American Accounting Association

2010 AAA Western Region Meeting

April 29 - May 1, 2010

Hilton Executive Tower, Portland, Oregon

Program Information

Thursday, April 29, 2010

The Workshop not only provides many best practices and teaching tips from 
nationally recognized master teachers but also provides career path specifics 
and 
insights about becoming successful faculty members.   Workshop faculty 
include:  
Bob Allen (University of Utah), Cassy Budd (BYU), Susan Crosson (Santa Fe 
College), Julie Smith David (ASU), and Kevin Stocks (BYU).

The objective of this workshop is to introduce accounting educators to XBRL 
(eXtensible Business Reporting Language) and the XML technologies supporting 
business reporting and the "publication, exchange and analysis of complex 
financial information."  XBRL now includes taxonomies (dictionaries of standard 
terms) for financial reporting for all major categories of companies filing under US 
GAAP and for mutual funds filing risk and return information. The 500 largest 
publicly traded companies are now "furnishing" financial statements to the SEC in 
XBRL format and all SEC registrants will be doing so by 2011. In addition, mutual 
funds must file risk and return information to the SEC in XBRL format beginning in 
2011. Topics covered in this workshop will include at least the basics of XBRL 
financial documents, understanding and using XBRL taxonomies, and classroom 
applications. No prior knowledge of XBRL is expected. Workshop participants will 
work with classroom tested applications. The workshop leader will be Professor 
Clinton (Skip) White, Department of Accounting & MIS, University of Delaware.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Preparing for IFRS: Working Together to Prepare the Profession for Changes in 
GAAP

The opening plenary session will be an interactive panel comprised of 
representatives from public accounting firms discussing the difficulties and 
opportunities inherent in U.S. convergence with IFRS.  The focus will be on how 
academics and practitioners can work together to improve the teaching and 
understanding of IFRS and its effects on accounting in the U.S. and across the 
globe.
Julie Desimone, Moss Adams, Partner
Ryan Dunlap, Moss Adams, Senior Manager
Sara Kenny, PhD; International Finance Corporation, member of the World Bank
Group (retired)
Russell D. Price, Intel, Controller--Global Fixed Assets Accounting
David Sawaya, Ernst & Young, IFRS PNW Area Markets Leader

This session focuses on three keys to motivating students:  1. Renewing our own 
passion for teaching, 2. Recognizing the potential of the students, and 3.  
Regularly conveying persuasive messages about the importance of accounting.  
The ability to motivate students begins with a motivated teacher. How can we 
expect students to be excited about our class if we're not excited about our 
class?  Many of us have been teaching the same courses for many years.  How 
do we maintain our passion for the subject and for teaching? To maximize our 
effectiveness, students must sense that we have an appreciation for their 
capabilities and potential.  They must have a sense that we care about their 
learning.  They are less likely to care about what we have to say unless they 
sense that we care about them.  Some students are capable, bright, and 
motivated and it's easy to appreciate these students.  But sometimes the rest of 
the class can be a challenge.  The second portion of the session focuses on 
ways of recognizing the potential of our students and cultivating a genuine 
concern for them and their learning. Finally, we can increase student motivation 
by regularly conveying persuasive messages about the importance of 
accounting. 
Presenter: Bob Allen, University of Utah

Panelists: Robert Larson (Dayton), Daniel Gyung Paik (BYU), Ervin Black (Brigham 
Young University, President AAA International 
Accounting Section), Gregory Burton (Brigham Young University and former 
academic fellow to Office of the Chief Accountant), and Steve Krohn (partner, 
KPMG).  
Panelists will discuss IFRS standards and different approaches to teaching these 
materials.

Speaker: Mary Gentile, Ph.D., Senior Research Scholar, Babson College; Senior
Advisor, The Aspen Institute Business & Society Program; Director, Giving Voice
to Values, Aspen Institute

Presenters:
Mary Gentile, Ph.D., Senior Research Scholar, Babson College; Director, Giving
Voice to Values, Aspen Institute
Jane Cote, Associate Professor, Washington State University - Vancouver
Claire Latham, Associate Professor, Washington State University - Vancouver

The workshop presents ways in which faculty have used Giving Voice to Values 
in
undergraduate and graduate classes. It will be ?hands-on? and provide
participants with practice so they can use the curriculum at different points in
their own classes.

