Professor Elam

Accounting & Investing Info for San Antonio A & M

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  • Professor Elam

    Free SA CPA Membership

    Monday Oct 18 2021

    The Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants (TXCPA) is always looking for ways to engage Accounting students. 2 ways that students can get involved now:

     

    1. TXCPA is offering free memberships to Accounting students. The online link is found at https://www.tx.cpa/resources/become-a-cpa/become-a-student-member. Each student will have to create their own account prior to submitting the online membership application. Again, this is free & comes with the membership benefits outlined on the website such as scholarship opportunities & chances to network with Accounting professionals.

     

    1. TXCPA & Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) are co-hosting a community service event at Habitat for Humanity on Saturday, November 13, 2021 starting at 7:30 AM (includes breakfast & lunch) and would like to invite Accounting students (& anyone else 14+ years old such as family members) to volunteer & network with Accounting professionals. We are doing landscaping and wall-building, so people should come prepared for outside work in whatever weather. See more details HERE and attached.

     

    Interested volunteers need to send an e-mail to Amanda Talaat at amanda@sacpasociety.com with their first and last names, preferred e-mail address, phone number (for emergency use only) and their campus affiliation (TX A&M – SA). This is a great chance to give back to the SA community, network & celebrate Habitat’s 45th anniversary!!

  • Professor Elam

    Inflation

    Friday Oct 15 2021

    Transitory Inflation

     

    According to the Energy Information Administration, nearly half of U.S. households that warm their homes with mainly natural gas can expect to spend an average of 30% more on their bills compared with last year.

    Brent and WTIC have both increased over 60% this year.

    A Winter of Giant Gas Bills is Coming, Today’s WSJ

    Since mid 2020, natural gas prices have soared form under $2 to near $6 mbtu. Gee this going green is really getting expensive.

    There are several reasons. In burst of ‘we are green’ mood, back-up coal fired plants were closed around the world. An over reliance on solar and wind failed as wind slowed in Great Britain. Team Biden has been on the regulation warpath against conventional energy since Inauguration Day. This discourages new exploration.   And bingo here we are with gasoline prices at $3-5.

    Crude oil is both a commodity (useful) and an opportunity for financial speculation. So prices may well go triple digit again. We learned yesterday that the annualized Producer Price index is up 89.28% from a year ago. Fed Chair Powell’s forecast of transitory inflation is not holding up well. President Biden delights in blaming others for problems. It seems a safe bet he will hang the inflation number on Powell and appoint a new FED Chair. And besides, Trump appointed him, so like Keystone Pipeline, reason enough to cancel.

    There is always a mix of social mood and it unfolds in fractal form, higher and lower levels.   But overall mood is wildly positive. Here are some examples.

    1. The stock market is 35x its high of 1966.
    2. Entire sections of the WSJ are devoted to lauding the most successful ‘wealth advisors.’
    3. The real estate Mansion section of the WSJ is a fat 14 pages long. The latest wrinkle is not a second home but a couple that has two primary residences in Idaho and Virginia.
    4. People are quitting jobs in record numbers. Some 4.3 M workers have vanished. Between the Dems promised social welfare and the belief another job will be easy to find, this represents optimism.
    5. Morgan Stanly makes big money advising on mergers. Mergers are a positive mood phenomenon reflecting inclusion.
    6. Demand for the junkiest bonds, collateralized loan obligations CLOs is at record levels with   $131 B sold this year.

    This is typical of a market top mood, think September 1987 or March 2000 or Fall 2007.   In fact the previous list is a warning not assuring signal.   I am preparing a presentation on how Credit Suisse lost over $5 billion this year on a single customer, Bill Hwang. How many more Bill Hwangs are out there I wonder?

    And the price patterns look eerily like 1987. Despite the current rally, the indexes are not at new highs, and the Transports do not confirm even the recent highs.

    Exercise caution amid these warning signs.

  • Professor Elam

    Captain Kirk goes for Star Trek for Real

    Tuesday Oct 12 2021

    h/tomorrow Morning William Shatner blasts into space for real.

    The original Captain Kirk who debuted in  1966 on Star Trek bvlasts off on Jeff Bezos Blue Origin.

    At age 90 this is a real adventure, stay tuned. Screen Shot 2021-10-12 at 10.25.30 AM

  • Professor Elam

    Chaos at SW Airlines, What Happened to LUV?

    Tuesday Oct 12, 2021

    SW Air has cancelled over one thousand flights the last few days.

    After years of being perhaps the most on time, admired airline SW appears to have hit the wall. Screen Shot 2021-10-12 at 10.16.00 AM

    I always thought it was a mistake to take a successful Texas based airline to the national status. If they did, SW woulld just become another American or Delta with all the attendant problems. Now it has happened.

    What went wrong?  Lots of companies lose their way over time, see Polaroid, Sears, Kodak, Idoubt this will end SW Air but it will take a lot of PR fixing.

