Business Commons^™

The Mutual Find Scandal: A Day Trading Simulation, Matt Becker

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

The 6.9 trillion dollar mutual fund industry has come under fire due to questionable practices conducted by mutual fund companies. Individual investors trying to diversify with a small amount of money have historically turned to mutual funds. Mutual funds were used as a safe vehicle for investors rather than buying thirty different stocks in order to diversify away unsystematic risk. The perception that mutual fund companies were acting in the best interests of individual investors has been challenged in the past year. Elliot Spitzer, the New York Attorney General, brought to light some illegal and highly questionable activities of mutual …

Rules-Based Vs. Principles-Based Accounting Standards: Analyzing The Impact Of Amending Apb No. 18 To A Principles-Based Standard, Jodi E. Ferring

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

In the above analysis I considered the impact of amending APB No. 18 to a principles-based standard upon implementation, accounting objectives, and management manipulation. The analysis has uncovered both positive and negative aspects to a change in the accounting standards setting process. Implementation would be more costly and require more resources due to applying judgment instead of objective tests. Accounting objectives of comparability and reliability could arguably be improved assuming implementation is accurate. Principles-based accounting standards would not significantly improve consistency. Management structuring of transactions could be decreased assuming accurate implementation. The analysis has discovered that the potential success of …

Paperless Construction: How Contractors Can Adjust To Change In The Industry, Tyler Hackman, James Lindgren, Kerri Rackow, Chris Snyder

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

Paperless construction, in a nut shell, is the use of online or electronic programs for managing contracts, changes, drawings, submittals, RFis, correspondence, lab data, and inspection reports (Construction). The paperless construction movement is making its way through all types of construction, including residential, commercial, and heavy highway. It affects the whole project, from pre-bid, to project management, to closeout, and as the industry constantly becomes more paperless, contractors are forced to make changes in their processes to keep up with the trend. Peters Construction Corporation in Waterloo, Iowa, is an example a company committed to keeping on the leading edge. …

Sox In The Boardroom: The Impact Of Sarbanes-Oxley 2002 On The Corporate Reporting Of The Fortune Fifty, Angela Boedeker

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

When I began this research project I believed that I would find some major differences in reporting between the 2001 and 2002 financial reports of major corporations. My research question was, "What was the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 on the corporate reporting of the top 50 corporations in America as identified by Fortune magazine." Each year Fortune magazine lists the top 500 public corporations in American with the rankings based upon revenues. The results of the 2001 financial reports of these corporations led to the 2002 listing in the magazine; the results of the 2002 financial reports …

Sarbanes-Oxley: A Compliance Case Study, Rachel Kass

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

Sarbanes-Oxley is a piece of legislation passed into law on July 30, 2002 (The Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 With Analysis, 2002, p. iii). The act was developed to, " .. . to enhance public company governance, responsibility, and disclosure (p. l)." The official name of the act is Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act. The name Sarbanes-Oxley comes from the act's co-sponsors: Senator Paul Sarbanes, D-Maryland and Senator Michael Oxley, R-Ohio. (Callaghan, 2004) The legislation adds requirements for publicly held corporations, not private companies, in the United States regarding internal controls and financial reporting. Sarbanes-Oxley, nicknamed SOX, …

Human Resources' Role In Successful Mergers And Acquisitions, Vanessa Loecke

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

In comparing the success of AOL Time Warner's merger and Hewlett-Packard Compaq's merger, it's easy to see who came out the winner. In comparing their merger strategies, including their focus on HR issues, it's also easy to see why mergers and acquisitions need to be analyzed well in advance and include due diligence, including cultural due diligence, integration planning, and analysis of HR issues, including communication and employee retention. If more companies who are considering merging with or acquiring another company would put as much time as they do money into the merger, and analyze some of the key people-related …

E-Commerce: Choosing The Appropriate Tax Model, Jeffrey A. Scudder

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

The Internet's economic role has increased dramatically over the past decade. Along with many benefits, e-commerce has brought with it some important policy questions. One question relates to tax policy, and whether Internet transactions should be subject to sales or use taxes. This paper examines that question, considering factors such as feasibility, efficiency, fairness (virtual v. "brick-and-mortar" retailers), and legality. The relationship between ecommerce tax policy and state and local government revenues will also be addressed. Based on these factors, the evidence suggests that taxing Internet sales would be feasible, efficient, and provide revenue for important public services.

