ACC Newsletter FA07.pub - University of Illinois Springfield

Fall—2007
F a c u l t y C o n t a c t
i n f o r m a t i o n
• Dr. Leonard Branson, Chair, Office: UHB-4091
217.206.6299, email at: lbran1@uis.edu
• Dr. Thomas Clausen, Office: UHB-4087
217.206.8366, email at: tclau2@uis.edu
• Dr. Gilbert Crain, Office: UHB-4086
217.206.7909, email at: gcrai2@uis.edu
• Dr. Jeffrey Decker, Office: UHB-4084
217.206.7293, email at: jdeck3@uis.edu
• Dr. Carol Jessup, Office: UHB-4080
217.206.7923, email at: cjess1@uis.edu
• Dr. Rosemary Lenaghan, Office: UHB-4043,
217.206.7924, email at: rlena01s@uis.edu
• Dr. Donald Morris, Office: UHB-4088 217.206.7916,
email at: dmorr2@uis.edu
• Dr. Judith Sage, Office: UHB-4090, 217.206.8273, email
at: jsage3@uis.edu
• Mr. Stephen Scott, 217.787.8892, email at:
rss@scottnscottlaw.com
Department of Accountancy
W e l c o m e t o F a l l 2 0 0 7 !
We would like to welcome both new and returning students to the University
of Illinois at Springfield! We hope you have an enjoyable and
productive Fall 2007 semester at UIS. The Accountancy Program Office
is located in UHB-4093 and phone at 217.206.6541. For additional
information about the program, please visit the Accountancy site at
www.uis.edu/accountancy.
Fall semester starts
August 20, 2007
August 20, 2007
U N I V E R S I T Y O F I L L I N O I S A T S P R I N G F I E L D
N e w A c c o u n t a n c y F a c u l t y i n F a l l 2 0 0 7
Thomas Clausen, Ph.D, CMA, has worked as a product manager to implement new computer systems, controller and as an internal auditor. He has
taught at Wichita State University, the University of Kansas, and the University of Connecticut among others. He has taught courses in AIS, Advanced
AIS, MBA managerial, graduate managerial, cost, advanced cost, auditing, financial, systems analysis and design, database theory, graduate systems
analysis and design, graduate database theory, and accounting for manufacturing and engineering management. Professor Clausen has passed the
CPA and CISA exams.
Gilbert Crain. Dr. Crain holds a PH.D in accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana, a Masters degree from Texas Christian University and a
Bachelor degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He is a member of the Governmental Finance Officers Association and the American
Accounting Association. Since 1994, he has been the independent moderator for many of the user focus groups held by the Governmental Accounting
Standards Board to determine users’ opinions on the new financial reporting model and the note disclosure revision projects. In early 2000, he conducted
additional research for the Board on how a sample of users actually use financial information in decision making. He previously taught continuing
education courses throughout the U.S. for over twenty years. He is also primary editor of “Government Accounting and Auditing Update,” a monthly
newsletter from Thompson Publishing/RIA Group in NYC.

Fall—2007
S t a f f C o n t a c t I n f o r m a t i o n
D A R S A d v i s i n g S e s s i o n s
All new and current students are invited to the first DARS Advising Session on:
Friday, August 24, 2007
10:30 a.m.—noon
UHB 3082
Here you will learn how to access the DARS system and analyze your curricular progress.
We will also review the new 2007 Accountancy Student Handbook. If you are unable to
attend this session, we will make an audio recording available at the Accountancy home
page.
The second DARS Advising Session is scheduled for:
Friday, October 26, 2007
10:30 a.m.-noon
Location TBA
A c c o u n t a n c y S c h o l a r s h i p s
A p p l i c a t i o n s a r e d u e F e b . 1 5 , 2 0 0 8
Joy Kimler CPA Accountancy Scholarship
Walter Putnick Memorial Scholarship
Donald F. Stanhope Alumni Scholarship
REDESIGNED ACC HOME PAGE
Sometime during Fall 2007 semester, the new
Accountancy Home Page will go online at
www.uis.edu/accountancy. When you get a
chance, take a look at let us know what you
think!
Please visit the Accountancy website at www.uis.edu/accountancy or the UIS Financial Aid website
at www.uis.edu/financialaid/ for additional information regarding these scholarships. You may also
be eligible for other scholarships.
Page 2
The contemporary
accountant is the genius
behind all intelligent
business decisions and
frequently an executive's
most trusted advisor. For
those who are intrigued by
business management and
strategy, there is no more
challenging profession.

