Accounting Researcher Helpers

Bob Jensen is in the Department of Business Administration at TrinityUniversity.
Email: rjensen@trinity.edu

Accountancy Discussion ListServs:

For an elaboration on the reasons you should join a ListServ (usually for free) go to   http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm

AECM (Educators)  http://pacioli.loyola.edu/aecm/  AECM is an email Listserv list which provides a forum for discussions of all hardware and software which can be useful in any way for accounting education at the college/university level. Hardware includes all platforms and peripherals. Software includes spreadsheets, practice sets, multimedia authoring and presentation packages, data base programs, tax packages, World Wide Web applications, etc Roles of a ListServ --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm

CPAS-L (Practitioners) http://pacioli.loyola.edu/cpas-l/  CPAS-L provides a forum for discussions of all aspects of the practice of accounting. It provides an unmoderated environment where issues, questions, comments, ideas, etc. related to accounting can be freely discussed. Members are welcome to take an active role by posting to CPAS-L or an inactive role by just monitoring the list. You qualify for a free subscription if you are either a CPA or a professional accountant in public accounting, private industry, government or education. Others will be denied access.

Yahoo (Practitioners)  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xyztalk This forum is for CPAs to discuss the activities of the AICPA. This can be anything  from the CPA2BIZ portal to the XYZ initiative or anything else that relates to the AICPA.

AccountantsWorld  http://accountantsworld.com/forums/default.asp?scope=1  This site hosts various discussion groups on such topics as accounting software, consulting, financial planning, fixed assets, payroll, human resources, profit on the Internet, and taxation.

Business Valuation Group BusValGroup-subscribe@topica.com  This discussion group is headed by Randy Schostag [RSchostag@BUSVALGROUP.COM]

• For an elaboration on the reasons you should join a ListServ (especially the AECM) go to   
  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm
  
   

• Updated Accounting Theory --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen//theory/00overview/theory01.htm

  The Sad State of Accounting Research --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen//theory/00overview/theory01.htm#AcademicsVersusProfession

  Questions --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen//theory/00overview/theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms
  Why must all accounting doctoral programs be social science (particularly econometrics) doctoral programs?
  What's wrong with humanities research methodologies?
  What's wrong about studying accounting in accounting doctoral programs?
  Why are we graduating so many new assistant professors of accounting who do not know any accounting?
   

  Bob Jensen's letter to Kate http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/2007NotableLiteratureAward.htm

  An Analysis of the Contributions of The Accounting Review Across 80 Years: 1926-2005 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/395wpTAR/Web/TAR395wp.htm
  Co-authored with Jean Heck and forthcoming in the December 2007 edition of the Accounting Historians Journal.

  I sent out an "Appeal" for accounting educators, researchers, and practitioners to actively support what I call The Accounting Review (TAR) Diversity Initiative as initiated by last year's American Accounting Association President Judy Rayburn --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/395wpTAR/Web/TAR.htm

   
• I created a timeline of major happenings (on a timeline) leading up to the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) and On LIne Analytical Process (OLAP) systems.  Overviews of XML, VoiceXML, XLink, XHTML, XBRL, XForm, XSLT, RDF and the Semantic Web are also provided --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/xmlrdf.htm
  
  
• Bob Jensen's Accounting Theory Documents --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory.htm 
  
  
• Bob Jensen's Threads on Real Options, Option Pricing Theory, and Arbitrage Pricing Theory --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/realopt.htm 
  
  

• Bob Jensen's helpers on accounting for derivative financial instruments and hedging activities --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm 

  Comparisons of International IAS Versus FASB Standards --- http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/pocketiasus.pdf

   

• I highly recommend TheFinanceProfessor (an absolutely fabulous and totally free newsletter from a very smart finance professor, Jim Mahar from St. Bonaventure University) --- http://www.financeprofessor.com/ 
  Jim's great blog is at http://financeprofessorblog.blogspot.com/
  
   
• September 25, 2003 message from editor jda [editor.jda@gmx.de]

  Dear Professor Bob Jensen,

  The Journal of Deivatives Accounting (JDA) is preparing to publish its first issue and I would be grateful if you could post the following announcement on your web site.

