Professor Elam

The Most Important Book You will Ever Read

Weekend June 1 2014

What a deal, How to Win Friends and Influence People is available at Kindle, just click the hyper link, for $2.95.

STtarbucks has lattes that cost more than that. 

Carnegie was living at the YMCA when he began giving lectures on the topic. Finally a fellow from a publishing company took the class and urged him to put it in book form. It has sold over15 million copies since, perhaps a record for a non fiction book. 

Yes it is a bit dated in references of movie stars and such that were popular at the time of writing. But movie stars come and go, times change people don't, be sure to get this one. I am not kidding..

Here is the Amazon Review

Amazon.com Review

This grandfather of all people-skills books was first published in 1937. It was an overnight hit, eventually selling 15 million copies. How to Win Friends and Influence People is just as useful today as it was when it was first published, because Dale Carnegie had an understanding of human nature that will never be outdated. Financial success, Carnegie believed, is due 15 percent to professional knowledge and 85 percent to "the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership, and to arouse enthusiasm among people." He teaches these skills through underlying principles of dealing with people so that they feel important and appreciated. He also emphasizes fundamental techniques for handling people without making them feel manipulated. Carnegie says you can make someone want to do what you want them to by seeing the situation from the other person's point of view and "arousing in the other person an eager want." You learn how to make people like you, win people over to your way of thinking, and change people without causing offense or arousing resentment. For instance, "let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers," and "talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person." Carnegie illustrates his points with anecdotes of historical figures, leaders of the business world, and everyday folks. --Joan Price

 

Review

"it changed my life" Warren Buffet "The most successful self-help book of all time... Carnegie has never seemed more relevant" The Times "It's helped me immeasurably in life. I think everyone should read it" Jenny Colgan, Independent on Sunday 20090607 "a no-nonsense guide to being a better person...an easy-to-read, practical guide" Spirit and Destiny

An Accounting Job at the Witte

Friday May 30 2014

My dissertation was on Stakeholder Attitudes towards Giving to a Higher Ed Institution. I contributed five articles or so to TXNP. I found this accounting job on the TXNP site.

This is a good example of what is expected. Notice MSFT skills are required, as well as lifting 30 pounds, so I gather you are expected to join the party and help when needed outisde accounting chores. 

Non Profits are big business. This might be a good site to book mark in your job search. 

A Fork in the Road

Friday May 30 2014

The markets  are proving they do what they want to do regardless of the news. While Congress and the PResident are more unpopular than ever, the market is quite popular. The next few days will tell us if indeed the markets are going higher still.

Dow

Break out or Fake Out, the Dow has been consolidating this year and poked to a new high. Will the market move higher or succumb to the seasonal weakness of the summer by testing that 200 day MA again?

Russell 2000

This is the only index really to have broken down. Now what? IT really has nto broken yet, just consolidating. 

SOX Semiconductors

Semi conductors are literally at the heart of tech, and this market is

consolidating

making a double top

getting ready to break out

We will know soon.

NASD Summation Index

As always we return to the internal indicators. It looks like the internals have been correcting. If this continues to turn up, up, up the NASD will go. 

QQQ and Summation Index

 

Confirmation?

NYSE and Summation Index

I don't really see any big clues that the market was about to correct from January to february. Could that happen again, or is it equally likely the market goes higher?

Weekly NYSE

Observations

This has been an incredibly strong bull market

It is 2250 points above its 200 week MA.  That is 26% above the 200 week MA. 

It would take a tremendous change to derail this upward momentum. 

New Revenue Recognition Standards

Thursday May 29, 2014

The FASB and IASB have issued new revenue recognition standards. Hmm, I feel Spiceland 8e coming as a result. 

Observations

Of perhaps greater import than the Ref Rec standard, notice in this release there is no longer any talk abou tconverging the two groups. I have specualted the SEC will not give up rule makinhg authority and this is just more evidence of that. 

The one constant in financial accounting is CHANGE. The rule making authorities are always changing the rules. I have never seen a memo saying ,

We looked at the rules and decided that all those befrore us did a great job and therefore we are leaving well enough alone, hoping that eveyrone can learn things as they are before attempting furhter changes. 

At any rate these FEI updates will be a handy way to update this blog!

Here is the AICPA link to Revenue Recognition Resources.

Accounting Today chimes in here.

Certification in Risk Management Assurance CRMA

Tuesday May 27 2014

I am reading Richard Chambers Lessons from the Audit Trail. He mentions that in the first two years the CRMA designation was offered, 13,000 individuals passed the exam. The CRMA link is here.

In the graduate ethics class this spring, one student remarked in an essay that 'accounting has been drilled into our heads for the last few years. The class then scored an average of 3 out of 13 possible points  on an adjusting entry quiz. Drilled indeed...

I make this post to bring this nugget of information to your attention. 

The standard CRMA Core Exam will be a 100-question, multiple-choice exam, with a seat time of two hours. These exams will be instantly scored like all of the other IIA exams, and will be administered at Pearson VUE testing centers around the world. All CRMA eligibility requirements will apply.

