Accounting Commons^™

Model Checking For E-Business Control And Assurance, Bonnie B. Anderson, James V. Hansen, Paul B. Lowry, Scott L. Summers

Faculty Publications

Model checking is a promising technique for the verification of complex software systems. As the use of the Internet for conducting e-business extends the reach of many organizations, well-designed software becomes the foundation of reliable implementation of e-business processes. These distributed, electronic methods of conducting transactions place reliance on the control structures embedded in the transaction processes. Deficiencies in control structures of processes that support e-business can lead to loss of physical assets, digital assets, money, and consumer confidence. Yet, assessing the reliability of e-business processes is complex and time-consuming. This paper explicates how model-checking technology can aid in the …

Mass Mailings Made Simple, Bonnie B. Anderson, Larysa V. Oprya, Marshall B. Romney

Faculty Publications

You want to tell 130 clients about several new professional services and send them updated fee schedules. You considered outsourcing the project to a direct-mail ad agency and found the setup alone for each variation of the letter was $65—way over your budget. Worry not. This is a job your support staff should be able to handle after reading this article.

Tax Complexity And Small Business: A Comparison Of The Perceptions Of Tax Agents In The United States And Australia, Laura R. Ingraham, S. Karlinsky, M. Mckerchar

Faculty Publications

There is ongoing pressure in both the United States and Australia to simplify their respective tax systems, particularly in regard to small business taxpayers. In the case of both regimes, if substantial progress is to be made towards simplification, the areas of greatest need and the necessary reforms will require careful evaluation. The views of tax agents (practitioners) are highly relevant to the implementation of successful reform in that both regimes rely on self-assessment. It was considered that by undertaking a cross-jurisdictional comparison a greater understanding of complexity, from the perspective of tax agents, could be gained and that, the …

Tax Professionals' Perceptions Of Small Business Tax Law Complexity, Laura R. Ingraham, S. S. Karlinsky

Faculty Publications

The author’s report in this article on their study in questionnaire format that tested the perception of 89 small-business tax practitioners regarding the com- plexity of 37 tax provisions. They found overwhelming consistency on the five most complex and five least complex small-business tax provisions with partner- ships, estate and gift valuations, tax-deferred ex- changes, frequency of law changes, and retirement plans topping the hit parade. Progressive tax rates, estimated taxes, Social Security/self-employment taxes, corporate capital gain provisions, and cash ver- sus accrual method were uniformly and consistently perceived as the least complex. These results have tax policy implications. According …

Interaction Of New Section 362(E)(2) With Loss Disallowance Rules, Boyd C. Randall, Brian C. Spilker, John M. Werlhof

Faculty Publications

The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 added Section 362(e)(2), which addresses concerns similar to those addressed by Section 336(d). Section 362(e)(2) was added to the law to close a perceived loophole whereby taxpayers could deduct a single economic loss twice by transferring loss property to a corporation in a Section 351 transaction or as a contribution to capital with the shareholder subsequently selling the stock and the corporation selling the loss asset. This provision was designed to prevent the recognition of a single economic loss twice. However, this new provision overlaps and interacts with the corporate liquidation loss disallowance …

The Persistence Of Earnings And Corporate Governance In Ipo Firms, Mary F. Calegari, H. A. Maretno

Faculty Publications

In this study, we investigate the earnings persistence in IPO firms by examining the two components of earnings: accruals and cash flows. We also analyze the impact of corporate governance on earnings and the two earnings components. In our comparison of the top and bottom quartiles based on the firms' earnings at the IPO year, we find that although the top quartile firms have a significantly positive accrual component in the IPO year, they eventually have the same negative accrual component of earnings as the bottom quartile firms in the second year after the IPO. In contrast, we find that …

Use Tax Collections, Laura R. Ingraham, K. R. Nunez, L. M. Wright

Faculty Publications

The article reports on a study which investigated the level of compliance with U.S. state use tax laws and the techniques employed by the states in order to enforce use tax. Most states utilize either of two forms of tax reporting and collection. These are: the introduction of a separate use tax form/return; or the use of a separate line on the state income tax return. It was observed that utilizing a separate line item on the state income tax return might cause a rise in the number of taxpayers.