  Regards

  Mamouda

  Dear Colleagues,

  There is a new addition to accounting research Journals. The Journal of Derivatives Accounting (JDA) is an international quarterly publication which provides authoritative accounting and finance literature on issues of financial innovations such as derivatives and their implications to accounting, finance, tax, standards setting, and corporate practices. This refereed journal disseminates research results and serves as a means of communication among academics, standard setters, practitioners, and market participants.

  The first and special issue of the JDA, to appear in the Winter of 2003, will be dedicated to:

  "Stock Options: Developments in Share-Based Compensation (Accounting, Standards, Tax and Corporate Practice)"

  This special issue will consider papers dealing with:

  * Analysis of applicable national and international accounting standards * Convergence between IASB and FASB * Accounting treatment (Expensing) * Valuation * Corporate and market practice * Design of stock options * Analysis of the structure of stock options contracts * Executives pay incentives and performance * Taxation * Management and Corporate Governance

  For more details on how to submit your work to the journal, please visit http://www.worldscinet.com/jda.html

  Sincerely,
  The Editorial Board Journal of Derivatives Accounting (JDA)

   
• David is not only a good friend, he is a highly respected former editor of Issues in Accounting Education.  He not only produced some of the best editions of that journal, he took a stand (albeit a futile stand) that I think is essential for respect in accounting research.  He actually stood for publication of replications of accounting research, which runs counter to virtually all top research journals in accounting.  You can read a December 5, 2002 message from David Stout on this important issue at  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book02q4.htm#truth 
•  
• Dr. Hubbard and I sent to the FASB as part of our comment on the FASB's Exposure Draft No. 207-A entitled Accounting for Certain Derivative Instruments and Certain Hedging Activities:  an amendment of FASB Statement No. 133 --- http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/fasb/draft/amend133_ED.pdf 
  My threads and multimedia tutorials on hedge accounting are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm 

  We hope that the FASB will include our proposed calculation corrections in the table on Page 75 of FAS 133 and add our proposed explanation of the yield curve derivations to the FASB's Amendments to FAS 133.

  The Hubbard and Jensen paper can be downloaded as follows:

  Working Paper 305:  Some Corrections and Explanations of Example 5 in FAS 133
  The HTML version is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/133ex05.htm 

  The revised spreadsheet is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/133ex05a.xls

  
  

• Those Daring Professors and Their Technology Machines
  
  
• I want to thank all of you who responded to my request for the latest thinking on using students as subjects in behavioral research experiments.  The general conclusions are that external validity tends to be low in such studies even though students are commonly employed for convenience and cost reasons.  You can read more about it and read abstracts of some of the most widely cited papers on this topic at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/student1.htm 
  
  
• Tools for Finding Indexed Accounting Research http://www.rutgers.edu/Accounting/raw/aaa/facdev/research/indexed.htm
  
  
• Computers in Accounting: Past, Present, and Future --- http://www.trinity.edu//rjensen/310wp/310wp.htm 
  
  
• "Visualization of Multidimensional Data" (including faces) --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/352wpVisual/000DataVisualization.htm
  
  
• Transcriptions of Presentations by International Accounting Theory Experts
  
  
• Click Here to View Working Paper 265 on Metacognition
  Concerns in Designs and Evaluations of Computer Aided Education and Training:
  Are We Misleading Ourselves About Measures of Success?
  The above document focuses on the BAM pediagovy for Intermediate Accounting at the University of Virginia
  
  
• Bob Jensen's Long and Boring List of Hard Copy Publications
  The Ones That Got Caught
  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Published
  
  
• Bob Jensen's Equally Long and Exciting List of Unpublished Working Papers
  The Biggest Ones That Got Away --- click here to view a listing
  
  
  A Selected List of Unpublished Working Papers
  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Papers  
  
