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- Creators: Department of Information Systems
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
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Description
Financial statements are one of the most important, if not the most important, documents for investors. These statements are prepared quarterly and yearly by the company accounting department, and are then audited in detail by a large external accounting firm. Investors use these documents to determine the value of the company, and trust that the company was truthful in its statements, and the auditing firm correctly audited the company's financial statements for any mistakes in their books and balances. Mistakes on a company's financial statements can be costly. However, financial fraud on the statements can be outright disastrous. Penalties for accounting fraud can include individual lifetime prison sentences, as well as company fines for billions of dollars. As students in the accounting major, it is our responsibility to ensure that financial statements are accurate and truthful to protect ourselves, other stakeholders, and the companies we work for. This ethics game takes the stories of Enron, WorldCom, and Lehman Brothers and uses them to help students identify financial fraud and how it can be prevented, as well as the consequences behind unethical decisions in financial reporting. The Enron scandal involved CEO Kenneth Lay and his predecessor Jeffery Skilling hiding losses in their financial statements with the help of their auditing firm, Arthur Andersen. Enron collapsed in 2002, and Lay was sentenced to 45 years in prison with his conspirator Skilling sentenced to 24 years in prison. In the WorldCom scandal, CEO Bernard "Bernie" Ebbers booked line costs as capital expenses (overstating WorldCom's assets), and created fraudulent accounts to inflate revenue and WorldCom's profit. Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in prison and lost his title as WorldCom's Chief Executive Officer. Lehman Brothers took advantage of a loophole in accounting procedure Repo 105, that let the firm hide $50 billion in profits. No one at Lehman Brothers was sentenced to jail since the transaction was technically considered legal, but Lehman was the largest investment bank to fail and the only large financial institution that was not bailed out by the U.S. government.
ContributorsPanikkar, Manoj Madhuraj (Author) / Samuelson, Melissa (Thesis director) / Ahmad, Altaf (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
A Guide to Financial Mathematics is a comprehensive and easy-to-use study guide for students studying for the one of the first actuarial exams, Exam FM. While there are many resources available to students to study for these exams, this study is free to the students and offers an approach to the material similar to that of which is presented in class at ASU. The guide is available to students and professors in the new Actuarial Science degree program offered by ASU. There are twelve chapters, including financial calculator tips, detailed notes, examples, and practice exercises. Included at the end of the guide is a list of referenced material.
ContributorsDougher, Caroline Marie (Author) / Milovanovic, Jelena (Thesis director) / Boggess, May (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This thesis, entitled "A Community Perspective on Alcohol Education," was conducted over a ten month period during the Spring 2014 and Fall 2014 semesters, composed by Christopher Stuller and Nicholas Schmitzer. The research involved interviewing twelve professionals from Arizona State University and the City of Tempe to gather a holistic view on alcohol education and alcohol safety as it involves the students at ASU. Upon completion of the interviews, recommendations were made regarding areas of improvement for alcohol education and alcohol safety at Arizona State University. These recommendations range from creating a mandatory alcohol education class to passing a Guardian Angel Law to creating a national network of alcohol education best practices. Through this thesis, the authors hope to prevent future alcohol related injuries, deaths, and tragedies. For the final display of this thesis a website was created. For the ease of reading, all information has been presented in text format.
ContributorsSchmitzer, Nicholas (Co-author) / Stuller, Christopher (Co-author) / Koretz, Lora (Thesis director) / Scott Lynch, Jacquelyn (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
Research on teamwork has shown that teams are more productive and produce better results than individuals working on their own. Yet, research on individuals' work preferences makes it clear that not everyone prefers working in teams. In order to improve teamwork and achieve better results in both the collegiate arena and in the professional world, this study was designed to research different factors that affect a group's performance and creativity: satisfaction, familiarity, and the behavioral styles of individual team members. Additionally, this study addresses if the group's composition of Keirsey types \u2014 temperament patterns \u2014 also play a role in the group's creativity and performance. In this study, students created teams of four to seven students and completed specific in-class activities called Applied Insights. Groups composed mostly of Guardians, one of the four Keirsey temperaments, are able to adapt to the task at hand, which is demonstrated here with creativity. Further, groups who perceive themselves as sharing similar traits with many members are more satisfied and achieve a higher overall performance. Lastly, groups comprised of individuals who were least familiar with their teammates they had not previously worked with, produced more creative results in the short run. Whereas groups comprised of individuals who were least familiar with their teammates they had previously worked with, produced better overall results in short run.
