Greetings SET Section members,

The Annual Meeting of the AAA was only six months ago. Yet it seems not months but years ago. These have been some of the most stressful months in international markets since the Great Depression. The financial superstructure in the USA and elsewhere has gone through a revolution. Financial institutions that seemed invulnerable at the time of the Annual Meeting required forced amalgamation, partial or total nationalization or suffered bankruptcy. In our world of accounting, we have seen attacks on mark to market accounting for financial institutions. Most recently, the SEC published a roadmap for US adoption of IFRS. This move, if carried forward by the new leadership at the SEC, would represent the most fundamental change in the conduct of accounting in the USA at least since promulgation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the post-Enron world. We do not yet know what other changes in the post-meltdown world, but we can predict that there will be significant market, legislative and regulatory reforms.

So, what are the implications of these developments and potential changes on our research and teaching? Our section works at the intersection of advanced information technologies and accounting and auditing. Members of our section research the application of a wide variety of technologies to our profession. These include ontological approaches to accounting systems design, continuous assurance, knowledge management, artificial intelligence, XBRL and Internet Financial Reporting, and text analytics and information retrieval. The range of papers presented at our 17th Annual Research Workshop is fascinating and speaks well for the future of research within our community. Papers include “A Structural Model of the Determinants Of XBRL Adoption,” “A Preliminary Examination of Differences in Language between U.S. GAAP and International GAAP,” “Finding Determinants of Internal Control Weaknesses” and “Knowledge Acquisition with a Web‐Based Knowledge Management System.” These are vital issues for the future of our profession.

Our section operates on the periphery of the broader work of the academic accounting and auditing community. Most of our colleagues in the academy do not understand the work that we do, and I would venture to suggest, care little about our research agenda. I believe the reverse is true in the profession. For example, we see many discussions of continuous assurance in the professional literature. Within the audit process, at least for the larger firms, increasing use is made of sophisticated risk models that draw on AI techniques. Much of Europe’s prudential supervision rests on XBRL and we all know of the SEC’s mandate for XBRL reporting. Indeed, it is interesting to note that the status and maturity of XBRL plays a significant role in the SEC’s rulemaking release on adoption of IFRS. XBRL seems to be in every policy statement on the future direction of accounting and reporting. Googling “xbrl financial crisis” brings up a number of very interesting predictions and analyses on how earlier and more widespread adoption of XBRL might have mitigated the financial crisis that we now collectively face.

Yet we know that there are many, many unanswered research questions in each of the areas that I have set out above. We must do more ourselves to research these areas. I am struck, however, just how little we do to reach out and work with colleagues in computer science and information systems. We face practical, tangible and important policy choices and challenges that may not be so evident for colleagues in these disciplines. Often these colleagues have skill sets that complement our own. Of course, there are differences in methodologies and modes of publications. Fortunately, the editors of the limited number of journals in our sub-domain appreciate a broad range of research methods. Our community accepts both design and natural science approaches to research. Given the relatively small size of our research community, our research output is strong and impactful on practice. I recently served on a Presidential task force representing the “Accounting Information Systems” community. I found no difficulty in identifying several areas where our research clearly affected practice in a positive way.

The position for the adoption of strategic and emerging technologies in the classroom is much less clear. Unlike for several other sections, there is not a direct link between the section and a “standard” course in the undergraduate or post-graduate curriculum. We understand very little of how strategic and emerging technologies are or should be applied in the curriculum. This is not easy, as I know from my own experience. Over the last four years, Skip White of the University of Delaware and I have run residential workshops on XBRL for faculty, organized by the AAA. We take three very full days to set out the business case for XBRL and introduce faculty to the core concepts of metadata and XBRL technologies. Even after three days of intensive classroom instruction and exercises, faculty only reach a relatively early stage of familiarity with XBRL.

Our section can and must assist in the development of our research and teaching profile. My principal priority for my presidential year has been to rebuild our research and education committees. Jagdish Pathak as Chair of the Research Committee and Akhilesh Chandra as Chair of the Education Committee, together with their committees, are already hard at work, as you can see from the announcements elsewhere in this newsletter. Jagdish and his committee are building working parties in three important research areas: AI/Data Mining/Knowledge Management, Internet Financial Reporting/XBRL and Text Analytics and Information Retrieval in Accounting. The outputs of the three working parties will be reviews of the literature and guidance on the future direction of research in these areas. Jagdish and his team plan that each of these three reports will be available at the 2009 Annual Meeting and will be published subsequently in JETA or other outlet. We hope that these reports will be of value not only for those in our community but to a broader audience in the accounting academy and for colleagues in computer science and information systems.

