the practice worksheets that we do in class, and his final exam was very similar (conceptually) to group projects 2 and 3 and individual assignments 3 and 4. Professor McKinney basically tells you what to focus on for his final, so be wise and focus on those subjects. He is very good at explaining the concepts in a manner that students can more easily understand. Overall, he is top-notch.
James McKinney BMGT422 Anonymous 04/28/2013	whoever is writing these good reviews is either mckinney or insane. the class is naturally difficult which is fine, but so are most business school classes. he makes it unnaturally painful. i should have known when he emailed the class 4 months before the semester started.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting an A+ ksooklal 12/21/2012	Best professor I've had at the University of Maryland, or at least, best Accounting professor within the Smith School. I had a good grade before the final, only studied about three hours the night before the final, and got an 83 raw score on the final (before the curve, after the curve it was an A+) and then got an A+ overall in the class. He's a very fair grader with an extremely generous exam curve and a very fair amount of extra credit in the class too. To say everyone fails the final is an exaggeration, because I personally came into the final needing only a 40% to get a C in the class (which was all I really needed to graduate) and I still got an 83 (A+) on the final.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting an A bubes29 12/20/2012	Everyone hates on this guy but he is really not that bad. Yes, he will give you a lot of work. Deal with it. This class will have you 90% prepared for the Audit portion of the CPA exam if you can get an A, which is more important than the letter grade. He gives three projects and they take some group work but if you meet with your group twice, you will be set for the project. His tests are very difficult but he gives you a cheat sheet like he does for all of his classes. For 428C he decided to drop one of the projects which was a huge help. He is extremely reasonable and he really wants everyone to do well in the class and be prepared for the profession when they graduate. Yes the class is tough, but it will get you prepared for the future. Also, lots of extra credit. Offered at least once, usually twice a week.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2012	Professor McKinney is a good professor if you listen in class. He provides you with all of the resources that you need to do well: worksheets, group assignments, on-line videos. But you need to go to class. If you miss a class, you'll be missing a lot of material. His lecture slides aren't very useful without his actual lectures. Some people have said he gives out a lot of busy work, but I would say that it was helpful for exam preparations. He does curve a fair amount.
James McKinney BMGT422 jkTERP123 12/15/2012	The class is hard but he is a good teacher for the class. If he was more personable as the previous posters are complaining about then he probably wouldn't have a doctorate in accounting. Well structured class and he saves you money by not using a textbook.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/20/2012	"beware he'll fail you on final" i for one got a D( failed) the final,but curved that was an A. So don't get scared by that. Many people perceived this class as extremely difficult, well it is. Audit isn't an easy course, but McKinney gives you all the necessary tools to do well, is up to you to so well. If you are taking this class because you wanna have a career in audit, i would recommend chossing McKinney.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting a - Anonymous 05/19/2012	Don't take this teacher unless you like hell. Any teacher who takes a picture of you the first day of class is a joke. His projects suck and require insane amounts of work with extremely picky grading. Individual assignments are a pain as well. He gives way to many projects back to back without any regard. His exams are impossible, the material on the exams is much harder then the material provided for studying. Overall worst teacher I've ever had and would never take him again. His teaching method sucks as well, thanks for reading me the powerpoint prick. I can do that by myself without looking at his big head for over an hour. Someone please audit this guys teaching method. Many mistatements would be found douche.
James McKinney BMGT422 Anonymous 12/20/2011	If you take his class, the only thing I can say is, take care. He will fail you on the final.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/13/2011	Professor McKinney is not near as bad as people make him think. His classes are fairly organized and follow the lecture slides. There is usually a worksheet at the end of class that you complete as a group to get participation points. He also passes out candy every class period. Attendance is mandatory but he allows 6 absences for the year. He has a class website where he posts everything from the class. On the website is a forum that you have to post on 3 times throughout the year. The forum is very helpful during the projects because people will post questions about the assignments and either other people or McKinney himself will answer. The class consists of 1 exam and 1 final, 3 group projects, and 4 individual assignments. The midterm is not that hard and is like the worksheets that you do at the end of class. The group projects are a pain in the butt. He provides fairly detailed instructions and instructional videos on how to do them, but they still take forever and there are a lot of places to make mistakes. The individual assignments are fairly easy. Overall, the class is not that bad. It is true that he tends to mumble a lot, but it's really not that bad. It does seem like he has a bit of an ego, but if you're not a smartass to him then you'll be fine.
