Posted Thursday Oct 10 2013
Here is an interesting site offering free classes professionally prepared. The traditional model of college is coming apart. What do you think?
Professor Elam
Accounting & Investing Info for San Antonio A & M
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Professor Elam
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Professor Elam
Tuesday Oct 8 2013
Malcolm Galdwell has authored several award winning books in cluding The Tipping Point and Outliers. He first achieved fame with his article on Ron Popeil, The Pitchman. Students will be come better writers by reading great writing The Pitchman is a wonderful example of just that.
Now he has David and Goliath out. Adam Grant examines the Gladwell methodology and why his boks on what is really social sicence read like mystery thrillers.
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Professor Elam
Monday Oct 7 2013
While accountants are routinely characterized as unthinking unfeeling robots on television while lawyers of course are modern Lone Rangers, this is hardly the truth. Recording transactions requires a logical thought process.
I recently wrote a piece on creating a ladder of success towards certification. In that article I suggested beginning down stream of the CPA exam and beginning an a simpler plane. Then as the student masters those exams, he or she can proceed with improved confidence to the next levelo.
On suggested entry level is Certified Book Keeper. This is a great nuts and blots exam focusing on payroll, adjusting and closing entries. And after grading a recent intermediate exam I am more convinced than ever I am on the right track. Some of the professors turned up their noses at the book keeper designation. Well, before you can be an accountant you have to learn how to keep a set of books.
Consider this question from a recent exam.
First quarter credit sales totaled $700,000. The state sales tax is 4% and the local sales tax rate is 2%. Prepare the journal entry for teh transaction.
Now, this is a transaction that anyone in business running their own convenience store, door to door burritto business, or say a fencing company would understand. The answers I got from the class however were all over the place.
Now let's think through the transaction. The question clearly states that these are credit sales. Yet several of the answers actually suggested a credit to cash. We are receiving making the sale, not spending any cash.
The other common error was simply failing to record the sale itself. Sure the sales tax as computed, but often not entered correctly. And frankly, forgetting to enter the $700,000 sale amount would surely put one's book keeping status on hold if not sending teh book keeper out the door of the entreprise.
One must think through the transaction. The store has recorded $700 K in sales, so record them. The store has a liabiltiy to collect tax and then pay it, so record the liability. And so the answer is
A/R Sales 742,000
Sales 700,000
Sales Tx Payable 42,000
Yes it is just that simple, which is why there are cash registers and clerks who understand the transactions to enter them.
Entry level jobs are often over looked in their importance to teach basic skills. Here is a great example of learning transactions at the entry level of a store. Entry level jobs teach entry level skills upon which we move to the next higher level.
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Professor Elam
Posted Oct 4 2013
Greetings chapter members and friends of SHRM@TAMU-SA! As I begin my Thursday I wanted to reach out to all of you to thank you for your support and participation at last night's mixer and webcast. This has been an ambitious undertaking filled with enormous optimism. What felt like a marathon was actually a 'sprint' of less than 8 weeks. Truly a remarkable feat given the many moving parts, our inexperience with the scale, project scope, and our reliance on partners, many of whom were thousands of miles away both east and west of our campus. This truly was a labor of love and passion, and one shared by our valued partners.
While attendance did not meet our expectations, there is no question that we did exceed the
expectations of our audience. Their feedback and genuine congratulations have made all the effort and sacrifice worthwhile. I will send out information later on how you might be able to access the YouTube archive of the webcast. We will begin our post event review this week and assess audience surveys with a report later this month.Thank you to —
- Our panelists: Brad Warga (Gild), Tey Scott (LinkedIn), and Rebecca Fernandez (Red Hat) for your insightful assessment of social media as a strategy for sourcing & recruiting talent. Special thanks to Susan Baldwin who served as an intermediary in bringing the panelists together.
- Jeff Freitag and the San Antonio Human Resource Management Association (SAHRMA) for sponsoring the mixer.
- The College of Business and Dr. Hurley for financial assistance.
- TAMU-SA technical services (Sherry Love) and communications & setup (Marilu Reyna & Janeli Castrejana).
- Charlotte Anne-Lucas & Clayton Price of NowCastSA for their professional webcast services.
- SHRM@TAMU-SA and AMA members who handled concessions.
- and especially to our webcast student moderator, Mark Spencer for his amazing performance.
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Professor Elam
Student Assistant TAMU-SA Financial Services
Note this job will take place at Gillette Campus.
Posted: Aug 30, 2013
Division
Accounting
Position Type
Part Time
Desired Class Level(s)
Junior
Work Authorization
US Citizen
Salary Level
Job Function
Financial Services
Desired Start Date
September 2, 2013 (flexible)
Duration
Monday – Friday
Approximate Hours Per Week
19
Travel Percentage
No Travel
Description
Assist the Accounting department in various administrative duties.