That works out to 120 minutes / 100 questions = 1.2 minutes or 72 seconds per question. 

My point here is that none of you have any experience with such a timed ordeal. This requires very quick thinking and a high level of alert attention for a stunning two straight hours. 

There are some 19 books and papers recommended as reading for the exam but I do not see any questions and answers. now that makes it another proposition altogether. I suspect that some questions of this type are on the CPA Audit Exam. 

Interestingly Chambers is NOT a CPA but has the four designations offered by the IIA, no wonder he is their CEO. 

The best preparation for any certified exam is answering exam representative questions during a timed test. 

Period. Anything else is like taking the proverbial shower in a raincoat. 

I Told Ya So!

Memorial Weekend 2014

When we were still at St. Joe, I susggested our future lay not in Spain, Ireland, Romania, Germany or any of the other spots the rst of the faculty were taking students. Rather we should head to West Texas. BEcoming familiar with West Texas oil would likely be the key to a good job in the future. 

Well, read this.

Millenials spurn Silicon Valley for Texas Oil

This time it may be different. At least they are finding more oil. That never happened in the 1974-1982 boom. 

Cutting Through the Rhetoric

Memorial Weekend May 25, 2014

On the one hand, most of our students do not read the SA Express News. Hence they are not subject to uber leftist propaganda like the Page F1 Opinion Section, American Dream Needs a Wake Up Call. This is yet another call for more government intervention in the name of fairness, we have a lack of opportunity don't you see, and American leads the world in Income Inequality. 

The SA Express News is  Hearst Publication. Hearst bought his NY newspaper with money borrowed from his Mother, and never re paid. He then spent his life extolling the virtues of big government. 

The article is question is written by one Joseph Stiglitz of the Roosevelt Institute, the one that is named for Franklin not Teddy. It proposes a New Deal for the 21st Century which of course is the Old Deal with even more government added. Do you think our problem is a lack of government.

I would hope our students have adequate critical thinking skills to see the agenda that Stiglitz lays out. But I am not sure. He claims America is the most unequal income nation on the planet. Really, gee Joe, have you visited Hatii or Zimbabwae or Paraguay lately?  For that matter, stand in El Paso and look across the border to Juarez, what do you see, nirvana?

 

He fails to note that the FED buying of bonds has injected money right to the Administration's hated One Percent at the big banks which have of course speculated in the markets doubling them since 2009. If you own lots of stock, you made lots of money. Recall that the Administration complained that Bernanke was apparently not doing enough in this department. 

Other 'points' are the same old things, like an estate tax. Gee Joe, when did the estate tax slow down the Kennedys?  All the estate tax does is line the pockets of lawyers and CPAs and insurance companies specializing in avoiding just that, another example fo people working to produce tax avoidance, gee Joe where is the wealth creation in that. 

And so it goes. I doubt we will see a counter point  article by Tom Sowell.

Specialized Comfort Bike for Sale

Posted Friday May 23, 2014

 

 

 

I bought this bike specifically to ride while for re hab after my artificial hip surgery. Specialized designed it to provide a comfortable ride with very large tubes to absorb shock, a front  50 mm travel fork, 21 speeds with mountain bike 22/32/412 front gear set, and twist grip shifters for the seven speed rear gear set. Toe clips are on both pedals and there is a water bottle holder.  The frame is 20 inchjes from th e middle of the crank to the top of the frame seat post. 

It features anj upright riding position. It has aluminum rims iwth large 26 x 1.95 kevlar tires, I never had a flat. Tires and bike has about 1,000 miles on it, always stored indoors when not in use. 

dennis.elam@att.net

Altus rear seven speed gear set

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of tread left on the tires.

 

22/32/42 front cogs

 

 

Seven speed grip shifter

 

50 MM Front Fork

Trek 7.3 Aluminum Frame for Sale

Posted Friday May 23, 2014

I am posting for sale a 2006 Trek 7.3 aluminum, 22.5 inch frame (from denter of crank to top of frame seat post)

Purchased June 2006

Ultra light weight wheels

24 speed - 3 x 8

Modified with 22/32/42 Mountain Bike main gears discarding road set up  52/38 stock gears

ergo seat, try this and you will never go back to the traditional seat

Handlebar computer

Toe clips, water bottle holder

Tires hold air, tube replaced during tune up

Brakes and gear tune up at Pedal Power this March, ready to ride

$295.

dennis.elam@att.net

 

 

XERO Lite Wheels - XSR-3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deore 8 Speed rear gear cog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ergo hand grips at right, thumb shifters for 8 speed

rear cogs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upgrde to ergo seat

 

 

 

 

 

More Tax Evasion

Wed May 21, 2014

Credit Suisse admits to aiding US citizens in evading taxes. CS agrees to pay a $2.5 B fine. 

Recall hat Toyota is moving from high tax California, to Plano, TX. When will law makers get the message. Taxes are so high that no one wants to pay. The solution is to lower taxes, not increase the penalties. Fat chance of that happening, eh?