Professor Elam

Accounting & Investing Info for San Antonio A & M

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  • Professor Elam

    I was a Teenage Fraudster

    Thursday May 24, 2018

    Here is an interesting 2002 interview with Barry Minkow.

    This occurred after his first jail release but before the Lennar fraud that sent him back to jail again.

    Here is a great excerpt.

     

    "Everyone I met in prison had one thing in common – they never planned on being there," he says, talking loud and fast and expansively, still with a salesman's charm, using my name at every possible opportunity. "And not one of those companies went into business to defraud. Not one. Neither did I. What people don't realise is that fraud is always a means to an end, never an end in itself. There is always a rationalisation: I'm going to do this now, and it's tough, but next week we're gonna get some big carpet-cleaning jobs, whatever, and we're gonna make it back, pay everyone back, nobody's gonna be hurt – and that will be the cure."

  • Professor Elam

    SA IIA Scholarship Deadline May 31

    Thursday May 24, 2018

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  • Professor Elam

    ACCT 5308 Concludes with Panel Discussion

    Tuesday May 15, 2018

     

    ACCT 5308 Ethics concluded with a panel discussion about certifications and career planning.

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    left to right

    Mike Lovelace CFO Group Aventine Hill

    Mark Goldman, CEO MGR Accounting Recruiters

    Lashele Amonte Internal Audit USAA

    Frank Laborde Laborde and Associates

    Ruben Garcia ATR Group

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    At left is Lt Col David Marquez visitng with Mike Lovelace, turns out Mike knows David's brother in law

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    Participants actively engaged  the speakers after the presentation.

    We are fortunate to attract participation by such a fine group of SA accounting professionals.

  • Professor Elam

    Enterprise Rent a Car

    Thursday May 10, 2018

    Enterprise Rent A Car is looking for students to apply for an internship there.

    Contact me about this.

  • Professor Elam

    Fiesta at Laborde and Associates

    Weekend May 5, 2018

    Frank Laborde has staked out Southside San Antonio as his customer base.  Each year he has a get together for clients during Fiesta. Frank bought a property and converted one building to his office and another to his home. Here are some highlights of this Laborde Fiesta 2018.

     

    Here is Frank displaying the Laborde Fiesta Medal.

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    What is a party with out an official greeter?

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    This 'barn' houses his car collection. All three structures surround a delightful patio which is just perfect for the gathering.

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    A  gorgeous line of palm trees greets clients to the office.

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  • Professor Elam

    CPA Informational Workshop

     

    Becker and TSCPA Will Host CPA Exam Informational Webinar on May 16

    The registration process for the CPA designation can be confusing and taxing! Students are invited to join Becker Professional Education and TSCPA for a free webinar on Wednesday, May 16 at noon to help answer questions and set students on the path toward becoming a CPA. Topics will include: Texas state license and education requirements, the process for obtaining your license, strategies for exam preparation, a 2018 exam update and much more!

    Register for the webinar.

  • Professor Elam

    Is College Worth It

    Friday April 27, 2018

    We have discussed college alternatives in class. Here an alert student sent me a Tucker Carlson discussion about Academically Adrift.

    Clearly St Johns College is not about training to be a CPA. I would take a different tack as I teach accounting, I would focus on business and accounting.You can read about math and philosophy at the local library.

  • Professor Elam

    A Black Swan Alights at Ford

    Thursday  April  26, 2018

    Ford Motor announces it plans to drop all cars from its US line up save two.

    The two would be the Mustang and the crossover Focus. All the rest go the way of the Edsel.

    A Black Swan event is an unexpected occurrence which is seen in hindsight as perfectly normal and expected.

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

    considering that this is the company that literally put America on wheels with the Model T and  then Model A,  it is truly remarkable. Granted both those models were available in multiple configurations including a pick up bed.   I recently read that if the truck optoin was elected, the cab and chassis were shipped to the dealer in a large wooden box. The wooden box became the pickup bed. The dealer or buyer assembled the bed on the frame. Hence the term pick up was born as the buyer had to pick it up at the dealer.

     

     

  • Professor Elam

    SRS 2018 May 5

    Wednesday April 25, 2018

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  • Professor Elam

    Students Cannot Tell Time, Or Hold a Pencil!

    Wednesday April 25, 2018Apparently many students can no longer read an analog clock.

    So schools are replacing analogs with digital.

    As students can no longer do arithmetic in their head this is not surprising.

    Worse if you read the article, reliance on social media means many cannot hold a pencil.

     

    Good Grief!