Professor Elam

Certifications

Go to the Archive and click on 5/22/07 to see the list of certifications that the Tx St Board of Accountancy recognizes.

From the Helpful Website list I would direct you to

www.iia.org Cert Internal Auditor
www.imanet.org Cert Managerial Accountant

Both of the above are well recognized certifications and  bit easier than the CPA exam. I have material on reserve in the library that extensively explains the ritual of obtaining those certs.

And I have two of the four books in the Gleim series to study for the CPA exam on reserve.

I am also investigating another certification though it is certainly of less consequence at

www.acatcredentials.org

My point is that many of you had the goal of becoming a CPA, which is a good thing and an admirable goal. It would be a good idea to work up to the CPAexam by studying for a lesser exam and seeing how well you do there first. And one can never have too many certifications.  Gaining confidence on the CIA or CMA exams would certainly make it easier to take the CPA, and the study material is the same.

By the way, while you are resting, have you surfed some of the sites on Helpful Websites?

Extemp Speaking

Check out my post on 8/9/07 about explaining your company in thirty seconds, there is a link to the article in INC magazine. This will help you with making an extemp speech about yourself!

Book Selections

For some ideas on your book reveiws you can go to

www.amazon.com and use the drop down box to pick books, on that page you can pick business and then you can even pick accounting

www.barnesandnoble.com allows the same thing, drill down to the business category

I will  also post some suggestions under handouts

dle

Russia Still the Odd Man Out

An article in The Economist  explains how former KGB operatives have come to run the country once again.  but they are tacticians,not problem solvers.  It used to be Us versus them in the Cold War with Western Europe conveniently hiding under our nuclear umbrella. Today the players in globalism might include

USA and Britain and Austrailia
Far East Korea Singapore Phillipines Japan Taiwan
Western Europe, the  Euro currency
Saudi Arabia and member states, OPEC
Iran Syria Pakistan and allies like
Russia
and India
and then there is China
And finally everyone else including Africa and South America

Gee this sure got a lot more complicate, no wonder the UN can't get anything done.

Another Call for a Draft

I don't understand how  this fellow is an enlisted man rather than an officer but he makes an interesting case for a WW II style draft.   

Force Protection  makes the kind of vehicles he is describing.

From a Student....

Dr. Elam,

I meant to tell you that what I have found in my limited experience of
going on business calls with executives and potential loan prospects is
this.
I've found the most important thing to these meeting is keeping up with
your current events. I'd venture to say that the majority, say 80% of
the conversation, is all current events-be it Michael Vick,
Mortgage/sub-prime dilemma, the DOW Jones, Dell, Longhorns, Aggies,
Baseball, Enron, etc. Most of any article in WSJ, BW, is normally the
topic of these meetings. I'd say the another 5% is talking typical
family business, trips, etc. Another 5% is talking/criticizing mutual
friends, and the last 10% is actual business that pertains to the loan
and the financials. This is the main reason why I visit your blog and
to show you that your style plays very much into the business roles
students will get in to. The business weekly is helping me
tremendously, not to mention, having a few books under my belt, is
never a bad thing.

Well thats just an observation I've made, but it seems to be right on
point. I might add that it feels great to know what you're talking
about in these meetings when you're opinion is asked for. I was
recently in a meeting with a Jr. Lender and his $2M customer. I was
present for meer support, should the lender have any concerns with the
statements, the customer presented. The customer made a comment about
the business of sub-prime loans and how "bad" a business it is to grant
such loans. I noticed the lender just nodded and said "yeah" in a not
so interested matter. Looking for some reply the customer turned to me
for some reaction. I looked at the lender and I saw that he knew
nothing of it. He basically said, "save me with his eyes." I gathered
my thoughts and borrowed from BW by saying, "Well Sub-prime lending
isn't necessarily bad business if the lender had done their homework on
the customer. It's when the lender has recklessly abused their sub-
prime lending power, that they get in trouble." I added some examples
of companies that abused their power and tied ethics into the whole
conversation. I could see the lender wanting me to change the subject
and prompt him back in where he was more comfortable with talking
ethics and he resumed the conversation.

Father Guido Sarducci's Five Minute University

Click here to learn about the Five Minute University!   In this day and age of on line learning, this idea could catch on...

Now, the reason I will be spending a lot of time in class connecting to that real world is to bridge just what Guido is talking about, hopefully you will remember more if we can connect the study to a reality.

Best column on Mike Vick?

We will be discussing ethics in all our classes this semester. This cloumn argues that you don't help your friends be losers.   And that was Mike Vick's failure.

The Panic of 07-1907 that is

Click here to learn about several previous Panics .  The history of financial panics did not begin wtih this generation and will occur again after wer are all gone. This is a good article that recounts the Panic of 1837 as well as J P Morgan  saving the day in 1907.  As you will see the lack of a Central Bank in 1907 made his
intervention necessary. And note that it was the re assurance of an accountant, Strong, who swung his decision to intervene.  Anyway this led to the creation of the third Central Bank for the US, now known as the FED.  The FED or course failed to avert 1929, 1957, 1973-74, 1987, 1998, or the current sub prime mess. So why does everyone count on the FED?  They are poor students of history!

Read and learn.

Here is an update on the latest FED effort to help out.   Hmm bending the rules, is anyone surprised?  Interestingly J P Morgan's namesake bank is still in the thick of things.....

Come to think of it, click here to read how the FED was created in 1913.    Andrews Jackson dismantled wth first Central Bank in 1836 leading to the Panic of 1837.  We then operated under a Banking System after the Civil War but its lack of power led to three Panics during the Period.  The Panic of 1907 resulted ina  move to recreate a Central Bank now known as the FED.

Playboy Takes on My Space

One of the best known brands in the USA is Playboy.  But sad to say the franchise has fallen on hard times. Yep octogenarian Hugh is seen on E Tv with his adoring threesome but magazine sales are half what they used to be. Hef's daughter, Dristie simply has not shown the ability to make money with the franchise. 

Enter Playboy U.  Apparently Palyboy has decided to take on My Space and Facebook.  You can go to
Playboy U  and sign up. but you must have an .edu in your web mail address, no high schoolers or parents allowed.  Clearly Playboy is trying to re connect with a younger base that would conceivably  buy Playboy once they graduate. By buy Playboy we don't mean just  the magazine but all branded products.  Apparently Playboy is going back into the Club business, and training college grads to the Playboy way would make for good future client relations.

Now, wondering how I am going to relate this to accounting, glad you asked.  Garrison's Managerial Accounting text discusses Strategy. Playboy is adopting a new strategy to re invigorate an old brand.  In its heyday the Playboy mag had 250 pages.  I see the current  Vogue sports over 800!  Gee, how to woo the advertisers back? Answer, show that you attract that sought after young hip 18-25 demographic.

Will it work, I dunno, but they need to do something.