Incorporating Tax Reform Into Tax Courses, Annette M. Nellen

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Are Entrepreneurs Born Or Made? Views Of Entrepreneurs And Venture Capitalists, Ervin L. Black, F. Greg Burton, Anne M. Traynor, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

What characteristics do entrepreneurs believe make them successful? We interview entrepreneurs and venture capitalists (VCs) to determine traits that each of these groups perceive as necessary for entrepreneurial success. We show that entrepreneurs cite traits inherent to their nature (for example, hard working, persistent, risk-taker) significantly more than VCs. We also test to see if entrepreneurs are able to identify factors that VCs consider most important for the funding decision. We find that entrepreneurs who do not have previous VC funding experience differ significantly from VCs in what factors are important for VC funding; whereas, entrepreneurs with previous VC funding …

Install Your Own Wireless Network, William G. Heninger, Craig J. Lindstrom, Bryce H. Peterson, Marshall B. Romney

Faculty Publications

Would you like to access the Internet, your printer and your other computers, including laptops, without stringing wires throughout your office or home? The solution is a wireless local area network (WLAN) and we'll tell you how easy it is to install one yourself at a nominal cost. WLANs replace conventional wires with devices called wireless access points that plug into any electrical wall socket. WLAN hardware contains miniature transmitters and antennae that send and receive radio signals to and from your computers and other peripherals.

Why Do Auditors Over-Rely On Weak Analytical Procedures? The Role Of Outcome And Insensitivity To Precision, Steven M. Glover, Douglas F. Prawitt, T. Jeffrey Wilks

Faculty Publications

Recent evidence from highly publicized frauds and from the Public Oversight Board’s Panel on Audit Effectiveness (2000) indicates that auditors sometimes over-rely on weak evidence supporting a clean audit opinion. In experiment 1 we examine whether a favorable outcome, together with insensitivity to factors relating to the strength of evidence, could lead to over-reliance on weak substantive procedures. In experiment 2 we examine whether an explicit ex ante prompt can sensitize auditors to the weaknesses of an unreliable substantive procedure. Our examination is conducted in the context of substantive analytical procedures that are performed to provide evidence during the substantive …

The Taxation Of Telecommunications In California In The Information Age, J. E. Prieger, T. A. Sexton, Annette M. Nellen

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of The Readability Of The Md&As Of Small, Medium, & Large Revenue Generating Cities, Shannon Lutz, Treba Marsh, Lucille Montondon

Faculty Publications

Studies assessing the annual reports of publicly held corporations have shown mixed results in regard to the readability levels of those reports. Recently, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board adopted GASB 33, 34, and 35 in which specific guidelines are outlined for the reporting of governmental entities. Are the Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (annual reports) of the governmental entities understandable to the average user?

This study argues that the Managements Discussion and Analysis, the summary portion of the governmental annual report, is not understandable to the average reader. The sample was equally divided among small, medium, and large revenue-generating cities that …

Model Checking For Design And Assurance Of E-Business Processes, Bonnie Anderson, James V. Hansen, Paul Benjamin Lowry, Scott L. Summers

Faculty Publications

Use of the Internet for electronic business has the potential to revolutionize the way many businesses are conducted. Yet, several businesses have fallen victim to problems in information systems that facilitate e-Business. These problems are characterized by uncertainties due to system complexity, rapid development, interconnectivity, and a lack of familiarity with the new technologically based economy. This paper demonstrates how model checking can aid in the design and assurance of e- Business processes in environments characterized by distributed processing, parallelism, concurrency, communication uncertainties, and continuous operations.

The Relations Between Knowledge, Search Strategy, And Performance In Unaided And Aided Information Search, John A. Barrick, Brian C. Spilker

Faculty Publications

Information search is a critical step in resolving complex issues in many different decisionmaking domains. This study examines the relations between knowledge, search strategy, and performance in both unaided and aided information search. The results of an experiment indicates that (a) task-relevant knowledge is directly related to performance in aided but not in unaided information search; (b) in unaided information search, search strategy mediates the relation between knowledge and performance; that is, knowledge indirectly affects performance through its effect on search strategy; and (c) an information search aid moderates both the relation between knowledge and search strategy and the relation …

Research Opportunities In Internal Auditing, Douglas F. Prawitt

Faculty Publications

This chapter discusses staffing and managing the internal audit function (IAF) as a component of organizational governance, and has two main purposes. First, it familiarizes interested practitioners and researchers with current trends and issues in staffing and managing the IAF. Second, it suggests questions and topics for future thinking and research among practitioners and academics. Managing and staffing an IAF is a vast and complex undertaking that remains relatively unexplored by rigorous research. The chapter contains several citations to practitioner information and academic research, but it does not attempt to include a comprehensive literature review of all relevant articles or …

The Aicpa's 10 Guiding Principles, Annette M. Nellen

Faculty Publications

Explains the ten guiding principles of good tax policy of a framework outlined in American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Tax Policy Concept Statement No. 1. Analysis of the guiding principles; How the principles can be used to analyze proposals; Application of the guiding principles.

