Helpers and Links for ACCT 5341

ACCT 5341 International Accounting Theories
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Table of Contents

The main source of help in all Trinity University's graduate accounting courses is Comperio from PwC.  This is a database of accounting and auditing standards from around the world.  It is an expensive database that is subscribed to by the Trinity University Library.  However, you need not go to the Library's Web pages.  Once you know the login name and password (which will be disclosed in class), you can log directly into Comperio from http://www.pwccomperio.com/rrt/FormsLogin.asp?/rrt/comperio.asp 

Bob Jensen's SFAS 133 Tutorials on Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities

If you have a computer with speakers at home that is connected to the Internet, you may be interested in the video tutorials at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/acct5341/fas133/WindowsMedia/

I think you can also check out earphones in the basement of the Library at IMS and then use one of Trinity’s lab computers to watch and listen to these tutorials.

After we finish FAS 133, you may be interested in some of the other theory tutorials at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/acct5341/

If you are not connected to the Internet at home, it should be possible to burn the same CD that I used to teach a derivatives course last spring up in Calgary .  The CD to burn is the CD folder on the path TigerNet path
J:\courses\Acct5341\Calgary\CDfiles


These files have many of the PowerPoint, Excel, and Video files that we will be using in the early part of ACCT 5341.
The ITS help desk can direct you to computers that can be used to burn CDs provided you bring your own blank CD.

The Class 6 assignments are the most difficult in the course --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/class06.htm

The good news is that I provide you the answers.
The bad news is that you have to understand those answers.

Questions were raised about accounting for firm commitments using options.  There are illustrations in the Week 6 assignments.  See Question 5 to help you with alternative variations of Example 9 in Appendix B of FAS 133.

The broad FAS 133 and IAS 39 rules are as follows assuming a derivative qualifies for hedge accounting treatment. 

If the hedged item is an unbooked forecasted transaction having cash flow risk or FX risk, then hedge accounting entails using OCI (or AOCI) to offset value increases or decreases in the derivative.  But OCI can only be used to the extent the hedge is effective (or the extent of the change in intrinsic value in the case of options).  The ineffective portion (of the change in time value in the case of options) must be charged to current earnings.  Dollar value tests of effectiveness using the 80-125 Dollar Offset Rule are common except in the case where the derivative hedge uses options.  Options seldom meet the test for effectiveness using the Dollar Offset Rule.  Instead, some other form of effectiveness testing is used such as a regression test.

If the hedged item is a booked item (e.g., inventory or an investment) carried at historical cost, then OCI cannot be used (except for FX hedging) since there is no cash flow risk.  With a fair value hedge, the hedged item accounting is changed to fair value during the hedging period.  There may be charges to current earnings to the extent of hedge ineffectiveness.  .  With a fair value hedge, hedge accounting entails using an account named “Firm Commitment” to offset value changes in the hedging derivative.    There may be charges to current earnings to the extent of hedge ineffectiveness.

The same rules apply to swap hedge accounting.

A special exception arises in the case of interest rate swaps.  For hedge accounting of interest rate swaps a special “Short Cut Method” was established that eliminates the need of periodic testing of hedge effectiveness.  See “Short Cut” by scrolling down at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/speakers/133glosf.htm#S-Terms
Most companies strive to qualify for the Short Cut Method when they are hedging interest rate risk.  They wish the FASB and IASB would extend this to other types of hedges.


SFAS 133 Glossary and Links to Transcriptions of Presentations of Experts

International Accounting Theory ToolBooks (these require downloading of Neuron)

Hi Jeff,
 
I apologize that those old ToolBooks are hopelessly out of date.  I even forgot that they are still on the server.  These were my course notes before I started authoring in HTML.
 
I am reluctant to have you even look at them.  However, if you want to try, the Neuron software for reading ToolBooks can be downloaded from http://home.click2learn.com/products/neuron.html
 
The Toolbooks will run without having a password.  The password is required only for access to copyrighted materials that my students have authority to access, but I do not have the rights to provide to the rest of the world.  For example, some Big 5 firms restrict access to my students.