ContributorsPinto, Linda (Co-author) / Hulse, Christopher (Co-author) / Vaughn, Michael (Co-author) / LePine, Marcie (Thesis director) / Samper, Adriana (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
The price charged between related parties for the transfer of goods, services, or intangibles, is known as a transfer price. A taxpayer is required to set its transfer price at arm's-length, similar to what would be charged to an unrelated party, to prevent a taxpayer from greatly reducing its global tax by shifting profits from its U.S. entity to an entity located in a jurisdiction with a lower tax rate. Section 482 of the Internal Revenue Code and its associated regulations advises taxpayers on the various methods to calculate its transfer price. These include: the Comparable Uncontrolled Transaction (CUT) method, the Comparable Profits Method (CPM), and the Profit Split Method. Section 482 also grants the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) the authority to allocate a corporation's transfer price if it is not at arm's-length. With millions and sometimes billions of dollars at stake, it is important for the IRS to resolve the incredibly complex issue of transfer pricing without placing an unnecessary burden on U.S. corporations.
ContributorsWilliams, Gary Spencer (Author) / Goldman, Donald (Thesis director) / Levendowski, Glenda (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
The thesis document describes in detail the decision making process and research that went into each step in the process of designing, coding, launching, and marketing a mobile game. This includes major challenges and methodologies for overcoming them or changing course as well as significant revisions that were made to the game upon receiving market and user feedback. The game, Sheep In Space, was launched on to the Windows Phone 8 marketplace initially via the use of the GameMaker: Studio game engine. From there, following a series of revisions Sheep In Space launched on the Android marketplace and has been undergoing further changes before the final launch to iOS. The revision and launch strategy was determined based off of market feedback from a variety of facets, including direct word of mouth, reviews, downloads, analytics data, and social media reaction.
ContributorsGagliano, Laura Katherine (Author) / Prince, Linda (Thesis director) / Eaton, John (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
Although the number of women earning college degrees and entering the workforce is increasing, a gender gap persists at top leadership positions. Women are faced with numerous challenges throughout the talent pipeline, challenges that often drive women out of the workforce. This paper looks at the power of mentoring and how women, particularly young women, have the potential to overcome these challenges through a successful mentoring relationship. We use examples of successful mentoring programs at the corporate and university level to support the development of a mentoring program at the high school level. Our paper presents the research and development process behind the Young Women in Leadership (YWiL) Workshop, a half-day event that focused on bringing awareness to the importance of mentoring and leadership at the high school level while providing young women with the confidence and knowledge to begin to establish their own mentoring relationships.
ContributorsRust, Brenna (Co-author) / Myers, Sheridan (Co-author) / Desch, Tim (Thesis director) / Kalika, Dale (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit substance in the United States with over two million pounds seized annually and with a usage rate estimated at 19.8 million people in 2013 (SAMSHA, 2014). Currently there is a nationwide movement for the legalization of recreational marijuana via referendum at the state level. Three states and the District of Columbia have already adopted amendments legalizing marijuana and over a dozen more currently have pending ballots. This report explores what would be the impact of legalizing marijuana in Arizona through the examination of data from Colorado and other governmental sources. Using a benefit/cost analysis the data is used to determine what the effect the legalization of marijuana would have in Arizona. I next examined the moral arguments for legalization. Finally I propose a recommendation for how the issue of the legalization of recreational marijuana should be approached in Arizona.
ContributorsDiPietro, Samuel Miles (Author) / Kalika, Dale (Thesis director) / Lynk, Myles (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The author is an accounting major headed into the public accounting industry. As a tax intern his senior year, he was able to work in the thick of "busy season", when tax returns are due for submission and work is very busy. The author tired of working long hours and continuous talking with his accounting friends how working on Saturdays and long weeknights was generally accepted. Best value principles from Dr. Dean Kashiwagi's Information Measurement Theory were applied to examine how to maximize efficiency in public accounting and reduce the workload. After reviewing how Information Measurement Theory applies to public accounting, the author deemed three possible solutions to improve the working conditions of public accountants. First, to decrease the work load during busy season, tax organizers need to be sent earlier and staff should be assigned to oversee this information gathering. Second, in order to better prepare new hires to become partners, the career path needs to be outlined on day one with a career guide. Finally, in order to more successfully on board new hires due to the steep learning in public accounting, firms should utilize buddy systems and encourage organic mentoring.
ContributorsBohmke, Scott (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Once enrolled in a university setting, a student's learning style begins to emerge. As time progress, students begin their search for career prospects and as an extension, the workplace culture as well. After immersing themselves into a company's environment, students may realize their learning styles may or may not are in conflict in their line of work. As a result, this research will explore the relationship between learning styles and majors. With a sample size of 552 students enrolled at W. P. Carey School of Business within Arizona State University, learning style preferences will be calculated for each business major; other influences, such as ethnicity and age, will also be taken into consideration.
ContributorsOsofsky, Michelle (Co-author) / Nguyen, Christine (Co-author) / Moore, James (Thesis director) / Sanford, Adriana (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor)
Created2015-05