Fall—2007
Page 3
The Accountancy Department welcomes two new faculty who have joined us beginning in fall of 2007. Dr. Gil
Crain (see more details in this newsletter) will be teaching in the area of Governmental Accounting, and in other
areas as needed. Dr. Crain comes to UIS with 30+ years of teaching experience and a wealth of “real world”
experience, particularly in the field of governmental accounting. Please help us make him feel welcome to the
UIS Accountancy family.
Also joining us this fall is Dr. Thomas Clausen (see more details in this newsletter), who will be working
in the area of Accounting Information Systems and other areas as needed. Dr. Clausen’s first assignment was
to teach a course for the College of Business and Management, Department of Accountancy, at Zhejiang University
in Hangzhou, China during the 2007 summer term. Dr. Clausen eagerly accepted this difficult assignment,
and according to his Chinese students he did a superlative job. Thanks to Dr. Clausen for taking on this demanding
task, at a time when he was attempting to move to Springfield and do all the things one has to do
when moving. During the summer of 2007, Dr. Clausen also co-authored a paper for the Midwest United States
Association for Information Systems Conference, which won a best paper award at their May conference. Dr.
Clausen has extensive experience both in teaching and the practice of accounting. When you see Dr. Clausen,
help us make him feel welcome at UIS and Springfield.
During the summer of 2007, Dr. Jeffrey Decker was the UIS exchange scholar to Heilongjiang University
in Harbin, China. Each year UIS and Heilongjiang University exchange one faculty member who visit and work
as visiting scholars at the other university. While in Harbin for this important inter-cultural exchange program,
Dr. Decker gave lectures and met with numerous faculty/students. Of particular interest to UIS Accountancy
Department, Dr. Decker piloted a blended course (part online and part face to face) in Fraud Auditing. He
taught the first part of the course online from Harbin, and then finished in Springfield face to face. This is the
first time this has been attempted at UIS. Good job Dr. Decker!!!!
The faculty thank students for choosing UIS Accountancy Department for your professional development,
and we thank alumni and employers for their continued support.
Leonard Branson
Chair, Department of Accountancy
MESSAGE FROM THE
CHAIR OF
ACCOUNTANCY

Fall—2007
ANNUAL
ACCOUNTANCY
GOLF OUTING
Golf Outing Update
Page 4
We have enough golfers to close Piper Glen for our "outing". CPA firms have stepped up and paid the fees of all
accounting students who signed up to play. I believe Leonard has personally paid 150 dollars for the department's
contribution (suppose we should get some money back to him). We can use some people milling about
various locations, to help keep things organized and then be available to help with "longest drive" verification,
"longest putt", etc. Can also be on hand to help drink beer as needed. Can also use your photo skills with you
digital camera.
11 am: Leonard, Jeff, Tom will be there to help with general set up issues/registration
12:30 pm on: other faculty drop in to assist as needed/available?
Charlotte Montgomery is doing a fine job organizing this, please tell her so when you get a chance.
Brenda Hamm (cant remember her new last name) is outstanding as usual in helping get things done. She is
really rapidly becoming a model for new UIS accountancy alumni.
Oh, and because of this event, Charlotte started working with Mark Edmiston (with the regional Illinois CPA Society),
and guess what, ......................................they just got engaged!!

Fall—2007
DR. BRANSON IN CHINA
DR. BRANSON AT UIS
Page 5

Fall—2007
DR. CLAUSEN IN CHINA
Zhejiang University, one of China’s top universities, invited Dr. Tom Clausen, one of the department of accountancy’s
new faculty, to teach this summer in their MBA and Elite Entrepreneurship programs. Dr. Clausen taught Managerial
Finance to both MBA students and elite students in the undergraduate entrepreneurship major.
The experience was his first international teaching assignment. “The students were fluent in English, which made the
transition much easier,” commented Dr. Clausen. While at Zhejiang University, he was a judge in the semi-finals and
the finals of the second annual English business case competition. During the competition, student teams presented
their solutions to a business case in the semi-finals. In the finals, the teams were given a new case and a limited time
to develop their proposed solutions and critiqued the other team’s solution. Dr. Clausen was impressed by both the
skills the used to develop solutions to the case and the English language skill they used to critique each other’s case
solutions.
Dr. Clausen enjoyed the opportunity to visit China and believes he learned as much from the students as they learned
from him. He hopes to have the opportunity to visit Zhejiang University and China in the future.
DR. CLAUSEN’S CHINA
PHOTOS
Page 6

Fall—2007
DR. CLAUSEN’S CHINA
PHOTOS
Page 7

Fall—2007
DR. CRAIN’S
ADVENTURES WITH THE
BEARS
Playing With The Bears of Yellowstone:
What I Did on My Summer Vacation
Page 8
During my many years as a Montana resident, I did many trips into Yellowstone to fish, hike and backpack.
Lots of incredible scenery, wildlife and more than a few lies about fish were the results. In all those
trips, I can count on one hand the number of bears that were encountered. Seen but nothing more. No
“Grizzly Man” things.
In 1999, I began doing volunteer work in the Yellowstone backcountry looking for invasive, non-native
weeds. It was a way for me to give something back to a place I love as well as a wonderful excuse to stay
in the backcountry cabins used for the varied park administrative purposes. I covered countless miles on
and off trail, seeing parts of the park that few others, including the backcountry rangers, ever visit. Ancient
camps of Native Americans. Flowers of every color imaginable. Wolves up close. Still, in my four summers
of searching for weeds, I only ran into two bears and both were headed away from me as fast as they
could run.
In fall 2004, I was in the park for Labor Day weekend to do a little personal fishing and hiking and accidentally
ran into what is fondly known as a “bear jam.” Which is a traffic jam caused by one or more bears being
visible from the road. This jam had 75-80 cars in it and only one bear ranger (a friend of mine) to try to
bring safety and sanity to the situation. When I asked if she wanted a hand, I found myself instantly! out of
my car, in an orange visibility vest, and directing traffic. I never did any fishing that weekend but spent the
rest of it in the many jams occurring in the three days. I decided it was a blast being around bears that
much, sometimes rather close -- 5-10 feet. It was also fun watching the park visitors and their kids get so
excited about seeing a real live bear.
Beginning the next summer, I converted from backcountry weed hound to front country bear ranger. Still
as a volunteer – I don’t want to spoil the passion with money and a time clock. Most of the bears involved
are of the black bear species which run 150-225 pounds in Yellowstone. (They get much bigger away from
the road in Yellowstone and in other parts of the country.) A few are grizzlies which run from 250 to 400
pounds, give or take. Noticeable bigger, faster and more powerful. (An adult griz can do the 100 dash in
about 6 seconds! Faster that I can for sure!) Jams will run from ten minutes to 7-8 hours. The mission is to
1) keep the people at a safe distance from the bear, including when and if it decides to cross the road, 2)
keep the people from getting run over by traffic when both drivers and pedestrians are focusing on the
bear, and 3) keep the cars from crashing into each other.
If anyone has further questions about this, contact me on campus. My only warning: I can talk for hours
about this and different near-misses and funny visitors.

Fall—2007
ACC PROFESSOR
TACKLES GAMBLING
PROBLEMS—WHAT ARE
THE ODDS?
Page 9
No—not that kind of gambling problem—rather unresolved tax issues related to gambling. In recent years Gambling
has emerged as a significant pastime for one quarter of the adult population. Once illegal in all states, gambling is
now legal in some form in all but two states (Hawaii and Utah). Gaming revenue for 2003 totaled $73 billion rising
7.4% from the previous year. Forty billion dollars of this total is estimated casino revenue. In 2004 gaming revenue
grew to $78.6 billion. Gambling, legal or illegal, received a boost from the Internet. The number of individuals visiting
casinos in 2003 grew to 53 million—averaging 6 visits each to the casino per year. A reported 86% of Americans
have participated in gambling in some form and 63% report gambling at least once in the past year. Since gambling
transcends demographic and regional boundaries, tax practitioners must now assume the same percentages apply to
their clients. This boom in gambling recently led UIS Assistant Professor of Accounting Don Morris to tackle several
fundamental tax issues related to gambling and taxation. In an article appearing in the AICPA’s The Tax Advisor
(June 07), Morris provides practitioners with useful insights for dealing with their gambler clients. “Establishing
Basis for Gambling Losses” takes a sobering look at the apparent edge held by the IRS when a taxpayer attempts to
offset gambling winnings with gambling losses. In the May 2007 edition of the Journal of State Taxation Morris analyzes
the varying tax treatments accorded by the 50 states to taxpayer-gamblers fortunate enough to incur gambling
winnings. Illinois, for example, with nine casinos and seven race tracks ranks 19th among states in the number of
legal gambling venues. The nature of its income tax formula, however, precludes a deduction for gambling losses,
making it an expensive place to win a jackpot or lottery. By contrast Nevada with 370 casinos and one race track and
no state income tax, is an ideal place to win from an individual tax planning perspective. A forthcoming article in the
American Accounting Association’s Journal of Legal and Tax Research (fall 2007) presents Morris’s exploration of
the concept of revenue recognition for gamblers. In “Defining a Gambling Transaction: Know When to Hold ‘em,
Know when to Fold ‘em” he argues that the IRS’s current interpretation of what constitutes a gambling transaction is
inadequate and inconsistent and he offers a more consistent approach. In 2005 Morris investigated the implications of
gambling’s rise in popularity for investors. In “Anti-Socially Conscious Sectors: A Benchmark for Socially Conscience
Investing,” published in The Journal of Investing (vol. 26 no. 3), he and his co-author argued that one way to
gage the success of socially conscious mutual funds is to contrast their relative performance with the investment sectors,
such as gambling, that are omitted. The paper is available as a special report on the website of the Vice Fun, a
mutual fund investing in gambling, tobacco, alcohol and defense stocks.
—Donald Morris