PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTING RESEARCH
RECOMMENDED MATERIALS:
1. Prentice Hall’s Federal Taxation 2010 Comprehensive, by Pope, Anderson, and
Kramer (ISBN 978-0-13-611245-7) – Corporate Chapters 1 and 14 and Appendix A
2. It is also recommended to have access to an intermediate financial accounting text.
3. Other materials provided.
ELECTRONIC RESOURCES: We will use a number of electronic resources for this course. I
will provide access information, when necessary, and external links in Blackboard. For tax
research, we will access resources including CCH Tax Research, RIA Checkpoint, LexisNexis
Academic and the IRS. For financial research, we will access resources including FASB
Accounting Standards Codification, the SEC Edgar database, and the FASB.
GRADING: Your grade will be determined based on the following:
Homework (6 @ 15 points each)
Research & Writing Assignments (4 assignments)
Assignment 1 (in 2 parts)
Assignment 2 (in 2 parts)
Assignment 3
Assignment 4 (in teams with presentations)
Midterm Exam
Final Exam (40 to 50% take home)
Total
points
90
165
percentage
20%
36%
100
100
455
22%
22%
100%
25
50
30
60
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
1. To develop and enhance your skills in identifying tax questions and planning
opportunities; in locating and using tax authority to respond to these questions and plans;
and in using the law to prepare a response to a question or to formulate a planning
strategy.
2. To develop and enhance your skills in identifying financial research issues; in locating
and using financial accounting authority to address the issues; and in using the authority
to prepare a response to a question or to formulate a suggested solution.
3. Expand your communication skills, especially written.
4. Provide an environment in which you can
a. Learn to analyze facts, distinguish relevant information from irrelevant, recognize
and state the issues, and reduce the rules to succinct statements.
b. Develop reasoning skills, planning skills, and synthesis skills.
TAX TOPICS
1. Introduction to Tax Research
2. Ethics in Tax
a. Tax Shelters
b. Code of Professional Conduct
3. Sources of Tax Law
a. Statutory
b. Administrative
c. Judicial
4. Tax Administration
5. Tax Planning
FINANCIAL TOPICS
1. Introduction to Financial Research
2. Authoritative Financial Literature
a. FASB, EITF, AICPA & SEC
b. FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC)
3. International
a. IASB
b. IASB & FASB Convergence Projects
c. Some Similarities & Differences
d. SEC Roadmap
4. SEC Reporting
AICPA CORE COMPENTENCIES
1. Communication
2. Research
3. Decision modeling
a. Problem solving
b. Strategic / critical thinking
c. Legal / regulatory perspective
d. Risk Analysis
4. Global perspective
5. Leverage technology