San Antonio CPA Society This is the local chapter of the Texas Society of CPAs. TSCPA is voluntary group separate from actually being a Texas CPA licensed by the State of Texas.
BKD In the last few years several local firms have been acquired, like the Hnake group, by national firms such as BKD.
Grant Thornton San Antonio Grant Thornton is one of the large national firms occupying the size ladder below the Big Four.l
Padgett Stratemann is now RMS As San Antonio becomes a bigger player in Texas Business, more national firms are entering this market. A national firm does not start from zero. RMS (http://rsmus.com/) purchased Padgett. This gives the buyer a large client base to start with. Typically the local partners have made a handsome profit on their time at the firm. But seeking to recoup the investment, the buyer typically raises fees knowing some business will be lost. RMS has re located from North Loop 410 to 1604 and 281. Renee Foshee, a tax expert with the firm, is the current SA CPA Society President.
Turner Cleveland PC Terry Cleveland has addressed our students. Two of our graduates are employed with at this firm.
weaver CPA Weaver is one of the largest Texas based Accounting Firms.
Hill and Ford CPAs Kim Ford has addressed our students. She has expanded her practice from tax and write up to forensic investigation and court testimony.
Fisher Herbst and Kemble P. C. Bruce Howard who was on our Business Advisory Council was the Officer Manger for this firm.
Ridout Barrett CPAs Tony Ridout has visited and addressed our students many times. We have placed graduates with Ridout for several years.
Financial Consulting Firms
Aventine Hill Partners, Inc. Beth Hair CEO founded Aventine in San Antonio in 2009. The firm now has offices in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston. She formerly was with RGP.
Resource Global Professionals Susan Hough has been to campus and spoken to our students. She is the San Antonio Manager of RGP. RGP and Aventine are not CPA firms. Instead they offer contract specialists for firms needing specific tasks such as compliance or Controllerships.
Accounting Information
Acounting Today This is an independent site for accounting news regarding firms and current issues.
Certified Information Systems Auditor CISA Now that everything is literally on the computer and cyber security becomes a prominent issue, I see more and more accounting professionals with this designation. Previously known as the Information Systems and Audit Control Association, it now goes by the acronym ISACA.
Certified Fraud Examiner CFE The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, located in Austin, TX by the way, offers this Certification.
Enrolled Agent EA The National Association of Enrolled Agents offers the EA exam for tax professionals.
Foreign Affairs :Published by the Council on Foreign Relations
Institute for the Study of War The Institute for the Study of War advances an informed understanding of military affairs through reliable research, trusted analysis, and innovative education. We are committed to improving the nation’s ability to execute military operations and respond to emerging threats in order to achieve U.S. strategic objectives. ISW is a non-partisan, non-profit, public policy research organization.
Stratfor This Austin, TX based site was begun by an ex Texas State Professor.
You will recall thatyour syllabus contains a link to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange book on understanding futures and options. You will recall I suggested you print it out and add to your accounting library.
I guess I have remined you enough tthat indeed on student observed that for the umpteenth time I reminded all to read the WSJ and the links to financial sites. This is the only way you will learn enought to understand such transactions.
The Paper Chase is a movie about first year Harvard law students enduring th relentless socratic method of Professor Kingsfield the expert in contract law.
When we were showing movies on Sat night this was my selection. John Houseman portrayed Kingsfield and won a Best Supporting Oscar though he ws really the star.
You can stream it on Amazon for 3.99. Some of the students have watched it with their pre teens and teenage children, just to make the point. Our portagonist is named Hart. And the movie tracks Hart's journey from also ran to the student who engages the professor.
Yes the movie is dated, one feature is the study group writing a course outline. Today outlines are commercially available for most any course.
But the jist of the story was then and is now the same. The students form a study group. One student is unsure of himself. Another is arrogant. Most in the class begin fallying by the wayside. And as Hart remarks, it is only October, and already the class has divided into three parts.
I will attempt to locate that on the DVD and show it in class.
This semester is a bit different in that quite a few students are ringing alarm bells over what they find they do not know. This is actually a good thing; too many students do not know what they do not know.
Repetition and understanding the basics of accounting is the core principal here.
It would be interesting to do a re make of The Paper Chase. While the film features females in the law class, oddly none were in the study group. And there are no minorities.
I suggest a re-make along more modern lines. We would cast male and female and certainlyhave a mix of ethnicities. And let's make the discipline accounting, as there are now so many lawyers law schols are limiting enrollment.
Jostling work and school and attempting to have a real life with sites still set on the goal; the Paper Chase to attain a certification. Let's assume all have graduated and are now in a review class for the CPA exam. Now the pressure is on as everyone has a job which requires a CPA designation.
Hmm, a good project for the 40th anniversary of the film. IF we had residential students on campus I would even consider doing this ourselves. And frankly I doubt I can get Ron Howard on the phone to interest him.
At any rate I suggest you stream the movie with your family as an explanationof what you are really doing. Paper Chase was so popular it became a tv series for two or three years.
http://themarketperspective.com this would be a good time to start.