Bob Jensen

 

Helper Research Sites

Microsoft and the AICPA

Professional Web Sites of Possible Interest

Fraud Prevention, Detection, and Auditing

An Email Message from Paul Dierks about cooking the books & fraud

 

Jensen's Index

SFAS 133 Glossary

Other Glossaries

Courses

Table of Contents

General Search Engines

         Click here to view some General Search Engines

Meta Search Tools

Click here to view some meta search tools.

Search engine for education sites --- http://www.searchedu.com/   
My gosh, there were 421 hits for "Bob Jensen," 52 hits for "FAS 133," and 109 hits for "SFAS 133!  I am truly impressed.

Over 20 million university and education pages indexed and ranked in order of popularity.

Search for electronic books --- http://www.searchebooks.com/ 
There were 293 hits for accounting books.

For more help in online searching go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/searchh.htm 

Jensen's Index

SFAS 133 Glossary

Other Glossaries

Courses

Table of Contents

 

Selected Accounting and Finance Links and  Library References

Students are encouraged to use the Trinity University Library search utilites, including those listed at http://www.trinity.edu/departments/maddux_library/library.html (e.g., Library Catalogs * Databases * Palladian * E-journals * News * Net Guides * Net Search * Forms * Services.)

Key Organization Web Sites also see Bob Jensen's Bookmarks at http://WWW.Trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob.htm

AAA = American Accounting Association, 5717 Bessie Drive, Sarasota, FL 34233. Phone: 813-921-7747 and Fax: 212-596-6213.  The web site is at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/

Accounting Horizons Online

AICPA = American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036-8775. Phone: 212-596-6224 and Fax: 212-596-6292.  The web site is at http://www.aicpa.org/

Journal of Accountancy Online

FASB = Financial Accounting Standards Board, P.O. Box 5116, Norwalk, CT 06856-5116. Phone: 203-847-0700 and Fax: 203-849-9714.  The web site is at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/fasb/index.html

SFAS Summaries are at http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/fasb/public/index.html

IASC = International Accounting Standards Committee, 166 Fleet Street, London EC4A 2DY, United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (171) 353-0565 Direct Pubications   Order Phone: +44 (171) 427-5927   Fax: +44 (171) 353-0562
General E-mail: iasc@iasc.org.uk   The web site is at http://www.iasc.org.uk/

IAS Summaries are at http://www.iasc.org.uk/frame/cen2_1.htm

IIA = Institute of Internal Audors 249 Maitland Avenue, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701-4201
Phone: (407) 830-7600 or FAX: (407) 831-5171 or E-Mail: iia@theiia.org .  The web site is at http://www.itaudit.org/

Jerry Searfoss has some good research links for preparring cases at http://www.business.utah.edu/~actdgs/

The following general web sites may be extremely valuable for your research projects.

Bob-

When checking out your 5341 project assignment (quite good btw), I noticed a reference to one of my sites under "sites may be extremely valuable for your research projects." Unfortunately it has changed.

Should be

http://www.mhhe.com/business/accounting/spiceland/website.html

username: faculty

password: teach

 

This is the front page of the resources site for Intermediate Accounting (also includes my entire textbook). Perhaps also helpful, are my two masters courses:

Jensen's Index

SFAS 133 Glossary

Other Glossaries

Courses

Table of Contents

Financial Instruments Derivatives and Investments Helpers

Financial Instruments

Fair Value Documents

If a purchased item is viewed as an inventory holding, the basis of accounting is the lower of cost or market for most firms unless they are classified as securities dealers.  In other words, the inventory balance on the balance sheet does not rise if expected net realization rises above cost, but this balance is written down if the expected net realization falls below cost.  The one exception, where inventory balances are marked-to-market for upside and well as downside price movements, arises when the item in inventory qualifies as a "precious" commodity (such as gold or platinum) having a readily-determinable market value.    Such commodities as pork bellies, corn, copper, and crude oil, are not "precious" commodities and must be maintained in inventory at lower-of-cost-or market. 

