USC ELAINE AND KENNETH LEVENTHAL SCHOOL OF ACCOUNTING
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Leventhalschool news
SPRING
/ SUMMER
2010
William W. Holder
Service as a Governmental Accounting Standards Board Member ––
A Retrospective View of a Ten-Year Commitment to Standard Setting
Approximately 10 years ago I was
fortunate to receive an opportunity to serve as a member of
the Governmental Accounting
Standards Board (“GASB”).
Although not as well known as
its sister board, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, both
boards work under the oversight
of the Financial Accounting Foundation. The GASB develops financial reporting standards for the
nation’s approximately 90,000
units of state and local government while the FASB develops
financial reporting standards for
business enterprises and not-for
profit organizations, such as USC.
Governmental accounting has
long been known for financial
reports that focus on various
funds and on short-term resource
flows which are closely aligned
with annual budgets that, in
most cases, have the force of law.
Such a financial reporting focus,
while important, fails to address
the longer term implications
of management decisions and
related operating, financing and
investing decisions.
At the time of my appointment,
the GASB had just completed a
seminal project on Basic Financial
Statements that, for the first
time: 1) added government wide
financial reporting to its focus
and 2) required accrual accounting-based measurements for all
activities in those reports. That
standard, which required many
years of work to develop and
promulgate, set the stage for
accounting projects designed to
further its reporting objectives.
Perhaps the most attractive
aspect of my service opportunity
was that the GASB was poised
to embark on a series of projects
that would be profoundly affected by that basic new financial
reporting model. To understand
the actions of the GASB, one
must necessarily understand the
conceptual financial reporting
objectives it has adopted. With
respect to one primary financial
reporting objective, the GASB
has stated: “Financial reporting
should assist in fulfilling government’s duty to be publicly
accountable and should enable
users to assess that accountability” (CON 1-77). A key element of
public accountability is bound up
in reporting information about
“inter-period equity.” Measuring
and reporting inter-period equity
see William W. Holder, page 13
2010 USC Leventhal Commencement Speaker –– Michael Karlin
Michael Karlin, founding partner
of the accounting firm Nigro,
Karlin, Segal & Feldstein, was
USC Leventhal’s commencement
speaker this year. The ceremony
was held on Friday, May 14 in
Alumni Park.
Karlin is an extraordinarily
focused individual. In addition
to being the commencement
speaker, he received his MBT
degree at the ceremony. Mr.
Karlin returned to school last
fall to complete his degree after
30 years.
Nigro, Karlin, and Segal founded
the firm, as well as the business
management firm of NKS Management Inc. (NKS). NKS was
acquired by the Assante group of
companies in 1999. And in 2004,
as a result of ownership changes
at the Assante parent company,
Loring Ward Inc. emerged as the
operating entity, offering Loring
Ward’s Family Office services in
the U.S., including the business
management services formerly
provided by NKS.
firm Ernst & Whinney (now
known as Ernst & Young).
In 2007, the founding partners
re-acquired the business management, tax and audit practice
from Loring Ward, and renamed
the new firm Nigro Karlin Segal
& Feldstein, LLP.
He has responsibility for managing the business and financial
affairs of many high net worth
and high net income clients,
many of whom include entertainment industry screenwriters,
actors, musicians, composers,
publishers, producers, directors
and executives.
Karlin is a 1976 cum laude
graduate of the University of
Southern California with a
degree in Business Administration. He is a member of the
American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants and the
California Society of Certified
Public Accountants. Subsequent
to obtaining his undergraduate
degree, Michael worked for
five years in the tax department
of the international accounting
Karlin currently serves as a member of the USC Leventhal Board
of Advisors, is a member of the
Board of Directors of KCET (the
Los Angeles public broadcasting
television station), and the chair
of the Professional Advisory Network of the Motion Picture and
Television Fund.
A Word from The Dean
e contemporary equivalent of a puff of white smoke
occurred at 12:42 AM on March 11, 2010.1
An email from the chairman of USC’s Board of Trustees,
Edward P. Roski proudly announced that C. L. Max Nikias
has been named 11th president of USC. A collective sigh
of relief was heard around campus!
Randolph P. Beatty
Provost Nikias is a well-known leader on campus. Max is a strong
and demanding voice for academic excellence. Previously, he
has served as dean of USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering and
founding director of the Integrated Media Systems Research
Center in USC’s Viterbi School. Max is an accomplished scholar
and thoughtful leader. We are quite lucky to have elevated an
outstanding leader from our own campus. Continuity and consistency of leadership is the hallmark of a great university. I’m
confident that Max will continue USC’s dramatic progress over
the next decade.
A little known fact is that President-elect Nikias’ wife, Niki, is
an accountant! As we all know, it’s very important to have good
advisors with an accounting background. I’m comforted to know
that President Nikias will have sage counsel from one of us! I can
also assure you that the new first lady of USC will be a gracious
and wonderful representative of USC. We are in good hands!
What should we expect in the near term? I anticipate an aggressive strategy to improve all of our programs. We will undoubtedly continue to seek the best and brightest faculty and students.
Each year, we have sought these primary ingredients of an elite
research institution. You can reasonably expect an accelerated
hunt for talent.
We can also expect growth in infrastructure on campus as our
buildings provide the venues for excellence in our programs. If
you haven’t been on campus recently, please drop by this summer
or fall. The Ronald Tutor Campus Center is spectacular! It is a
stone’s throw west of the accounting building. I urge you to
take a walk through the building, beginning with the rotunda.
If I were a potential Trojan, I would sign an offer letter immediately upon entering this amazing facility. The Tutor Center
captures the grandeur of USC. So, there is much to be proud of
on campus, but there is so much more to do!
The Leventhal School’s spring has been exciting! Markets seem
to have settled down and the recession appears to be slowly subsiding. The vast majority of our students have secured jobs at
graduation or internships. As you can appreciate, our students
are quite savvy. They have done a great job so far this year in a
tough market. Although caution still seems to characterize the
labor markets, it appears that a number of our best employers
are adding to their entering classes throughout the spring semester. The need for additional hiring suggests that 2010-2011 may
be a very good year for our students.
USC Leventhal Programs
I recently had the opportunity to address the USC Marshall
School’s Corporate Advisory Board. This board provides strategic
guidance to the Marshall School. In preparation for the meeting,
I reviewed our performance over the past nine years. I must
2
admit to bragging a little (well actually a lot) to this group about
USC Leventhal. It’s been an amazing journey. Our programs are
truly in great shape!
Our undergraduate program has over 600 students. We are
bursting at the seams. Our accounting majors are outstanding
students. I am privileged to teach a class in the spring each year.
This year, we analyzed Websense (Doug Wride’s San Diego-based
software security firm). Doug gave a “road show” presentation
to my class. The thoughtful questioning of Websense’s COO was
impressive. I’m confident that our students are fully prepared to
be critical thinkers in an ever changing business mosaic.
We are actively involved in innovating in class. Professor Ces
Jackson successfully undertook a unique experiment in global
collaboration in his managerial accounting class. Our students
teamed with students from Chinese University of Hong Kong
(CUHK) to solve a managerial accounting case as a virtual group.
Students interacted with each other through email and teleconferencing. The collaboration resulted in a submitted group
project to both CUHK and USC Leventhal.
