Instructor: Dr. Will Yancey, CPA

Phone: 972.387.8558

Fax: 972.934.2813

Email: will@willyancey.com

Web site: www.willyancey.com/smu-ecat.htm

Classroom: 190 Crow (unless otherwise announced)

Class Time: 6:30 pm – 10:00 pm (unless otherwise announced)

Class Day: Monday evenings

First Class: Monday, May 22, 2000

Last Class: Monday, July 31, 2000

No Class: May 29 and June 26

Schedule of Topics:  www.willyancey.com/smu-ecat-schedule.htm
 
 

Course Objectives

• Explore electronic commerce accounting and tax (ECAT) issues for businesses.
• Find knowledgeable sources on ecommerce issues among classmates, speakers, and web sites. We will not find all the answers, but we will learn how to ask the question and where to look for answers.
• Compare accounting and tax issues in ecommerce with other areas of business.
• Encourage active student participation.

No textbook is available. A few articles will be distributed in class.

Required readings will be made available in class or on web sites.

Class Format

The format is a professional seminar. Each class meeting will focus on a particular topic described in the syllabus. Presentations will be made the professor, guest speakers, and students.

Active student participation is required for this course to meet its objectives. Students should share insights from their own business experience, professional colleagues, general reading, and browsing the web.

Grading

Required Presentation 50%

Class Participation 30%

Final Exam 20%
 
 

Required Presentation

• Each student will be required to lead a 20-minute presentation and discussion on a topic of his or her choice, subject to the following guidelines.
• The topic must focus on some accounting or tax issue of electronic commerce. The topic may be an application of a concept presented in class, or an extension to an issue not covered elsewhere. Possible topics are the valuation of an ecommerce business, accounting or tax software for ecommerce, measurement of intangible assets in ecommerce, determining taxability or pricing for a product sold through the Internet, accounting and tax policy issues of ecommerce being discussed by a regulatory body, or a case study on how one ecommerce business is solving an internal control problem.
• Accounting and tax are broadly defined to include internal controls, financial accounting, financial statement disclosures, operational accounting, legal issues, measuring performance, information security, public policy on tax and accounting issues, and others.
• This short format does not allow a thorough listing of all aspects of an issue. Instead pick an interesting application and illustrate a few interesting aspects. Do not bore us with recitation of many facts. Challenge us with difficult issues, articulate good questions, and suggest plausible ways of finding a solution.
• Picking a challenging topic without simple answers is encouraged. For some topics it may only be possible to identify questions rather than solve them.
• The presentation’s primary focus should not be marketing or information systems. Marketing and information systems issues may be presented to help understand the context of the accounting and tax issue. For example, if you want to discuss the marketing aspects of a new retail ecommerce web site, focus on how advertising incentives will be accounted for, rather than the customer marketing strategy. Assume everyone in the room is an active user of the web, but may not be familiar with your particular industry. Ask the instructor if you are unsure about the suitability of a presentation topic.
• The presentation must be accompanied by a one to three page written handout summarizing the main points and providing references to web sites or print articles. The handout should be a summary of the presentation and may be in bullet form. Each student is responsible for providing enough copies of the handouts for all students and guests.
• The oral presentation will begin with a 10 minute summary of the main points. The presenter should not be interrupted during the 10 minute summary. As a general guideline, the content of the summary should consist of one to three PowerPoint slides or their equivalent. Include a statement or phrase in the first five minutes of the presentation that clearly identifies why your chosen topic is relevant to accounting or tax.
• After the first 10 minutes, 10 minutes of discussion and comments from the floor should be encouraged. You may wish to prepare one of your classmates in advance to ask a question that stimulates further discussion. The student presenter will moderate the discussion and decide whom to recognize and when to move on to another point. If the schedule allows, some discussions may be allowed to continue longer than 10 minutes.
• During the oral presentation, PowerPoint slides or a live tour of a web site may be used. Be sure to have the most important images on a disc as backup if it is not possible to maintain a live connection to a web site.
• Each student must make an individual presentation. Students may chose to prepare presentations on related topics. For example, several students might do presentations on the valuation of ecommerce companies, with each student analyzing a different company. Another example is a series of presentations on one particular enterprise resource planning (ERP) software system, such as SAP or Oracle, where each student presents accounting or tax issues of a different module.

Each student’s presentation will be evaluated by the instructor and at least three different students. The presenter’s grade will be a weighted function of the instructor’s and fellow students’ evaluation. Each presentation will be evaluated on three equally weighted criteria:

• Relevance to some aspect of accounting and tax. Be sure to include a statement or phrase in the first five minutes of the presentation that clearly identifies why your chosen topic is relevant to accounting or tax.
• Stimulation of discussion. The presentation should stimulate discussion from the audience including alternative points of view.
• Effectiveness of written handout. The handout should summarize the main points and provide references for further study. The handout should have substantive content. Color graphics and marketing fluff are discouraged. Your name and email address should be on the top of the first page of the handout. A separate title page or plastic cover should not be submitted. If more than 3 pages are provided, the grade will be determined on only the first three pages.

The instructor will use his judgment to evaluate the effectiveness of a students’ participation in class. Examples of good participation are identification of an accounting or tax problem that is not obvious, suggestion of a useful web site or other resource that has relevant information, and follow-up research to answer a question that was not resolved in a prior class meeting. Examples of negative participation are dominating conversation without allowing others to participate, multiple repetitions of comments made previously, or pushing a particular company or product in which the student has a business affiliation.
 
 

Final Exam

The final exam will be a 2-page typed paper answering the question, "What did you learn in this course about electronic commerce that you did not know before the course began?" This paper must be delivered to the instructor no later than midnight on July 31. Delivery may be made in person, by email, or by fax. The paper should be between 200 and 600 words. Tell the reader how this course changed your perspective, your business, your plans, the specialists you will call on, or the questions you will ask. Do not merely list a long set of facts. Each student must work individually on the final exam without collaborating with other students.
 
 

Attendance

Given the importance of in-class interaction each student must make every effort to attend every class meeting in person. Any student who is unable to attend a class must notify the instructor in writing by hand-delivered note, email, or fax before that class begins. The notice must include a legitimate explanation of why attendance was not possible.

Each student is allowed one absence that does not need to be made up. For the second or later absence the student who is absent should submit a two-page typed paper on the topic that was discussed in class. This paper substitutes for the class missed. It should include a summary of major issues, references to web sites or print articles, and insightful questions. These substitute papers must be received by the instructor no later than midnight of the last day of class. This paper must be the student’s own work and cannot be written by any other student or outside person.

Unexcused absences or failure to submit an adequate substitute paper may result in a reduction of the student’s course grade.

Recording

To encourage the free flow of conversation, no part of any class may be recorded on audio or video media without the permission of the instructor. You may record notes by hand or by typing into a mobile computer.

Guests

The presence of guests to listen to any part of a class requires the consent of the instructor.