Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Updated guides re FASB and International Accounting resources and tax research

Two updated guides, one showing Newman Library resources available for accounting research, including resources for FASB and the IFRS standards, and another one relating to resources for doing tax research have been added to the Numan drive, under IS, instructional materials, work in progress.

Both guides have a lot of screen shots to helps students become familiar with the databases.

I did class related lectures for Prof. Lale Guler's Acc 3000 classes last week. They are doing the "gift card" assignment similar to last year's assignment. (This topic has been covered much more in the accounting literature in trade publications such those available on ABI Inform Global and Business Source Premier, which may be an easier way to start than the official FASB literature. The students know that the terms "gift cards" do not appear in the FASB literature.)

It is a team project, due Dec. 8, for Prof. Guler's class.

Some things to note:

I didn't order new FARS CDs this year as the information is available online through subscription databases. So, students should not be referred to the FARS disks as they are not current.

The format of CCH Accounting Manager and RIA Checkpoint remain basically the same.
Some revisions are:

RIA Checkpoint has added "Advance" to the FASB information new this year. So Advance FASB Original Pronouncements means pronouncements issued in 2008.

RIA Checkpoint has added a "text" feature for the options given with print, download, email. The Text feature allows you to highlight and then copy, print, or email, the selected text.

The handy U.S. Master GAAP Guide, is no longer available on Lexis-Nexis Academic. To research it, go to CCH Business & Finance, click Securities tab, scroll down to Accountant's Module, and it is listed in the resources. (We also have print copies. The print copies refer to levels of the GAAP hierarchy.)

The tax resources guide was updated from last year's guide. I did workshops for Prof. Korman's graduate class. They will have an assignment relating to capital gains. Next week I will do a lecture for Prof. Egan's graduate class. I think their assignment is going to be relating to whether a drama history professor is operating a trade/business or only a hobby when she is audited for her expenses relating to her play writing. (The factual situation is she has more expenses than income, and has had for several years.)

I think these assignments are good examples of requiring analyzing information resources.

Please let me know if you have any questions. The students have been told that if they need help from me that they are to call or email me ahead of time for appointments. They have also been told that help is available at the reference desk.

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