The experiment was quite encouraging. Our students discovered
that their counterparts in Hong Kong are very talented and
capable. Also, we learned that students are very flexible in working across university and national borders. We hope to refine
our international case collaboration to offer a diverse set of
global experiences throughout our curriculum. Given our students propensity to “friend” people on Facebook, one can only
imagine the global networking that is possible for our students.
Our graduate program received another record setting 921
applications this spring for 150 Macc and MBT slots. Recently,
we learned that our graduate program is the 10th most popular
graduate business program among students in mainland China.2
The other nine programs are a “Who’s Who” of MBA programs
(Harvard, Columbia, Wharton, Stanford, Chicago, etc.). USC
Leventhal was the only accounting program in this elite list.
Given the abundant talent pool, we are confident that our
graduate program will be even stronger next year than in the
past. I’m sure that there are many of us that are glad that we
aren’t applying to Leventhal’s graduate program. If you are a
recruiter, you might plan to visit school early next fall to meet
this talented group!
USC Leventhal Students
Graduation was in Alumni Park on May 14th with 235 undergraduate students, 175 graduate students, and two PhD candidates.
Our graduate students are becoming quite a force at graduation.
Our graduation speaker was Michael Karlin. He is a founding
partner of the firm Nigro, Karlin, Segal and Feldstein. Michael is
LEVENTHAL SCHOOL NEWS
a 1976 graduate of our undergraduate program. Interestingly,
Michael Karlin was both our 2010 graduation speaker and received his MBT after a 30-year leave of absence from our graduate program. Michael returned in the fall to complete a
2-unit research class. So, Michael was both the graduation
speaker and a third graduate speaker. When Trojan’s say “Fight
On,” I hope it will remind you of the story of a highly-successful
partner in a high-profile accounting firm finishing what he
started 30 years ago. We can all learn a great deal from Michael
Karlin.
Our other student speakers were R.J. Horsley - undergraduate
and Paul Cervantes - graduate. R.J. is from Menlo Park, California
and has been an active participant in case competitions and Los
Angeles Community Impact during his four years at USC. Many
undergraduate students benefitted from R.J.’s help as an instructional assistant for Merle Hopkins in our introductory financial
accounting course. Paul Cervantes joined the Leventhal School
from the University of Arizona, where he wrote for the Arizona
Daily Wildcat. Paul is an outstanding student and was a member
of our Deliotte Tax Challenge Team. Both R.J. and Paul are great
representatives of the class of 2010.
USC Leventhal Faculty
The Leventhal School’s faculty is terrific. Each year, our faculty
is recognized for their many contributions. For example,
USC’s Black Student Alumni Association awarded the Barbara
Solomon Faculty & Staff Award to Professor Kendall Simmonds
for his dedication to helping students of color. Chrislynn Freed
received the coveted Golden Apple Award for undergraduate
teaching at our graduation ceremony. Her continuing involvement with students in our undergraduate program has helped
many students with the difficult transition to USC. Rose Layton
won a grant from USC’s Fund for Innovation in Teaching. Her
grant will be used to provide assistance through student projects
for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office. With recent
budget cuts, we hope our students can provide some help for
District Attorney, Carmen Trutanich. Ernst & Young Professor
William Holder was recognized as the 2010 Distinguished
Accounting Alumnus from Academia by Oklahoma State University. Our faculty is filled with outstanding educators. I hope you
will take some time to contact a favorite faculty member. We’d
love to hear from you!
Our recruiting activities have been successful again this year.
We have made two outstanding additions to our faculty for
2010-2011, Liz Chuk and Zivia Sweeney. Ms. Chuk joins our
faculty from the University of Washington – Seattle. Her dissertation investigates a recent change in pension plan accounting
that allows her to assess the impact of financial accounting
disclosures on management’s investment decisions. Given the
importance of pensions to this country’s workforce, Liz’s work
has the potential to be impactful. We are equally fortunate to
welcome Zivia Sweeney as Assistant Professor of Clinical Accounting. Many of you will know Zivia as a highly successful former
CFO and member of the USC Leventhal Board of Advisors. In
addition, you may have seen her a few years ago at Homecoming
performing with fellow former Song Girls. It seems that Professor Sweeney is an equally-talented teacher. Her students rave
about her enthusiasm and innovative style. Our students are in
for a treat as these talented educators assume their full-time
teaching responsibilities in the Leventhal School.
The rankings of our school continue to be strong. The US News
and World Report business school deans and MBA directors
ranked our accounting faculty 6th. Their undergraduate survey
has us pegged at 5th. Public Accounting Report’s annual survey
S PRIN G / SUMMER 2010
fixes our PhD program at 10th, our Master’s 4th and undergraduate 5th. Business Week, also, has our undergraduate program
ranked 5th. University of Texas at Dallas assesses our scholarly
research output to be 7th over the past nine years. In sum, it’s
fair to conclude that we continue to be a top-ranked accounting
program that we can all be proud of!
USC Leventhal Annual Dinner and Alumni Affairs
The Biltmore Hotel was filled with Leventhal alumni, faculty,
students, staff and friends on April 22nd to celebrate another
successful year. The 2010 Distinguished Alumnus Award was
presented to Orange County retired KPMG partner Douglas
Ammerman. Doug illustrated the importance of preparation
and self confidence when he related a story about an unusual
examination in Professor Barcal’s class. It seems that a broken
mimeograph machine required a rather unorthodox oral final
exam. Needless to say, Doug Ammerman passed with flying
colors, although it is unclear if his answer was indeed correct!
Importantly, it was definitive and indicated great potential to
provide leadership. Luckily, the statute of limitations has passed
on Doug’s grade in Professor Barcal’s class! Elizabeth Lock Sun
accepted the 2010 Beta Alpha Psi (Iota Chapter) Award with a
message reminding us of the importance of the Trojan family.
Her speech was punctuated with a beautiful bouquet of flowers
from her family and friends. Ernst & Young’s Scott Porter
accepted the Leventhal 2010 Distinguished Service Award. Scott
revealed his dedication to service in his acceptance speech as he
challenged us all to help returning servicemen and women with
their transition to civilian life. He assured us that he would be
calling this summer. I hope that we all do our part to help when
we can with our nation’s best. Our three honorees are very
special and embody the Trojan family spirit.
Ernst & Young’s Scott Porter has done a great job as president
of the Accounting Circle Board. Scott’s group has had great
success with the Annual Dinner and Holiday Celebration. I
want to thank the Leventhal Board of Advisors and all members
of the Trojan family for their continuing support. It’s an honor
to work with this great group of alumni and friends of USC.
I hope to see you at a USC Marshall Partners event in your
area this summer or fall. They are really informative and
you will meet many fun Trojans. To learn more, visit www.
marshall.usc.edu/partners, or phone 213-740-0038.
Thank you for your support and Fight On!
Sincerely,
Randolph P. Beatty
Dean and Alan Casden Dean’s Chair of Accountancy
1 When the College of Cardinals in the Catholic Church meets to select a new
Pope, the paper ballots are burned with chemicals that produce a white puff
of smoke signaling that a new Pope has been selected.
2 The 2009 Asian Geographic Trend Report for GMAT Examiners found that
students in the PRC submitted GMAT test scores to graduate programs in
order of magnitude as follows: (1) Harvard MBA, (2) Columbia MBA, (3)
Wharton MBA, (4) Stanford MBA, (5) NYU MBA, (6) Yale MBA, (7) Chicago
MBA, (8) MIT, (9) CEIBS MBA (China Europe Intl. Bus. school), and (10) USC’s
Leventhal Macc. Our reputation appears to be solid in mainland China.
