Suffolk University

^04.14

I noted our reading assignment in my 04.11 blog entry (below); here are some additional reminders.

> The presentations require full formal business attire for students and guest judges, as well as for the host ... me! They will be held, once again, in the 2^nd floor conference room at 40 Court Street.

> The presentations will each begin 30 minutes before the normal start of class ... 2:00 pm for the afternoon class and 4:00 pm for the evening class. Please arrive at least ten minutes early; we hope to start very promptly!

> Here are the instructions that I provided to the guest judges ...

PRESENTATION SCENARIO

You are a member of the Board of Directors of an organization that is considering a new business venture. Your organization has asked a group of accounting and financial analysts, just graduated from college, to prepare a preliminary risk management plan for the venture.

You have been appointed to the Risk Management Sub-Committee of the Board. Recently, you and your colleagues on the Sub-Committee have expressed concerns that the organization may not be fully prepared to manage the risk factors associated with the venture.

You have asked the analysts to meet with you for eight minutes to respond to your concerns and answer any questions that may arise during your conversation. You can be as specific or as general as you deem appropriate; in addition, you do not necessarily need to test the students on depth of their knowledge of the details, but you do need to satisfy yourself that they are focusing on the relevant issues and are analyzing them in a competent manner.

After each conversation, you will be asked to evaluate the oral competency of each student. A scorecard follows this sheet; notation instructions will be provided to you at the event. Furthermore, student handouts have been attached to this package. Each group has been asked to prepare a one page handout for you to skim in advance of the presentations; the students were given full flexibility to use any format and level of content that they desired.

N/A

^04.11

We only have another hour or so of new classroom material to cover ... so let's make the best of it! :)

Our final reading assignment (all quizzable) is a series of brief press statements that were issued by Hewlett Packard and are now posted on their web page entitled 2006 News Releases; we will focus on the statements titled HP Announces Resignation of Director Tom Perkins (5/19), HP Board of Directors Releases Statement (9/10), George Keyworth Resigns as HP Director (9/12), Patricia Dunn to Remain HP Chairman (also 9/12), HP Announces Press Briefing on Board Leak Investigation (9/21), HP CEO Offers to Appear Before the U.S. House of Representatives (also 9/21), Patricia Dunn Resigns from HP Board (9/22), Mark Hurd Named HP Chairman (also 9/22), HP General Counsel Resigns (9/28), Statement by Mark V. Hurd (also 9/28), and HP Appoints Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer (10/12).

Please remember the upcoming deadlines! They are posted in my 04.06 blog entry (below).

HP Press Releases

^04.09

Hello, afternoon class! Just another reminder ... your only quizzable reading assignment for tomorrow is a column by Arianna Huffington about IRS tax shelter prosecutions.

Huffington article

^04.06

Hello, students! I noted some reminders for you on 04.02 (below), and I described this week's reading assignments on 04.03 (also below). Now here are some deadlines for you:

> The Health Savings Account and Internet Negotiation (individual) extra credit exercises are due on Monday, April 14^th at noon; please use the three links posted in my 02.19 blog entry to submit your responses. I shall send out confirmations of receipt on Tuesday morning, April 15^th.

> Your one page handouts for your final presentations are due in PDF format on Monday, April 14^th at noon as well; please use email to send them to me. Your presentations should emphasize the four core components of your risk management plan, though you should touch briefly upon the other components as well.

> Your full 15 page term project, as well as any risk management plans that you have (individually) written for extra credit, are due in PDF format on Monday, April 21^st at noon; please use email to send them to me.

N/A

^04.03

Oops! I noted some “Reminders” in yesterday's blog entry ... but I forgot one!

Students who joined us in Second Life yesterday morning ... could you please tell me your avatar name? I want to make sure that I give you proper credit for attending!

And for all students, I'm delighted to say that we have a very simple advance reading assignment for next week! Evening students, please read an editorial by Will Guo entitled Wharton's most notorious alumnus. You can find it listed in the Monday, October 11, 2004 issue of The Daily Pennsylvanian. In addition, please read a column by Arianna Huffington about IRS tax shelter prosecutions. Afternoon students, the Will Guo article is assigned for Tuesday and the Arianna Huffington article is assigned for Thursday.

I'm afraid that both of these articles are quizzable. But hey ... no more COSO charts! :)

Guo, Huffington articles

^04.02

REMINDERS!

> There is no afternoon class on Thursday. Please use the time to prepare your answers for the online class session; they are due on Saturday 4/5 at 5:00 pm via the online survey.