James McKinney BMGT428C Expecting a B+ Anonymous 11/17/2011	I don't know why everybody is saying what they are saying below this comment but this professor isn't bad at all. He's generous, well intentioned and understanding. I had some family issues that resulting in my not caring enough to make it to one of his exams. I was straight up and told him the deal. He was understanding and let me take it after I missed it twice (yes, twice- I was begging to drop the course). Yeah there's some work involved to do well in the course but he simply wants students in one of the best accounting programs in the nation to go out and succeed. No biggie. Don't take those bitter reviewers below too seriously. It's just some voluntary response bias. Give this guy a chance, he wants to see everybody do well.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/02/2011	Best professor ever, however little bit mean as a person.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting an A toiletpaper55 07/26/2011	I have been waiting to write this review for some time. This class has really has made my life unnecessarily difficult over the past semester. I am extremely thankful that I can graduate and put this all behind me. Nevertheless, I feel obligated, more than ever, to pass on some insight on BMG422 and Professor McKinney. Only after taking the final did I truly understand the kind of person that professor that McKinney is. If you want to know the secret to the class and his final, feel free to skip to the end of the review but continue reading if you want hard found insight. (this is a compilation of opinions, thoughts and insights from multiple attempts to write this so bear with me if it is repetitive) Bmgt422 with McKinney is by far the worst class required of accounting majors and possibly of all majors at the University of Maryland. For a school with such a reputable accounting program it’s a tragedy that students have no choice but to take such an important course - audit with McKinney. I believe the fact that the average course grade for this class has been at an acceptable level has skewed the appearance of the course’s difficulty. Furthermore, grades have been artificially inflated due to the course work consisting of relatively easy assignments, group work, attendance, and theoretical midterm. Attendance is mandatory and laptop usage is not permitted. Do not be swayed by his top40 playlist at the beginning of class and his pathetic attempts at bribery – a piece of fun-sized candy during class, this class will be a waste of your life. You are literally paying $43 for every class he wastes so hold your professor accountable and complete the reviews. McKinney is demeaning and condescending towards his students. He often repeats stupid, snide remarks when talking about projects and how students make mistakes and therefore receive poor grades. Obviously by this point in our academic careers we understand that not doing things correctly will result in poor grades. It’s a moot point that he beats to death. Professors being condescending towards their students is not a new thing, yet as I will address later, his actions to intentionally trick students while being a demeaning smart ass should not be acceptable. His lectures are extremely mundane and his slides are literally blocks and blocks of words. He mumbles when he lectures and has an extremely negative attitude towards anyone who dares to stop his class to clarify a concept. Is our education and understanding more important or is his ability to exert complete control over the class room more important… What’s worse is that he will personally stop the entire class if anyone turns to another and attempts any form of communication. The participation consists of filling out a worksheet, which everyone just guesses on since no one has actually learns anything from lecture. He wastes multiple class periods going over the projects that already have extensive, multi-paged directions and online instructional videos. What’s worse is that his videos are literally just hours of him mumbling again. He will stutter over key vocabulary words. Yes – vocab words. For someone who has been in the profession for as long as he has been, he has the worst communication skills of any professor I have ever witnessed. An hour long video will take 2 or 3 times as long to watch and understand because you have to keep rewinding. He will get lost in a train of thought and then jump around confusing concepts he should be able to easily explain. What drives me nuts is that for someone who prides himself on being technologically savvy, he does not have to decency to actually edit out his mistakes. You’d think technology would solve issues like these but in this case, technology only magnifies them. He literally demands 100% attention within the classroom. After a few classes, you’ll understand what type of person McKinney is – a weak, insecure, arrogant one. He yearns for affection from his students and tries so hard to be accepted. I’d sympathize with him if he weren’t such an egomaniac that thrives off his position of power. His self-named website, MckinneyPhD.net, and his self-made projects are only proof that he has to be in control of everything. I could go on and on about how bad this class was but it would make little difference. Don’t stand for such a subpar, pompous professor. Don’t allow him to answer your questions as if they were the stupidest, most ridiculous questions in the world. He fears the ones who don’t put up with his crap because it affects his ability to exercise complete, totalitarian control over his classroom. In conclusion, this is a class where attendance and attention are demanded from the professor despite the class being neither stimulating nor remotely enjoyable. The professor is among the worst of the worst and does not deserve to teach at Maryland. Now for the insight only received after taking the final: Mckinney purposely misdirects students in what they must study in order to succeed. He gets great joy out of this as is apparent by his snide remarks throughout the semester. He took great pride in bragging about how many students failed his final despite doing well during the beginning of the class. 