In this paper we consider whether experience gained on the job through an internship results in knowledge that can help with passing the CPA exam. It would seem that a candidate for the CPA exam would be better prepared if they had the combination of education and practical experience. We examine the CPA exam performance of 72 graduate students…

Experienced managers know that cash affects virtually every aspect of a company's strategy and operations. Business students and new managers, however, sometimes lose sight of the importance of cash amidst the details of accrual-based accounting courses, formula-based finance courses, and production-based management courses. We therefore use…

The indirect method for preparing the statement of cash flows, as described in many standard textbooks, involves an item-by-item approach, telling you to add to or subtract from the net income, the increases or decreases in the balance sheet items, such as accounts payable or accounts receivable. Many business students, especially at the…

A conceptual foundation for the Statement of Cash Flows based on the ten elements of financial statements provides students with a deep understanding of core accounting concepts. Traditional methods of teaching the statement of cash flows tend to focus on statement preparation rules, masking the effect of business events on the change in cash.…

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) revolutionized the accounting and audit industry. The use of preventative and process controls to evaluate the continuous audit process done via an SAP ERP ECC 6.0 system is key to compliance with SOX and managing costs. This paper can be used in a variety of ways to discuss issues associated with auditing and testing…

According to the time line presently specified by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), business firms in the United States (US) should switch from the existing US accounting reporting guidelines of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by the year 2014. The US business…

This paper describes the fundamental concept of the reconciliation behind the indirect method of the statement of cash flows. A conceptual framework is presented to demonstrate how accrual and cash-basis accounting methods relate to each other and to illustrate the concept of reconciling these two accounting methods. The conceptual framework…

Accounting educators have a unique role in academe because students learn about codes of ethics that will guide their actions as professionals. We identify hypernorms related to internal auditing educators that reflect unethical behaviors believed to be universally unacceptable by that community. We then compare the results to a prior survey of…

For many accounting students the focus of their fourth or fifth years is finding a job to start them on an exciting and financially rewarding career. Colleges provide significant guidance and direction to these students in the form of internship assistance, resume writing workshops, interview practice, networking events and career guidance. At…

This essay seeks to give practical guidance to accounting instructors seeking to convey the difficult concepts of accounting for inventory. Techniques to convey the concepts of assumed inventory flow, inventory valuation under inflation and deflation, impairment of inventories, LIFO [Last In, First Out] liquidations and the concept of the periodic…

This paper offers a different perspective in measuring the value created by an organization. It does so in the context of an undergraduate course in managerial accounting. In order to break down the functional silo approach to problem solving that has become the model of traditional business education, applications of shadow accounting, the…

The Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 brought about major changes in how accounting firms conduct audits of publicly traded companies. Corporate officials have additional responsibilities in the areas of internal controls and financial reports. In addition there is a new organization responsible for established auditing standards for publicly traded…

While financial literacy is important for an audit committee in discharging its duties there is no authoritative guidance or definition and limited empirical research as to what constitutes financial literacy of audit committees and business students. Coates et al. conducted a study that examined the financial literacy of corporate board members…

The research question addressed in this study is to compare and identify differences between academics teaching auditing classes and practicing accountants regarding the importance of topics covered in the first university auditing course. This is accomplished by surveying academics and practitioners regarding their perceptions of the importance…