Written by: Brian W. Williams, Business Librarian
Date Drafted: 2 October 1996
The accounting collection primarily supports the curricular and research needs of
students and faculty within the School of Accountancy. Programs leading to a bachelors
degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in accounting, and a masters degree in
Professional Accountancy are offered by the School. Students will typically be preparing
themselves to become Certified Public Accounts, Certified Management Accountants, or
Certified Internal Auditors, and the collection will be geared towards these goals as well
as focusing on assisting in meeting classroom requirements. Faculty, in their research
endeavors, constitute a vital segment of those utilizing the collection, and their research
interests will also be reflected in the collection.
The School of Accountancy offers courses in six general subject areas within
accounting. These areas and the courses offered are as follows. See the Undergraduate
Catalogue or the Graduate Catalogue for course titles and descriptions.
1) Financial Accounting: Acct. 210, 310, 410, 510, 800, 810.
2) Managerial Accounting: Acct. 220, 320, 810, 820, 825.
3) Taxation: Acct 430, 830, 835.
4) Accounting Information Systems: Acct. 260, 560, 860.
5) Auditing: Acct. 640, 840.
6) Theory: Acct. 815.
The School also offers small group, practicum, and directed study courses. These include Acct. 390, 481, 491, 690, 880, 890, 891, and 899. These courses may necessitate the use of materials related to any of the above mentioned six general subject areas.
At present, no course focuses exclusively on international accounting,
governmental/non-profit accounting, state taxation, or the history of accounting. These
areas, however, may be touched upon in various courses. International Standards are
considered in Acc. 410 (Financial Accounting III). Governmental/non-profit accounting is
briefly covered in Acc. 510 (Financial Accounting IV).
Within the School of Accountancy, interest has centered on the application of
accounting theory over the teaching of accounting theory per se. This approach is
reflected in the present accounting collection. This interest has lead naturally to both a
lower level of collection in the areas of theory and history, and a greater emphasis on
applied works and research tools necessary to the practicing accountant .The
quality/quantity of works in dealing with accounting theory are appropriate for the
demands currently placed on the collection. The collection also provides sufficient
historical perspective for present curricular offerings.
The collection is strongest in materials in the area of tax research. Publications of the federal government, such as the U.S. Tax Court Reports and the I.R.S. Bulletin, are valuable assets.. Publications of private publishers including CCH's Standard Federal Tax Reporter, U.S. Tax Cases, and Memorandum Decisions, the Research Institute of America's Federal Tax Coordinator 2nd, and the Bureau of National Affairs' Tax Portfolios: U. S. Income Series are major assets in the collection useful in tax research. General law titles available in the library including West's Federal Digest, Federal Supplement, and Federal 2nd, can prove valuable in research. In addition, membership in the National Tax Association facilitates the acquisition of materials dealing with taxation in a timely manner.
Research in financial accounting is also strongly supported by the collection,
particularly in the area of pronouncements issued by various governmental/non-governmental bodies. Blank order plans, whereby an organization automatically distribute
publications as they are published, have long been in effect for both AICPA (American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants) and FASB (Financial Accounting Standards
Board). These plans have greatly contributed to the quality of the collection of financial
accounting materials. A major weakness is the lack of standing orders for a GAAP guide,
and publications of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force annual summary of
proceedings volume.
The Compact D/SEC database available on the LAN can be utilized as a powerful
tool in auditing statements of all publicly held U.S. companies. Publications received
through the Library's blanket order plan with AICPA (Audit Guides, Auditing Standards)
strengthen the collection. The Library's collection which facilitates research in auditing is
appropriate to its emphasis in the curriculum. However, a blanket order plan with the IIA
(Institute of internal Auditors) would greatly facilitate the acquisition of material.
The weakest areas of the collection are in systems and managerial accounting, although the LAN accessible ABI/INFORM database is particularly useful in identifying journal literature dealing with accounting systems. A blanket order plan with IMA (Institute of Management Accounting), either the "Bold Step" or "Research Publications Service," would greatly improved the acquisition process for materials in managerial accounting.
1. Curricular.
Financial accounting and taxation will continue to be strong components of the program. Major current issues in financial accounting involve financial instruments, consolidated statements, present value accounting, and hedging. State taxation is expected to be given a greater emphasis in the future, with the possibility of a new course being offered in this area. Governmental/non-profit accounting now accounts for 10% of the AICPA exam, and is expected to increase in importance with the possible introduction of a course focusing solely on the area. A knowledge of international accounting standards, although they seldom break new ground, will become increasingly valuable in the future due to the increasing importance of international corporations. In regards to curricular changes, keeping abreast of new course offerings is now greatly facilitated as the Library is more closely involved in the work of the University Curriculum Committee.
2. Library.
The Library's adoption of document delivery as an adjunct to traditional
ILL services will lessen the meed to have little used material on site. Almost all
accounting loose-leaf services presently available in paper format are also
available in electronic format. The library will move toward replacing the paper
based products with the electronic equivalent. The pace of this transformation will
be dependant on library funding for materials in addition to funding for computer
hardware. Shifts in the teaching methodologies of the faculty will also impact and
be reflected in the timing of this transition.
Access to material via the World Wide Web, or more traditional Internet
functions (telnet, ftp) or navigators (gopher), will expand the "collection" beyond
the physical confines of the campus. WWW access to many publications is already
available. Both federal tax forms and I.R.S. publications are available in a full
image format through the web directly from the Internal Revenue Service. Web
access to a boarder range of materials will continue to expand. The Rutgers
Accounting Web and similar sites such as the Tax and Accounting Sites Guide at
the University of Northern Iowa provide excellent overviews of useful web sites.
Both sites are easily accessed from the Library's Business Homepage.
1. On Campus.
The Library has been designated a Federal Government Depository Library
for materials distributed through the Superintendent of Document. Material
produced by the Internal Revenue Service, the U. S Tax Court, the Securities and
Exchange Commission, and the General Accounting Office provide an important
adjunct to the material contained in the general collection.
The School of Accountancy provides limited access to NEXIS/NARS at
the school. NEXIS is useful for full texts of standards, technical bulletins, etc., and
NARS for annual report (10K) information and indexing to periodicals. This
service is usually only offered in Ph.D. granting institutions.
2. Regional/National.
With the advent of the WWW, access to material on a regional, national,
and international level has greatly expanded (see II.A.2 above). Both traditional
ILL services and innovative document delivery services provide access to material
on an international level. Since the document depository at the University of
Kansas is a regional depository, it collects all material distributed by the
Superintendent of Documents. Thus ready access to government documents via
ILL is available on a regional level.
Other major segments of the Library's collection may prove valuable in accounting
research. These included, but are not limited to, the collections in finance, management,
law, and public administration. For each, a separate collection development policy has
been prepared. A separate collection development policy has also been prepared for
government documents.
Emphasis is on works dealing with accounting as it is practiced in the 20th century.
As much of the collection is designed to be used as a working collection, currency is of
special importance.
Material is collected only in the English Language.
The United States is the primary focus of the collection. Material dealing with the
state of Kansas will also be collected, with minimal coverage for other states. Information
dealing with accounting practices internationally will be added, but with the emphasis on
works covering international accounting as a whole and not country specific practices.
The accounting collection includes scholarly monographs and journals, as well as
more practitioner oriented monographic and serial publications. Loose leaf services make
up a major element of the library's holdings in accounting. General reference materials,
including dictionaries, encyclopedias, and indexes are collected. Proceedings and
conference papers are collected selectively. Electronic resources, both CD-ROM based
and WWW accessible, will increase in importance. Micro format sources may be
collected, but only in very rare instances.
In terms of budgeting, funding for continuations (journals, magazines, serials,
loose leaf services, blanket order plans, memberships, CD-ROM's) typically accounts for
over 80% of annually allocated funds for accounting materials, with just under 20% being
designated for monographic purchases. Monographs purchases focus on works of
enduring value, and not on "how-to" items which become outdated very quickly.
However, test guides (such as Gleim) are collected. Lower division textbooks are not
collected, and upper division textbooks are collected very selectively. Popular works are
very rarely collected.
The Library presently subscribes to twenty-two accounting specific journals, and maintains subscriptions to forty accounting serials. The monograph collection in accounting includes over 3,000 volumes. In addition to these volumes, over 350 volumes of the law collection deal specifically with taxation, and approximately 200 volumes of the public administration collection also deal specifically with taxation.
Emphasis is on works currently available in print, with retrospective materials
purchases very selectively.