* The annual accounting system;
* The differences between tax accounting and financial accounting;
* Inventory accounting and the long-term contract method of accounting; Capitalization, depreciation, and amorization;
* Interest, original issue discount, market discount, debt discount, and premium, interest-free, and below-market interest loans;
* Deferred payment sales, primarily installment sales;
* Exceptions to the annual accounting system, including loss and other carryovers, the claim of right doctrine, the tax benefit principle, and the Arrowsmith doctrine; and
* The taxable year (required, permitted and / or elective), changes in taxable year, and changes in accounting method.

Sophisticated realistic problems with a transactional focus are an integral part of Federal Tax Accounting. These problems require careful analysis and application of the code and regulation provisions, administrative pronouncements, case law, and other relevant sources. Perhaps more important for a graduate tax program, the problems not only require careful analysis, but the application requires dealing with situations in which the most careful reading of the materials does not supply the answer.