I have been writing that social mood would go negative as the next downturn begins. It is here now, world wisde.
China will have the same problem that Gorbachev had trying to contatin his people once they started tasting freedom. Hong Kong was free before China took over so there is much more for people to remember. I doubt China will drop its desire to know the outcome of elections before they happen so eventually we will see some real violence.
In a recent post I noted that both Edward Deming and Dale Carnegie make the same point, the customer needs to be the focus of your attention.
The best way to improve your presentation skills is to join TAMUSA Toastmasters. Toastmasters is an organization which helps you develop speaking skills across an array of topics.
Gross apparently took the first thing he could find and will be managing a tiny bond fund at Janus. Janus has been underperforming the markets and paid fines for trading violations.
As I remarked in class these guys never quietly retire. Gross could have picked an exit when things were in great shape and handed over to El Erian. Instead the 2x b illionaire blamed others for problems. And in the end, he has become the problem.
Lucille Ball never quit trying to be Lucy, still on Television sans Ricy, Fred, and Ethel into her 70s. Frankly it was a sad site. Carol Burnett however took her show off the air while it was still popular. Carol has remained in demand ever since.
We hope you have logged on to elliottwave.com and entered my ewt. just create a log on name and password and you have access to several months of updates. The graphs are fascinating and confirm my prediction of a Fall 2014 high. We have expected this from the low of Dec 1974 at Dow 577. Initially I thought this would be a market low but it makes much more sense for this to be a celebrated high, forty years in the making. It is no coincidence that this long bull market in financial assets began just a couple of years after Nixon took the US off the gold standard.
Let's look at some of th social mood indicators first.
- Bill Gross has left the building. The high in bond prices occurred in 2012 but the social mood high is surely the exit of the bond king from the company he founded in 1971. This is the headline from the Weekend WSJ which notes that after an e mail blaming other execs for the fund withdrawals from the formerly successful Total Return fund, all said it is him or me. The right fit at the right time in my life, Gross said, remember those words.
The beginning of the end kicked off wiht El Erian abruptly leaving. Gross handled the PR poorly on that one. Then as mistakes were made withdrawals mounted in the Total Return Fund.
Bear markets turn out badly for formerly well regarded personalities, Gross is the latest.
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ABC's How to Get Away With Murder debuted this past Thursday, fittingly on the day the Dow dropped about 250 points. The first episode was a near carbon copy of the opening scen in The Paper Chase which debuted in 1973. A domineering law professors cowers the students in both instances, then it was John Houseman now a black female. but it marks an interesting socionomic anniversary from the previous period of economic stagnation, 1966-1982.
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The NFL appears to be entering its own bear market. From spousal abuse to head injuries to calls for the Commission'er ouster, nothing is going well. The coming bear market will run roughshod on the debt under lavish stadiums. And if the beer companies decide social media or some such is a better venue, it's likely curtains for the revenue stream.
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GM went bankrupt in the last financial crisis-this time around it is involved in recalls over a too cheaply constructed ignition switch.
But, recall that auto sales plunged to 19823 levels in 2009. To get an idea of just how well sales have recovered, take in Terry Box review of the $85,000 three ton Cadillac Escalade. We have noted the ever higher prices at collectible car auctions. But a market high in sentiment should be marked by widespread optimism and the desire to display wealth. A three ton behemoth to drive to the grocery would fill that bill.The never ending craze over expensive mechanical watches is another example.
Much was expected of the new Toyota Tundra plant here in SA in 2008. It closed after three months, shocking everyone. The workers got paid not to build trucks. By moving the Tacoma production here, the plant is now producing more volumne than its original target, over200,000 units a year.
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As noted separatist movements are on the rise. Last minute lobbying kept Scotland in the UK but the separatist move continues from Catalonia in Spain all the way to China and the Ughers.
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?Bullish sentiment recorded by Investors Intelligence is the highest since before the 1987 stock crash. That crash occurred in October five years from its start in August 1982. We are now just more than five years out from March 2009, though the Russell topped this past March making it five years on the nose. Bears poll a mere 13.3%, a new record low. This is a contrary indicator, there are always too few bears at a top.
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In contrast ot the NFL, Derek Jeter retired from the Yankees. A fine athlete leaves at the top of a market, good thinking Derek.
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No matter what the President calls it, war is the ultimate negative human emotion. Now in Syria we have not just two but three, Assad's forces, the Syrian rebels, and the IS, all figfhting one antoher. I suppose it is fitting that at a Grand Supercycle top we have multiple fronts in an ongoing war. The Mid East Islamist movement started with the US engineered fall of the Shah in the late 1970s, the previous period of economic stagnation.
IN a previous post this week and in class I asked if anyone knew who Bill Gross or PIMCO was the firm he founded? No one did but I was spot on as to the big event of the week. The previous hyper link details Bill's bad year.