Public Relations In Action: Marketing A New Business, Autumn Visser

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

This paper will discuss previous literature that addresses marketing strategies in public relations processes to create a new business. Relevant public relations' theories will be described and applied, and a new retreat and spa center will be used as a case study. Specific guidelines for marketing a new business will be identified.

Marketing To Hispanics, Jodi Marucheck

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

As Hispanics become more and more visible in the United States, businesses need to recognize this group of consumers as the valuable asset it is. Hispanics are becoming better educated, which leads to higher paying jobs and more buying power. What companies need to realize, though, is that it takes a sincere effort to reach this unique consumer group. Translating the general advertising campaign into Spanish is not sufficient enough to gain this group's loyalty. Companies need to appeal directly to the values and culture of Hispanics in America if they expect to add them to their clientele base. Before …

Financial Management And Uni Students: A Proposal For Financial Education In The General Education Program At Uni, Carrie Schnieders

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

The survey results were compiled ( except where noted) as a whole sample, as no significant differences were found to exist between sex and major. Class standing (and therefore, age) did result in some notable differences in the credit card and student loan categories, which is specified. The first half of the research is to find out what basic financial management skills UNI students have or utilize. The second phase of the research focused on how students felt about their financial knowledge, and if they felt a personal financial management class would be beneficial both to themselves and other students …

Information Resource Management In Emergency Room Medicine: A Case Study, Karmen Seavey

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

The emergency room is one of the fastest-paced, intense places a person can find. Because many of the cases in the ER involve life-or-death decisions, accurate data in a useful format is critical for immediate access of necessary information. Over the last several years, this simple fact has sparked major interest in emergency room information resource management. While traditional paper methods are still widely used, the electronic capabilities provided by information technology are revolutionizing the way emergency rooms and trauma centers function.

An ideal state-of-the-art emergency department is integrated with the rest of the healthcare enterprise for access to all …

The Effect Of A Flat Tax On The Individual Taxpayer, Sarah Allen

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

The 1996 presidential election brought the subject of the U.S. tax system up for debate. Politicians and citizens alike disagree over whether our tax system should be restructured, and if so whether a flat tax is the policy to impose. This paper examines our tax structure, explains the components of a flat tax, and presents support and opposition for a flat tax policy.

Groupwork In Business, Michelle Laird

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

The purpose of this article was to review studies concerning the effects of group design on groupwork in business. It begins with a short overview of definitions of work groups and group phenomena, and follows with a literature review of the effects of size, group goals, sharing of information, diversity, gender, age, individual differences, familiarity among members, and techniques on decision making effectiveness. Next, difficulties and possible solutions are covered and finally, types of work groups used today are discussed. It has been found that there is no one team design that makes a team most effective. The most appropriate …

A Survey Of The Use And Perceptions Of Analytical Procedures, Rebecca Hutchinson

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

In order to comply with generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS), auditors are required to gather sufficient, competent evidence to support their opinion concerning the amounts and disclosures in the client's financial statements. Auditors have numerous ways by which to obtain such evidence, and one whose use is continually increasing--largely due to its cost-effectiveness--is analytical procedures.

Analytical procedures (APs) are defined as "evaluations of financial information made by a study of plausible relationships among both financial and non-financial data" (SAS No. 56). For non-auditors, an example of an AP is using historic gross profit percentages to determine if the gross profit …

Financial Planning As A Career, Mikol Sesker

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

Financial literacy in the United States stands at about 18% of the population according to the Investor Protection Trust's 1996 Investor Knowledge Survey. This figure includes the infamous baby-boomer generation which is now in the process of thinking about retirement and making major financial decisions. This need has fueled the growth of the financial services industry and particularly the field of financial planning. People today feel inadequate to the task of organizing their financial situation and making sound investment decisions. For help with this situation they often turn to a personal financial planner. But the search for a competent, trustworthy …

Diary Of A Backpacker Rockstar: A Uni Student's Guide To Traveling Western Europe, Jason James Joseph Sloan

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

During the summer of 1996 I dedicated two months of my life to backpacking Western Europe. It was the most incredible experience of my life. It is my belief that many students at UNI would love to have the opportunity to travel as I did. In fact, a journey across Europe is completely within the reaches of the typical UNI student. Planning such a trip is systematic and reasonably simple. From obtaining passports to buying airline tickets and train passes, all aspects of planning a European backpacking excursion can be accomplished easily.

