Accounting Commons^™

Service Based Learning Of Income Taxes, Britny Andersen

Senior Honors Projects

Income tax preparation is best learned through application. Reading the tax law and codification is important, however it is crucial to apply this information to real world situations. By volunteering at the South County Rhode Island Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, I had the opportunity to take my knowledge of income tax law and apply it to income tax returns for people in the local community. While an understanding of income tax laws was important, since I was providing a service to clients, communication skills were also crucial to the entire process.

Interestingly, I was surprised to discover that effective …

How Does Tax Avoidance Affect Transparency?, Congcong Li, Mark Ma, Tom Omer, Kunpeng Sun

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines how tax avoidance affects corporate transparency. Using a large sample ofU.S. firms from 1995 to 2016, we find a significant non-linear effect of tax avoidance ontransparency. That is, when a firm’s tax avoidance is low, an increase in tax avoidance improvestransparency; however, when a firm’s tax avoidance is high, an increase in tax avoidance decreasestransparency. These results are robust to using alternative measures of transparency and taxavoidance and in several additional tests. Overall, the findings suggest that the effect of taxavoidance on transparency depends on the aggressiveness of firms’ tax avoidance behavior. Ourstudy contributes to the literature …

Are Disclosed Auditor Materiality Thresholds Informative Of Firms’ Earnings Quality? – Evidence From The Revised Isa 700 Audit Report, Beng Wee Goh, Kiat Bee Jimmy Lee, Na Li, Dan Li

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Under the Financial ReportingCouncil’s presumption that mandating new disclosure requirement in the auditreport would provide information useful to investors, we examine whether theauditor disclosed materiality threshold is associated with the firm’s earningsquality. We document that a lower threshold of materiality level is associatedwith a higher earnings quality, as measured by lower discretionary accruals,higher accruals quality, and less earnings smoothing. We also find someevidence that the negative association between auditor disclosed materialitythreshold and earnings quality is more pronounced when the auditor is moreindependent, when management’s incentive to manage earnings is higher, and whenthere is lower information uncertainty. Overall, our results are …

Considerations Of Private Companies In Regard To External Auditing Including The Detection And Prevention Of Fraud, Alexandra Sprague

Senior Theses

Fraudulent activities occur in all types of companies. Recently, external auditors have become increasingly important in detecting and preventing these frauds. With their independence, auditors can provide external comfort with their opinion as to the fairness of their client’s financial statements. The goal of this thesis is to express the importance of fraud prevention in private companies, especially smaller private companies, and illustrate how external audits can have an impact in fraud prevention. After conducting interviews with private companies, many reasons were found as to why private companies either conduct or do not conduct an external audit. This research bridges …

A Study Of The Potential Implementation Obstacles Of The Expected Loss Model In East Tennessee, Baylee Mann

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has recently introduced a new Accounting Standards Update (ASU) that will require financial institutions to measure their loan losses using a new Expected Loss Model (ELM) that emphasizes forward looking financial decisions. Numerous financial journals hypothesize that large financial institutions will face difficulties when implementing the new ASU. This research explores the potential implementation issues that small, local financial institutions, specifically Eastman Credit Union (ECU), will encounter as they begin the implementation process.

The Role Of Forensic Accounting In U.S. Counterterrorism Efforts, Madison Gaither

Honors Theses

The September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center directed international attention to the financial component of terrorist operations. The demand for forensic accounting specialists is increasing rapidly because of a growing intolerance for fraud and terrorist activity. This research paper argues that forensic accountants have and will continue to have a vital role in United States’ counterterrorism efforts in the post-9/11 era by detecting acts of fraud and money laundering. Comprehensive review of relevant literature including books, peer-reviewed articles, government databases, court records and news media reveals that forensic accountants are equipped with special skills and analytical tools that …

Rhetoric In Financial Reporting: Evaluation Of Isa 720, Qingyuan Guo

Honors Theses

Prior research show that many investors rely on other information appearing alongside the audited financial statements in companies’ annual reports to make their economic decisions and falsely assume that the unaudited other information is also audited. Additionally, company management utilizes rhetorical strategies in other information to offer explanations and opinions conveying positive messages about the company value which audited financial data may not indicate. The expectation gap of investors on audit over other information and the concern of management manipulation incentivized the proposal of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to establish a standard to extend auditors’ responsibility over …

Omnibus Statement On Standards For Accounting And Review Services - 2018; Statement On Standards For Accounting And Review Services 24, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants. Accounting And Review Services Committee

AICPA Professional Standards

No abstract provided.