3
USC
LEVENTHAL SCHOOL
OF ACCOUNTING
2010
ANNUAL DINNER
Dean Randy Beatty was the Master of Ceremonies
for this year’s USC Leventhal Annual Dinner
at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel on April 22.
Dean Randy Beatty signals “Fight On”
as the USC Trojan Band play.
e crowd catches up on the latest news before the dinner.
Dean Beatty congratulates honoree
Douglas Ammerman
Board of Advisors’ members Professor Zivia Sweeney
and John Samore
Dean Beatty flanked by honorees Douglas Ammerman, Elizabeth L. Sun
and Scott Porter
4
Professor Jack Barcal with Leslie Ammerman
USC Marshall School of Business Dean
James Ellis and his wife, Gail
LEVENTHAL SCHOOL NEWS
S PRIN G / SUMMER 2010
Tom Bayless and John Redmond
Kathleen and Dr. Jack Larsen (center) with Larsen Scholarship
recipients Joshua Lee and Jon Ou
Cynthia Gensler, Carol Barcal, Associate Dean Jim Manegold and Jeannie Bowman
Dean Randy Beatty with honoree
Elizabeth L. Sun
USC Trustee General William Lyon with wife, Willa Dean Lyon
Bill Tilley stands next to one of the Leroy Nieman Serigraphs of Traveler
that he donated to the Leventhal School for the auction
5
USC
LEVENTHAL SCHOOL
OF ACCOUNTING
2010
ANNUAL DINNER
PricewaterhouseCoopers’
Kirk orell with
Akemi Kondo Dalvi
and Ashay Dalvi
USC would like to take this
moment to thank the following
companies and individuals who
made the scholarships and
event possible:
Student Excellence Fund
Contributors
Platinum
The Boeing Company
Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris
Foundation
Deloitte & Touche
Ernst & Young LLP
Holthouse, Carlin & Van Trigt LLP
KPMG LLP
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
RSM McGladrey
Douglas Ammerman, omas Barrack, Herbert Klambach and General William Lyon
Gold
BDO Seidman LLP
Andrew & Elizabeth Sun,
World Premier Investments
Silver
Dan Bane, Trader Joe’s
California United Bank
Dean and Kelli Hallett
Samuel C. Hathorn
Protiviti
Bronze
Capital Group Companies
Frankeberger Vausher & Co.
James G. Manegold
Gayle and John Samore, Jr.
Robert L. Shames
WTAS LLC
Table Sponsors
Douglas Ammerman
Ernst & Young LLP
Deloitte & Touche
Grant Thornton LLP
Holthouse, Carlin & Van Trigt LLP
KPMG LLP
Mattel Inc.
Moss Adams LLP
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Andrew & Elizabeth L. Sun
Frank Suryan Jr.,
Lyon Capital Ventures
6
Hazel Breen, Professor Cecil Jackson and Ellen Beatty
Dean Beatty congratulates
honoree Scott Porter
Leventhal 2010 Annual Dinner Honorees
LEVENTHAL SCHOOL NEWS
S PRIN G / SUMMER 2010
USC Leventhal School of
Accounting Distinguished
Alumnus Award
USC Leventhal School of
Accounting Distinguished
Service Award
Beta Alpha Psi
(Iota Chapter) Outstanding
Alumnus Award
Douglas K. Ammerman
Scott A. Porter
Elizabeth L. Sun
Douglas Ammerman is a retired partner with
KPMG. Mr. Ammerman was with the firm
for almost 30 years and served as the national practice partner, the managing partner of the Orange County office and as a
member of KPMG’s nominating committee
for its board of directors. Mr. Ammerman
currently serves on the board of directors of
Fidelity National Financial, the largest title
insurance company in the United States.
He also serves on the board of directors
for Quiksilver, William Lyon Homes and El
Pollo Loco.
A graduate of the University of Southern California, Mr. Ammerman holds a
Master’s in Business Taxation, which he received in 1977. He also holds a Bachelor of
Arts with an accounting emphasis from
California State University at Fullerton,
graduating in 1973. Doug Ammerman is past
president of the Pacific Club and director
emeritus, and in 1983 he served in the
Reagan Administration as special assistant
to the secretary of interior. Mr. Ammerman
currently serves on the board of governors
for the Balboa Bay Club.
Doug Ammerman is actively involved
with the USC Leventhal School of Accounting, assisting with a newly-created fund in
honor of Professor Jack Barcal. In addition,
Mr. Ammerman is a dedicated athlete,
having twice completed the Iron Man
competition in Hawaii.
Scott Porter is an advisory services partner
with Ernst & Young LLP. Mr. Porter began his
career by joining the accounting firm of
Arthur Andersen in 1994. While at Arthur
Andersen, he worked in the audit, tax and
business consulting practices focused on
financial services and media and entertainment clients. In 2003, Mr. Porter joined Ernst
& Young and was made partner in 2006.
He is a member of Ernst & Young’s Media
and Entertainment practice, where he
advises clients on risks and controls as well as
process and technology initiatives. Mr. Porter
has served as the IT advisory services leader
for the firm’s Pacific Southwest region, and
currently leads Ernst & Young’s campus
recruiting efforts for the advisory services
practice on the west coast.
A graduate of the University of Southern California, with a Bachelor of Science in
Accounting, Mr. Porter currently serves as
the president of the USC Accounting Circle
Board and is a member of the executive
committee for the USC Marshall Partners.
He also serves as the president of the
Southern California Delta Chi Housing
Corporation, past president of the Delta
Chi Alumni Board of Trustees and served as
the treasurer for the Catholic Charities of
West Los Angeles.
Mr. Porter and his wife, Casandra (’94),
live in Los Angeles with their two children:
Brooke and Carson, both of whom aspire to
be future Trojans.
Elizabeth Sun co-founded World Premier
Investments, Inc. (WPI), a privately-held
company, with her husband, Andrew Sun,
in 1984. WPI is a full-service real estate
development and investment advisory services company, specializing from financial
structure and land acquisition to property
and asset management. WPI has developed
more than 60 shopping centers throughout
the Western United States, totaling more
than 6 million square feet, anchored by
national retail tenants in all facets of retail
development: mixed use, lifestyle, neighbor
hood, freestanding and power centers. Ms.
Sun is involved in all facets of WPI’s investment advisory operations and financing.
Since 2004, WPI has expanded its investment activities to China. WPI, together
with its China based partner, Beijing Hualian
Group, has developed ShinKong Place, a
1.1 million square feet first-class luxury shopping mall located on the east side of the
Central Business District in Beijing, China.
This highly successful mall was opened in
April 2007 and is anchored with many international brands.
WPI’s affiliate, VegeUSA LLC, formed
in 1998, is a leader in gourmet vegetarian
food. In the United States, it has brand products in major natural/organic supermarkets
such as Whole Foods and Mother’s Markets.
Internationally, VegeUSA specializes in
supplying various Chinese vegetarian food
products to major supermarkets and hypermarkets in China and Taiwan.
A graduate of the University of Southern California, Ms. Sun holds a Bachelor of
Science in Accounting degree. She began
her career by joining KPMG’s tax department.
A believer in higher education, Ms. Sun
has endowed a scholarship fund to support
outstanding USC accounting students
with financial needs. She is also an honorary
director and a strong supporter of the
Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation.