Akhilesh and his team are undertaking a scoping exercise on how the technologies we research integrate into the various courses we teach. The education committee has developed an excellent Web questionnaire that will provide an excellent insight into how you use strategic and emerging technologies in the classroom. Please see the item elsewhere in the newsletter and take a few minutes to complete the Web survey.

As you know, the AAA has launched the AAA Commons for the sharing of knowledge within our broad community. Rob Nehmer, our Section webmaster, has taken on the onerous task of developing a Section presence on the Commons. Expect to hear more from Rob in future emails and newsletter items. The Executive Committee is also working on other initiatives and we hope to provide you with updates on some of these in the Spring and at the coming Annual Meeting in New York city. Please do not hesitate to give feedback or suggestions on how your committee can do a better job in serving the membership. Please email, call  (+1 808 393 1352) or look for me on Skype (roger@debreceny.com)

I trust that your spring semester is off to a good start. We have been “suffering” with the cold in the last few days here in Honolulu. Night-time temperatures have reached a very cool 72F/22C and I have been having to put on long cycling pants on my bike rides to the center of the island!!

Best Regards,
Roger

Dr. Roger Debreceny
Shidler College Distinguished Professor of Accounting
School of Accountancy, Shidler College of Business
University of Hawaii at Manōa
Email: rogersd@hawaii.edu roger@debreceny.com

The American Accounting Association (AAA) Annual Meeting

The American Accounting Association (AAA) Annual Meeting is scheduled for August 2-5, 2009 in New York City. The theme of the 2009 meeting is "Accounting at a Tipping Point." The importance of accounting for our global society has become increasingly apparent in recent years. However, this importance is juxtaposed against the shrinking of our academic community and the narrowing of the accounting research domain. Yet, forces are in place to revive and renew the accounting academic community. In our 2009 AAA meeting we will celebrate the significance of accounting around the globe and explore opportunities for renewal of the accounting academy. More information is available on the AAA website (http://aaahq.org).

The AAA Southwest Region will hold its annual meeting in Oklahoma City, February 26-28, 2009. The AAA Southwest Region meets in conjunction with the FBD (http://www.fbds.org/).

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are the accounting standards promulgated by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). During the past decade, the IFRS went from being little used to what is now the world’s dominant set of accounting standards. Several pivotal events contributed to the dominance of IFRS over US GAAP and other accounting standards. Among these pivotal events were the financial scandals occurring in the US in the early 2000s, notably Enron, which highlighted weaknesses in US GAAP. A second pivotal event was adoption of IFRS for financial reporting by listed companies in the EU in 2005. A third pivotal event was the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s announcement in late 2007 to accept IFRS for financial reporting by non-US companies listed in the US stock market. Will IFRS eventually be required for financial reporting by all companies traded in the US stock market? During 2008 the prevailing opinion was very positive and many expected IFRS to be required for all US companies as soon as 2014. However, in early 2009, SEC Chairperson Mary Schapiro lambasted the IASB and indicated reluctance to adopt IFRS.

Research & Publications:

Premuroso, Ronald F. and Som Bhattacharya. 2008. Do Early and Voluntary Filers of Financial Information in XBRL Format Signal Superior Corporate Governance and Operating Performance? International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 1-20.

Abstract: On March 16, 2005, the SEC issued Final Rule 33-8529 encouraging registrants to voluntarily file tagged financial statement information on the EDGAR reporting System using XBRL format. In this paper, we examine whether early and voluntary filers of financial information in XBRL format demonstrate superior corporate governance and operating performance relative to their non-adopting peers. We investigate performance, market, and structure-related firm variables. Our results suggest that corporate governance is significantly and positively associated with a firm's decision to be an early and voluntary filer of financial information in XBRL format. At the same time, firm performance factors including liquidity and firm size are also associated with the early and voluntary XBRL filing decision. Our findings should be particularly interesting for the SEC, as it considers the corporate governance and firm-performance related associations between certain registrants' early and voluntary response and its call for XBRL-based filings.
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Wymeersch, Eddy. 2008. The Use of XBRL in the European Financial Markets. Ghent University Financial Law Institute Working Paper No. 2008-06

Abstract: The use of XML and its related languages especially XBRL in the financial markets is likely to raise much attention the next few years. Different projects are being studied: linkage of the business registers, remote access to the annual accounts, organising the distribution of the financial information by listed companies, use for reporting by banks and insurance companies, as some applications that are already in place or being developed. The impact of an efficient information distribution system could help protect creditors, make cross border relations more secure and support the competitiveness of our financial markets.
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Great Ideas for Teaching Accounting Website:

Great Ideas for Teaching Accounting -- South-Western College Publishing has created the Great Ideas for Teaching accounting site (http://www.swlearning.com/accounting/car/gita.html) to allow accounting professors the opportunity to share their teaching techniques. The teaching tips contributed by various accounting professors are categorized into a table of contents similar to that of an introductory accounting textbook. There is a separate section for teaching tips on management accounting. The site also provides tips on classroom management, communication skills and team work development. Visitors can use a form at the site to submit their own teaching ideas.