> The quiz on Tuesday next week will include material from the reading and the video assigned for the online class session. Although I ask that your group representative do his (her) best to attend the online session, please don't worry if technical difficulties prevent you from joining us ... I won't penalize you for it!

N/A

^03.30

Here's a continuation of yesterday's post ... some helpful hints about our online sessions!

N/A

^03.29

I'm looking forward to our online class this week! :)

The online class exercise was posted in our 02.18 blog entry (below). I have pushed back the deadline for submission of your group write-up (via an online survey) to Saturday 4/5 at 5:00 pm.

To give you more time to complete the exercise, we will only have one hour of in-class coursework on Tuesday this week. The (fully quizzable) reading assignment will cover the following materials from the Applications half of the COSO text: Exhibit 8.11 on page 78, Exhibit 9.5 on page 89, and Exhibit 10.01 on page 94. In addition, the (fully quizzable) reading assignment will include the following materials from the first half (i.e. the Integrated Framework) of the COSO text: Limitations on pages 93 through 96, and What To Do on pages 97 and 98.

COSO Exhibits 8.11, 9.5, 10.01, and pages 93 through 98

^03.24

Hello, evening class! Now it's your turn; here are the results of your student survey.

N/A

^03.12

Hello, afternoon class! Here are the results of the student survey.

N/A

^03.08

One week to go before Spring Break! :)

On Tuesday, March 25^th, our Registrar has decided to cancel all day classes but proceed with all evening classes (strange, but true!). Thus, our two class sections are going to be progressing at slightly different paces through the end of the month.

First, here are the reading assignments for the 4:30 evening section:

> We will cover Risk Assessment on Tuesday 3/11. From the Applications half (i.e. the second half) of the COSO text, please read Exhibit 5.2 (Inherent & Residual Risk Assessment), Exhibit 5.13 (Heat Map), and Exhibit 5.14 (Risk Map of Mean Values). In addition, please read a Washington Post article and a record of Congressional testimony about the WorldCom scandal. All of these readings are quizzable.

> We will cover the combined topics of Risk Response / Control Activities on Tuesday 3/25. From the Applications half of the COSO text, please read Exhibit 6.1 (Illustrative Risk Responses by Response Type), Exhibit 6.3 (Effect of Risk Response on Residual Risk), and Exhibit 7.1 (Risk Responses and Control Activities). In addition, please read a pair of articles about Parmalat that appeared in Accounting Today and the Financial Times. All of these readings are quizzable.

Now, here are the reading assignments for the 2:30 afternoon section:

> We will complete our discussion of Risk Assessment on Tuesday 3/11. From the Applications half (i.e. the second half) of the COSO text, please read Exhibit 5.2 (Inherent & Residual Risk Assessment), Exhibit 5.13 (Heat Map), and Exhibit 5.14 (Risk Map of Mean Values).

> We will cover the combined topics of Risk Response / Control Activities on Thursday 3/13 and Thursday 3/27 because there will be no class on Tuesday 3/25. For Thursday 3/13, from the Applications half of the COSO text, please read Exhibit 6.1 (Illustrative Risk Responses by Response Type), Exhibit 6.3 (Effect of Risk Response on Residual Risk), and Exhibit 7.1 (Risk Responses and Control Activities). And for Thursday 3/27, please read a pair of articles about Parmalat that appeared in Accounting Today and the Financial Times. All of these readings are quizzable.

The following week (i.e. the week of March 31^st) will be a busy one! We will return to a normal Tuesday / Thursday schedule, and we will hold our online session as well.

COSO Exhibits 5.2, 5.13, 5.14, 6.1, 6.3, 7.1

Worldcom articles (2) and Parmalat articles (2)

^03.05

Hello, afternoon students! Just a quick clarification ... tomorrow's quiz will cover the material that we reviewed in our last “regular” class last week, as well as the readings assigned for tomorrow (see 03.01 entry below).

Worldcom article and testimony

^03.01

REMINDER! Our presentations are scheduled for Tuesday in the 2^nd floor conference room at 40 Court Street. The afternoon class will start promptly at 2:00 pm (not 2:30!), and the evening class will start promptly at 4:30 pm.

The afternoon class will have two quizzable reading assignments for Thursday, a Washington Post article and a record of Congressional testimony about the WorldCom scandal.

Worldcom article and testimony

^02.27

Hello, afternoon students! The only quizzable materials for tomorrow are the four COSO exhibits that I assigned on 02.23.