The Investment Opportunity Set And Capitalization Versus Expensing Methods Of Accounting Choice, Dan S. Dhaliwal, William G. Heninger, K.E. Hughes Ii

Faculty Publications

This paper examines the effects of the investment opportunity set (IOS) on management's decision to capitalize or expense significant costs in two diverse settings: (1) in accounting for exploration and development (E&D) costs by firms in the oil-and-gas industry, and (2) in accounting for research and development (R&D) costs by firms (across industries) prior to 1974. We argue that the relation between the IOS and the decision to capitalize versus to expense is based upon managerial incentives to reduce the variance of accounting earnings. High-growth firms are more likely to have more variable earnings, which therefore creates greater incentives to …

Structuring Time And Task In Electronic Brainstorming, Alan R. Dennis, Jay E. Aronson, William G. Heninger, Edward D. Walker Ii

Faculty Publications

There are many ways in which a GSS can beused to support group brainstorming. This paper reports the results of an experiment that manipulated task structure and time structure. Groups electronically brainstormed on intact tasks(where all parts of the task were presented simultaneously) or on partitioned tasks (where three subcategories of the task were presented to thegroups). The time periods in which groups worked were either one 30-minute time period or three 10-minute periods separated by two-minute breaks. Groups in the partitioned task treatment generated 40% more ideas, but there were no time effects. These differences are attributed to the …

Finding Auditors Liable For Fraud: What The Jury Heard In The Phar Mor Case, David M. Cottrell, Steven M. Glover

Faculty Publications

The Phar Mor case involved a massive collusive fraud by management. Although there were no claims the auditors participated in the fraud, plaintiffs' attorneys were able to convince the jury that the firm was liable for fraud on the grounds it made representations recklessly with regard to GAAS and GAAP.

Truth Or Consequences: A Study Of Critical Issues And Decision Making In Accounting, Annetta M. Gibson, Albert H. Frakes

Faculty Publications

This study applies a theoretical framework, the theory of reasoned action, to the examination of unethical decision making in job-related situations encountered by CPAs. A survey methodology was employed in which respondents were asked to use both self-reported and randomized response techniques for reporting unethical behavior. The results indicate that individuals are unwilling to accurately report either unethical behavior or intention, particularly in situations where there is no question as to the unacceptability of the action or the potential penalty as presented in the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct. Implications for the accounting profession and research are discussed.

The Influence Of Decision Aids On User Behavior: Implications For Knowledge Acquisition And Inappropriate Reliance, Steven M. Glover, Douglas F. Prawitt, Brian C. Spilker

Faculty Publications

Structured decision aids are widely used in many organizational settings, and their influence on judgment consistency and accuracy have received considerable attention in the literature. While two benefits commonly associated with decision aid use are improved judgment and enhanced expertise development, relatively little attention has been directed toward the potential influence of decision aids on decision maker behavior. In particular, we argue that the use of structured aids may influence relatively inexperienced decision makers to approach aided tasks mechanistically, without becoming actively involved in the task or judgment. Such passive decision behavior may, in some situations, threaten gains in performance …

Partners & Partnerships - Recent Developments, Annette M. Nellen, H. Burton

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Fundamental Tax Reform On Domestic Manufacturing, Annette M. Nellen

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Tax Reform On International Competitiveness, Annette M. Nellen

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

An Adaptive Learning Model Which Accommodates Asymmetric Error Costs And Choice-Based Samples, James V. Hansen, James B. Mcdonald, Rayman D. Meservy

Faculty Publications

This paper introduces an adaptive-learning model, EGB2, which optimizes over a parameter space to fit data to a family of models based on maximum-likelihood criteria. We also show how EGB2 can be modified to handle asymmetric costs of Type I and Type II errors, thereby minimizing misclassification costs. It has been shown that standard methods of computing maximum-likelihood estimators of qualitative-response models are generally inconsistent when applied to sample data with different proportions than found in the universe from which the sample is drawn. We investigate how a choice estimator, based on weighting each observation's contribution to the log-likelihood function, …

Organizing Tax Instruction: Evidence Regarding The Way Students Organize Tax Knowledge, Stephen T. Limberg, Michael S. Schadewald, Brian C. Spilker

Faculty Publications

An important part of accounting curriculum reform is a movement away from traditional methods of organizing accounting courses toward improved organization schemes. Two basic approaches to organizing the content of tax courses are a transaction-based scheme and an entity-based scheme. This paper reports the results of an experiment that investigates which scheme is more consistent with how incoming masters in tax students organize tax knowledge and how different schemes affect the manner in which graduating students organize tax knowledge. Ninety students drawn from two full-time masters in taxation programs participated in the study. Subjects individually completed three separate tasks that …

Economic Performance - It's Only Part Of The Picture, Annette M. Nellen, K. Marucheck

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Accounting Tutor: Intelligent Computer-Aided Instruction, Rayman D. Meservy

Faculty Publications

This study investigates several development of intelligent issues central to tutoring systems: the ( 1) representing domain knowledge, (2) representing instructional knowledge, (3) modeling student learning, and (4) developing userfriendly interfaces. The focus of domain learning tasks includes accounting basics, often covered in the first few chapters of an accounting principles course.

S Corporation Current Developments, Annette M. Nellen, S. S. Karlinsky

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.