Shannon Detling and Dr. F. Greg Burton, School of Accountancy In the early 21st century, public confidence in corporate America faltered considerably following the demise of Enron, Inc., Arthur Andersen, LLP and other businesses. The United States government responded to the outbreak of corporate scandals with several legislative actions. The main thrust of legislative effort […]
Variable Interest Entity Disclosure A look at Financial Firms and the Disclosure of VIE’s
Brandon Seiter and Dr. Kay Stice, School of Accountancy and Information Systems In 2002 the FASB, which sets all accounting standards for US publicly traded companies, met with its international counterpart the IASB in what is know as the Norwalk Agreement. The two organizations released a joint statement announcing their intentions to create a project […]
Pro Forma Earnings: Distinguishing the Good from the Bad
Samuel Mautz and Dr. Ted Christensen, School of Accountancy The financial press has reported considerable disagreement during the past several years about the proliferation of non-standard profitability measures, generally known as ‘pro forma’ earnings. Pro forma earnings are normally defined as standard earnings adjusted for items that managers deem to be ‘one-time’ in nature or […]
Comparison of Earnings Adjustments made by Management and Financial Analysts
Dirk Black and Dr. Ted Christensen, School of Accountancy Pro forma reporting has received significant attention from managers, regulators, and researchers in recent years. Pro forma reporting occurs when managers adjust earnings for certain “one-time” items allegedly to present earnings that are more representative of the “core” operations of their firms. In addition, analysts make […]
Predicting Managers’ Propensity to Issue Earnings Forecasts
Bryan Graden and Dr. Ted Christensen, School of Accountancy In addition to mandatory disclosures such as SEC filings, managers have the option of disclosing information voluntarily to the public. Press releases and conference calls are two ways managers often reveal information to the market, and one of the most important disclosures made through these venues […]
What Makes an Accountant? A Longitudinal Study of Students entering the Profession
Kari Joseph Olsen and Dr. Monte Swain, School of Accountancy Background The goal of our project is to improve accounting education and career advisement for students. Our project has its roots in the growing demand in the accounting profession for people with dynamic analytical and interpersonal skills. We believe that through improved accounting courses and […]
Comparison of Companies Issuing Pro-forma Earnings and Restatements
Robert Jenson and Dr. Ted Christensen, School of Accountancy Introduction In recent years, companies have increasingly released financial performance numbers in addition to those required under generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). These adjusted, or pro-forma earnings, have been a way for management to report earnings without extraordinary, one-time, or other items. Previous research suggests that […]
FAMILY HISTORIES AND GENEALOGIES OVER THE INTERNET: WHAT IS NOW AVAILABLE
Thomas O Meservy and Dr. Rayman D. Meservy, School of Accountancy and Information Systems The objective of my research is to determine how to effectively organize and distribute family histories and genealogies over the Internet. I am interfacing the genealogical files using the PAF standard, which was produced by the LDS church, onto the Internet. […]
AN OSA MODEL FOR THE OPTOMETRY FIELD
Conan C. Albrecht and Dr. Stephen W. Liddle, Accountancy and Information Systems Many health fields have progressed slowly in the area of computer systems. My research focused on these systems specifically on the optometry health field. Many problems exist with the current systems available to optometrists. This fact is evident by their current use; a […]
The Market for High-Tech Skills and the Business Student
Milen E. Marinov and Dr. J. Owen Cherrington, Accountancy and Information Systems Being granted the ORCA scholarship I started researching information technology (IT) skills that will make a business student more marketable. I began my research at the end of November 1999. Gradually, along with demanded IT skills my research activity included the gathering and […]