ACC 498: Senior Seminar In Accounting: Choose a Topic

Getting started: generate ideas / select a topic

In addition to using sources familiar to you (textbooks, WSJ, etc.), consider browsing other resources for ideas about recent trends in accounting and taxation (and related fields, including finance and economics).

The Big Four:

• Deloitte -- includes Industries and Insights
• KPMG -- includes Insights and Resources, Industries and Services
• EY Accounting Link -- includes Industry Unleashed and What We Think
• PWC -- includes Research & Insights, and PwC's Worldwide Tax Summaries Online

Journal of Accountancy

In addition to browsing recent news and journal articles for ideas, the Journal of Accountancy offers podcasts and a series of short videos on a variety of topics (including career and professional development, auditing, practice management, and international business) that may inspire research ideas. A few examples are listed below.

• CPAs at a crossroads: Real approaches to artificial intelligence
• Reporting of digital assets as cash delayed until IRS issues regs
• Accountants after dark: Evening work is common, research finds
• Struggling actor to CPA firm owner: One leader’s unlikely path
• Hopes for 2023: Addressing change fatigue, making creative connections
• Content for redesigned CPA exam takes shape
• How to increase CPAs' happiness on the job
• Drones set to invade accounting profession
• CPAs: Criminal-pursuing agents

AICPA Tax Policy & Regulatory Change -- "...relevant guidance, resources and learning opportunities — ... as tax law changes unfold."

AICPA Insights -- the official blog for the American Institute of CPAs. This overview of timely issues affecting the accounting profession may generate ideas for your research topic. Recent posts include:

• Three leadership styles ideal for CPA firms
• New cpa domain is a game changer for the profession
• Would changing filing due dates help the tax profession?

Accounting Today -- mostly news and practice-related articles, but these may spark an idea about a possible research topic:

• Examples of recent articles that could lead to interesting research topics include the following [free registration may be required to retrieve older articles]:
  • AI is why young staff need to be in the office: PwC's U.K. boss
  • Five ideas to watch out for in 2023
  • The future of accounting: Elevating soft skills in the age of AI
  • The 2023 Top 100 People: The biggest issues in accounting
  • IRS clarifies crypto question on tax form
  • 8 strategies for getting ahead of the Great Resignation
  • What Super Bowl Tickets Can Teach Accountants about Pricing
  • What's the Matter with Kids Today? Why so many young professionals lack the basics, and what to do about it
  • Accounting Firm Leaders and Staff See Ethics Differently
  • Investors Swayed by Corporate Social Responsibility Reputation

Audio -- Listen to podcasts or shows from Marketplace, Bloomberg, or other business-related sources.

• “We’ve got a lot more progress to go” on fixing racial disparities caused by the tax system: An interview (from Marketplace) with Dorothy Brown, author of The Whiteness of Wealth.

NYU Stern School: Accounting Department [Research] / Ross Institute:

• http://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/about/departments-centers-initiatives/academic-departments/accounting/research/index.htm
• http://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/about/departments-centers-initiatives/centers-of-research/ross-institute

Knowledge@Wharton /  HBS Working Knowledge:

• http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/
• http://hbswk.hbs.edu/

University of Chicago: Accounting Research Center -- research papers

CFO.com -- Accounting & Tax, includes daily articles and updates (and lots of ads) of potential interest to financial executives. Some stories may inspire research topics.

• Recent examples of relevant articles include SEC’s Cyber Compliance Rules Balance Threats, Finance May Go Slower On Generative AI Adoption, Disclosure Concerns, ESG Investors Value Disclosure outside of Securities Filings; Audit Regulators Vow a Tougher Regime; Will a Minimum Corporate Tax Really Curb Inversions?; and (less recent, but still relevant for thinking about research topics) Renewed Focus on non-GAAP measures: How to Comply.

Federal Reserve Board -- Finance and Economics Discussion Series (FEDS) includes working papers and notes

Accounting History:

• University of Mississippi Libraries Archival Digital Accounting Collection
  • Includes The Woman C.P.A. -- the official publication of The American Woman's Society of Certified Public Accountants; issues date back to 1937!
• AICPA Historical Collections (University of Mississippi Libraries); includes AICPA Audit & Accounting Guides from as early as the 1940s.
• Accounting Historians Journal (University of Mississippi Libraries)
• Tax History Project: "...a public service initiative from Tax Analysts."
  • Includes Presidential tax returns and a Form 1040 archive

Are you smarter than a 107-year-old CPA? See if you can answers these questions from the 1917 CPA exam.

RIA - Checkpoint -- includes the RIA U.S. Tax Reporter; Citator; public domain cases; tax advisors planning system; practical tax strategies; and articles from the Journal of Taxation and Journal of Corporate Taxation.