7
Professor Zivia Wilson Sweeney
Immeasurable Qualities of a Trojan
How do you measure a person’s
worth; a person’s character? How
do you measure their self-determination and fortitude? These questions
and answers became very clear to
me when I interviewed Zivia Wilson
Sweeney, Professor of Clinical
Accounting at USC Leventhal.
Professor Sweeney’s personal story of
adversity and achievement, both in
and out of the classroom, is inspiring
and is immersed in rich history. It is also the story of a career that
brought a distinguished and accomplished professional back to a place
she calls home.
Zivia grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. A military kid, she is from a
family of four girls and two boys. Zivia’s father, Moses, was a career
enlisted naval petty officer who was stationed in San Diego and served
in the Vietnam War. Her mother Jane, who returned to school to get
her RN license, worked very hard to assist in providing for the family.
Zivia was raised from age 6 to 14 by her grandmother, Golden Albrook,
whom she fondly refers to as “one of the greatest ladies who has ever
lived.” Zivia is a diehard Elvis Presley fan (“I’ve got his greatest hits
in my car!”) and says that “you can’t help but love Elvis if you’re from
Memphis.” Memphis influenced Zivia in other ways, too. Zivia was a
witness to civil rights history that would affect her profoundly.
One day when Zivia was 11 years old, she was playing just outside of
her grandmother’s house. It was April 4, 1968, and she lived on
Mulberry Street, about two blocks from the Lorraine Motel. This was
during the height of the civil rights movement, when civil unrest and
protests for equal rights for blacks were taking place all over the
country. On that particular day, Zivia was startled when she saw an
ambulance race down the street towards the motel. As Zivia recalls,
“I ran in the house and I said ‘Grandma, I think something happened
down the street!’ So then my grandmother said ‘Keep your fast tail on
the porch and stop being out there!’ But I went back out anyway, and
a few minutes later the ambulance came back down the street… [There
was] blood everywhere [in the ambulance]. I saw unmarked police cars,
and Memphis police all racing up the street towards the motel. I went
back in the house, turned on the TV and that’s when we found out
that [Martin Luther King, Jr.] was shot [and killed].” Zivia’s experience
was later published as an article in the Los Angeles Wave, a community
newspaper. Zivia also recalls participating in one of the marches.
She was “almost busted by [her] grandma” when she and some of her
friends marched to City Hall, and a local paper took photos of the kids
protesting. Zivia comments: “So the next morning I looked at the
paper and it was grainy (laughs)…but, I could tell it was me. Fortunately, however, my grandmother couldn’t tell…and I [said] “she’s
gonna kill me…she’s gonna make me go outside and pick out my own
switch if she finds out!”
At age 14, Zivia moved to San Diego, where she lived in military housing with her parents and siblings. She is the “proud product of public
schools,” having completed her 10th through 12th grade years at
Kearney High School, and graduated 11th out of 802 in her senior class.
During that time in her life, many of Zivia’s major influences were
teachers. She recalls: “I had some of the best teachers in the world…
I remember my history teacher, Mr. Albertson. He was the one that
taught me that in history, there are literally two sides to every story.
My [other] teachers - Mrs. Ball, Mrs. Galveston, Miss Porter, Miss
Hodges, Miss Barksdale, and Ms. Hutchinson - were truly my heroes
and they expanded my horizons.”
8
by Eunice Joshua Clarke
When applying to colleges, Zivia’s only objective was to get into one,
and only one school: “I applied to several schools and USC was not
my first choice, because I was really into athletics in high school. My
passion was field hockey and track and field where I set school and city
records. And so, Long Beach State was my first choice. I had applied
to USC because one of my really good friends said...Ya know, you need
to apply,’ and my dad loved USC football. So…I said okay.” Ultimately,
destiny seemed to play a big part in Zivia’s arrival at USC. As she
explains: “[Long Beach State] got my social security number mixed up
with another student named Sylvia and rejected me.” Although they
corrected their mistake, it was not until about two weeks after she
already started at USC.
In her first year, Zivia decided to try out for the USC Song Girls. She
describes her reasoning this way: “Coming from San Diego and from a
military family, I really didn’t know anybody other than my roommate
who happened to be ex-military. So, in an effort try to meet more
people on campus, I tried out and made it. I can never thank Lindley
Bothwell enough for truly
changing my life and affording
me the great honor of representing the university.” The first
person she told the good news
to was her dad, a big USC fan,
and had been one all of his life.
She recalls: “I told him I made
the Song Girls. He didn’t know
what that was because [he said]
‘You can’t sing (laughs)!’ I
explained to him that as a Song
Girl I would get tickets to games,
so he could actually come up
and see his favorite football
team! When I went home for
Christmas, he was planning to
come up to a basketball game
to see me…but a week after I
got back to USC, he died, so
he never got to see the games
or me.”
That time in her life was tough,
but she found comfort, support and understanding from her professors
at USC. “At the time, I was a freshman. Several and my professors such
as Dr. Orr and Dr. Sternbach really helped me when I learned about my
dad’s death right before finals…they were just phenomenal and very
supportive. I will never forget their kindness and compassion.”
As a Song Girl, Zivia had the opportunity to travel extensively with the
group and the sports teams as they represented the university at many
functions and events. Zivia explains: “As a Song Girl, I was gone quite
a bit…and again, my professors extremely understood. Zivia was the
first Song Girl to appear on its inaugural poster of the Japan Bowl, an
annual post-season football game played in Tokyo. Her squad traveled
to Tokyo for the bowl game and also appeared on The Tonight Show.
Zivia said that she had many role models during this time in her life,
but credits both her mother and her stepfather, Mike Turner (who was
a commander in the Navy, a Desert Storm veteran, and an Annapolis
graduate) with being great parents, friends, and role models. Like her
dad, her stepfather is also a “diehard Trojan” fan.
Zivia completed her bachelor’s degree at USC, where she majored in
business administration with an emphasis in finance. She said that she
also loved her accounting courses, and especially loved managerial
accounting because of its relevance to the real world. see Zivia, page 11
LEVENTHAL SCHOOL NEWS
S PRIN G / SUMMER 2010
Beta Alpha Psi
Iota Chapter
Beta Alpha Psi at the University
of Southern California was
founded in 1925, just six years
after the national organization
was formed. As the 9th chapter,
it is called the Iota Chapter,
and after more than 80 years in
existence it continues to uphold
the tradition and excellence
from when it was first founded.
As the school’s premiere
scholastic and honorary society
for accounting and financial information professionals, we are
nationally recognized and successfully promote the study and
practice of the USC Leventhal
School of Accounting’s objectives
in order to provide opportunities
for students to become ethically
and socially responsible, as well as
developed professionals.
At USC, we have the distinguished honor of over 120
members per semester, with even
more through a strong alumni
network within the Trojan family
across the globe. Our president,
Jamie Kwak and faculty advisor,
Rose Layton work closely with
an executive board and group
of directors to maintain the large
honor society, and support all its
members who must fulfill
professional hours, community
service hours and fundraising
event requirements.
With close relations to the
“Big Four” accounting firms and
many other financial services and
information systems companies,
we are able to host a multitude
of events that allow students
to network with professionals
and gain exposure into the
accounting industry. Our weekly
meetings host a firm for an
information session and allow
students to meet and speak
with visiting professionals, often
alumni, one-on-one in a more
intimate setting than our “Meet
the Firms” event, which is once a
semester and draws hundreds of
professionals and students alike.