The WSJ and CNBC say Gross was about to be fired anyway. There is nothing quite so dangerous as the inability to keep one's mouth shut, remember Jimmy Hoffa and George Patton? And Bill has been quite guilty of that lately.
When I worked for Ross Perot we were immersed in a six month training program. The idea was to produce a securities broker who did not depend on the stock market for success. We would be licensed across several markets, insurance, annuities, muni bonds, you name it.
And the fellow running the school used to say, and quite often
The formula for success is totally known.
Likewise I have laid out the formula for becoming a successful accounting student. It is
laid out in the syllabus
across the nine pages of Accounting Resources for TAMUSA Students.
plain to see in the many links on Helpful Websites
con·text
noun \ˈkän-ˌtekst\
: the words that are used with a certain word or phrase and that help to explain its meaning
: the situation in which something happens : the group of conditions that exist where and when something happens
One of the recommendations is to read for context. There are several links to financial sites on the left hand side of this blog. One of the recurrent ideas is to read the Wall Street Journal We are studying bonds in ACCT 3312. Here are three articles that ape-pared over the last two days in the WSJ about the bond market
Wed 9/24/2014
SEC is Examining Pricing at Pimco - Regulators are Probing WEhther Returns awere Artificially Inflated for an Exchange Traded Fund
If you read out textbook it sounds as though there is only one right price for a bond, discounted at the appropriate rate. But this article suggests there are other methods, yeah, no kidding! Nothing is quite as creative as bond pricing among bond dealers. Understanding this will helpyou understand that bond prices are constantly changing.
by the way, how is PIMCO, how is Bill Gross, who is El Erian, why should you care?
Bill Yield Tips into Negatie Territory
We are studying Cash in Acct 3311. T Bills are a form of cash or short term investments. This article notes that T Bills maturing Oct 2 actually dipped into a negative yield for a short time. IN short, investors got back less than they purchased in the safest investment around.
Why is this happening? Inqiring minds want to know
Thursday 9/25/14
Junk Investors See Warning - Some High Yield Bondholders Pare Risk as they Gird for Long Rally to Falter
The five year rally in junk bonds is coming to an end. Fund Managers are getting more selective about what they buy.
What is a junk bond? Why is the rally ending? Why did it start five years ago? Why are fund managers becoming cautious?
Understanding the answers to these questions will move you from being the average out of touch what is going on attendee in class to the front of the pack able to grasp the concept, Master of the Universe bond trader.
Bonfire of the Vanities - Tom Wolfe - it was made into a movie with Tom Hanks Bruce Willis and Melanie Griffith for those that find the book length too daunting
He wasn't aging; he was growing up. Bonfire's pyrotechnic satire of 1980s New York wasn't just Wolfe's best book, it was the best bestselling fiction debut of the decade, a miraculously realistic study of an unbelievably status-mad society, from the fiery combatants of the South Bronx to the bubbling scum at the top of Wall Street. Sherman McCoy, a farcically arrogant investment banker (dubbed a "Master of the Universe," Wolfe's brilliant metaphorical co-opting of a then-important toy for boys), hits a black guy in the Bronx with his Mercedes and runs--right into a nightmare peopled by vicious mistresses, thin wives like "social x-rays," slime-bag politicos, tabloid hacks, and Dantesque denizens of the "justice" system. If the Coen and Marx brothers together dramatized The Great Gatsby, Wolfe's Bonfire would probably be funnier. Many think his second novel, A Man in Full, is deeper, but Bonfire will never die down.
Thanks for getting the word out at your campus and in your accounting classes regarding the San Antonio CPA Society’s Fall Accounting Careers Workshop this coming Friday, September 26, from 5:30-8 p.m. So far, 97 students have committed to attending, which is great.
A total of nine firms/companies, two educational institututions and three individual member CPAs have signed up as sponsors (see attached for the most current list). As many as 10 of those sponsors will be on hand Friday evening to speak with students about internships and entry-level positions. Our panel consists of speakers Jose Garcia, CPA, University of the Incarnate Word; Hayley Cornelius, CPA, ATKG LLP; Heath Grona, CPA, KPMG; and Bethany Eggleston, CPA, Tesoro Companies; and moderator Dr. Sandra Welch, CPA, UTSA. There will also be a number of SACPAS member CPAs on hand to speak with students and answer their specific questions about becoming a CPA.
There will also be an opportunity for students who have never before been TSCPA/SACPAS members to apply for a free membership on Friday evening only. And as always, there will be great snacks. Please let your students know that we strongly suggest they wear business attire for this event.
Let me know if you have any questions or have additional students who wish to attend. Thanks again.
The Academic Relations Committee limits the total number of students from all schools attending each meeting to five students. So you need to tell me early on so we can getyour request in. The deadline is the Thursday before the following Wednesday Luncheon.
Cost is $ 15 per student.
The link to the group is on the sidebar at left. Information on upcoming meetings is located on their website. Note the group has its usual haunts but meets at a different place each time so be sure to check out the correct location for the meeting you choose to attend.
