Professor Elam

Your Career Path

Weekend April 5, 2020

This semester I created a blog post on TAMUSA Blackboard for each student in my classes. Iasked them to post a career plan linked to their graduation date.

With the break down of the economy, this is now more important than ever. Here are a few ideas on what might be included in your career path blog post.

And a note to those with kids and family at home. Passing a certified accounting exam will be the most difficult undertaking of your life. The pass rate is the lowest of any professional exam, 50%. Pharmacy by contrast has a pass rate around  90 %.

So all the family will be taking the exam so to speak. You will need to establish a 'quiet time' when you are undisturbed and can concentrate without interruption.  I am already receiving e mails from harried Moms who are trying to balance home schooling, work from home, and college all in the same time fram.   So plan ahead!

Professor Elam

Accounting 4311, 5308,5327

Your Career Path on Your Blog at BB

I thought this was a good idea at the start of the semester when I created the blogs for all. I observe too many students needlessly procrastinating on their actual career plans. Most are simply focused on finishing school without integrating the idea of a certification into their studies.

Already I suspect 10 million are out of work. 1750 (not a misprint) families showed up at Brook City Base this week when the Food Bank set up a distribution center.   Accountants are in demand when firms are making money. When nothing is being sold, demand for accountants shrinks. So your plan is all about how YOU are going to stand out to a potential employer. So here are a few ideas, and suggestions.

Your submission does not have to be lengthy but it should be tightly focused with a timeline.

Graduation Date, Under or Graduate

What jobs have you had which relate to accounting or independent decision making?

Have you achieved certifications in MSFT Office Software, Quik Books, Six Sigma, Data Analytics, or other digital application?

Were you involved in student organizations?

Did you author an original work or publish a paper with your professor in an academic journal (wow what a great idea!!!!!)

Have you created a website, weblog, twitter or other social media that reflects your interest in accounting or finance?

Are you a student member of an accounting organization. Given the social distancing right now everyone is meeting on line, see Professorelam blog for April 16 IMA meeting.

Are you considering an accounting certification?

CPA requires 150 Hours of college and four exams.

CMA CIA EA can be taken with an undergrad degree. I have links to all these on the Professorelam..typepad.com

CMA is two exams, CIA is three.   You have a designation after passing the first part of CIA.

CFE is another option and study at tome. I suspect it is easier than the others.

If so have you joined the organization, and picked your review materials, and begun studying simultaneous with your classes?

And you can examine the laundry list of other specialty certifications, again professorelam weblog, bank examiner, divorce cert (yes there is one!) for ideas.  

Explore the internet.

Here are 34 professional certs for accounting

https://accountantsaccelerator.com/34-professional-certifications-accounting-tax-audit/

Robert Half on certifications

https://www.roberthalf.com/blog/salaries-and-skills/finance-and-accounting-certifications-employers-want-to-see

In researching this here is an organization I did not know about San Antonio Association for Financial Professionals

https://www.sanantonioafp.org/

Elliott Wave

Friday April  3 2020

Uh no we are not....

 

Below is a perfect example of Elliott's five wave pattern  across multiple markets

Texas Student Debt

Monday March 30 2020

Here is the latest from the Texas Comptroller on student debt.

 

Note the phrases used

loan transparency

a limit of no more than first year salary

financial literacy

 

but nowhere do you see anyone tackling the real roblem fixed costs at Universities totally out of control

https://comptroller.texas.gov/economy/fiscal-notes/2020/mar/studentloan.php

CPA Scholarship

Tuesday March 24 2020

Link to Gleim

Monday March 23 2020

Here is the correct link to access Gleim Audit Questions

https://www.gleim.com/?promoID=PLED-TAMU-SA-SPR(20)-ACCT-4311

Take Out

Monday March 23 2020

A photo on page B 10 to this morning WSJ shows a restaurant fielding take out orders, saying

take out orders are the only ones allowed in restaurants in Racine, WI

Ditto here in San Antonio

It occurs to me this is what has happened to Universities, yep on line learning is a take out order for Higher Ed

Now my question, and I would really like to hear from you, has this changed the value perception of the University.  On line communication is slow, I have used Adobe Connect and now Webex, and it is hard to carry on a group discussion.

If students are facing potential short term job losses as waiters  and part time retail, how will that affect how their perception of how college dollars are spent. I have noted UTSA students already wonder about the million bucks for an out of work football coach.

Your take?

Check out TheMarket Perspesctive Blog

Weekend March 21 2020

http://www.themarketperspective.com

 

I am making numerous posts on this companion blog exclusively devoted to the markets. Please posts your comments and observations there.

Mistakes Others Make When Interviewing, But Not You Of Course.

 

Thursday March 19 2020

 

Mark Goldman is a Past President of SA CPA Society and CEO of MGR Recruiting.