If an item is viewed as a financial instrument rather than inventory, the accounting becomes more complicated under SFAS 115.  Traders in financial instruments adjust such instruments to fair value with all changes in value passing through current earnings.  Business firms who are not deemed to be traders must designate the instrument as either available-for-sale (AFS) or hold-to-maturity (HTM).  A HTM instrument is maintained at original cost.  An AFS financial instrument must be marked-to-market, but the changes in value pass through OCI rather than current earnings until the instrument is actually sold or otherwise expires.   Under international standards, the IASC requires fair value adjustments for most financial instruments.  This has led to strong reaction from businesses around the world, especially banks.  There are now two major working group debates.  In 1999 the Joint Working Group of the Banking Associations sharply rebuffed the IAS 39 fair value accounting in two white papers that can be downloaded from http://www.iasc.org.uk/frame/cen3_112.htm.

On December 14, 1999 the FASB issued Exposure Draft 204-B entitled Reporting Financial Instruments and Certain Related Assets and Liabilities at Fair Value.  This document can be downloaded from http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/fasb/draft/draftpg.html  
Trinity University students can find the document at J:\courses\acct5341\fasb\pvfvalu1.doc.

Trading Markets

When I used the "Exact Phrase" in www.hotbot.com for the phrase "Swaps Curve" the following two references emerged:

Web searching advice:

For searching within category names, I suggest that you begin with the categories found at Yahoo Finance at http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Finance_and_Investment/

Many of my students are frustrated by the number of useless
hits in web searches. One approach that I now prefer is to start
with http://www.yahoo.com and then limit the search to a
particular category.

For example, yesterday a student reported having troubles
finding examples of swaptions. This morning I went to yahoo
and limited the search to just the Business and Economy
category. The first search hit was
http://www.financialcad.com/express/knowledge/swaption.htm.
This hit contained a nice description and illustration of a
swaption.

The second hit also contained useful information and
illustrations. It was at
http://www.fxfxnet.com/members/treasury/strategies/options.htm

 

 

Jensen's Index

SFAS 133 Glossary

Other Glossaries

Courses

Table of Contents

Microsoft and the AICPA

Date: Fri, 06 Jun 1997 11:40:45 -0500 (EST)
From: RICE@LOYOLA.EDU
Subject: Microsoft and the Accounting Profession

Many of you probably remember hearing about the agreement made between Microsoft and the AICPA which was announced in October 1996 at the AICPA meeting in Chicago when Bill Gates spoke to the group via video conference. For more
information on how Microsoft is partnering with our profession, you can check out the following URL: http://www.microsoft.com/smallbiz/cpa/default.htm which is called "Focus on Accountants". You may also want to check out Microsoft's Accounting Home Page at http://www.microsoft.com/industry/acc/. And don't forget their Higher Education page at http://www.microsoft.com/education/hed/.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
E. Barry Rice, Director, PIC-AECM
Pacioli International Centre for
Accounting Education using Computers and Multimedia

Jensen's Index

SFAS 133 Glossary

Other Glossaries

Courses

Table of Contents

Professional Web Sites of Possible Interest

Yahoo Finance
http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Finance_and_Investment/

A Section in Bob Jensen's Bookmarks

 

Jensen's Index

SFAS 133 Glossary

Other Glossaries

Courses

Table of Contents

Fraud Prevention, Detection, and Auditing

Online News

Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

President's Report to the Nation
Occupational Fraud and Abuse

CPA Tech Online

CPA Journal

HMA News and Information

SAS 82 Supercedes SAS 53

SAS 82 Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit

Implementation Initiatives

Recently Issued Auditing Standards

http://www.aicpa.org/feedback/shortfb.htm

 

Jensen's Index

SFAS 133 Glossary

Other Glossaries

Courses

Table of Contents

From: Paul Dierks (On Cooking the Books) <Paul_Dierks@mail.mba.wfu.edu>

If you are looking into creative accounting, you should look into the prior work of Abraham Briloff who was a very outspoken professor at CCNY about 25 years ago, and more recently, the work of Howard Schilit. Here are some sites for you to check up on Schilit, his organization.  One book he wrote was called "Financial Shenanigans: How To Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports".  His web site is at  http://www.cfra-online.com/ .  You can compare prices on his book at by entering the ISBN number 0070561311 at http://isbn.nu/ .

 

Jensen's Index

SFAS 133 Glossary

Other Glossaries

Courses

Table of Contents