JETA submissions should be sent to Editor Dan O'Leary (USC). The purpose of JETA is to encourage, support and disseminate the production of a stream of high-quality research focused on emerging technologies and artificial intelligence applied or applicable to a wide set of accounting related problems. More about JETA, including submission information is available on the SET website (http://aaahq.org/set/publications/jeta/callsForPapers.html).
 

Make Nominations for the SET Section Awards:

1. Call for Nominations: SET Section 2009 Outstanding Educator Award

The SET Section of the American Accounting Association is pleased to announce its call to identify the 2008 Outstanding Educator.  The purpose of this award is to recognize an educator for their outstanding education contribution in the field of SET. The winner of this award will be honored with a plaque presented at the SET Section Business Meeting to be held at the 2009 AAA Annual Meeting in New York. 

The primary criteria for the award are: 

    Educational impact made by the individual on the field of SET
    Originality and innovation of the educational contributions 
    Contribution to the larger AIS and IS communities 

Selection Process: 

    Nominations should be sent (electronic submissions only) according to directions on the SET website (http://aaahq.org/set/awards/outstandingEducatorAward.html). 

    To be eligible for consideration, the nominee must be a current member of the AAA.  A member of the SET Section must nominate the individual. 

    The nominating letter should include a statement as to why the individual is nominated and an assessment of the individual’s educational contributions. 

    Educational contribution is broadly defined and not limited to any type of teaching. 

    Members of the Executive Committee are ineligible for the award. 

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2. Call for Nominations: SET Section 2009 Outstanding Researcher Award

The SET Section of the American Accounting Association is pleased to announce its call to identify the 2009 Outstanding Researcher.  The purpose of this award is to recognize a researcher for their outstanding published research in the field of SET. The winner of this award will be honored with a plaque presented at the SET Section Business Meeting to be held at the 2009 AAA Annual Meeting in New York. 

The primary criteria for the award are: 

    Impact of the research on the field of SET
    Relevance to the larger accounting information systems community 
    Relevance to the larger information systems community 
    Originality and innovation of the research 

Selection Process: 

    Nominations should be sent (electronic submissions only) according to directions on the SET website (http://aaahq.org/set/awards/outstandingResearcherAward.html). 

    To be eligible for consideration, the nominee must be a current member of the AAA.   A member of the SET Section must nominate the research. 

    The nominating letter must include a statement as to why the individual is nominated and an assessment of the individual’s research (which can include peer-reviewed books, monographs, and journal articles relating to research in the field of SET).  Publications in SET section publications should be highlighted. 

    Members of the Executive Committee are ineligible for the award. 
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3. Call for Nominations: SET Section 2009 Outstanding Dissertation Award

The Section periodically (usually annually) awards the SET Outstanding Dissertation Award. The award is to recognize outstanding dissertations in the fields of artificial intelligence and/or emerging technologies. 

Selection Process: 

    Nominations should be sent (electronic submissions only) according to directions on the SET website (http://aaahq.org/set/awards/dissertationAward.html). 

For the purposes of this award: 

(a) Artificial intelligence includes, but is not limited to, the sub-fields of knowledge-based systems, neural networks, and heuristic problem solving, expert systems, case-based reasoning, machine learning, natural language processing, intelligent databases, intelligent agents, and intelligent devices. 
(b) Emerging technologies include (among others) information system security, image processing, communications technologies, wireless connectivity, the Internet, World Wide Web, electronic commerce, workflow technology, private networks (local, wide, municipal, intranets), EDI, XBRL, XML, data mining, group technologies, continuous assurance services, voice recognition, and interactive multimedia. 

The winner of SET Outstanding Dissertation Award will be presented with a plaque at the Annual SET Section Business meeting.

Educaton, research, and other links are available on the SET website. Please send any suggestions for new links you think will be of interest to other section members to the Newsletter Editor or to the section's Webmanager: Andy Lymer. 

Last Year 's Annual Business Meeting at the 2008 AAA Annual Meeting

Stewart Leech presented the Outstanding Researcher award to Vicky Arnold of the University of Central Florida. NOTE: Stewart disclosed that he had disqualified himself from the committee’s consideration of Vicky due to their significant professional collaborations. Stewart also presented the Outstanding Educator award to Bill McCarthy, Michigan State University. John Cheh presented the Outstanding Dissertation award to Dr. Maciej Piechocki of the Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany for his doctoral dissertation entitled XBRL Financial Reporting Supply Chain Architecture. Maciej's co-supervisor, Roger Debreceny, received the award on his behalf.