  • Professor Elam

    Ratio Analysis for Auditors

    Tuesday Oct 12 2021

     

  • Professor Elam

    Gleim Video Update on 2024 CPA Exam

    Monday Oct 11, 2021

     

    This is the link for the professor updates on the 2024 CPA exam – https://www.gleim.com/accounting/videos/gated.php?key=CPA_Evolution_and_Curriculum_for_Faculty

     

  • Professor Elam

    Changes in Audit CPA Exam

    Monday Oct 11 2021

  • Professor Elam

    TXCPA2B

    Hi Dennis,

    The Texas Society of CPAs (TXCPA) has some opportunities for you and your students.

    TXCPA welcomes all faculty to become members. Each college and university in the state of Texas can have a TXCPA Faculty Ambassador. The Society works closely with Texas educators, like you, to share resources and help engage the next generation of CPAs. The goal of the Faculty Ambassador program is to identify individuals to help spread the word about the many benefits of becoming a CPA, as well as all the Society can do to champion current and future CPA success. In return for your efforts in this program, you will receive a special dues rate of $125 (including chapter dues) for the period of June 1 through May 31.

    To find out more about the requirements and benefits of the program please click this link.

    TXCPA also has and Academic Affiliate membership which is open to all non-CPA faculty for the same special dues rate of $125. Membership gives you access to local chapters, the full Society membership, and our popular educational offerings. Each fall TXCPA hosts an Accounting Education Conference specifically designed for faculty in Texas accounting programs.

    To find out more information about membership please click this link.

    For all accounting students, whether undergraduate or graduate, TXCPA offers FREE student membership. We are hosting a virtual CPA2B Bootcamp on Friday, Oct. 29 from 1 – 3 p.m. (CT) sponsored by UWorld | Roger CPA Review. No matter where students are on the path to the CPA – just exploring it as a career option, or already studying for the CPA Exam – they'll want to be online for this exclusive event!

    They will get the latest details on becoming a CPA in Texas, learn about the CPA Evolution project that will drive changes in the CPA Exam beginning in 2024, and hear from some of the young leaders in the profession today.

    PLUS, students have the chance to win prizes and participate in engaging discussions with their peers! Any student registered by Oct. 15 will be added to a drawing for a FUN special delivery during the Oct. 29 program. Additionally, our exclusive CPA2B Bootcamp sponsor UWorld | Roger CPA Review is generously hosting a raffle for one full course scholarship ($2,999 value!) for event registrants. 

    Share this registration link with your students and encourage their participation!

    Please contact me if you have any questions about TXCPA’s resources for students and educators or if I can be of any assistance to you.

    Sincerely,

    Ayesha Hawkins, EdD

    Student and School Engagement

    Texas Society of CPAs
     

    972-220-0611 ext. 1051

     

  • Professor Elam

    We Were Energy Independent

    Friday Oct 8 2021

    We Were Energy Independent

    The winter is predicted to be 1% colder than last winter. A mere four inch snowfall crashed the grid here in San Antonio last winter. Natural gas prices are already at $5. Team Biden is doing everything to prevent US energy independence. Pipelines have been cancelled, drilling on Federal Land forbidden, and hostile Secretaries at EPA and Energy complete the anti-energy mixture.

    As previously noted, Team Biden turns to OPEC and Russia for more supply. I read that the Energy Department is finally concerned that oil prices might get back to $100. That won’t help during the next election. But given their adversarial position ,what did they expect?

    We expected a high in the stock markets in this time frame and it has arrived right on schedule. But the majority of stocks have been falling since topping in February. The over weighting of the FANG stocks in so many indexes has kept the averages high. But even now Amazon and Facebook are experiencing weakness.

    Expect lower prices for late October, then a bounce followed by a second low in November.

    I had another birthday this weekend and have mixed feelings, I have outlived my parents but appreciate that I inhabit a  some what diminished tech age for example

    my idea of a portable laptop  which can be accessed anywhere anytime is a big chief tablet and a pencil, upgrade is a yellow lined  legal pad

    my concept of google groups is a telephone party line

    my concept of just in time is a cold  six pack in the refrigerator

    my concept of the apple fit bit fitness watch is John Cameron Swazy  demonstrating a 1961 mechanical Timex attached to an outboard motor – it takes a licking and keeps on ticking!

    my concept of google glasses is progressive bifocals

    my concept of distance education is a library book

    my concept of high speed stock trading is a telephone call

    my concept of covid vaccination is that sugar cube with  the pink Salk vaccine  we all took at Paul Horn Elementary School in Bellaire Tx about  1955-56

    my concept of clean air is riding the chair lift to the top of Snowmass in Colorado about  10,000 feet, gorgeous view for miles around

    my concept of clean water is anywhere in the Caribbean more than 200 miles from Miami

    and finally my concept of motivation

    you will be issued a pair of boot straps with which you will be expected to pull yourself up…..

    dennis.elam@att.net

  • Professor Elam

    Fale Real Estate Firm Bilks Investors for Millions

    Friday Oct 8 2021

    Does it not occur to 'investors' to hire a CPA firm to check out who is about to handle their money?

    Check this out, a firm in San Antonio claimed to have been in business for thirty years and handle billions of dollars of transactions.

    Turns out it was two post office boxes. .Why not hire a CP/a first?

    https://www.expressnews.com/business/article/San-Antonio-grand-jury-indicts-real-estate-16519210.php?sid=5bbcfeb73f92a45e831e00e8&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headlines&utm_campaign=SAEN_210Report