City
San Antonio
State/Province
Texas
Country
United States
Desired Major(s)
Business Division/BBA – Finance, Business Division/MBA – Business Administration, Business Division/BBA – Accounting, Business Division/BBA – General Business Administration
Qualifications
Must be registered for at least 6 hours per semester. General administrative experience to include Microsoft Office programs.
Contact Information
Ms. Laura Sanchez
Accounting Assistant
One University Way
San Antonio, Texas 78224
United Stateslsanchez@tamusa.tamus.edu
210-784-2016
Fax: 210-784-2056
http://www.tamusa.tamus.edu -
Professor Elam
Wednesday October 2 2013
Since Day One, the Main Campus has looked more like SMU than a right fit for our non traditional students. Where is the affordable housing, day care, or study areas that commuter students would need. At least Brooks has some study areas. Who laid out the faculty parking that requires one to drive a half mile and back, in the wrong direction, to then exit the mile long driveway into the school? How much gasoline does that consume for no good end?
As this article in the Mesquite notes, the student housing being considered and built at SAC is twice as expensive as affordable apartments within a block of the new developments.
As the author of the article states, our typical student is 32 and many have families. An upscale trendy brand new facility with swimming pools and such may look great but hardly fits the needs of our students.
Student housing when I attended UT Austin in the late 1960s was efficient and affordable without posh amentities. Married students could rent space in former WW II barracks out on Town Lake blvd. Sure the rooms were divided by curtains in some cases but the rent was about $50 per month. It wasn't fancy but it allowed those students to achieve their goal of obtaining an affordable degree while rasiing a family.
Other dorms were low cost. Verano is at a standstill. VTLM which has claim to the tax abatements for infrastructure is in bankruptcy. There are many empty structures at Brooks. Perhaps it is time to re think future development. There are many perfectly good structures at Brooks that TAMUSA could surely rent for far less than building something new. Is anyone even exploring this possibility? UIW exists all over town. TAMUSA has deliberately branched out already into no less than five, count 'em campuses,
Gillette, Main, Brooks, Schertz, and Downtown.
Structures need to be affordable and efficient without extravagance. The legislature is signalling it is time for Universities to stand on their own Capital Budgets by refusing to allow any more Tuition Revenue Bonds, for any campus. Is anyone listening?
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Professor Elam
Tuesday October 1
We hope students will take the time to inform themselves of Ms. Hough's background by reading
our interview with her posted just a few weeks back. This will allow you to better understand her
management concepts and what RGP is all about. As I said in the post, an hour with Ms. Hough was Timne Well spent. http://professorelam.typepad.com/my_weblog/2013/09/resource-global-professionals.html
Financial Management Association at Texas A&M University-San Antonio Professional
First Meeting of the Semester: October 3,2013
Room 172 from 6:00-8:00PM
with Speaker Susan Hough, Managing Director of Resources Global Professionals
Bio of Susan Hough: Graduate from Southwest Texas State University 1984. She received her CPA in 1988 and worked for Peat Marwick for 2.5 years before joining USAA. She learned the workings of USAA where she spent 20 years. She joined RGP in October 2008 as a Client Service Director. She earned her MBA at the University of Texas at San Antonio UTSA while still working at USAA.
Texas A&M University-San Antonio
Brooks City-Base Campus
2601 Louis Bauer Dr. San Antonio, TX 78235
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Professor Elam
Tuesday Oct 1 2013
Shipments will soon begin for the 3Doodler Plastic Pen. Yep just what you never knew you needed. This is a pen which dispenses liquid plastic which then forms in to shapes that you draw.
The cost is one hundred bucks. I am honestly not sure what one does with it. The inventorraised $2.3 million on Kickstarter, a web site for new inventions.
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Professor Elam
Tuesday Oct 1 2013
SA CPA Career Night is always held at the Chapter Training Center.
901 NE Loop 401
Map and directions are here.
It is on the north side of Loop 410 between Broadway and Nacogdoches. SA CPA Training Center is in the twin tower office building west of Broadway Bank. It is on the fourth floor of the Tower to the West.
Attention, Students
You're invited to "Follow the Yellow Brick Road to a CPA Certificate & Careers in Accounting" at the Fall 2013 Accounting Careers Workshop on Friday, October 4. RSVP now and join us from 5:30-8 p.m. for a panel discussion with CPAs representing public accounting, a publicly-traded retail start-up, a global technology leader and an energy company. Sponsors from local accounting firms and major employers will be on hand to talk with you about internships, entry-level positions and your resume. To RSVP, e-mail info@sacpasociety.com.
Professor Elam 