Codification Of Statements On Standards For Accounting And Review Services, Numbers 1-24, As Of May 2018, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants (Aicpa)

AICPA Professional Standards

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Players’ Salary Level And A Salary Cap On The Revenue Of Professional Soccer Teams In The United States And England, Tyler Watson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis serves as an examination of the relationship between players’ salaries and teams’ revenues for the American Major League Soccer and English Premier League. Historically, the salary cap imposed on teams playing in Major League Soccer has been heavily criticized of holding the league back. Comparisons have been made to leagues such as the English Premier League which assert that the limitation keeping Major League Soccer from attaining similar success is the presence of the salary cap. Data was gathered from the twenty teams in Major League Soccer and the twenty teams in the English Premier League for each …

Strategic Audit Of The Public Accounting Industry With A Focus On Ey, Mary Candela

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Public accounting firms provide valuable assurance services that, because of their place in our economic system and because of strong regulatory requirements, are unlikely to stop being demanded. The industry is facing several issues surrounding stagnation of the client base and difficulty in competition. Finally, the industry is also being rocked by the pace of emerging technologies and will need to adapt to and embrace them in the coming years.

The following uses several strategic frameworks to analyze the industry, the subset of the Big Four accounting firms, and EY. Ultimately, this project develops and understanding of EY’s place in …

A High-Level Overview Of How The New Accounting Standard Update On Revenue Recognition Impacts The United States Healthcare System, Leslie Johnson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In May of 2014 the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued a long-awaited joint updated standard on revenue recognition, ASU 2014-09 – Revenue from Contracts with Customers. While almost all entities will be affected to some extent by the new standard, particularly the changes in required disclosures, this research seeks to examine the impact the new standard will specifically have on the healthcare industry. By highlighting areas of significant challenge a better understanding will be gained of the impact health care service entities will experience as they transition to a new standard.

Budgeting In Student Life: An Educational Website, Heather Grunden

Honors Projects

An applied honors project in the form of a website prototype. The purpose of this website is to introduce college students to the concept of budgeting and to teach them the core steps of creating their own budget, since many existing budgeting applications are pay-to-use, and the free options tend to have little to no instruction.

Checklists And Illustrative Financial Statements : Not-For-Profit Entities, April 30, 2018, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants (Aicpa)

Industry Guides (AAGs), Risk Alerts, and Checklists

No abstract provided.

Excel Technique Workshop, Kendall Newcomer

Honors Projects

This research paper identifies key Microsoft Excel skills for users at the beginner and intermediate stage. The document consists of 3 consecutive workshops based off the Microsoft Excel skills identified.

Gpa & Other Factors That Influence Earnings And Success Among Cpas, Quinn Renshaw

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

No abstract provided.

Cpas And Advanced Education, Dominick Thompson

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

I conducted a survey of Minnesota CPAs regarding their perceived benefits of obtaining or not obtaining post-undergraduate education, in addition to having their CPA license.

Fortune 500 Ceo Profiles, Lauren Noel

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

This research project analyzes data about the Fortune 500 CEOs and presents differences among the male and female CEOs.

Strategic Audit: Deloitte, Yibing Shen

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The project’s goal is to analyze the current situation and problems faced by Deloitte, and give out recommendation, implementation plan, and contingency plan for Deloitte. The methods to do the project is to research online to get adequate information and make assumptions for the information I cannot gather. The results are: I find out that Deloitte is competitive as one of the big four accounting firms, but it is facing the problem of brand dilution and reputational contagion due to its fast expansion and acquisition; the partner firms are not linked or connected as they expected to be. So the …

Book Review - Drive: The Truth About What Motivates Us, Wyatt Pagano

Marriott Student Review

This is a book review of Drive: The Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink.