Homework answers / question archive / Accounting  Accounting Research Project -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Objectives of the Course       This course is designed to provide students with research and communication skills that are essential in studying and analyzing academic and professional problems

Accounting  Accounting Research Project -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Objectives of the Course       This course is designed to provide students with research and communication skills that are essential in studying and analyzing academic and professional problems

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Accounting  Accounting Research Project

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Objectives of the Course

      This course is designed to provide students with research and communication skills that are essential in studying and analyzing academic and professional problems. It aims at introducing students to independence and self-assessment of accounting and field-related problems or issues of interest. During the following course of actions, students learn about data sources, statistical applications, developing hypotheses, analyzing results, and reaching conclusions and recommendations for the issue under study.

Structure of the Course

      In the first meeting, we lay out the general foundation such as identifying the research facilities in the school including databases and computer programs of general use in research such as SAS or SPSS. These programs are available on the school's mainframe and on PCs.

       For the rest of the term, the course runs on a one-to-one basis:

1. Each student picks a topic or a problem of interest, and writes a proposal of what she/he intends to do with it. Many students write about problems concerning their own jobs, or issues they have studied during advanced accounting courses.
2. The instructor reviews the proposal with the student to make sure that the research question is relevant. The instructor guides the student to limit the scope of the research to fit the period of one term and introduces students to missing dimensions on their respected ideas. An agreed upon frame of the research should be in place.
3. Students should schedule meetings with professor to solve any emerging difficulties in conducting the research.
4. The final product (a written paper/report and supporting materials) is due in the last week of the term.

Format of the Research Report (paper)

      The research report is in fact a research paper. We recommend the following structure: the title of the paper and the student name are on the cover page. The body of the paper can be divided into the following sections:

1. Synopsis: a precise summary of the problem, the objective of the research, the method, the results and recommendations.
2. Introduction: a detailed statement of the nature of the problem and its importance. Relationship with current directions in the field or the profession, and how the issue relates to industry or academic thought. Summary of the methodology and data sources and findings.
3. Background: a reasonable summary of prior research in the areas of the project and how the project relates to existing literature or rules of conduct in the industry.
4. Hypothesis: from the analysis of the problem a testable hypothesis in appropriate form should be stated.
5. Methodology: a description of the method to be followed in analyzing the problem or the issue of interest. Is it an empirical paper or analytical and descriptive? Is it dependent on archival data or surveys?  Are you using statistical analysis? What type?
6. Results: presentation and analysis of results.
7. Conclusions and recommendations.

 Note: The above is a general framework for a research project. After completing the project in this form, we believe that students will gain training in researching and analyzing relevant (job/work assigned) problems and will be able to write and communicate reports to their superiors.  Descriptive papers that analyze and synthesize the literature on an accounting topic are also acceptable.

Feel free to ask any questions that may clarify the requirements.

Good luck.

DATABASES AVAILABLE AT PACE

• Lexis-Nexis: financial data and archived news
• CRSP Tape: Center of Research in Security Prices
• COMPUSTAT: Financial database and note disclosures
• AUDIT ANALYTICS

HARD COPY DATA

• Moody’s Manuals: a. Industrial

                                    b. Financial

                                    c. Transportation

                                    e. Other services

• Stand and Poor’s Records:

1. Stocks
2.  Bonds

 

LITERATURE REVIEW SOURCES

Journal articles and research theses can be a good source for learning about the specific subject you are researching.

ABI database can be an effective source for collecting materials and literature by subject.

Accounting 692Q:  Accounting Research Project, Summer 2016

Economic Consequences of Off- Balance Sheet Lease Financing

A company financial and capital structure are built from the balance sheet liabilities and equities.  These structures are the mechanisms by which creditors and owners share risks and rewards in proportion to their investment.  The accounting equation:

Assets= Liabilities + Equities.

If this equation is distorted or manipulated, the objective of financial reporting is defeated and assessing management’s stewardship is questionable.

This paper will examine the problems with lease accounting.  For practical purposes they are often ways to own something without showing it as an asset and without showing the required payments as a liability.  Airline balance sheets often show they own few airplanes, if any, and have relatively little debt.  Everyone knows this is misleading.  Putting most leases on the balance sheet as assets with offsetting debts seemed like obvious thing to do.  The big controversy is over income statement treatment.  I will examine the determinants of operating lease, SEC reporting impacts, FASB/IRRS rules, most especially the impacts on financial ratios. Operating lease can be used as an off off-balance sheet financing so that it can increase company performance in financial reports. The purpose is to make balance sheet sheet more attractive to investors.  This is known as off-balance sheet financing.  This is more prevalent in the last few decades. Regulators have also expressed concerned that financial reporting may not reflect the underlying economics of financial transactions. Concerns of regulators notwithstanding, I believed that in an efficient market, the OBS accounting treatment should have no economic impact.  Non-cancellable future lease payments under operating lease are not recognized on the balance sheet, but they do appear in the disclosure notes to the financial statements.  With efforts, financial statements users should be able to adjust for accounting differences across operating leases and capital leases.