Annotated APA Bibliography (last 5)

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008- 09 Edition, Accountants and Auditors, Retrieved November 14, 2008, from http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos001.htm

This handbooks main points where the nature of the work, training, other qualifications, advancement, employment, job outlook, and earnings for accountants. The handbook goes into detail about all these main points. For the nature of the work, the handbook describes it as they “help to ensure that the Nation’s firms are run efficiently, its public records kept accurately, and its taxes paid properly and on time.” It is said that they may also “act as personal advisors…providing clients with accounting and tax help.” They also mention how there are variations of job duties based on the four major fields of accounting: “public, management, government accounting…” The handbook then goes into detail about these fields. Special software and other technological advancements are said to help and change the “nature of the work of most accountants…” The work environment for accountants is depicted as “work in a typical office setting” and working “a standard forty-hour week” and usually in “urban areas.” According to the source, “at least a bachelor’s degree in business, accounting or a related field” is needed for most accountants. Also, “any accountant filing a report with the SEC is required by law to be a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), which the “CPA examination is rigorous” and most who take it don’t pass every part of it on the first try. CPA’s have the advantage of getting hired quicker, but “previous experience in accounting…can also help get a job.” Most importantly, there is a lot of job employment opportunities, “accountants and auditors held about 1.3 million jobs in 2006.” Accountants are also said to enjoy standard benefits and the higher education and more experience, results in better pay earned. This handbook was great, but still didn’t provide enough examples of the information they provided. This handbook can be improved if given some insight from actual accountants and their point of view of things. With this, the reader will be able to feed on what other accountants have to say and create a sense of credibility for the article. This handbook really helps the reader understand their career because it provides enough description of what really can be expected for accountants.

Cheng Kai-Wen, (2007) . The Curriculum Design in Universities from the Perspective of Providers in Accounting Education.
Education, Volume .127. Retrieved November, 11, 2008, from
http://web.ebscohost.comezproxy2.lib.depaul.edu/ehost/delivery?vid=11&hid=5

This article gave the definition of accounting as “an information system that identifies, records, and communicates the economic events of an organization to interested users.” It mainly talks about how accounting “plays significant and diverse roles in business” and “greatly affects the economic development of a nation.” They point out how problems in education of accountings is a major problem and criticizes its content and curricular design. This article was based on a questionnaire survey of Taiwan seniors enrolling in accounting apartments, criticizing the curricular design and content and how it should be changed. It goes into depth about some of the major changes that they would like to make to. This changes in the education would then be more effective for when these students do become accountants in the job market. Some of the things that are missing are explanations and detail. The article didn’t go into explaining how these changes would really make a difference to the accountants later in the job market. It didn’t describe how their choices of change were best compared to those already in the curriculum. This would have really helped the reader have a better understanding and comparison of the both ideas. It did not say as to why these changes that they made would really improve their understanding and background in accounting. If the following just mentioned could be added to this conversation, the reader would better understand what it is that is being argued in the article. This article helped the reader better understand the career in accounting because it does show that there are issues with the career education as of now. If these changes are not made, the education for accounting may not be as effective. This can be a problem for someone who is interested in accounting because if they do not feel that the course is effective, than why bother enrolling in it. This can then discourage an inspired student who is interested in accounting to change their mind about the field and even decide not to take the course. Overall, this article gave an overview of what could be some of the problems that accounting is facing today.

FASB Careers: Technical Accounting Positions. Retrieved November 14, 2008, from http://www.fasb.org/careers/

