Professor Elam

Apple - the Post PC Era, Killer Earnings

Wed Jan 25, 2012

Check out Apple's last quarter results.

This carticle makes it clear why it is important to study accounting, note the improvement in gross margin. 

Kindle and iPad are both able to expand as new items in the IT market. PC sales are flat I would expect. Notably neither HP nor Dell have been able to bring successful tablets to market, gee could it be the MSFT interface?

Kindle is an e book product, iPad is a lighter weight faux laptop. There is room for both. 

I find the iPad frustrating in that one has to navigate multiple book platroms. From this standpoint it is rather like 1978 whencompeting computer makers all had different operating systems. OVer time this will wither to fewer kindle type apps.

The State of Interational Auditing

Tuesday Jan 24, 2012

James Turley the CEO fo Ernst is interviewed in today's WSJ. This is the perfect example of why you should be subscribing. I don't see the article in the online version of the WSJ While his answers are power point perfectly obscure adn general, it is interesting that they tookin about $22 B last year. 

Ernst is the latest auditor for Olympus after KPMG, the latter a firm that seems to be the heir apparent to Arthur Andersen for getting aligned with unsavory clients. 

Auditing Joint Venture

Monday Jan 23, 2012

 

A letter to the WSJ today makes the point that the first time an external audit firm performs an audit, they do due diligence and evaluate controls. As time goes on and they settle in however, they really become more of a joint venture partner with the firm, that professiional skepticism gets replaced with a similar perspective. 

We hope to have an excerpt from Stephen Frey's Shadow Account which makes thispoint very well. 

A Socionomist Looks at the Political Race

Monday Jan 23, 2012

A look at the reports in today's WSJ and elsewhere indicate that Gingrich cic not just beat Romney in S Carolina, he whalloped him across the board in multiple categories. Now Romney plans yet another series of 'attack ads' on Gingrich in Florida. Hmm, didn't that just fail in S Caroilina?

Socionomics  is the new social science of prediction based on endogenously produced social mood. 

While we are not $2,000 a day political consultants, we can make these observaitons. 

Voters in the S Carolina Rep primary are probably political junkies, which is to say rabid fans who follow political websites and such, as evidenced by the very fact that they voted. With a religious profile, they voted for Newt in spite of his checkered background of multiple marriages, supposed ethics violations and such. Why?  Clearly what Newt is saying resonates with the group. They feel marginalized by the media, the kind of look down your nose questions posed by Stephanopolous and Diane Sawyer, and their frustration that the media never seems to ask Barack a tough question. 

Romney' lack of sharp responses is the reason he is not resonating with this group. His lackluster defense of Bain, and the overall perception that he is just not up to the brawl coming up for the nominee, has left him wtih only tiny New Hampshire for a victory. 

The better idea would be to take the best of Newt, (Barack is the biggest food stamp president in history) andincorporate those bits into his campaign. Perhpas Newt is pugnacious and given to spinning into outer space but voters are deciding that may be the better tactic than another Ford,  Bush I, Dole, Bush II, finally losers all line up. 

Attacking Newt at this point will be like throwing Brer Rabbit in that famous briar patch, it is where Newt is most comfortable. 

In summary Romney needs to tap into the social mood for Newt, not fight it. 

Shirtsleeves to Shirtsleeves int Three Generations

Monday January 23, 2012

The experession in our title refers to the idea that say Grandfather starts a business by working hard and long. 

Son inheirts the business and does reasonably well as long as the growth cycle does not fall too far into the maturity cycle. 

Grandson comes along as the maturity cycle kicks in, there is ample competition and duplication by others, and bingo, the business is gone. 

These days all that can happen a lot faster as evidenced in this article about iPhones in China.

The US has lost its manufacturing base. Actually the temp employees in Austin, Tx as semi conductor firms model a lot of what this article describes. But once we lose this ability to adapt as we had during WW II, it is near impossible to get it back, just ask Britain.

anybody ever see the movie Swing Shift?  Goldie Hawm never got credit for making the serious movies she made and this is one of them. It features a god look at WW II production and how we did it. 

Becker CPA Scholarship

Monday January 23, 2012

Deb Alvarado our Becker CPA rep reminds me that students can be nominated for the 

Becker CPA Accounting Scholarship.

If you a re interested drop me an e mail with the details required on why you should be nominated. 