Within Beta Alpha Psi,
students bond through internal
socials and fundraising events,
such as all-you-can-eat Korean
barbeque outings or throwing
pies at Leventhal faculty (advisor
Rose Layton, Merle Hopkins and
Dean Randy Beatty included),
and give back to the community
through teaching classes at local
elementary schools or committing
hours at the Los Angeles Regional
Food Bank.
All of these events reflect
Beta Alpha Psi’s commitment to
scholarship and social responsibility for the future.
9
SPOTLIGHT ON
ProPEL
P ROVIDING P EOPLE E NRICHING L IVES
ProPEL (Providing People Enriching Lives) was started through
Ernst & Young's 2009 “Your World, Your Vision” community service
proposal competition. Our USC team was chosen as one of the
nation's three winning teams and awarded $10,000 to carry out our
proposal. We created a proposal to work with high school students
at the Bresee Foundation, a local Los Angeles community center
with an after-school program for middle school and high school
students. What sparked our interest in working with these students
was one of the counselors telling us that many of the students have
forgotten how to dream about what they want to be when they
grow up, because they are so focused on what kind of a job they
can get after high school to help support their families.
Our proposal was developed based on the foundational belief that
all students should be able to dream about their futures and truly
believe that they can achieve the career of their dreams. We created
a program to teach the students about different types of careers
and the many options for higher education available to them after
high school. Our program consists of monthly seminars on topics
relating to either college or careers, and weekly one-on-one mentoring sessions. As mentors, each week we help the students set and
achieve goals. Our seminars consist of topics such as "How to Apply
to College" and "How to Find Your Perfect Career." Our goal is to
have as many students go to college or pursue some form of higher
education, and to also have them be educated about careers that
10
they might be interested in pursuing. We want to help every student
we work with through the application process as well as financially,
if needed. In our first year, we have been successful in carrying out all
of the seminars we planned in our proposal. Most notably, in October
we held a Career Day Panel with Myles Kovacs, founder of DUB car
magazine, as well as with Ernst & Young professionals.
In November, we also held a First Generation College Student Panel
with current USC students and Ernst & Young professionals. Through
our interactions with the students and Ernst & Young’s participation,
we have also been able to expose the students to the accounting profession. In April, we plan on having a field trip to USC for the students
as well as a year-end banquet to celebrate the students’ achievement
of their goals. We have four high school seniors that we hope to send
off to college this year. ProPEL also won the USC Volunteer Center’s
Student Organization Volunteer Recognition Award for 2009-2010.
Faculty Advisor: Professor Rose Layton
Executive Board: Theresa Lee (PRESIDENT), Kayce Kasumi (VICE PRESIDENT),
James Naito (TREASURER), Jennifer Lin (SECRETARY), Thomas Chow (DIRECTOR
OF MENTORING), Sharon Ren (DIRECTOR OF EVENTS)
Members: Yue Mei Chen, Wai May Chee, David Martinez, Megan
Mullis, Helen Tobin, Maria Tirtatungaal, Alisa Urabe
LEVENTHAL SCHOOL NEWS
S PRIN G / SUMMER 2010
PricewaterhouseCoopers Commits
$150,000 to USC Leventhal Masters Programs
As part of a broader effort to promote and support the recruitment
and advancement of diverse students within the accounting
profession, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) recently committed
a $150,000 grant to the University of Southern California.
The funds will be used for scholarships for diverse students entering
the USC Leventhal School of Accounting Masters programs. Grant
funds will also be used to actively recruit students from historically
black colleges, as well as students from other schools.
“We are so grateful to PwC for providing funds for deserving students
from underrepresented minority populations”, said Associate Dean
Shirley Maxey. “Diversity is both a mission and a hallmark of our
graduate programs. This gift will significantly increase the total number of students we can reach out to and encourage to pursue careers
in professional accounting, auditing, and taxation with a master’s
degree from USC Leventhal.”
PwC worked closely with USC accounting faculty and administrators
to determine the most effective use of the grant. The ultimate goal
of the PwC initiative, which includes similar grants to three other
universities, is to increase the number of diverse students who enter
the profession.
Professor Zivia Wilson Sweeney
As of 2008, the latest data available, African Americans represented
only four percent of public accounting professionals at all career
levels, and Latinos represented just five percent, according to the
Minorities in Tax 2010 report from TaxDiversity.com (www.taxcareerdigest.com/articles/article10.pdf). Funding will focus on supporting
diverse students from groups that have historically been underrepresented in the accounting field, including African Americans, Latinos
and Native-Americans.
"We want to broaden the awareness of diverse students – many of
whom might not have previously considered accounting – to the
exciting and rewarding opportunities that a career in the profession
offers," says Niloufar Molavi, partner and chief diversity officer,
PwC. "By supporting programs that increase diverse students'
exposure to the accounting profession and PwC, we're that much
closer to maximizing the full breadth of the available talent pool."
Last year, PwC awarded scholarships to two students who are currently
enrolled in the Masters of Accounting program and will be graduating
in May. Read more about the grants at www.pwc.com/US/en/press-releases/2010/PricewaterhouseCoopers-announces-grants.jhtml.
continued from page 8
Soon after completing her degree, Zivia was awarded the Consortium
for Graduate Studies and Management Fellowship, which allowed her
to go to graduate school at USC. She majored in business administration with an emphasis in accounting, and worked for major companies
such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, WellPoint Health Networks, and
Tenet Healthcare. Her experience garnered her expertise in areas
including manufacturing, healthcare, mergers and acquisitions, and
strategic planning/budgeting for major for-profit and not-for-profit
corporations.
For the past 12 years, Zivia has also been a member of the USC Leventhal Board of Advisors. First recruited by Professor Kenneth Merchant,
former dean of USC Leventhal, Dean Randy Beatty asked to continue
to be an active and effective member. Zivia mentions: “[Being on the
board] has been an awesome experience because...I’m now at my alma
mater where I grew up, and am afforded an opportunity to have input
to curriculum decisions and matters impacting students. I [feel] very
fortunate and blessed to be in this role.”
Zivia’s current career – teaching – was not a decision that she just
thought of doing recently. In her view: “Teaching doesn’t seem like
a job. I’m doing something that I really love, and I have wanted to
do this since I was in second grade. I always knew I was going to be
teacher of some type…because [many] of my role models were my
teachers and professors. Of course, I have great family role models,
but it was my teachers [who] told me that I could be anything and
encouraged me to do well in school. As a result, Zivia was the first in
her family to graduate from college. She remembers some her former
employees used to tease her and say: ‘okay, here’s the teacher coming
out of her’ (laughs)!” She began her teaching career at West Los Angeles College after many requests over the years from Dr. Vanita Nicholas,
the business department chair “and a wonderful, wonderful lady.”
And Zivia is not the only Trojan in her family. Her husband, Calvin
Sweeney, graduated from USC Marshall in marketing, was a star
college football player for the university, and went on to become a
wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Zivia notes that: “He played
football here, received a lot of bowl and Pac-10 honors, and held a
long-standing Hula Bowl record until the early 2000’s. Calvin has
retired from UPS after over 20 years of service, and the couple has
been married for 23 years. They have three children: Jared, Jourdan
and Joelle.
When Zivia isn’t teaching, she and her husband are volunteering for
their church, St. Bernadette’s Catholic Church, and helps many other
charities and foundations. Zivia is actively involved with her church’s
Christian Service committee and school, and the Faith, Hope and
Charity Foundation, which supports breast cancer survivors through
a number of programs.