50% averages for an accounting final? Impossible! After all, accounting material is limited, unless - of course, the professor purposely intends to hurt demoralize students. This is apparent to me after taking the final exam. Even his review videos are a mockery to those who try to gain even the smallest amount of value from them. His final is based almost entirely on the group work, the individual assignments (particularly assignment 4, which no one does since he drops the lowest of the 3 assignments) and the in class examples. Despite this, he posts long videos blabbering about the useless slides rarely ever mentioning any of the assignments as examples. While he drops hints at the importance of group assignments, HIS FINAL REVIEW VIDEO DOES NOT TOUCH ANY OF THE CONCEPTS LEARNED THROUGH THE GROUP ASSIGNMENTS. As in, he teaches everything other than what you need in order to succeed on the final. WORSE OF ALL, HE INTENTIALLY COLLECTS COMPLETED GROUP ASSIGNMENTS AFTER THEY ARE GRADED AND TAKES THE ASSIGNMENTS OFF HIS WEBSITE MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO STUDY THE NECESSARY CONCEPTS FOR THE FINAL. It is important to note that without the packet of crap (source documents or whatever they’re called), the answers that students have are essentially worthless. THEREFORE, IF YOU WANT TO SUCCEED ON THE FINAL, MAKE A COPY OF YOUR ANSWERS FOR THE GROUP ASSIGNMENTS AND COPY/SAVE THE SOURCE DOCUMENTS AND DO INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT 4. The material is not hard. It’s just impossible to do well on a final that tests material that you cannot review. The culmination of these factors drive me to imagine a young, hard-working, but extremely awkward Mckinney determined to succeed in the wide world of accounting. I bet he excelled in school and didn’t mind doing the most work in his accounting groups being so in love with the subject. but as Mckinney entered the work force, he was soon surpassed by his less studious, more social peers and could not make it past manager. Realizing his future in the public accounting industry was limited, Mckinney pursued teaching where his failures and insecurities manifested themselves in his negative attitude towards students and need to dominate the classroom at all times. Oh, I ended up with an A- =]
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/18/2011	Terrible teacher, it's embarrassing to sit through his classes.
James McKinney BMGT422 greivis vasquez 05/12/2011	This guy is one of the biggest douchebags ive ever met. He mumbles his words, grades INSANELY HARD, and overall is a control freak. His material is very boring, and he talks down to all of his students. He is not approachable, stumbles upon his words and does not clearly go back to correct his errors. Midterm is similar to the sample, and he takes his questions from old work sheets. His later classes always do better since students tell eachother what to write on their note sheets and first class gets worse grades because of the curve. Unfortunately he is the only professor teaching the class. Our class has spoken to administration multiple times about him and i suggest you do the same. horrible professor, and even worse of a person
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/11/2011	I will give you the low down regarding this professor and the audit course that he attempts to teach. Let's get one thing straight. He doesn't teach in either the traditional sense or the transformational sense. Don't expect to a) learn anything or b) walk away feeling transformed with a new base of audit knowledge. His teaching style will not help you learn anything about audit but you will learn a thing or two about psychology when you witness his gargantuan ego interfere with genuine student engagement. At the beginning you will have a chance to see firsthand the mammoth size of his ego when he mocks students’ responses but over time, you will realize that under all those layers of ego lies an insecure, affection yearning, weak-minded individual. This pulsating ego, however, surprisingly doesn’t influence his teaching style, which is tantamount to that of a disconnected autistic child. However, having often interacted with wonderful autistic children, I can say that even they are more insightful and brilliant in conversation than this professor will ever be at a cocktail party. News flash: a PhD in accounting and a CPA doesn't make you as intelligent as an individual with either a PhD in applied mathematics or biomedical engineering. How does this ego come out in class? He is extremely arrogant in addressing students' questions and concerns. His tone is totally and clearly sarcastic and pompous about 95% of the time. He often makes you feel as if your answer to a question he poses is legitimately retarded, and calls you out in front of everybody when you are texting discreetly, blasting you with an arrogant remark. He must not perceive students as adults or something and needs to compensate for loss of control in other areas of his life by running a totalitarian, OCD classroom. So, beware. For example, somebody once answered a question erroneously, to which he responded, "[arrogant tone] it must have been all that drinking during Spring Break...