The Impact Of Computer-Assisted Communication Techniques On The Accounting Profession, Jennifer Ellwanger

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

Computers have made a tremendous impact on society in the last twenty years. They have affected practically every aspect of life; therefore, it isn't surprising that computers have impacted the accounting profession. The computer has changed the way accountants prepare tax returns and financial statements, and has influenced every other accounting process (Khani and Zarowin, 1995). Computers may also impact the way accountants communicate with clients and their coworkers. This study examines the impact of computer technology on communication in the accounting profession.

Prior research has reported what technologies are available and which ones are being used by accountants. A …

Senior Auditors' Reaction To Premature Sign-Off By A Staff Member, Amy L. Slabaugh

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

The research presented in this paper is an extension of research completed by Kaplan (1995), who examined senior auditors' reporting intentions upon discovery of premature sign-off of an audit step by a staff member. His research found that audit seniors do not always formally report the discovery of premature sign-off, even though firms have formal policies requiring such reporting (McNair 1991). In Kaplan's (1995) research, an experiment was conducted in which subjects were asked to respond to a hypothetical scenario in which an audit staff member prematurely signed off on a required audit step. His study manipulated two situational variables: …

The Farmers' Holiday Association In Eastern Iowa, 1932-1933, Joel Dinger

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

The Farmer's Holiday Association (FHA) was a short-lived phenomenon in Depression-era history. It arose out of the National Farmers Union, the most powerful farm organization of the immediate post-World War I era. While the main goal of the FHA was noble, cost of production guarantees were probably unattainable. Additionally, the method used try and attain this goal was questionable. Furthermore, the movement took on a life 1 of its own. For the most part, most of the activities took place in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska, with significantly less activity taking place in eastern Iowa.

In this paper, the background …

Worker Training And Retraining Programs In Iowa: Explanation And Alteration, Aaron Gilkes

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

The existence and structure of state funded worker training and retraining programs are a much debated economic and political topic in Iowa. On one side of the debate there is a group of economic developers and community college personnel trying to operate a system of worker training programs. On the other side of the debate there are certain staff at the University of Iowa Labor Center would like to have these programs revised. The debate covers a wide variety of topics including the treatment of the unemployed, worker and community competitiveness, and the growth of human capital in Iowa.

This …

Selected Problems Involving The Probability Of Ruin For An Insurance Company, Andrew J. Schafer

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

In the actuarial science literature, an insurance company is said to be ruined if, at some time t > 0, the aggregate claims up to time t exceed the sum of the initial surplus and the total premium collected up to time t. The calculation and/or estimation of the probability of ruin is of fundamental importance. In this paper we use computer simulation to estimate the probabilities of ruin over a finite horizon of time when the aggregate claims process is Compound Poisson and the distribution of the claim sizes is: (i) Weibull, and (ii) exponential with a random parameter. The …

Subliminal Advertising: The Commercial Appropriation Of The Unconscious, Brian D. Williams

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

Subliminal advertising refers to the use of subliminal techniques by mass media and what these media messages are doing to society. A secret technology has existed and been in widespread use for decades which modifies consumer's behavior invisibly, channels basic value systems, and manages to drive much bigger segments of the population into certain pathological behaviors.

Critical Success Factors For Organizational Case Success, Chad Strauss

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

Practitioners and researchers have suggested that Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) technology can significantly improve the productivity of systems analysts and the quality of systems development. Before CASE can succeed, however, specific components must exist. This paper explores CASE and the components necessary for its widespread acceptance and use within information systems departments. Specifically, this paper will examine the systems development life cycle (SDLC), the possible benefits of CASE, the current state of CASE, critical success factors for CASE, and finally CASE use.