Zivia credits many other people from USC for believing in, and supporting her through good times and bad, including the death of her sister:
“This past year has been extremely difficult for my mom…she’s never
gotten over the untimely death of my baby sister, who was also a USC
graduate. My husband and I appreciate the university’s generosity. I
also want to thank Courtney Surls, who arranged for President Sample
[to write to] my mom. And the university did their research on my
sister and acknowledged to my mom that Nikki will never be forgotten
as a Trojan. Nikki loved USC, and during her final days asked to have
Trojan gear with her at the hospital. [But I know that] the university…didn’t have to do this but did.” My mom framed that letter and
put it next to the one she received from USC’s Michael Jackson years
ago.” Zivia is also grateful to Dean Beatty “for having the faith and
confidence in me,” and “the Board of Advisors…for always just being
the most gracious of colleagues.”
Zivia is extremely proud to be a part of USC’s faculty. She sums up
her thoughts this way: “I tell my students right at the beginning of the
semester [that] I’ve come home…I’m home. And I also tell them that I
think that what I bring to the table is that ’I was you a whole bunch of
years ago.’ So for me, there’s not a better place to come home to than
the University of Southern California.”
The richness of history is certainly interwoven into the life of Zivia
Wilson Sweeney. Her grace, passion and determination make her a
person of character and value. Welcome home, Professor Sweeney.
11
USC Leventhal a Top Choice
for Chinese Applicants
USC’s accounting program is the only one in the top 10 that does not grant an MBA
By Amanda Pillon (FROM DAILY TROJAN NEWSPAPER APRIL 2, 2010)
USC’s Master of Accounting
program at the Leventhal School
was recently ranked one of the
top-10 most popular programs
for Chinese citizens applying
to graduate business schools –
the only non-MBA program to
make the cut.
According to the Geographic
Trend Report for Graduate Management Admission Test Examinees, USC Leventhal’s Master of
Accounting program was ranked
10th among the programs to
which Chinese citizens sent their
GMAT score reports in 2009.
Shirley Maxey, a director of the
Leventhal masters program, said
the ranking is significant for
Leventhal. “It means a lot for the
program,” Maxey said. “It means
we’re going to continue to have
a rising number of applications,
and that’s great for the school.”
Harvard, Columbia, the University
of Pennsylvania and Stanford
topped the list of the most
popular schools among Chinese
applicants. “The top ten are all
great universities,” Maxey said.
“It’s just amazing we’re on that
list.”
12
Cindy Wu, a student in the program who is originally from the
Guangdong Province in China,
said she made her decision based
on the rankings she found online.
“USC was right at the top of the
list,” Wu said. “And it was one of
only two schools that offered a
Master of Accounting program.”
The School received about 475
applications for the 2010-2011
school year, according to Cathy
Cowan, a director of the program. Two years ago, the
program received less than half
this number.
USC has increased its acceptance
of international students over
the past five years, Maxey said,
noting that other programs
across the nation were reducing
their numbers because of the
difficulty of placing international
students in career positions in
the United States.
In China and many other Asian
countries, the reputation of a university can be a big factor in the
decision to attend, Maxey said.
Yifeng Song, a student in the
program, heard about it while
she was majoring in international
business at Guangzhou University
in China. “I wanted to pursue
accounting here because it’s
highly ranked among these kinds
of programs,” Song said. “USC
has a really good reputation in
China.”
Maxey said part of the reason for
Leventhal’s increasing popularity
could be the recent economic
growth in China, which has
resulted in higher demand for
trained accounting professionals
throughout the country.
Maxey noted that many applicants have told her USC is their
dream school. “[USC] was my top
choice,” Song said. “It’s a highly
recognized program throughout
China, so it will help if I go back
to China to work.”
The program also makes a point
to put international and domestic
students together in the same
classrooms, Maxey said. She said
both groups benefit from the experience of working and learning
together in the classroom setting.
Students said the atmosphere of
Southern California was also a
factor in the decision to come to
USC.
The Master of Accounting program has started receiving so
many applications from China
that it now sends interviewers
from Leventhal overseas to
conduct interviews with the
applicants.
The program has also made
great efforts to reach out to
prospective students. Two of
USC’s accounting faculty members, Thomas Lin and Shiing-Wu
Wang, have both traveled to
China at least once per year for
more than a decade to speak at
conferences and establish ties
with the academics in Shanghai
and Beijing, Maxey said.
“The faculty are excellent, and
it’s in a good location,” Song said.
“I love it here. That’s how I can
adapt to the new life, the new
language and the new learning
methods.” Song said she also
appreciated the strong network
of USC alumni throughout the
world and that an education in
the United States has broadened
her horizons.
“Pursuing study is also about
experiencing a new culture and
a new life, especially for international students,” she said.
LEVENTHAL SCHOOL NEWS
William W. Holder
S PRIN G / SUMMER 2010
continued from page 1
“I will always consider my service on the
GASB to have been one of the great professional
opportunities I was fortunate to receive.”
involves determining “whether
current-year revenues were sufficient to pay for the current-year
services” (CON1-77). For example, financial statements should
report whether current-year citizens received services but shifted
part of the payment burden to
future-year citizens. These financial reporting objectives, which
necessarily require a long-term
financial reporting focus, have
informed the reasoning and
analysis of the GASB during my
two terms.
Focusing on determining and
reporting inter-period equity
measures propelled the GASB to
develop individual standards
designed to measure and report
the cost of rendering services. I am
confident that all who read this
document recognize the multitude of alternatives and judgments that can arise in measuring
“cost of services.” Indeed, the
GASB will continue to develop this
concept following my departure
from the board in June. At this
writing, however, the board has
developed a number of standards
and concept statements that, in
my view, honor reporting information useful in assessing interperiod equity. While I believe that
the work done during my term
on the board was positive and
resulted in useful information
flowing to the market for the first
time, I certainly do not suggest
that the current standards for such
commitments represent a timeless
financial reporting solution. In
this article, I focus on two of those
standards that illustrate different
aspects of reporting interperiod
equity measures.
The first, Statement No. 45 of
the Governmental Accounting
Standards Board, “Accounting
and Financial Reporting by
Employers for Postemployment
Benefits Other Than Pensions,”
deals with reporting retirement
and other postretirement benefits such as postretirement health
care benefits. The GASB has
chosen to define commitments
and promises to provide postretirement health care benefits
as a liability, notwithstanding
the possible absence of an
enforceable legal liability. Indeed,
the GASB was clear that it intended constructive obligations
to provide such benefits to be
considered liabilities. The board
also required a cost-based (i.e.,
funding-based) approach (rather
than an approach based primarily
on changes in the fair values of
plan assets and liabilities) to
measuring the amount of that
liability. With the publication of
that standard, state and local
governments were, for the first
time, required to accrue and
report such commitments and to
disclose additional information
related to the nature and magnitude of such commitments.
Again, while I believe that the
aforementioned standard has
improved financial reporting substantially, the GASB already has
a major agenda project to reconsider the specific recognition and
measurement provisions of both
its pension and other postemployment benefit standards
which will consume considerable
time for the next several years.
A second standard, Statement
No. 48 of the Governmental
Accounting Standards Board,
“Sales and Pledges of Receivables
and Future Revenues and IntraEntity Transfers of Assets and
Future Revenues,” relates to the
revenue feature of measuring
interperiod equity. That standard
focuses on the timing of revenue
recognition for certain transactions that are peculiar to governments. During my time on the
board, governments began
engaging in transactions which
accelerated the receipt of anticipated or expected cash flows.