IMA Scholarship

Monday January 23, 2012

IMA Professional and friend Jimmie Smith passed on this information about the IMA scholarship program.Note one needs to be a member but that is not expensive. Touch base with m on this, why not apply?  Apparently not many Texas students have taken advantage of this opportunity.

Let me know if you submit an application.

Dennis Elam

 

he Institute of Management Accountants (IMA®), the world’s leading organization dedicated to supporting accountants and financial professionals in business, is accepting applications for its national scholarship programs: The Memorial Education Fund (MEF) and the Stuart Cameron and Margaret McLeod Memorial Scholarships, now through February 15, 2012.  Interested students can download an application form at IMA’s website at http://www.imanet.org/PDFs/Public/Scholarships_Rewards/SCMS_Scholarship%202011-2012%20Final.pdf. 

Any IMA student member who has not previously received an IMA scholarship is encouraged to apply. MEF Scholarships are given at both the undergraduate and graduate student levels, and are based on academic merit and strength of outside recommendations, among other criteria. The scholarships carry awards ranging from $1,000 to $2,500.

In addition, any student who applies for an MEF Scholarship is automatically considered for the prestigious Stuart Cameron and Margaret McLeod Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship, which carries a $5,000 award, is given to one individual among the entire scholarship application pool who exemplifies excellence in all eligibility criteria. The award also includes lodging, transportation, and registration to IMA’s Annual Conference & Exposition in June and the IMA Student Leadership Conference in November, which will be November 1-3 in San Antonio. 

The Stuart Cameron and Margaret McLeod Memorial Scholarship is bestowed annually by the Stuart Cameron McLeod Society (SCMS).  Founded in 1934, SCMS is a special membership community within IMA whose members share a long history of service to IMA.

The deadline to submit scholarship applications is February 15, 2012; winners are announced on or before April 30, 2011.   For complete information and application forms, please visit http://www.imanet.org/PDFs/Public/Scholarships_Rewards/SCMS_Scholarship%202011-2012%20Final.pdf.

 

Please note that to be eligible to participate in any of these awards, students must be IMA members.  Also, note that IMA is currently offering a limited time $25 (normally $39) new student membership opportunity available through February 29th.  Go tohttp://www.imanet.org/ima_student_programs/student_membership.aspx?hq_e=el&hq_m=1175258&hq_l=4&hq_v=7f92483fb1.  The discount code is  STUMEM2512.  For more information about IMA, please visit www.imanet.org.

 

Wanna Bet - Iowa Electronic Markets

Monday Jan 23, 2012

Those clever profs at the University of Iowa have created their own Futures Market.

Yep the Tipple College of Business will let you invest up to $500 to wager on real outcomes for real events. 

Here the current thinking on the various political races is on display. Wagers on Romney have dropped to about 72 cents on the collar while wagers on Gingrich are running about 20 cents.  Each bet would pay $1 if successful. 

We will be examining the IEM in our discussion of derivatives this semeter. 

Merit Badges for the Job Market

Saturday January 21, 2012

The Graduate Ethics Class is submitting proposals to our own Southwest Teaching and Learning Conference. This is an example of what this article in the Weekend WSJ calls Merit Badges for the Job market.

Face it, everyone applying for the job you are going to apply for will have a college degree. Granted we offer trhose here but gee, what else will you have to say for yourself?   Plan to start a laddered program of accomplishment to add to your resume. 

I author not one bu two blogs. 

I author a weekly newspaper column. 

Have you taken a photo study of your college life?  

 

Have you made a digital video to demonstrate a point?

Videos are the future and they are now. Plan on adding a creative element to your portfolio. 

 

 

Sony Panasonic Debt Ratings Cut

Friday Jan 20, 2012

In the 1970s a new leader emerged in tlelevision production. Sony had its three gun Trinitron television which produced a much more clear picture than the Zenith or RCA. Indeed demand was so great Sony decided to start making the sets in the US. US dealers protested, certain that quality would decrease!

Now, Sony and Panasonic both face debt downgrades  due to, yep, poor television results. This is all the mroe incredible in that both are leading producers of the digital cameras used in televisoin production!

They have been supplanted by lower cost porducers like LG and Samsung. 

Our point is that one cannot stand still in today's global marketplace. Anticiapting such changes is as much a part of the accounting job as it is marketing.