(incoherent muttering)...kill brain cells [arrogant chuckle and smirk]" after blowing the answer apart with his RPG ego, which launches arrogant comments at meek students. Why is that necessary and how is that fostering an environment where students can ask questions without the fear of being embarrassed in class? The only thing that’s deservedly and really embarrassing besides his undeserved recognitions is how easy this course is, even for a student who doesn’t give a flying sh*t or, say, a deadbeat, alcoholic hobo with methamphetamine shivers. I went through the motions mechanically and simply memorized useless facts to fly through but I can sincerely say I've learned nothing about audit and I got an A. This is very possible for you too. Definitely. You can turn your brain on auto-pilot or appreciate the wonderful expanses of your imagination in this class. Heck, why not write a children's book or practice Swahili on Rosetta Stone during class? This class is perfect for a new hobby since you're more likely to learn how to program in C++ during lecture than anything meaningful from his slides. Why, you might ask? Well, he compiled book information into his own ghetto, “roadmap shoddy,” and meanderingly confusing booklet [why not use the textbook? We would have learned something…] in an inefficient way, putting things out of context together and expecting us to understand it in a holistic way. At least with a real roadmap booklet, you can actually get somewhere but his only sets you up to learn, dare I say it, nothing at all. His delivery and explanation of the material is sloppy and terrible [frequently stumbles over his words, mumbles explanations and conveys a good portion of difficult, technical formula-intensive material by reading it off the slide instead of explaining it in terms that make sense and relating it back to the bigger picture] and, although it was extremely easy for me to get by on auto-pilot, I am confident many students struggled because of this. IF I were given a grain of sand for every time he stumbled over his words, I would be lounging on the Playa de las Salinas with a hooker and a Cuba Libre on the rocks….after one class. I refuse to let another audit course review opportunity go by that insufficiently describes how a majority of students feel about this class [maybe it's his noteworthy curve that appeases the masses; 6% C’s to keep the outspoken, like myself, at bay]. All in all, I am disappointed about having taken a required course by the Robert H. Smith School that fails to quench my thirst for audit, especially since it's what I wanted to do in the short-term. Not anymore. I wish future students luck in this class and I hope the business school actually addresses its real problems. If you can, avoid it like you would avoid herpes simplex II, which he probably caught already during his couple swinging and brothel days in Mumbai.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting a B Anonymous 03/15/2011	He is a nice guy but CAN'T teach at all. He talks too fast, doesn't make coherent sentences and is constantly contradicting himself. The class isn't too bad but his style of teaching is worthless. He would be better off as an auditor than a teacher.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting a B atomasch 05/22/2010	Assignments: Class Participation, four individual and three group assignments, midterm, and final. Participation is based on in-class participation, forum posts, and peer reviews. Group assignments are designed to simulate real-life accounting fieldwork. Midterm is very similar to practice midterm, final is ridiculously hard. This is probably the hardest accounting class, as it is basically one course for one entire section of the CPA exam. I don't think the class is generally full of busy work, except for the first two individual assignments. I agree that McKinney's teaching style is quite a put-off, especially his putdowns of other students. Tough teacher, tough class, but a.) this course was very practical and applicable to the accounting profession, and b.) you really don't have a choice but to take his class if you want an accounting degree.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/26/2010	The coverage of material in the Auditing course is extensive and relevant to future CPAs. This class isn't to be taken lightly as there is much memorization of acronyms (AR,RACTRL,CR,IR to name a few from just one slide) and a few stuff you thought you left behind in statistics. Agree with the review below about his teaching style. He teaches like a straight-from-the-field auditor. He is only professor I've had here that will tear you apart for not understanding what is seemingly obvious to him. I will say that his course website and class forums have been helpful. And, although there were a ton of projects (7 I think), I did learn a lot from them.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/14/2010	I personally do not like his teaching style. It seems like his daily objective isn't to teach the material but to say everything he needs to say at the fastest speed. In the process, he keeps tripping over his words and confusing the heck out of the students. Oh, and once you make a comment that may be seem obvious to him, he will jump on that like hungry hippo jumps on a floating watermelon; instead of a simple "no", he will go on a winded discussion of how that comment is absurd and inconceivably senseless.
James McKinney BMGT422 Expecting an A superstar 05/28/2009	Good professor..just too much busy work...HAS FOUR Individual projects..and THREE group assignments which are graded very strictly so make sure all the detail is correct or kiss an A good bye.. Tips: KNOW the first practice MIDTERM exam he posts on his website...The test is 80% similar..beware that final is very difficut..but doable..just make sure you konw your stuff..OVERALL GOOD PROFESSOR