COSO Exhibits 4.1, 4.3, 4.6, 4.7

^02.26

Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines! Here are a few that we will review today ...

1. Your one-page handout for your midterm presentation is due to me via email in PDF format by tomorrow (i.e. Wednesday, February 27^th) at 9:00 am.

2. Here is a new deadline! By this Friday (i.e. February 29^th) at 9:00 am, please let me know via email if (and how & when) you will attend our online course discussion. We are meeting on Wednesday, April 2^nd in Second Life at 11:00 am and via Meebo at 4:00 pm.

3. The midterm presentations are scheduled for Tuesday, March 4^th in the second floor multi-purpose room of 40 Court Street. The afternoon class will present from 2:00 to 4:00, and the evening class from 4:30 to 6:30.

N/A

^02.24

A couple of you have asked me about Tuesday's quiz. Just to let you know, it will cover the material that we discussed during our most recent “mandatory” class the week before last, as well as the reading assignment for Tuesday (posted below).

Also, I regret that I will need you to tell me very soon whether you will join us via Second Life or via Meebo for our online course on April 2^nd. Every one in class is welcome to join us, but only one person per group is required to do so.

I'll speak to you on Tuesday about our new deadline for this information. Thank you for your time, your patience, and your flexibility!

N/A

^02.23

This week, we're back to our usual schedule! We will discuss Event Identification, which (as you know) means that we will be entering the heart of the risk management planning process.

In the Applications half (i.e. the second half) of the COSO text, please read Exhibit 4.1 (Identifying Events), Exhibit 4.3 (Facilitated Workshop Outline), Exhibit 4.6 (Process Flow Analysis), and Exhibit 4.7 (Leading Risk Indicators and Escalation Triggers).

Then we'll proceed to the Global Crossing scandal! Go to a web page that the US House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce established for its investigations of Global Crossing, and read: (a) the Member Statement of the Honorable Jim Greenwood, posted near the bottom of the web page, and (b) the Panel 1 testimony of Ms. Lenette Crumpler, posted near the top of the web page.

I'm afraid that all of these materials are quizzable for Tuesday's class sessions. Hopefully it won't take you too long to skim them!

COSO Exhibits 4.1, 4.3, 4.6, 4.7, Global Crossing readings (2)

DEADLINE REMINDERS: 02.27 Midterm handouts; 03.22 Online course session attendees, 03.29 Online course work submissions

^02.20

For those of you who attended our first optional class session ... thank you!

As you know, we ended our session in the middle of a conversation about the tone of the presentation and the plan itself. I'll begin our next session with a “wrap up” of that conversation, perhaps by referring in some detail to the tone of the first few sections of my Wal-Mart risk management outline.

After that, as I mentioned in my 02.16 entry (below), I'll proceed with our risk plan sample and my stylistic suggestions.

N/A

DEADLINE REMINDERS: 02.27 Midterm handouts; 03.22 Online course session attendees, 03.29 Online course work submissions

^02.19

Good morning! The reading materials for this week's classes are posted “way down” in the 02.16 entry (see below). Here is some additional material regarding your two extra credit exercises.

They are each worth three points towards your final grade, and are each due when your term project and other extra credit work is due, i.e. at a date and time to be announced shortly before you deliver your final presentations. However, instead of submitting these two projects in PDF format, please use an online survey to record your answers. Here is the first half and the second half of the Health Savings Account survey; both must be completed in order to earn three points. And here is the full Internet Negotiation survey; it alone must be completed in order to earn three points.

N/A

DEADLINE REMINDERS: 02.27 Midterm handouts; 03.22 Online course session attendees, 03.29 Online course work submissions

^02.18

Happy President's Day! I posted the reading material for this week's classes on 02.16 (see below), but I thought that you might be interested in the following information about our online course session as well. I've changed the assignment a bit, for reasons that I'll explain in class.

Here is the online course assignment and the link to the survey instrument that you will use to submit your work. As I noted at the bottom of the assignment, the deadlines are Friday 3/22 (to tell me who / when / how will attend the online course session) and Friday 3/29 (to submit your work). The course session itself will take place on Wednesday 4/2.

N/A

DEADLINE REMINDERS: 02.27 Midterm handouts; 03.22 Online course session attendees, 03.29 Online course work submissions

^02.16

Good morning! I hope you're enjoying the weekend. :)

As you know, Suffolk has cancelled the Tuesday evening class, so we're going to hold a pair of optional “prep” classes during the Tuesday and Thursday afternoon slots. Evening students are welcome to join us during the afternoon sessions.

