Professor Elam

Saturday Oct 8, 2011

  Jean Shepherd's Chirstmmas Story has become the 'new classic' Christmas Video displacing Miracle on 334th Street and It's a Wonderful LIfe. The movie recounts Shepherd's youth in the mid West. The time is pre WW II and radio is the dominant technology. Ralphie responds to the Little Orphan Annie broadcast by requesting his own 'Secret Decoder Ring.'  Finally it arrives via the mail.

Anxious to find out what Little Orphan Annie has to tell, he retreats to the bathroom where he begins decoding the message. Of course his little brother starts banging on the door, the tension mounts, will Ralphie decode the message or be tossed out before he is done.

And the message is -Drink Your Ovaltine, the shows' sponsor, as Ralphie observes, hte secret message is  just a crummy commercial.

Well, whether it's training for Mr./Miss Olympia or accounting, there is NO secret decoder ring that will somehow relieve one of the necessity of 'working out.' There's only one way, hit the gym, either physically in the first instance or mentally in the second.

In ACCT 3301 I have volunteered to hold some study sessions. A time and date have NOT BEEN SET YET!

I will be glad to do this and did so for Acct 3312 this past spring.Lots of folks showed up but frankly the results did not dramatically improve, I did have several people drop the course.

My point is that participants will have to participate. I don't know what you don't know. One student did come by my office  for an hour and I was able to get some insight into what I suspect is the overall level of confusion about accounting.

I do plan to offer a quiz on the second day of the week for each class. By offer I mean this is the chance for both of us to gauge your progress, and for you to learn what it is that is giving you difficulty. So if we are going to have successful study sessions, participants will need to do the following.

Now here is the To Do List.

1. As the Eagles  so well put it, Get Over It. This attitude that 'I hate accounting' is not serving any of you well, and yes I realize that is the general attitude. (Thath is not unique to these classes or this school, it is universal among non acct majors). Accounting is a mechanical organization system, not that different from the Dewey Deciamal system in the library. It is not some sort of repressive force like Communist East Germany that ruined people's lives, Get Over It.

The grade I was the most proud of in college was my B in

Poetry and Prose reading English 314K I think it was. Listening to the teacher explain what the poet meant, was to me, considerably more difficult that discerning accounting. After all the assets always have a left side balance, I never did quite know what those poets were trying to tell me!  And the source of her opinions was always a mystery to the class. I recall hearing that back then one class actually contacted one of the poets and he reported a different meaning. But my point is this, If I had taken the attitude that the class was a waste, and the teacher was some incomprehensible weirdo, I doubt I would have made a good grade.

This might be a good time to review my post on Point of View, the Six Blind Men view the Elephant.

One friend once told me that most students hate math and arithmetic because their third grade teacher hated it and said so. Hence a dislike for things quantitative was planted early, and has only festered over the years. Time wasted in arcane stuidies of factoring polynomials in algebra only results in a 'what would I ever do wtih this attitude'. Most students canot work my simple word problem and solve backwards for what they pay for merchandise at the store. Factoriong polynomials and struggling over problems like – Your brother is 2/3 yorur age and your cousin is 1 3/16 as old as he is, how old is your dog, only makes it worse.

 

All of which is to say, you have been poorly served by the quantitative education community to this point. I pepper my presentations with lots , perhaps too many, examples of real world companies and why they are succeedig or failing. That is the whole point of learning accounting, it helps us analyze success or failure.

So, the world is not going to abandon accounting and replace it with zernog or some other new invention for trackig money. So, make friends, relax, and let me lead you where you need to go. 

 

2. It's a simple concept. Assets and expenses ahave left side normal balances, revenue, liabilities, and equity have nominal right side balances, and that is all there is to double entry accounting, it is just that simple.

3. During the summer of my college years I worked as a lifeguard and taught swim lessons. You have to get in the pool, get your face wet, and learn to float. Grasping number 2 above is the equivalent of learning to float.

4. It has been said that the way to learn to play basketball is to watch someone else first, and then try to dribble the ball. You will learn a lot by examinging fiancial information. I have listed several links on this blog, try them out, start reading, look at the statements of your favorite company, what do they say, why is AMR a bust and RL a rousing success?  This is why I assigned your look up on SARBOX this weekend, you will learn that SARBOX is near universally despised by the users ( just like your dislike of accounting in general) but of course the CPA firms love it as they tote up the audit fees.

 

How many of you turn to CNBC  in the morning as you get ready for work. The discussions are good, you will learn something listening, try it.

Okay, now try the weekend assignment, google Sarbanes Oxley and learn what people say. If you think you are unhappy with accounting, wait till you read what Steve Forbes says about SARBOX!