Professor Elam

Become a Becker Campus Rep

Friday April 28, 2017

Becker has been in the CPA review business  before I was an undergraduate.

Responsibilities The job of Becker’s Campus Ambassadors is to serve as liaisons between Becker and their schools, including:

* Educating students on the benefits of the CPA credential and how Becker is the best option to prepare for the CPA Exam.

* Coordinating presentations and other campus events

* Distributing promotional materials to fellow students and faculty

* Displaying posters and flyers A Becker Account Manager provides continual local support and equips Campus Ambassadors with the tools and training necessary to complete responsibilities effectively.

Qualifications Ideal candidates are college Juniors or Seniors, currently enrolled in an Accounting (or equivalent) major at an accredited college or university, and possess the following traits:

* Cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher

* Actively involved in accounting and/or business organization

* Excellent relationships with department staff, faculty and fellow students

* Outgoing, connected to fellow students and able to adopt a leadership role on behalf of Becker

* Excellent communication and organizational skills

* Strong academic and social presence within the school’s accounting department

Compensation and Benefits Upon satisfactory completion of responsibilities, Campus Ambassadors receive a certificate for all four parts of Becker's CPA Exam Review at no cost or at a reduced rate – a $3,393 value. This certificate is valid for any of our two course formats – Live and Online. Send your resume and/or questions to: Meredith Harigan: mharigan@becker.com

 

Gleim Update on CPA Exam

Wednesday April  26, 2017

 

Click here for Gleim update on the new CPA exam

 

 

Learn Socionomics from the Experts!

Tuesday April 25, 2017

This is Your Research Invitation!

When – Friday and Saturday, May 5 & 6, 2017
What – The Socionomics Institute SI is making its first ever collection donation to a University. Happily that University is Texas A & M San Antonio. Research Director Matt Lampert and Executive Director Alyssa Hayden will be on campus for both the donation and to discuss ways we as Faculty can partner with SI for cutting edge research.

Who – Matt Lampert, Research Director, Alyssa Hayden, Exec. Director
The Socionomics Insittute

Robert Prechter is credited with popularizing the theories of Ralph Nelson Elliott, known as he Elliott Wave Principle. His Yale psychology degree led to an interest in how osocial mood shapes social events. This led to the creation of a new theory of social behavior, Socionomics.
That evolved into the creation of the Socionomics Institute.
May 5 and 6 will be a unique opportunity for our faculty, students, and TAMSUA stakeholders to interface with the Research and Executive Directors of the Institute. Matt Lampert, Research Director explains-

As Dennis mentioned, we have two presentations, one for Friday and one for Saturday.

I’ll co-present the talks with Alyssa Hayden, the Socionomics Institute’s Executive Director. I serve as the Institute’s Director of Research. At SI, we study how social mood influences social behavior. The basic idea is that how we feel influences what we do, so if you know how society is feeling, you’ve got a leg up on anticipating the tenor and character of social events and trends. Essentially, we use trends in social psychology to contextualize and even forecast trends in politics, pop culture, the economy and beyond.

The Friday talk is aimed at a social science audience, whereas the Saturday presentation is aimed at folks in the business school—though both talks are open to anyone who would like to attend. We are eagerly anticipating meeting you next week.

Program Abstracts on Reverse side

Where - Friday, May 5 / 1:10-2 :30 PM Central Academic Building #419

Mood, Music, Migrants and Maladies: How Social Mood Influences Society and Culture
You probably know that your mood shapes what you do. But did you know that social mood shapes what society does? That’s what the new field of socionomics is all about—exploring how social mood influences social events. In this presentation, we show how social mood affects such diverse realms as the words we use, our propensity to go to war, our views of outsiders, our susceptibility to disease and even the songs we send to the top of the charts. We also introduce socionomic methodology and show you how to track social mood in real time. You’ll come away equipped to incorporate a socionomic perspective into your work and enrich your understanding of how social trends unfold.

