University of Southern Maine

Accounting 632 - Financial Statement Reporting (Gramlich)

Introduction | Reference Sources | Indexes & Databases | Internet Resources | Writing the Paper

For further information contact Zip Kellogg at Glickman Library, liaison to the School of Business, email: zkellogg@usm.maine.edu
tel. 780-4272

Information can be found in a broad range of places-- articles, books, the Internet, by speaking with experts, through professional and trade associations, and more. The trick is deciding which place will take you most efficiently to the information you need. Many people go only to Google and while sometime this works, it is generally not a good information seeking strategy. This "course guide" will introduce you to many other (besides the Internet) possible sources of information specifically for Dr. Jeff Gramlich's Financial Statement Reporting course. You'll be directly linked to the source if it is online. If it's not an online source it'll be in Glickman Library (Portland) on the second floor.

As you will see, Financial Statement Reporting is an information intensive course. It is very much like the real world of business strategy in the sense that, if you have quality information, you'll have a competitive advantage. This guide is intended to help you locate up-to-date sources of information and to assure a methodical and more comprehensive approach to collecting that information. It will help you locate summaries and overviews, detailed analyses, current articles, and reliable, credible Internet sites.

The following topics are linked directly to URSUS, the University's online catalog of books, government reports, and related materials. Try other topics, too. While it may be tempting to go directly to articles, there are often excellent books, reports, case studies, etc. found here. Tip: it is possible to limit or organize those items you found by date, putting newest ones at the top of the list...

Business Enterprises Finance

Tax Exemption Law And Legislation United States

Corporations Taxation Law And Legislation United States

Corporations United States Taxation

If you exhaust URSUS you may try Maine Infonet (which searches a variety of other Maine libraries like Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby) and then ILLiad (which instructs USM Library staff to search nationally for an item...usually it takes roughly a week to get item).

The following are just a few of the reference books that deal with accounting topics. Typically reference books like these give short, up-to-date summaries of issues related to your topic and direct you to more.

FASB Current Text (General Standards, Industry Standards, etc.) Reference HF 5616

Rob't Morris Associates Annual Statement Studies (financial ratio benchmarks) Reference HF 5681 B2 R63

Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios (performance indicators on about 200 industries) Reference HF 5681 R25

Encyclopedia of Global Industries Reference HD 2324 E53

Business: the Ultimate Resource Reference HD 38.15 A handy compilation of business information, broad ranging in its scope.

Because of the lengthy publishing cycle for a book, information in a book is not always current. Periodical articles are current sources of information. There are two main types of periodicals: scholarly and popular. Scholarly periodicals are usually referred to as journals. Articles in journals contain reports of primary research; the articles are written by experts in the field and for other researchers/scholars; use terms and language specific to that discipline; may include graphs, charts, etc. related to the topic; most often are peer reviewed via an editorial board; are published by professional organization or society, university, research centers, scholarly presses; and often include a bibliography. Popular periodical articles contain general information; are written using easily understood language that appeals to a varied audience; are usually written by journalists or others who are not experts in the field; do not include citations; has a limited or non-existent editorial review board; and may contain glossy photographs. The Finding Articles tutorial provides more information on how to find articles.

Here are a few databases selected specifically for students in Dr. Gramlich's Financial Statement Reporting course.

Business Source Premier
This is a good general purpose business index, covering such topics as finance, money and banking, mergers and acquisitions, new technologies, international trade, and more. For many students and faculty alike it is the first place to search for articles in business and trade journals. Many of the cited items are in full text (the entire article shows on your computer screen).
Examples of journals covered by this index are: Accounting Horizons, Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Finance, and numerous others.

Business and Company Resource Center
The BCRC is actually a collection of databases organized specifically for the business community.  One can search for information about a specific company, about an entire industry, or for current articles about any business topic.  After the initial search, it's easy to follow links to varied business information, such as company histories, rankings within the industry, business and trade associations related to the search, etc.

Checkpoint
This RIA database focuses on federal tax information. Includes: Federal Court Decisions; Federal Tax Reports;Tax Court Reported Decisions and Memorandum Decisions; Federal Tax Coordinator 2nd; Citator 2nd; Federal Tax Handbook; and IRS Code, Regulations, Committee Reports, Tax Treaties, Rules and Releases. Coverage of state, local, and international tax information is limited.

Wall Street Journal
Index to and full text coverage of the nation's leading business daily from 1984 to the present.

Regional Business News
A collection of news stories from several news wire services and current business and trade journals.  Up to the minute articles and briefs from around and nation and the world.

ProQuest Newspapers
For up to date newspaper articles on specific companies, industries, business trends, etc. Cover s the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Christian Science Monitor, etc.  This is a full-text database.

EconLit
A database of the economic literature produced by the American Economics Association. It covers hundreds of journals, books, dissertations, working papers, etc. If you are taking classes in economics or are an economics major this database may be of great use to you.

Maine Newsstand
This index helps you find current newspaper articles about Maine business topics, Maine businesses, etc. It covers, among other newspapers, the Portland Press Herald, Maine Sunday Telegram, and the Bangor Daily News. It is a full text database.

Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage
This Database includes online access to many of the Standard and Poor's research products and publications, including Industry Surveys, Stock Reports, Mutual Fund Reports, Bond Reports, Corporation Records, and The Outlook.

Here are links to a few sites that may interest you:

American Accounting Association-- with links to info about meetings, development, publications, a discussion board, etc.

AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, a major professional association for CPA's in the US) with links to info about accounting standards, conferences, business valuation, career resources, newsletters, professional ethics, etc.

Institute of Management Accountants - "a forum for management accounting and financial professionals to develop and advance their careers through certification, research, practice development education, networking and the advocacy of the highest ethical and professional practices." Links to certification, resources, news, regional chapters, publications, events and conferences, etc.

Association of Government Accountants, Maine Chapter- links to newsletter, jobs, calendar, training opportunities

Maine Society of CPA's

Maine State Board of Accountants - the state agency which certifies accountants here in Maine

IRS Home page

IRS Forms and Publications

In choosing Internet resources it is important to evaluate the authenticity of the source. Thinking Critically about Discipline-Based World Wide Web Resources (UCLA College Library) helps with this.

In using resources it is important that they be used ethically and legally. The sources listed here provide assistance in following correct citation methods.

STUDENT ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY
The academic community of the University of Southern Maine recognizes that adherence to high principles of academic integrity is vital to the academic function of the University.

USM has a site license for Endnote, a personal reference database program. The main functions of this program include maintenance of a database of references, downloading references from other databases, using the database to link to references in word-processed document, and generating a bibliography in the correct style for publications. See the Endnote Help for further information.

Citation Styles

Chicago Manual of Style
POR Reference Z253 .U69 2003

Dr. Gramlich's Correct Citation of Other Work

Chicago/Turabian Documentation (University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center)

Plagiarism

Plagiarism Examples (Indiana University School of Education)

zk 1/07
updated 02.15.2008