  
• Working Paper 239 (Updated in 1999)
  The Paradigm Shift in Technology: Financial Reporting Will Never Be the Same
  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/239wp/239wp.htm
  Probably the most serious problem in both the FASB's SFAS 133 and the IASC's IAS 39 is that these standards require continual adjustments of financial instruments derivatives to fair value without guidance on how to estimate fair value for custom contracts that are not traded in markets or are traded in markets too thin for valuation purposes. Over half the contracts around the world are custom forward and swap contracts that are difficult and controversial to value. I have revised my Working Paper 231 that proposes a newer approach for valuing interest rate swaps. The web link is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/231wp/231wp.htm

  I also have a tutorial Excel file called 133exb.xls that can be downloaded along with my updated tutorials.  Because this file is not made available to my students, you must send me an email request for the secret web link to this file.   My email address is rjensen@trinity.edu

• Working Paper 231
  Legal Settlement Exit Value Amortization Rate Accounting for Custom Interest Rate Swaps Having No Market Trading
  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/231wp/231wp.htm
  Probably the most serious problem in both the FASB's SFAS 133 and the IASC's IAS 39 is that these standards require continual adjustments of financial instruments derivatives to fair value without guidance on how to estimate fair value for custom contracts that are not traded in markets or are traded in markets too thin for valuation purposes. Over half the contracts around the world are custom forward and swap contracts that are difficult and controversial to value. I have revised my Working Paper 231 that proposes a newer approach for valuing interest rate swaps. The web link is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/231wp/231wp.htm

  I also have a tutorial Excel file called 133exb.xls that can be downloaded along with my updated tutorials.  Because this file is not made available to my students, you must send me an email request for the secret web link to this file.  My email address is rjensen@trinity.edu

   

• To aid you in finding threaded messages on various topics, I have created a new document of links called "Bob Jensen's Threads."  Give it a try at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm 
  
  
• Updated Survey of Technology Applications in Accountancy Education Inside the U.S.
  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/survey1.htm
  
  
• Updated Survey of Technology Applications in Accountancy Education Outside the U.S.
  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/survey2.htm
  
  

• I have some SFAS 133 documents on "Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities."  Unfortunately my tutorials cannot be made available to the general public since they contain answers that I do not want my students to see.  However, you may view the following documents:

  • Click here to view my SFAS 133 Glossary
    I have attempted to link most terms to paragraphs in SFAS 133
    
    
  • Missing Parts of SFAS 133
    These are some of the ones that I think are worth mentioning at the moment.

• Cases and case solutions on accounting for financial instruments derivatives are at
  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/busn2311/students.htm#Spring98b
  
  
  Topics include combinations of interest rate swaps, caps, straddles, collars, options, bull call spreads, contango swaps, quanto swaps, Asian options, foreign currency derivatives, circus swaps, swaptions, credit swaps, tax rate swaps, and other topics. Joe Zullo describes his relational database in MS Access for disaggregating and reaggregating risk measures across various types of interest rate swap risks. Brian Gibson has a project on bankruptcy prediction from derivative contracts.
  

• I do not forward advertising requests form commercial vendors unless I feel that my "audience" would appreciate hearing about particular new products and services. This one is very important to some accounting researchers.

  April 30, 2008 message from Tom Hardy [thardy@ivesinc.com]

  Dear Professor Jensen,

  I am writing to let you know about two new research modules available with the AuditAnalytics.com SEC research database. Specifically, our Litigation Module now tracks all material federal litigation involving Russell 3000 companies and all federal litigation involving the top 100 audit firms. This module contains over 12,500 cases in the database. It includes all securities class actions and SEC litigation filed since the year 2000.

  In the next few months we also will be making available as an add-on our Advanced Restatement Data to include:

  Net Income Effect*

  Net Effect on Stockholders Equity*

  First Announcement Date*

  First Magnitude Announcement Date* All related filings to each restatement*

  *Data analysis for these fields restricted to NYSE, Nasdaq and AMEX public companies and is currently populated from 2003 to present.