This articles main focus was on giving a basic overview of what is expected for someone who is trying to work for the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). The article provides the basic overview of the job description for a project manager/assistant project manager. They also get into depth about some of the requirements such as education, experience, understanding, and qualities. It provides a list of the basic things that they do in this particular job. These can include the following: “analyzing technical issues and develop proposals to resolve the issues that consider the needs of users of financial statements, lead and manage projects, recommend solutions for accounting and reporting issues, communicate about FASB projects to FASB Board members, manage the decision-making process on assigned projects, and report to the Technical Director.“ This lays out the basics of what to expect in the job market concerning jobs such as these. This gives the reader an insight of what they might be looking forward to if enrolling in a career such as accounting. This article is missing detail and explanation. It did not provide the reader with enough detail for them to understand what this job really is and what it is that it is asking for. It used terms that might be unknown to the reader, and did not provide a definition. Someone who does not have background information on such terms would be lost trying to reason out what it is that the article is trying to state. If the article were to go into depth about these things, the reader would have a better understanding of what is being said. It would get the reader to see if this is something that they would look forward to for a job opportunity. The article did however, show an example of a certain job that could be offered to someone with a good background in accounting. It helped the reader better understand what would be some of the job expectations in such opportunities in working experiences such as these. Overall, this article gave a better understanding of what future accountants might be looking at concerning job opportunities and their expectations.

Jost, K. (2002). Accountants under fire. CQ Researcher , 12, 241-264. Retrieved November 14, 2008, from http://library.cqpress.com.ezproxy1.lib.depaul.edu/cqresearcher/cqresrre2002032202

This articles was based on the bankruptcy of the Enron company and how its accounting techniques affected this outcome. It argues that accounting regulations should be made to avoid problems such as these. In this article. there were some that defended the argument and others that were completely against it. Those that were against these accusations, were supporting accountants in their field. It was said in this article, that accountants usually enroll in corrupt techniques to hide the companies losses. It gave a sense of importance to the accounting career because of its crucial role in the market economy. Its success depends on the accuracy of the records kept by the accountants. If they fail to do the job correctly, the company that these accountants work for, can suffer great consequences. A good example of this was the Enron company as well as others mentioned in this article. “Accounting traditionally ranks among the most trusted of professions and occupations.” Due to this, the company is trusting its accountants with the success of their industry. This article also argues how these issues can result in involvement with the law. These malpractices that are usually done by accountants can and will result in a court room. Enron for example “faces the likelihood of hundreds of millions of dollars in liability for purported accounting malpractice.” This emphasizes the idea that errors in accounting can be extremely costly to the company. This article is missing the details in what exactly was that the accountants did in this case to results in the companies bankruptcy. It also was missing the examples of the type of accounting regulations that were being demanded for accountants and how they would be effective in preventing the disastrous results of a companies bankruptcy. If these points could be added to the article the argument would be more effective to the reader and give a better understanding of the issue. This article gave a basic overview of what are some risks that accountants take in enrolling in such trusted and influential careers such as accounting. It gives the basic issue that most accountants face, which is their crucial role in the market economy.

Pace Steve (November 2008) . The Last Word. (accountant’s management of college athletics program). Journal of Accountancy, v206. Retrieved November 11, 2008, from http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezproxy2.lib.depaul.edu/servlet/BCRC?as1=lastword accountant&ai2=RF&locID=depaul

This article was the opinion of an accountant giving his story and how accounting provided him with great success. Steve Pace states “I’m the only CPA on the Big 12 staff, and most of our members’ accountant-business managers aren’t certified.” He goes on saying that “CPA training and experience becomes even more valuable.” This adds to the importance of being licensed as an accountant and how it can be beneficial when you attain a job as an accountant. It shows how these qualities can come in handy later on. Pace goes on describing accounting from his point of view. He says “More than any other fields, accounting extends into many areas of business.” This gives the reader an opportunity to see that in accounting there are a variety of fields that go into the areas of business, it is not just focused on a single one. Pace continues the article saying what he did and the importance it had in this life changing experience for him. He states “I was quickly given the opportunity to work with clients’ senior executives and take on a wide range of responsibilities.” This gives an insight of some of the opportunities that can be given to you as an accountant and the fact that these provide a range of responsibilities for you. Pace formed a privately held company. It is now “the leading payment processing service company of its type in the United States.” He goes on saying “I wouldn’t have been able to do this without public accounting experience.” This adds to the importance of what accounting can really do for you and its positive outcomes. This article is missing some detail. It did not provide the reader with enough information as to how he moved his way up in accounting and some of the hardships that came along with getting to the point where he is. If he were to provide this, the reader would be able to understand the story better and really see how accounting played a vital role in his life. This article however, did help the reader have a better understanding that accounting can provide you with life changing opportunities and a success in life.