Self-Directed Teams: A Cost-Benefit Analysis Of Autonomy Level, Jennifer L. Duncan

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

This paper will present a review of current SDT literature. First, characteristics of SDTs as well as their benefits, costs, and barriers will be examined. The importance of planning for appropriate autonomy levels will follow. Cost-benefit analysis as a planning instrument will be presented. A case study of a U.S. assembly plant having performed a cost-benefit analysis prior to instituting an SDT organizational structure--John Deere Commercial Products, Inc.--will be provided. Finally, a discussion of how the case study findings can be applied to other organizations will conclude.

Real Estate Development For Tourist Attractions, Daniel J. Dickman

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

Real estate development has a profound impact on many aspects of our lives. It obviously determines the type of environment in which we live and work, but it has less obvious impacts as well. Whether a site is developed as a factory, townhouse, or amusement park will drastically change the appropriate uses of adjacent land, and hence affects the local economy. Developers must work as partners with government, business, and individuals alike to achieve optimal land use and maximize economic gain for the community.

Volumes may be written about development's economic influences. My thesis focuses, however, on development's influences on …

The Role Of Business In Sustainable Development: Proactive Environmental Initiatives And Reciprocal Relationships, Jennifer Halupnik

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

A paradoxical dilemma currently faces the entire globe: industry is both the problem and the answer to the future of the earth's environmental health. Business is often blamed above all other forces as the primary cause of the planet's current environmental woes. At the same time, however, business is the only institution with the capital, technology and innovation necessary to develop solutions to the world's environmental problems. This senior thesis investigates the corporation's role in the environmental equation. Sustainable development is the buzzword of the decade. The concept means development or progress that "meets the needs of the present without …

Having It All - Fact Of Fiction?: The Effects Of Marriage And Motherhood On The Career Patterns And Earnings Of Women Accountants, Holly R. Mahan

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

This study evaluates the effects of marriage and children on the earnings and career patterns of women accountants. Data was obtained from 116 questionnaires completed by women accountants who were employees of a large public accounting firm. The analysis suggests that neither marriage nor children have an effect on current salary levels while having children appears to have a negative effect on average annual salary growth. Having tenure with the firm and possessing a master's degree are positively related to earnings levels. The data also indicate that more rapid promotions within the firm lead to higher average salary growth rates …

Asset Impairment: A Comparison Of Recognition Criteria, Tanya S. Chapman

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

In December of 1990, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a Discussion Memorandum (DM) entitled Accounting for the Impairment of Long-Lived Assets and Identifiable Intangibles. This DM was the direct result of pressure from other accounting bodies. The Accounting Standards Executive Committee (AcSEC) of the AICPA, the Emerging Issues Task Force (EITF) of the FASB, the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council (FASAC), the Financial Executives Institute (FEI), and the National Association of Accountants (NAA) all examined the issue of asset impairment prior to the FASB's study of the issue. After several recommendations by the FASAC, the FASB added impairment …

Life In The Red: Inefficiency In The Iowa State Budget Process, Michael Mrosko

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

I have proposed in my thesis that this deficit, and some of the extreme financial problems in the state of Iowa, can be explained and solved, in part, by a study of and improvement on inefficiency in the state's budget -process and procedure. I have focused on a number of problems that exist in the budget process and have examined them from both an analytical and a practical/social approach.

The body of my thesis will focus on the following three areas:

The process involved in developing the Iowa state Budget.

The problems and inefficiency associated with the budget and how …

The Use Of Selected Economic Indicators In Regression Analysis To Test Semi-Strong Market Efficiency Of Asset Pricing, Kevin E. Pearson

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

The concept of market efficiency is a widely known and researched concept. The profit motive present in the market combined with advancements in trading technology and company knowledge have practically eliminated mispricing in equity markets. However, the limited number of hours of trading present in stock exchanges of the United States generates the potential for a certain amount of inefficiency. This inefficiency results from the inability of various stock markets to process certain types of public information because of the timing of its arrival in relation to the operating hours of the market. This paper will outline the process followed …