An example of such transactions
include the “sale” of future
revenue streams and the transfer
of certain rights (e.g., to operate
parking meters or toll roads) in
exchange for immediate cash
payments. Naturally, the receipt
of cash in advance of a scheduled
or expected date gives rise to
revenue recognition issues that
require resolution.
Readers may recall that several
years ago, a number of state
governments settled ongoing
litigation with several tobacco
companies which provided that
those states receive a share of
future domestic tobacco sales.
Shortly thereafter, some of those
governments were involved directly or indirectly in the issuance
of tobacco revenue bonds. Those
bonds, in substance, exchanged
the government’s right to receive
a portion of tobacco companies’
future domestic tobacco product
sales for the immediate receipt
of cash. In most cases, the government had no direct, indirect or
contingent liability to make payments to the holders of the tobacco revenue bonds in the event
that future tobacco settlement
revenues were insufficient to satisfy the claims of the bondholders. Thus, some urged the GASB
to require immediate recognition
of a gain on the receipt of monies
from the issuance of those bonds
as a gain on the sale of those
rights because, in part, no liability
had been incurred. The GASB,
however, considered the appropriate accounting from the
perspective of inter-period equity
and with a somewhat broader
scope that involved the sale or
transfer of other types of revenues (e.g., the “sale” of the next
three years of expected sales tax
receipts). These deliberations resulted in a standard that requires
that the increase in net assets resulting from the issuance of such
bonds be deferred and amortized
over the period of the bonds and
related tobacco settlement.
These examples illustrate the type
of issues that come before the
board and some of the factors
considered by the board in reaching its decisions. During the years
of my service, the GASB also
produced standards designed to
better inform financial statement
users of the restrictions and
limitations on the net assets of
a government, thereby better
conveying the financial flexibility
available to governments to
respond and redeploy resources
in the event of unforeseen events
(e.g., natural disasters), accounting for derivative instruments,
environmental contamination
obligations and a host of other
matters.
I will always consider my service
on the GASB to have been one
of the great professional opportunities I was fortunate to receive. The individuals I worked
with at the GASB remain some
of my most treasured friends
and colleagues. What a privilege
it was to work with them on
matters such as these. Finally,
the support of my colleagues
and the administration of the
Leventhal and Marshall Schools
were extensive, steadfast and
greatly appreciated. I express my
great appreciation to all who
supported my efforts during the
past 10 years.
13
Faculty News
Chrislynn Freed
William Holder
Cecil Jackson
Rose Layton
Tom Lin
Ken Merchant
Daniel O’Leary
Ken Simmonds
Zoe-Vonna Palmrose
Tatiana Sandino
2010 Faculty Awards
and Honors
Chrislynn Freed: 2010 Golden
Apple Award in Teaching
William Holder: Awarded the
2010 Distinguished Accounting
Alumnus from Academia by the
Oklahoma State University School
of Accounting.
Cecil Jackson
Evan C. Thompson Teaching &
Learning Innovation Award
Rose Layton: Awarded a USC
Fund for Innovative Undergraduate Teaching.
Ken Merchant: Honorary Doctor
of Science degree by Turku School
of Economics (Finland), May 2010.
Named to 3-year term as
Honorary Professor of Accounting
“in honor of outstanding
academic accomplishments and
dedication to the accounting
profession,” University of International Business and Economics
(UIBE), Beijing, China (2009-2012).
Outstanding Reviewer Award,
Emerald Literati Network, 2009.
Daniel O’Leary: Intelligent
Systems in Accounting,
Finance and Management.
10th Most Cited Paper, February,
2010
Tatiana Sandino
Dean’s Award for Research
Excellence
14
Ken Simmonds: Barbara
Solomon Faculty & Staff Award
from the USC Black Student
Alumni Association
Publications
Tom Lin
Lin, T. (2009). “Haier is Higher:
China Haier Group’s Market
Chains Based Business Process
Reengineering.” Strategic
Finance, pp. 41-49.
Chen, S.; Chou, Y.; Lee, P; Lin, T.;
Tsai, W. (2009). “A Study on
Selection Criteria for ERP
Systems,” International Journal
of Business and Systems Research,
vol. 3, no. 4, 2009, pp. 456-480.
Chou, W.; Hsu, W.; Lin, T.; Tsai, W.
(2010). “Integrating ActivityBased Costing and Environmental
Cost Accounting Systems”,
International Journal of Business
and Systems Research, vol. 4,
no. 2, 2010, pp. 186-208.
Gao, Z.; Lin, T.; Wang, G. (2010).
“Using ABC to Improve the Logistics Value Chain in a Chinese Food
Product Company,” Cost Management, vol. 24, issue 1, pp. 39-46.
Ken Merchant
Merchant, K.A., Sandino, T.
(2010). “A Test of a Company’s
Business Model.” Oxford, U.K:
Elsevier/CIMA Publishing.
Merchant, K.A., Pick, K. (2010).
“Blind Spots, Biases and Other
Pathologies in the Boardroom,
New York”: Business Expert Press.
Anthony, R.N., Hawkins, D.F., and
Merchant, K.A. (2010). “Accounting: Text and Cases.” 13th edition. Chicago: Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
Dan O’Leary
O’Leary, D. (2009). “Predictive
Knowledge Management:
Mirror Worlds,” Intelligent
Decision Technologies, IOC Press.
Tatiana Sandino
Sandino, T. (2009). “Organizational Design and Control Across
Multiple Markets: The Cast of
Franchising in the Convenience
Store Industry.” The Accounting
Review, 84 (6).
“Application of the Fuzzy
Analytic Hierarchy Process to the
Lead-Free Equipment Selection
Decision,” with Yu-Cheng Tang.
International Journal of
Business and Systems Research,
forthcoming.
“Price Elasticity of Demand and
Capacity Expansion Features in an
Enhanced ABC Product-mix
Decision Model,” with Wen-Hsien
Tsai, Lopin Kuo, Yi-Chen Kuo and
Yu-Shan Shen. International
Journal of Production Research,
forthcoming.
Ken Merchant
Merchant, K.A. (2010).
“Paradigms in Accounting
Research: A View from North
America.” Management
Accounting Research.
Accepted for Publication
Tom Lin
“New Financial Service Development for Banks in Taiwan
Based on Customer Needs and
Expectations,” with Wen-Hsien
Tsai and Wei Hsu. The Service Industries Journal, forthcoming
Merchant, K.A. (2010).
“Performance-Dependent
Incentives: Some Puzzles to
Ponder.” Journal of Accounting,
Auditing and Finance. Also forthcoming in Chinese in The Journal
of Management Accounting
Studies (China) (2010).
“The Choice of Cost Drivers in
Activity-Based Costing: An
Application at a Chinese
Manufacturing Company,”
with Pingxin Wang, Fei Du,
and Dinghua Lei. International
Journal of Management,
forthcoming.
Zoe-Vonna Palmrose
"Balancing the Costs and Benefits
of Auditing and Financial
Reporting Regulation Post-SOX:
Perspectives from the Nexus at
the SEC - Part I," Accounting Horizons, forthcoming in June 2010.
INTRODUCING
USC Leventhal’s Faculty
Leventhal School News is pleased to introduce you to
our faculty and their accomplishments. We are very proud
of our faculty, and thank them for their contributions and
achievements that make USC Leventhal one of the top
five accounting schools in the country.