  FIN 48 Revisions (All SEC registrants for fiscal years beginning after Dec 15th, 2006) SAB 108 Revisions (All SEC registrants for fiscal year ends after Nov 15th, 2006)

  As the leader in Audit Industry Research, AuditAnalytics.com provides detailed information on over 20,000 publicly registered companies and over 1,500 accounting firms. Our database enables you, your students and faculty to quickly search and analyze reported:

  - SOX 404 Internal Controls and SOX 302 Disclosure Controls

  - Restatements

  - Directory and Officer Changes

  - Late filers (Form NT)

  - Auditor fees, changes, and opinions

  - Governance information (Non-historical)

  I sincerely believe that you would find our online service to be a valuable resource for your academic research. We are currently offering special academic and educational subscription pricing for the service and I would be happy to discuss this further at your convenience. Please let me know if there is a good time for us to speak and if you would like any additional information or an online demonstration of the AuditAnalytics.com service.

  Best Regards,

  Tom

  PS. Please feel free to ask me about AuditAnalytics.com availability via the WRDS Database http://wrds.wharton.upenn.edu/

  Tom Hardy
  IVES Group, Inc.
  9 Main Street, Suite 2F
  Sutton, MA 01590
  Phone: (508) 476-7007 ext. 228
  e-mail: thardy@ivesinc.com
  www.auditanalytics.com - Independent Research Provider to the Accounting, Insurance, Research and Investment Communities

  April 30, 2008 reply from Todd Pullen [btpull@COMCAST.NET]

  Does anyone have a recommendation on a good site for financial reports?

  I have found that some of the free sites such a Google Finance and Marketwatch are not that accurate or their data is outdated.

  April 30, 2008 reply from Edith Orenstein [eorenstein@FINANCIALEXECUTIVES.ORG]

  I recently had demo of CCH Accounting Research Manager (ARM) and it seemed to have a pretty good search capability for recent filings.

  April 30, 2008 reply from W. O. Mills, III C.P.A., C.A., P.F.S [wom@WOMILLS.COM]

  I am not sure of what you might be looking for exactly...but perhaps Edgars would be of some benefit to you.

  http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml 

  April 30, 2008 reply from David Albrecht [albrecht@PROFALBRECHT.COM]

  I use several. Usually I go directly to a company's web site.

  If I'm simply shopping for something to use in class I go to
  http://www.annualreportservice.com/

  April 30, 2008 reply from Bob Jensen

  And don't forget to try the wonderful new TryXBRL service (free for now) and the new Financial Explorer service from the SEC

  "TryXBRL.org Launched," SmartPros, March 28, 2008 ---  http://accounting.smartpros.com/x61325.xml

  A new Web site, TryXBRL.com, allows free access to view and analyze complete XBRL-tagged financial statements for over 12,000 publicly traded corporations.

  After registering on the portal, TryXBRL.org, corporate finance professionals can educate themselves about the XBRL tagging process and view their own historical financial information in XBRL format. Investors and analysts can experience how XBRL reduces the complexity and costs associated with analyzing performance data.

  The site is a collaboration of EDGAR Online Inc., a business and financial information provider, and R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company, a print services company.

  "Our goal has been to deliver solutions that do not require technical expertise or excessive time commitments by corporations wishing to take part in the SEC Voluntary Program or to familiarize themselves with XBRL," said Philip Moyer, President and CEO of EDGAR Online, Inc. "We are providing open access to our vast XBRL database through a solution that enables corporations to begin filing XBRL content with the SEC in as little as a few hours."

  RR Donnelley and EDGAR Online have collaborated to deliver XBRL filing solutions to corporations since 2005.

  Once again that site is at http://www.tryxbrl.org/

  April 1, 2008 reply from Amy Dunbar [Amy.Dunbar@BUSINESS.UCONN.EDU]

  I just tried the site. Wow. Very powerful. I confirmed the numbers for one company to make sure I knew what I was seeing. It pulled the 2007 four quarter numbers for my selected company and then the 4th qtr numbers for the three peer companies and my selected company. I'm not sure where that 12,000 publicly traded corporations is coming from. They must mean filings, not corporations. I found the following table for March/June 2005 in Appendix F. http://www.sec.gov/info/smallbus/acspc/acspc-finalreport.pdf  If you include pink sheet companies, the data for which are not publicly available (at least to my knowledge), the total climbs to 13,094. Does anyone have a source for more recent numbers of publicly traded corporations?