His presentation, see above title, at UTSA was cancelled as most events have been

So her recorded this for all accounting students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3BwU2U4NHg

Mark and his associate Bryan Edwards have been good friends of the TAMUSA campus. Each has been here i personn and provided valuable career insights.

 

 

 

Tuesday March 17 20020 Update for all Classes

Tuesday March 17 2020

Students in ACCT 4311 5308 5327 BUAD 3192

Professor Dennis Elam

Dennis.elam@tamusa.edu

I am writing this one message to all classes so as to not omit anything to anyone.   First read the Monday March 16 2020 announcement from Provost O’Brien. To wit, we will have on line classes the rest of the semester. Please take a look at the information on the provost page on how to use Webex.   Patience, I am learning along with you

As resident Matson said in her e mail, let’s bee patient with one another. No doubt there will be unforeseen problems. We will take them one at a time.

It is more important than ever to check BB announcements as we will not be seeing one another except on line.

Hi, everyone:

            As I said I would, I’m sending you a link to a help page for delivering on-line classes: https://www.tamusa.edu/provost/face-to-face-classes-remotely.html.

Jim Meyer in IT Services created it, and he kept it as simple as possible.  You might note that it’s the second link on the home page for academic affairs.  It has four clickable boxes—two for WebEx, one for installing a VPN connection, and one to a faculty-guides page created by the Center for Academic Innovation.  It also contains two phone numbers—one for the CAI and one for the ITS help desk.  The CAI will help you with questions such as, “How do I make this program work?” whereas the help desk can work with you on access issues.  Again, it’s entirely up to you which course-delivery system(s) you use.

            As you probably have heard, President Matson and I made the decision early this afternoon to cancel face-to-face classes for the remainder of the semester.  It got to the point where it seemed unfair not to do so, given how things have evolved and where we’re inevitably headed.  The less uncertainty we all have to deal with, the better.  

Provost Mike O/Brien

A few semesters back we as a department experimented with Hy Flex Classes via Adobe Connect. One could come to class, watch on line at the same time or watch later. I have not seen any on line attendance requirements. I am attending the webex seminar this morning at 9 00 AM on line. More on all of this as we get details.

ACCT 4311

We had scheduled an exam over chapter 1-4 for the first class after Spring Break.   The printed test was prepared of necessity on a program called Test Gen, it cannot be imported into MH Connect. While there are supposedly options to put it on BB, I think it best to rely on something we are all familiar with and know will work.

Hence I will be creating another test on M H Connect, again 27 m/c questions. I will attempt to find questions along the same lines, and yes there will be a new review. Keep checking her for announcements.

I have set up on line quizzes via Gleim for practice. One students reports difficulties accessing them, more to follow.

ACCT 5308

We will continue to have on line quizzes and exams, your wishes have been granted! IN the meantime I would like to see a lot more on your blogs in terms of outlines and papers. Some of you have yet to post anything.

And there are some other writing assignments, which believe it or not are quite interesting. See class BB and the Discussion Board for this.

Grades from the exam are posted in BB.

I did hand out Elliott Wave Financial Forecast at our last class. It has been quite accurate on the market break down. Understand that their view is the virus is a white noise news event.   The larger picture is that a fundamental shift in markets is occurring.

ACCT 5327

Again grades on the exam are posted. If you took an exam at the testing center I have not been back to campus to pick that up yet.

It will be necessary for you to pay close attention to when quizzes and exams must be taken. A 

I have set up on line quizzes in Gleim but one student reports difficulty accessing the exams.   More to follow, watch for announcements in BB.

BUAD 3192

My original idea was to have students make a class presentation on a topic in their major. This worked well last semester. However that an in class presentation is not possible. I will be exploring how you can post a power point in for example the discussion board or on a blog I create for you in BB. Stay tuned to announcements on BB.

All Classes

I have been posting updates at

http://www.themarketperspective.com on the market changes. My newspaper columns this year are also there. This is surely one of the most interesting times in market history to observe what is happening. I have not however seen a single comment from anyone on the weblog.

All the so-called experts failed to see the market sell off about to happen. That was not the case for Elliott Wave and Socionomics.

For another view of this take a read on Nassim Nicholas Taleb. His book the Black Swan has sold three million copies. He seems to think random events cannot be predicted.. Socionomic theory is that such events can be seen coming by studying changes in social mood.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb

Again in the mean time let’s be patient with one another. If you have difficulty accessing content no one has a desire to penalize you. However that is not excuse for not following announcements and keeping up on your own. In Conquer Accounting I suggested hitching up with a study partner. Pick one with strengths you do not have. Al 12 suggestions in Conquer are particularly appropriate for a situation like this.

Professor Dennis Elam

Dennis.elam@tamusa.edu

SA IIA Conference Postponed

Weekend March  15 2020

SA IIA had a day long conference scheduled at the Marriott Resort this March 30.

It has been postponed until September.