Professor Elam

Socionomics Explained

Thursday March 30 2017

Robert Prechter explains socionomics at the 2012 Mood Conference.

PwC Keeps Oscar Role but with Revisions

Thursday March 30, 2017

It sure would have been interesting to have been the 'fly on the wall' observing the negotiations between PwC and the Academy Award Committee.

PwC Partners Cullinan nd Ruiz are of course out of the Oscar business, but remain partners. I am unable to confirm my prediction that they would be counting inventory for clients in Siberia or North Dakota at this time.

Three rather than two partners will participatein the future.

The third will be in the control trailer with the show director. Both partners were seen using their phones for photos and such before the snafu. No phones in the future. And there will be partner rehearsals before the actual ceremony.

Or perhaps we can say

PwC goes to internal control school.

The Ethics of Blocking Traffic

Thursday March 30, 2017

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Two former aides to Gov. Chris Christie were sentenced to prison Wednesday for their role in a political revenge plot involving traffic jams at the country's busiest bridge, a scandal that sank the Republican's presidential aspirations.

Bridget Kelly, 44, was sentenced to 18 months and Bill Baroni, 45, was sentenced to two years after they were convicted for their roles in the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal. Both must also serve 500 hours of community service.

Ms. Kelly is a single mother of four children and now faces 18 months in jail. I find this amazing in that Richard Fuld bankrupted Lehman Brothers, paid himself $300 million in his last year there, and is a free man today.

Yes these two intentionally blocked the upper level of bridge in retaliation for a Mayor not supporting Governor Christie.  But it was not the act itself that got them into trouble.

The Judge pointed out that lying to a legislative committee as well as the jury over their intentions as the real crime.

The cover up is often the real crime.  What do you think, does Bridget Kelly deserve 18 months in jail?

Externship at Harland Clarke

Wednesday March  28 2017

Last Friday 25of the 50 students from UTSA, TAMUSA, Trinity, and St Mary's gathered for a day long externship.

Students were assigned into groups and each was given a case study to solve.  This allowed the Harland employees to examine the students in a simulated real

world problem solving situation  Harland employees observed the students as they worked on their cases.  At the end of the day each group presented its solution.

I was the only professor present, thanks to Clarissa of our Career Development Dept here, I knew about the event.

And the new hires from last year's externship (UTSA only) spoke about how much they enjoyed the culture of the company. Students observed the monthly 'Town Hall Meeting' which emphasized employee improvement. And we were introduced to the Harland business model.

Harland has been and is in the check printing business. But that is fading fast in the digital world. So they have  invented themselves, check out Marketing solutions that get results.

Harland has 8,900 employees in the USA in 65 locations. Their headquarters is here in San Antonio.

This was also a chance for our students to network with students from the other schools.

At right TAMUSA graduate student Jeret Bustos is making friends with a student from Trinity.

And Harland provided a nice continental breakfast and tasty lunch. Thanks for hosting our students, I look forward to your next

Externship!

 

Revisesd Gleim CPA Guide now On Line

Monday March  27, 2017

The heavily revised Gleim CPA introduction guide is here.

Click on the PDF button to access the guide. The exam is going back to more original answers being required as it was when I took it.

The hard copies will ship in a few weeks.

Newly Minted CPA to Speak in Class Saturday May 25

Posted Wednesday March 22,  2017

 

Claude Nchanji, CPA, is a TAMUSA graduate. He recently passed the CPA exam. I invited him to speak to the ACCT 5308 Ethics class

When  Saturday March 25, 2017 at  10 45 AM

Where Central Academic Building Room 223

Claude will reflect on his study procedure and exam experience.

This should be a worthwhile lecture for all accounting students, So we have a large room and I am inviting everyone who might be interested to attend this portion of the class.

Class begins at 410 30 but I am giving an extra 15 minutes for late comers to show up.

Sears Issues Going Concern Language in Annual Report

Wed March 22, 2017

Accounting reports assume a company will remain in business. If it appears the company is not generating enough cash to meet expenses, a going concern

statement is issued with the report. We have followed the downward spiral of Sears Holdings SHLD for some time now.

Yesterday SHLD issued a going concern statement, so the end will probably come for what was once the world's largest retailer in the next 12 months.

So much for Eddie Lampert's boy genius status.

Graduate Education Day

Monday March 20, 2017

 

The Accountant

Weekend March 18, 2017

I slogged through the movie The Accountant yesterday. In the past accountants ave always been portrayed as nerdy, cost obsessed types, if the writers want to portray a dull person, they invariably assign an accounting label. Lawyers however  are are usually portrayed as human saviors come to earth.

First off, Ben Affleck is not as good an actor, for my money, as Matt Damon, or Matthew McConaughey. But given the one dimensional role of his character, this role suits Ben well.

We meet Christopher Wolf as  screaming out of control youngster who is autistic. Turns out, like Ray in Rain Man, he is great with numbers and detail. So of course he grows up to be

an accountant but one with some unsavory clients.Chris is great at figuring out ways to have money cross borders without detection. But since the writer could not think of a plot where the viewers could follow a real forensic accounting showdown, Chris becomes the Jason Statham of the accounting world.

 

Yep we are expert at hand to hand combat all the way up to and including the .50 caliber Barrett M107A1 sniper rifle.  Perhaps we should add a class in 'gunning for the client.'

It has been a while since I have seen John Lithgow in anything.  Ever versatile, he plays a heavy in this one.

But the scene where Chris begins to dissect the books of Lithgow's corporation  has him all alone in the glass enclosed board room. He disdains the help of Anna Kendrick who suspects something is awry.  And of course by writing dozens of numbers in spreadsheet form on the class, he quickly comes to the conclusion, as he puts it, I don't guess, that something is amiss.

The subliminal message seems to be that becoming an intuitive forensic accountant requires out of the ordinary bordering on psychiatric impaired skills.

We still await a clever forensic accounting story about a guy or gal we might like who accomplished her mission the hard way, she learned it.  UP to now about all we have are screen wimps or weirdos.

 

Socionomic Theory of Finance, Chapter One

Friday March 17,2017

Update for 3/27/17

the comments section is now open, please post your thoughts

Accounting Students

As the ACCT 5308 Ethics Class is aware,  Director of Research   Matt Lampert and Executive Director Alyssa Hayden of the Socionomics Institute

will be attending the Student Research Symposium, here May 5-6.    Robert Prechter    is  the President and Founder of  the Institute,

We have a unique opportunity to take the national  stage of academic thought. Mr. Prechter has a new book out, the Socionomic Theory of Finance. .

Here is the link to the excerpt from Chapter One. 

Re-defining causality is a major  theme of the book. The media is constantly attempting to connect a physical or external or exogenous event with what happens in the stock market.

For example, the day after the Trump speech to Congress, the DJIA jumped 300 points. The media implied this was the result of an improved economy world wide and more positive reaction to Trump than was expected.   But then for the next few days, the market gave back every single point.The media was scrambling to explain what exogenous event could have caused the change.

The first chapter challenges the conventional view of causality.  Several examples are given like the above demonstrating that again and again, the markets do not necessarily follow what is deemed to be conventional causality.  The conventional view is that external or exogenous events determine social action. Individuals are acted upon by news  in the active sense.

Socionomic thinking turns this idea on its head. Instead the argument is that social mood is generated internally or endogenously.   Thus the often unrealized, unremembered mood of the public generates social action.

I am asking our accounting students to read the excerpt and post a comment here on the weblog.

Learn more about socionomics at the Institute website.