It might be a good idea to have at least one student from each group attend at least one of the two sessions. Nevertheless, it is entirely your choice ... quizzes will not be scheduled and attendance will not be taken. As always, you are welcome to email me and let me know if you'd like to meet with me some other time if you cannot make those sessions and/or if you have any questions about the material.

On Tuesday, I am going to review the three articles that were originally assigned in my 02.09 blog posting (see below). On Thursday, I will begin by reviewing the sample risk management plan posted in our Advisory Board's library, and will proceed to cover some stylistic suggestions about your presentation. Students who took my AC 331 course during the fall 2007 semester are already familiar with these suggestions; thus, if you attend the Thursday session, you are welcome to either remain or depart when we reach that stage of the class!

N/A

^02.13

Hello afternoon students! For tomorrow, the only quizzable material will be Exhibits 3.8 and 3.10 in the Applications section (i.e. the second section) of the COSO text.

COSO Chapters 3 & 4: All exhibits, but only 3.8 and 3.10 will be quizzable

^02.12

The reading assignment for this week is posted below (see my 02.09 entry). Here is some information about our upcoming online course session.

The purpose of the session will be to explore how a firm's risk management policies and procedures must be revised to address business that is transacted in online environments. I will be asking you to view a Metanomics television show broadcast in virtual reality by Professor Robert Bloomfield of Cornell University, or to watch a podcast recording of that show to be downloaded from the web site of the Second Life Cable Network. I may also ask you to read a brief newspaper article as well.

Then I will ask each group within the class to prepare a brief outline of the event identification, risk assessment, risk reponse, and internal control activities that must be modified for online environments. Finally, we will meet briefly in virtual reality or in a chat room to discuss our findings.

The total time commitment for all of these activities will be 2 to 3 hours, which is approximately equal to the regularly scheduled class time that we missed during the first and third weeks of the semester. I hope you enjoy our foray into the online universe! :)

N/A

^02.09

First, a word about about deadlines ...

To those of you who met yesterday's 9am deadline for informing me of your group project information, thank you! I do appreciate the effort. And to those of you who sent the information to me a little late with a polite apology, no problem! Every one is entitled to a little slip-up now and then.

But I still have not received messages from a small number of you. If you sent it and didn't hear back from me, please resend it ... it means I never received it. Worse, if you simply “blew off” the deadline ... perhaps you should keep in mind that 30% of your final grade depends on my assessment of your ability to produce quality work on time. I can (and have, and will in the future) deduct up to a full 30 points from the score of each student who proves unable to meet a deadline.

Okay, now on to the reading assignment for the week ...

In the Applications half of the COSO text, we'll review all of the exhibits in Chapters 3 and 4, i.e. Objective Setting and Event Identification. However, only Exhibits 3.5, 3.7 and 4.7 will be quizzable.

Then we'll review a trio of articles about Barings, Amaranth Advisors, and Societe Generale. The first two articles will not be quizzable; only the third article about Societe Generale will be quizzable.

Please note that the Barings and Amaranth links (above) take you directly to the articles, but the Societe Generale link takes you to Google News. When you arrive at Google's site, type the words How To Lose $7.2 Billion into the search engine and hit “Search News.” Click on the first link, which is a recent Wall Street Journal article by that name. Then, to access the full article, click on the link that states “Learn more about Jérôme Kerviel's attempt at beating the system.”

COSO Chapters 3 & 4: All exhibits, but only 3.5, 3.7, and 4.7 will be quizzable

Barings, Amaranth, and Societe Generale articles, but only the Societe Generale article will be quizzable

Note: If an article will not be quizzable, you will not be asked about it on the exam ... but please skim it and bring a print-out to class!

^02.06

Hello, afternoon students! I have a new reading for you; it will be the only “quizzable” reading on tomorrow's brief exam. It is a brief follow-up article about the Citigroup scandal.

Citigroup follow-up article

^02.03

I posted the reading assignment yesterday on 02.02 (see below); here is some additional information that we will discuss in class.

By this Friday morning (2/8) at 9:00 am, please email me the names of your group members and the identity of your term project organization. The term project requirements stipulate that all documents be sent to me in PDF format; here is a free online service that has been recommended to me by former students. I can't guarantee, though, that it will always work!

Your two presentations will be in elevator pitch format; we'll discuss an article about it in class and watch a video demonstration as well.

