Prep For Finals!

Good news! We have no advance reading assignment this week. In fact, we will not cover new conceptual material; instead, we will prep for the final project and presentations!

And by the way, please keep in mind that your lowest quiz score (which might include a zero that you received for an absence or lateness) will not be included in the consideration of your final course grade. You also have a five point extra credit opportunity. Nevertheless, if you are very concerned about other low quiz scores that you have earned this semester, you are welcome to chat with me after class on Thursday about doing additional extra credit work.

A Final Look at Ethics

Our reading assignment for this week will bring us back “full circle” to our early discussion of the internal environment and ethical behavior! To prepare for it, please read a column by Arianna Huffington about tax shelters.

P.S. We will also discuss our extra credit exercise this week!

Integrating The Sections (Conclusion)

This week, we have another small advance reading assignment! It is another press release by the Board of Directors of Hewlett Packard (HP).

Integrating The Sections

This week, we only have one small advance reading assignment! It is a brief press release by the Board of Directors of Hewlett Packard (HP).

Risk Response

After completing our discussion of Worldcom, Arthur Andersen, and their risk response activities, we will conclude our coverage of this topic by reviewing our COSO text and our Walmart example. To prepare for our discussion, please go to the “Application Techniques” half of our COSO text and skim the section entitled “Risk Response” on pages 55 through 62.

Risk Assessment

This week, please read a transcript of testimony that was delivered to the United States House of Representatives during a publicly televised Congressional hearing regarding an accounting scandal. In addition, please complete your reading of the Risk Assessment section of your COSO text, the section that we reviewed in class last week. Please note, though, that I will not ask questions about the COSO text on this week’s quiz.

Two Sessions This Week!

Don’t look now … we are meeting twice this week! :0

The Registrar has scheduled a “make up for Thanksgiving” session on Tuesday, so we will meet on Tuesday at 4:30 and (again) on Thursday at 4:30. Both sessions will occur in our tenth floor classroom.

For Tuesday, please go to the “Application Techniques” half of our COSO text and skim the section entitled “Event Identification” on pages 21 through 32. Then, for Thursday, please skim the section entitled “Risk Assessment” on pages 33 through 44.

The Risk Assessment section actually continues through page 53. We will save those final pages, though, for the following session.

Event Identification

I’m delighted to announce that we will initiate our exploration of the four core components of enterprise risk management this week! Specifically, we will begin our review of event identification.

Your reading assignments for this week are: (a) the first ten paragraphs of an SEC announcement, i.e. the ones that appear under the heading Nature of the Action, and (b) a BBC news story about a banking scandal.

Internal Environment (continued)

Thank you for sending me your term project choices! Please access the file entitled “861 Project” from the download box on the right side of this web page; then review the second page to ensure that I listed your choices accurately. Incidentally, you are welcome to change my brief title of your project to any phrase you might prefer.

I regret that I did not receive email messages regarding the term project from several students. If you do not see your name in the 861 Project file, and yet you did notify me by email of your choices, please resend your message to me immediately. However, if you did not take my deadline seriously, please note that noncompliance with deadlines will severely impact your final grade.

Your reading assignment for Thursday is printed in our required text, the Enterprise Risk Management Integrated Framework. The full text that you obtained from COSO and the AICPA is divided into two books, the first a 125 page document entitled “Executive Summary & Framework,” and the second a 105 page document entitled “Application Techniques.” To prepare for class this week, please read the sections in the book “Application Techniques” entitled Internal Environment (Chapter 2) and Objective Setting (Chapter 3); they begin on page 5 of that section and extend through page 20.

Finally, we will begin to review a Wal-Mart example of enterprise risk management on Thursday. However, you are not required to review this example before class.

Internal Environment

Good luck at Meet The Firms Night this week! The reading assignment for Thursday’s class is a brief pronouncement regarding Martha Stewart.

In addition, please remember that your term project choices are due via email this week.