The general objective of the project is to provide an opportunity for you to see how financial information is reported in real SEC filings. The primary focus is on ACC 100C topics and how they are reported in the financial statements and footnoted in 10-Q and 10-K filings. The secondary focus will be on concepts learned in intermediate namely revenue recognition, matching, and asset/liability definition.

You can choose any public company subject to my approval. You will access 10-Ks and 10-Qs if necessary and report to me how the company reports and footnotes deferred taxes, leases, pensions, dilutive securities, earnings per share, stock options, and accounting changes (if any). In addition, you must discuss how these topics affect the cash flow statement. Lastly, you must discuss any issues they run across with respect to revenue recognition, matching of expenses with revenues, and "strange" assets/liabilities appearing on the balance sheet that seem to stretch the accounting definition of assets/liabilities.

This is an individual project. The paper should be written in concise, grammatically correct, technically rigorous prose. No adequate treatment of the Project is expected to comprise fewer than five pages, exclusive of any graphs, illustrations, and/or other exhibits. Facts and uses of sources students incorporate into their papers must be FOOTNOTED, AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY MUST ACCOMPANY THE PAPER. Introductory overviews and the conclusion of a project are not mandatory, but if they are included, they each must be less than a quarter of a page long. It is crucial that no "filler" be included. "Filler" connotes any material that does not relate to the accounting issues and the company selected. In other words, none of the five minimum pages expected for a project will comprise verbiage about a company's products, marketing strategies, performance, prospects, and what have you. Filler will receive no credit toward the project.

Students having difficulty with composing their papers may be well advised to access units of the University designed to assist students with composition and communication. (See the Navigation Button of Course Home.)

The project is due Week 14. We are not covering new material leading up to the due date so you can devote all of your class time to the project, but I would highly advise that you start your research before then. In fact, after the first exam, I will start mentioning the project in the discussion topics.

Note: Term papers will be marked down if they do not follow the guidelines for the project or if they fail to present a rigorous treatment of the Option chosen. You should use accounting concepts and terminology presented in class. You must avoid vague generalities, unpersuasive non-technical arguments, unsubstantiated or irrelevant blanket statements, and superficial descriptions or paraphrases comprehensible to any tabloid reader unfamiliar with accounting. Students should assume that their audience is technically savvy.