Please plan to send me your one-page handout for your midterm presentation by Wednesday, February 27^th at 9:00 am. The midterm presentations will be scheduled on Tuesday, March 4^th from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm (for the afternoon class) and from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm (for the evening class). The final presentations will be scheduled on April 22^nd at similar times (though possibly in a different location).

N/A

^02.02

Now that the Registrar's add/drop dates have passed, and we know who is in the class for the long haul, it's time to (finally) dive directly into the COSO risk management standards!

After a brief discussion of long term objectives (which fall across the top of the risk management cube), we will move on to the Internal Environment. In your COSO text, please read the relevant Integrated Framework section on pages 27 through 34, and then the related Application Techniques section on pages 5 through 12. Keep in mind that the PDF file (which is over 200 pages long) is actually composed of two texts: first the Integrated Framework text, then the Application Techniques text.

This week's scandal will be Citigroup Global Markets (F/K/A Salomon Smith Barney); please read the first ten paragraphs of that SEC announcement, the ones that appear under the heading Nature of the Action.

COSO pages 27 to 34 and 5 to 12; SEC civil action regarding Citigroup

^01.29

REMINDER! The second half of our January 29^th evening class, as well as our entire January 31^st afternoon class, will be delayed to a future (online) date.

So, afternoon students, please don't show up for class on the 31^st!

N/A

^01.26

Good morning, everyone! I hope you're enjoying the weekend. :)

This week, we'll wrap up our discussion of the Martha Stewart case by relating it to the four long term objectives that fall across the top of the risk cube. We'll also begin our discussion of the internal environment by discussing the accounting profession's code of behavior.

For the “quizzable” reading assignment, please read the web page entitled CPA Vision Project, and skim Section 50 (i.e. the Principles section) of the AICPA's Code of Professional Conduct. You'll need to click on each section of the Code seperately in order to access it via the internet.

I am trying to reserve the computer room for the last 75 minutes of class time this week for each class section. If it is available, the evening students will meet in Room 321 on Tuesday at 4:30 and then move (with me) to the computer room in mid-period. The afternoon students will meet in Room 321 on Tuesday at 2:30 (for the full Tuesday period) and then meet in the computer room on Thursday at 2:30 (for the full Thursday period).

If that proves impossible, though, we might simply reschedule the last 75 minutes to another time later this semester. Please don't worry, that does NOT mean another Friday evening make-up session ... rather, it will simply mean logging on to the internet from home!

CPA Vision Project, Code of Conduct

^01.23

It was a pleasure to meet you yesterday!

Afternoon students, the only “quizzable” materials that you should review for tomorrow's class are the two Martha Stewart readings that I posted on 01.21 (below), i.e. the SEC announcement and the recent history article.

Evening students, your first quiz will be scheduled for next week!

SEC announcement & Imclone article

^01.21

Hello, class! I have finally returned from Tokyo, and I am looking forward to meeting you this week!

We will begin by discussing the syllabus, the COSO text, and our communication practices for the semester. Please note that there are two different documents in the COSO text, the first a 125 page document entitled ERM Integrated Framework and the second a 105 page document subtitled Application Techniques. Both are on reserve in the library, bound in a single volume and cross-listed under AC 450 and AC 861.

This week, we will discuss the field of risk management by reviewing the 7 page executive summary at the beginning of the “Integrated Framework” COSO text; we will also briefly discuss a Wal-Mart application.

In addition, we'll address the brief Achievement of Objectives section in the Integrated Framework document; it runs from the bottom of page 20 through page 21. Then we'll discuss the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announcement regarding the Martha Stewart case, as well as a bit of recent history regarding the firm.

COSO pages 20 to 21; SEC announcement & Imclone article

^12.29

Welcome, class! I look forward to meeting you soon. I will be teaching an intensive accounting course to managers from the Iraqi Oil Ministry during the week of 01.14, so Professor Laurie Pant will “guest teach” during our regular class sessions on Tuesday 01.15 and/or Thursday 01.16.

She will distribute our syllabus and briefly discuss the topic of professional ethics with you. If the necessary technology is functioning, my graduate assistant(s) will also demonstrate the use of the virtual reality technology “Second Life.”

There will be no quizzes on Tuesday 01.15, Thursday, 01.17 or Tuesday 01.22. However, when I meet you on Tuesday 01.22, I will discuss our quizzes and other grading issues, as well as our textbook policy.

Please do not purchase any textbook material for this class until I meet you for the first time on Tuesday 01.22. I may be able to arrange for a significant bulk purchase discount for you!

N/A