McCombs TODAY

Mary Barth, professor of accounting at Stanford University, spoke recently at McCombs’ MPA Distinguished Speaker Lyceum. A former member of the International Accounting Standard Board (IASB), she explained how the board evolved, its structure and goals and progress in adopting the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) around the world.
“We live in a global economy and need a [...]

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On Oct. 13, the MPA Distinguished Speaker Lyceum hosted Tom Linsmeier (left), a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Fifth-year MPA student Doug Bedell shared this dispatch from Linsmeier’s talk, which he says was “one of the most riveting” Lyceum talks yet:
Dr. Linsmeier’s speech passionately defended fair-value accounting, a subject that, as of late, has [...]

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Robert Kueppers, deputy CEO of Deloitte LLP, talked about the future of auditing at the Sept. 16 meeting of the MPA Distinguished Speaker Lyceum.
In a speech titled “Accounting and Auditing: Implications of the Current Environment,” Kueppers told students “You’ll never learn anything from an audit that goes perfectly.” He added that he’s seen his fair [...]

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Michael Clement, associate professor of accounting, was one of five winners of the Ernst & Young Inclusive Excellence Award for Accounting and Business School Faculty. The award was announced August 2 at the Ernst & Young faculty reception during the American Accounting Association’s annual meeting in New York City. The panel of judges from Ernst [...]

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The full-time MBA program at the McCombs School of Business ranks at no. 18 in the 2009 U.S. News survey of America’s Best Graduate Business Schools. McCombs has been included in the Top 20 programs in 15 out of the past 16 years. Only four public schools rank above McCombs: Berkeley (no. 7), Michigan (no. [...]

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McCombs Accounting Professors Ross Jennings and Bill Kinney took part in a panel discussion Feb. 20 on the challenges facing corporations, governments and regulators in moving toward international standards in financial reporting. The event was sponsored by the Strauss Center at The University of Texas at Austin and it also featured Christopher Hossfeld, associate professor [...]

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Fair-value Accounting: A Better Reflection of Reality
By Lisa Koonce, Deloitte & Touche Professor of Accounting
Lately, much discussion has centered around the underlying causes of the financial crisis, and some have suggested that current accounting rules must shoulder some of the blame. Specifically targeted by critics is the focus by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), [...]

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Six Texas MPA students have received American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) John L. Carey Scholarships for 2008-09. The program provides financial assistance to liberal arts degree holders pursuing graduate studies in accounting and a CPA designation.
Of the 12 scholarships awarded nationwide, half were awarded to Texas MPA students. Each will receive $5,000 from [...]

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Inside Higher Ed, Oct. 7
An experiment soon to be underway at The University of Texas at Austin will shift certain classes entirely to e-textbooks. Beginning next semester, for the initial pilot phase of one to two years, the university will cover the electronic materials for students enrolled in a handful of courses in largely quantitative [...]

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The fundamental starting point for democratic government began with taxation, said David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former New York Times investigative journalist, during a speech to McCombs accounting students Sept. 24.
Johnston, who came to UT as part of the Lyceum Speaker Series, told students that the ideas about taxation and society that [...]

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