  Listing Venue Number of Companies Listed NYSE 2,553 AMEX 747 NASDAQ National Market 2,580 NASDAQ Capital Market1 593 OTC Bulletin Board 2,955 Total 9,428

  The table (I only show part of it) has the following footnote explanation: Source: Public data includes 13,094 companies from the Center for Research in Securities Prices at the University of Chicago for NYSE and AMEX companies as of March 31, 2005 and from NASDAQ for NASDAQ and OTC Bulletin Board companies and from Datastream Advance for Pink Sheets companies as of June 10, 2005. This table was compiled by members of the staff of the SEC's Office of Economic Analysis and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission, the Commissioners, or other members of the Commission staff.

  Amy Dunbar UConn

   Bob Jensen's threads on XBRL are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/XBRLandOLAP.htm

  ---

  "SEC unveils 'Financial Explorer' investor tool using XBRL," AccountingWeb, February 20, 2008 ---
  http://www.accountingweb.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=104665

  Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox has announced the launch of the "Financial Explorer" on the SEC Web site to help investors quickly and easily analyze the financial results of public companies. Financial Explorer paints the picture of corporate financial performance with diagrams and charts, using financial information provided to the SEC as "interactive data" in eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL).

  At the click of a mouse, Financial Explorer lets investors automatically generate financial ratios,

  graphs, and charts depicting important information from financial statements. Information including earnings, expenses, cash flows, assets, and liabilities can be analyzed and compared across competing public companies. The software takes the work out of manipulating the data by entirely eliminating tasks such as copying and pasting rows of revenues and expenses into a spreadsheet. That frees investors to focus on their investments' financial results through visual representations that make the numbers easier to understand. Investors can use Financial Explorer by visiting www.sec.gov/xbrl .

  "XBRL is fast becoming the universal language for the exchange of business information and it is the future of financial reporting," said Cox. "With Financial Explorer or another XBRL viewer, investors will be able to quickly make sense of financial statements. In the near future, potentially millions of people will be able to analyze and compare financial statements and make better-informed investment decisions. That's a big benefit to ordinary investors."

  David Blaszkowsky, Director of the SEC's Office of Interactive Disclosure, encouraged investors to try out the new software. "Financial Explorer will help investors analyze investment choices much quicker. I encourage both companies and investors to visit the SEC Web site, try the software, and get a first-hand glimpse of the future of financial analysis, especially for the retail investor."

  Financial Explorer is open source, meaning that its source code is free to the public, and technology and financial experts can update and enhance the software. As interactive data becomes more commonplace, investors, analysts, and others working in the financial industry may develop hundreds of Web-based applications that help investors garner insights about financial results through creative ways of analyzing and presenting the information.

  Continued in article

  Jensen Comment
  The Financial Explorer link --- http://209.234.225.154/viewer/home/
  Note the "Take a Tour" option.

  Bob Jensen's videos (created before the SEC created the Financial Explorer) are at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/Tutorials/
  When I can find some time, I'll create a Financial Explorer update video.

  Bob Jensen's threads on XBRL are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/XBRLandOLAP.htm

   

   

  ---

  I have some SFAS 133 documents on "Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities."  Unfortunately my tutorials cannot be made available to the general public since they contain answers that I do not want my students to see.  However, you may view the following documents:

  • Click here to view my SFAS 133 Glossary
    I have attempted to link most terms to paragraphs in SFAS 133
    
    
  • Missing Parts of SFAS 133
    These are some of the ones that I think are worth mentioning at the moment.
    
    
  • Bob Jensen's SFAS 133 Tutorial File Entry Point
    You must have a password to access the tutorials from the entry point.
    Instructors and practitioners may contact me privately for the link and password.   Students may not have access to the tutorial answer files, although their instructors may contact me for the tutorials and answer files.  My email address is rjensen@trinity.edu