Panelists: Raymond Johnson (Portland State), Rick Sweeney (Executive Director, 
Washington State Board of Accountancy), Tom Sadler (Deputy Director, 
Washington State Board of Accountancy), Pat Hearn (Executive Director, Oregon 
State Board of Accountancy).  
Panelists will discuss the issue of mobility (allowing CPAs with licenses in one 
state being allowed to practice in other states), and will provide perspectives on 
the regulation of public accountancy in Western states and protecting the public 
interest. 

Panelists: Christine Kloezeman (Glendale Communitiy College), Monte Swain 
(Brigham Young University), Cathy Jeppson (California State University - 
Northridge), Sheldon Smith (Utah Valley University).  
This panel will discuss whether it is better to teach traditional academic topis or 
the prevailing business practices, including examples and rationales for why 
these topics are important.

YouTube is more than an entertainment website; students, business 
professionals, and organizations from all over the world search daily for 
accounting topics on a need to know basis.  The videos they find are less than 10 
minutes if created by an individual and can be longer if created by a college or 
university.  Until now you may not have been interested in creating and posting 
voice over powerpoints, Smartpen talks, or teaching videos on YouTube, 
because the return on your investment seemed to be nothing.  [All of these 
methods will be demonstrated.] But examine the performance metrics of InSights 
and the revenue model of AdSense before deciding if You Tube is right for you 
and/or your school.  This session will share real data of the results you can 
expect if you use YouTube to connect with students globally. You on YouTube 
can really make a difference! 
Presenter: Susan Crosson, Santa Fe College

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Panelists: Steven Mintz (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo), 
Roselyn Morris (Texas State University), Melanie Thompson 
(Texas Lutheran University).  
Panelists will discuss examples of stand-alone courses and integration 
materials to guide accounting faculty in incorporating ethics into the curriculum to 
meet 150 hour education requirements.

Considering the ever increasing prominence of fair value measures and the 
widespread demand for more principle based standards, it is essential that we 
teach students about the accounting judgments behind reported numbers. At the 
very least, they need to know how to identify situations where objective experts 
would reasonably disagree about accounting policies or reported measures, and 
how to qualitatively gauge the extent of this disagreement. For example, they 
need to know that objective experts' estimates of the fair value of a company's 
cash and cash equivalents would be considerably less dispersed than their 
estimates of the fair value of a patent acquired through a business combination. 
This session illustrates a very simple interactive exercise I use the first day of an 
introductory undergraduate financial reporting course to begin developing a 
framework for understanding accounting judgments. I also use a variation on this 
exercise with MBAs and finance managers in executive training courses, where I 
extend the discussion to fair value levels under SFAS 157. This approach also 
sets the stage for discussing in simple terms situations where moral hazard, 
adverse selection, and the demand for authoritative guidance arise. Time 
permitting, we will also consider ways to teach students how to make informed 
judgments in situations where multiple accounting standards or principles with 
very different financial statement consequences are appropriate and where 
experts reasonably disagree about the most appropriate treatment. 
Presenters: Carolyn and Pete Wilson, Boston College

Panelists: David Gilbertson (Western Washington University), Carla Carnaghan 
(Lethbridge University), Irene Gordon (Simon FraserUniversity)  
Panelists will discuss possible roles of the accounting theory course in the 
curriculum and different approaches to teaching the course. 

Since the AAACommons was launched at CTLA 2008, it has continued to evolve 
into the gathering place for accounting that supports member sharing of materials 
about current accounting issues, teaching materials and research. This session 
allows you to jump start your career development by learning how to get teaching 
materials, how to use private hives for research and collaboration, and how to 
measure your contributions or see other's by looking at their profiles.  Optimize 
this session experience by bringing your computer or usb drive loaded with your 
favorite syllabus, lecture, assignment, teaching tips, or research in progress. 
Presenters: Julie Smith David, Arizona State University and AAA Commons 
Editorial Board Member