Where – Saturday May 6 / Noon to 1:00 PM, CAB VISTA Room #402
Resonate: How to Use Social Mood to Fuel Your Marketing and Strategic Planning
In 2008 Batman was “the Dark Knight.” In 2017, he’s the star of a Lego movie. Two totally different takes on the Caped Crusader both resulted in box office success. Why? Because each one resonated in the social mood environment in which it was released. In this presentation, we explore how social mood shapes the tastes and preferences of consumers, and we reveal how you can tap into it using context-specific marketing. We also illustrate how herding among speculators, regulators and the public creates risks and opportunities for strategic planners, investors and entrepreneurs. Social mood is always in flux, but you can learn how to track it in real time using socionomics, a framework for understanding how social mood influences social trends and behavior. Come away with a new perspective for recognizing why certain products, ideas and trends take hold when they do—and why others fall flat.

Learn more at www.socionomics.net

Contact Prof Dennis Elam for more details
delam@tamusa.edu

 

Watch the video

http://www.socionomics.net/2017/04/youre-invited-to-san-antonio/

Student Rating of Instructor

Monday April 24, 2017

 

Dear Faculty,

The Student Rating of Instruction (SRI) emails were sent to students today to their Jaguar email accounts. An announcement was also posted to Blackboard. Students can also access their SRIs via a link in Blackboard after they login. The SRIs are open now and will close on 5/7/2017 at 5:00pm.

Students have two options to access their Course Evaluations (please feel free to copy and paste the information between the bars into a communication to your students:

_____________

1.   Blackboard. https://tamusa.blackboard.com/webapps/login/ Once you login you will see the "My Institution" page. Look for the "Tools" module. The course evaluation link is at the bottom of the Tools module. Click on the link "Course Evaluations" and you will be taken to your course evaluation links for each class you are enrolled in.

2.   Student Jaguar Email accounts. Student Jaguar Email link. Once you login to your Jaguar account, you will see emails sent by A&M-San Antonio Admin. You should have received one email for each class you are enrolled in. Links to the course evaluations are contained in these emails.

____________

We will be conducting a communication campaign to encourage your students to complete their SRIs. However, research indicates that the simplest and most effective way to improve your SRI response rate is to communicate with your students about why their feedback is important to you as an instructor, and to remind them about the SRIs at least twice

Student Rating of Instructors

Sat April 22 2017

Texas A&M University-San Antonio
Student Rating of Instruction
Survey Announcement

Dear Faculty Member,
Texas A&M University-San Antonio values the opinions and feedback of our students on the quality of instruction. The "Student Rating of Instruction" (SRI) system gives each student a brief survey for each course he or she is enrolled in at Texas A&M-San Antonio. This semester, we will be conducting the SRIs via an online platform. Paper and pencil evaluations will not be used.
On 4/24/2017 at 6:00am students will receive emails (Jaguar email accounts) with a hyperlink to the SRI for each class. In addition, they can find a link to their SRIs after they login to Blackboard (in the left-hand Tools menu on the My Institution landing page - NOT in your courses). Please note the following:
• The evaluation can only be completed once for each class.
• Evaluations are confidential, and faculty and administrators are unable to link student information with completed evaluations.
• Surveys for Spring 2017 16-Week Term must be completed by 5/7/2017 at 5:00pm.
• Faculty members will be able to access the results for review one week after final course grades are due (after final course grades have been posted).
• While you will not be able to access results until one week after final course grades are due, you will be able to view your class response rates as soon as your students begin to respond. You can view this information by clicking on this link Login (Note: This link should not be shared with others; it is unique to you.) .

Thank you,
The Office of Academic Affairs

Two Trains Leave Their Stations.....

Friday April 21, 2017

Remember the two train problem from high school algebra?  Here it is again.

There is a lot of talk in Higher Ed about the importance of Critical Thinking. A word problem requiring algebraic thinking is just that.

So the solution is provided, I suspect that 'boning up on such problems is good practice for the CPAexam, it gets you thinking mathematically.

 

How Shall I Fine Thee, Let Me Count the Ways

Friday April 21, 2017

Deutsche Bank pays various fines for lack of oversight.

Deutsche Bank AG will pay $157 million to settle separate accusations that it was unaware of its foreign-exchange traders chatting online with competitors and that it hasn’t properly complied with Volcker Rule constraints on investments, the Federal Reserve said Thursday.

In unrelated enforcement actions, the Fed fined the Frankfurt-based lender $136.9 million for faulty oversight of its FX traders and $19.7 million for failing to keep tabs on the kind of trading banned by the Volcker Rule -- the first major enforcement action by a U.S. banking regulator over that core component of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.