Robert Roussey
Professor of Clinical Accounting
Robert Roussey is an expert on auditing
and governance, with a focus on frameworks and standards. He has published
in Auditing: A Journal of Practice and
Theory, The CPA Journal, and The
International Journal of Auditing, and
in other Journals. He is on the editorial
board of the Journal of International
Accounting, Auditing, and Taxation and the International
Journal of Auditing. Professor Roussey received the AICPA/AAA
Collaboration Award, AICPA's Special Recognition Award, and
the Distinguished Service in Auditing Award from the American
Accounting Association. He is a past Chairman of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.
LEVENTHAL SCHOOL NEWS
S PRIN G / SUMMER 2010
Kendall L. Simmonds Receives USC
Black Alumni Association Award
USC Leventhal would like to congratulate Professor Kendall Simmonds
for being awarded the Barbara Solomon Faculty & Staff Award at the
32nd Annual USC Black Alumni Association Scholarship Benefit and
Alumni Awards Dinner, which was held at the Beverly Hills Hotel on
April 15th.
Professor Kendall Simmonds has been a full time faculty member at
the USC Leventhal School of Accounting for 18 years. His area of interest is financial accounting with emphasis in real estate investment
trusts. Professor Simmonds has held various administrative positions in
both the USC Marshall School of Business and USC Leventhal. He has
served as the academic director of the USC Marshall Honors Program
and is currently the director of USC Leventhal’s Summer Leadership
Program. Professor Simmonds’ teaching assignments range from
introductory undergraduate financial and managerial to graduate-level
financial accounting.
Professor Simmonds’ work experience includes seven years as an
auditor and three years as a tax consultant with the certified public
accounting firm of Deloitte. Some of his clients included Dean Witter,
Homestake Mining and Kaiser Aluminum. He also has over 14 years of
experience in commercial bank lending and five years in investment
banking where he worked as a financial analysis. He frequently serves
as an expert witness in small business litigation.
Education: BS, Fordham University
Jieying Zhang
Assistant Professor of Accounting
Jieying Zhang conducts research in
the broad area of empirical financial
accounting, with a current focus on
accounting conservatism, the use of
accounting information by debt holders
(banks and bondholders), and auditor
reputation. Professor Zhang's research
has been published in the Journal of
Accounting and Economics and Journal of Accounting Research.
Education: PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
MS, Northwestern University; MS, BS, Peking University
Antoinette and Kendall Simmonds.
During his tenure at the University of Southern California, Professor
Simmonds has received several awards including the prestigious
Marshall Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has
been recognized by The National Association of Black Accountants
as an outstanding professor and advisor. Other awards include the
USC Mellon Award for Excellence in Mentoring; the Evan C. Thompson
Faculty Mentoring and Leadership Award and Mortar Board recognition from USC graduating seniors for his excellence in teaching.
Student News
The USC Leventhal
PhD Program would
like to announce that
Hyun (Shana) Hong
has been accepted
by the University of
Memphis, and Ying
Ying (Terry) Wang
by Queens College
(Canada). We wish
them much success.
His external community service ranges from participating in the
PricewaterhouseCoopers Faculty University and the Deloitte International Case Competition. Most recently, Professor Simmonds served
as panel moderator in USC’s Twenty-Seventh Annual Securities and
Exchange Commission and Financial Reporting Institute Conference.
Hyun (Shana) Hong
Ying Yang (Terry) Wang
Professor Simmonds completed his graduate work at the University
of California, Berkeley and is a member of several professional
organizations.
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Leventhalschool news
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University of
Southern California
USC Leventhal School of Accounting
Marshall School of Business
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0441
SPRING / SUMMER 2010
Leventhal School News is published by
Marshall School of Business
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0441
Telephone: 213-740-2431
Fax: 213-747-2815
E-mail: First initial and last name of
individual@marshall.usc.edu
Dean, Leventhal School of Accounting:
Randolph P. Beatty
Editor: Eunice Joshua Clarke
Contributing writers:
Randolph Beatty
Eunice Joshua Clarke
William W. Holder
Theresa Lee
Jamie Kwak
Amanda Pillon
Design: Stetson Turner Design
USC Leventhal Students Skype Their Way to Solving Global Business Problems
Accounting seniors capitalize on virtual-learning techniques to team up with Hong Kong counterparts
For a first-of-its-kind joint project with accounting students from the
Chinese University of Hong Kong, USC Leventhal students didn’t need
their passports, only their computers.
USC Leventhal Professor of Clinical
Accounting Cecil Jackson led his spring Managerial Accounting class through a cross-continental collaboration project, calling upon
his students to work on a case with a corresponding team from the Chinese University
of Hong Kong (CUHK) without either team
having to board a plane. The case was written by Professor Ken Merchant, the Deloitte
& Touche LLP Chair in Accountancy.
Leventhal Dean Randolph P. Beatty
spearheaded the effort, convinced the time
was right to not only capitalize on advances
in distance-learning techniques such as video Professor Cecil Jackson
conferencing, but “to take advantage of
USC’s global reach to begin doing some group projects across countries
and continents.
“Our graduates almost immediately find themselves working in
global teams,” Beatty continued. “The professional environment will
almost surely become even more concentrated as we seek specialized
group members to solve increasingly more complex businessproblems.
The ability to navigate global teams seems like a natural advantage
for USC students.”
Led by Professor Jackson and a managerial accounting professor
at CUHK, students worked together in mixed U.S. and Chinese teams
to effectively problem solve, write reports and analyze the performance-evaluation process at Las Ferreterias de Mexico, S.A. de C.V.,
a company in Mexico which Professor Jackson described as equivalent
to Home Depot, selling lumber, building materials and home-improvement products.
Professor Jackson said he assigned the case because it “included
issues with cross-cultural influences and implications.”
Among the cultural differences that emerged: how much weight
the students gave return on investment, which measures short-term
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profits. The Chinese students were more focused on ROI than the
USC students, who thought other factors were equally important
to evaluating Ferreterias de Mexico’s financial performance.
“I was impressed that we all had different perspectives,”
Leventhal senior Grace Yang said.
The most challenging aspect of the collaboration was the 15hour time difference. Relying on video conferencing, the students
had to schedule team meetings around not only when equipment
was available, but when both teams would be awake. The schedule:
10:30 p.m. in Southern California (meaning 1:30 p.m. the following
afternoon in Hong Kong).
Another key was mastering the technology. “Making the equipment work was part of the assignment,” explained Professor Jackson.
“Students were expected to weave together both asynchronous forms
of collaboration (e-mail) with synchronous forms (video and audio
conferencing), just as they would if they are working together in the
real world.”
The students turned to Skype for their video and audio solutions.
“We had to set up our Skype accounts, learn how to do video and
audio conferencing and learn how to record our conferences for
later reference,” Yang said. “In the corporate world, we’ll need to
learn to use these tools, so this was a good way to orient ourselves.”
Working with students based in another country also gave Yang
a flavor for the competiveness awaiting her in the global job market.
“Usually we only get to work with our U.S. peers,” she said.
The project is another part of USC Leventhal and USC Marshall
schools’ ongoing commitment to make international exposure a key
component of the student experience.
“I think this experiment works quite well with the USC Marshall
School freshman trips,” Dean Beatty said. “Students go to various
locations around the world and have a great sense of the opportunities for interaction. The experience really makes a difference in many
students’ perceptions of their futures in global business.
“This educational innovation is building a possible four-year
global immersion experience for our students while working from
the Accounting library or from home. And that’s pretty amazing.”