More from Bloomberg.com: South Korea Tells Trump It's Actually Never Been a Part of China

“We are pleased to resolve these civil enforcement matters with the Federal Reserve,” said Renee Calabro, a Deutsche Bank spokeswoman. She declined to comment further on the latest in a series of government actions against the company. In December, the lender agreed to settle a U.S. mortgage-backed securities probe for $7.2 billion.

Alert accounting students will recall from my case write up on KPMG that Deutsche Bank was heavily involved in promoting KPMG's tax shelters.

This is a pattern we see repeated again and again. A government passes restrictive legislation hoping to curtail improper activities. The same bad actors break the new rules. Then fines are levied, no one admits to anything, and life resumes as usual.

Criminal law imposes a rule such that is the same person is convicted multiple times for the same thing, a long prison sentence is imposed on the idea that the person is a continuing threat to society. How about a Big Bitch rule like that for financial institutions?

 

 

Bank Regulator Faults Self over Wells Fargo

Thursday April 20, 2017

The Office of the Comptroller opf the Currency

is faulting itself for failing to address problems at WFC before it was too late.

 

According to the OCC’s report, examiners met with Carrie Tolstedt, the executive in charge of Wells Fargo’s consumer banking operations, to discuss 700 whistleblower complaints regarding the bank’s aggressive sales practices. Tolstedt told regulators at the time that the large number of complaints was due to Wells Fargo having a culture that “encourages valid complaints, which are then investigated and appropriately addressed,” according to the report.

 

Despite knowing about these complaints and other problems, the OCC declined to investigate further. It also did not look into risks that could come from compensation programs like those at Wells. The OCC’s examiners took no action against Wells Fargo through at least 2014, according to the report, which would have been months after the Los Angeles Times published its investigation into Wells’ sales practices in Southern California.

So the CEO, the Board, the Internal Auditors, the External Auditors, and now the Government Oversight group failed the depositors.

Do you suppose anyone at the Comptroller's Office will lose their job?

Tom Herman Ramps up UT Football Team

Monday April 17 2017

Tom Herman has inherited a great UT Football team, Charlie Strong said as much.

Now read what Herman is doing om [ractoce to make the team better.

Gee how do you suppose this has any connection with preparing for a certified accounting exam?

Half of those taking any certified exam will fail. The other half will pass. The difference for many clustered around the 75 pass level

is the difference of four m/c questions or one required research question over a four hour exam.

I believe it was Ken Norton who said

If you ain't sweatin' when you get in the ring, you are gonna lose.

KPMG Star Auditor Out!

Monday April  17, 2017

Scott Maarcello was supposed to redeem KPMG's audit reputation. Instead he is now at the center of a scandal.

He is a three decade employee who became vice chair of audit, managing a workforce of thousands.

The accounting world was stunned last week when Mr. Marcello, KPMG's top audit official, was fired over a leak of confidential information. The firm said Mr. Marcello, who turns 54 this month, and four other partners were let go over the mishandling of a tip that gave the firm improper advance word about which of its audits its regulator planned to scrutinize in its annual inspections.

After his 2015 promotion from national leader of the firm's financial-services practice, he faced the challenge of satisfying KPMG's regulator, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which in recent years had scored KPMG'S auditing performance below that of other big firms.

People who know Mr. Marcello said they were surprised such an experienced, knowledgeable auditor is accused of having gotten into such a fix.

"It's a huge and disappointing thing to happen to such a fine individual," said Dennis Beresford, former chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the U.S. accounting rule-writing panel, who knows Mr. Marcello from common ties to a professional organization. He called Mr. Marcello "personable and extremely competent."

 

Mr. Marcello declined to comment to a Wall Street Journal reporter at his Connecticut home. KPMG and the accounting board declined to comment.

 

Class, I call your attention to page 204-207 of our ethics text. Those pages feature the, and I am not making this up,KPMG Professional Judgment Framework.

It begins with this definition.

Judgment is the process of reaching a decision or drawing a conclusion where there are a number of possible alternative solutions.  It goes on to name five components of professional judgment.

That is all great but was completely ignored by Marcello.

Perhaps he succumbed to all three sides of the fraud triangle.

I have previously suggested that such continued ethical failures will eventually result in outside auditors becoming quasi employees of the Federal Government, Each incident like this draws the profession just that much closer.