Rick Dull presented an award for Outstanding Service to Miklos Vasarhelyi as founding editor of the section journal JETA. Dan O’Leary, the current editor of JETA, addressed the future direction of the journal by stating that he encourages the submission of technology-based papers, utilizing sound methodologies that address interesting research questions or solve interesting real-world problems. Papers that address or incorporate technologies early in their life-cycle are particularly welcome. Dan stressed the fact that he intends to work with authors in the development of manuscripts and encouraged members to contact him with any questions. Incoming President, Roger Debreceny presented the Section Outstanding Service Award to outgoing president Rick Dull.

Pics from the August 2008 Meeting:

Rick Dull presents Outstanding Service Award to Miklos Vasarhelyi.	Stewart Leech presents Outstanding Educator Award to Bill McCarthy.
Stewart Leech presents Outstanding Researcher Award to Vicky Arnold.	John Cheh presents the Outstanding Dissertation Award to Roger Debreceny on behalf of Maciej Piechocki. The dissertation title is "XBRL Financial Reporting Supply Chain Architecture."

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17th Annual Research Seventeenth Annual Research Workshop on Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies in Accounting, Auditing and Tax

Fourteen papers were presented at the 2008 Research Workshop at the 2008 Annual Meeting. Papers ranged across the complete spectrum of research topics covered by section members. Nearly 50 section members attended the workshop, a record for recent years. Co-chair, Carol Brown, Carol announced the Best Paper Award to Rutgers Ph.D. student Ryan Teeter for “Aiding the Audit: Using the IT Audit as a Springboard for “Continuous Controls Monitoring”. She noted that there was a 4-way tie in the voting, which was broken by giving the award to the most junior author, a long-standing Section tradition.
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Initiative by the Research Committee of the Strategic and Emerging Technologies section of the AAA

The Research Committee fosters research in the section, which is at the intersection of advanced information technologies and accounting and auditing. In 2008/2009 the primary goal of our Committee is to facilitate the development of SET-relevant research by developing three research position papers. Each paper will be prepared by a project team. These papers will review past and current research and identify future research questions in the domain of Strategic & Emerging Technologies.

Each project will result in a report to the membership at the 2009 Annual Meeting and subsequent submission to JETA or other refereed journal. The reports will be published in the names of the team members. The Committee has put together one research team on “Text Analytics and Information Retrieval in Accounting.” The Committee is now looking for team members for the other projects.

The projects and their team leaders are:

AI/DATA MINING/KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT:
•    Neural Networks
•    Genetic Algorithms
•    Fuzzy Logic & Rough Set Theory
•    Data Mining and Knowledge Management
•    Applications in Accounting and Auditing
Project leader: Brad Trinkle, College of Charleston.
INTERNET FINANCIAL REPORTING/XBRL:
Internet Financial Reporting:
·    Tests of Internet Reporting Incentives
·    Tests of Consequences
·    Decision usefulness of IFR
·    IFR Methodologies
XBRL:
·    XBRL Taxonomy Design
·    Pros and challenges of XBRL adoption
·    Early evidence on XBRL adoption
Project leader: Samir Trabelsi, Brock University

The Research Committee wishes to include SET section members in this project. If you would like to participate in one of the project teams, please email the chair of the Committee, Jagdish Pathak, Odette School of Business, University of Windsor, (jagdish@uwindsor.ca) or Brad Trinkle at TrinkleB@cofc.edu or Samir Trabelsi at strabelsi@brocku.ca.
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SET Section and AAA Commons

The American Accounting Association has put a new system for collaboration and knowledge transfer, the AAA Commons (www.aaacommons.org). The AAA leadership has asked each section and region to establish a presence on the Commons and work to develop materials for the Commons. Section President Roger Debreceny has asked Rob Nehmer, Section Webmaster to add section responsibility for the Commons. Rob represented the Section at an Association-wide meeting on the Commons in early December.

Rob is now seeking volunteers from Section to form a small working group that can work with him to develop a Strategic and Emerging Technologies presence on the Commons. Given that the Commons is both a Strategic and an Emerging Technology for the AAA, it is important for our Section to be there!

Please email Rob (nehmer@oakland.edu) to volunteer some of your time and expertise to this important development for the Section and the Association.
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2009 Mid-Year Meeting

Each year, the Section collaborates with the Information Systems section to run our mid-year meeting. The 2009 meeting was held in Charleston, South Carolina on 9 and 10 January. For this meeting, program chairs Rob Biscontri and Guido Geerts accepted nine papers for presentation and three papers for the forum. The section featured papers on XBRL, Continuous Auditing, Information Assurance and IT Governance. In addition the section sponsored a workshop on “Interactive accounting: the technical possibilities” run by Michael Alles, Alex Kogan, Graham Gal and Bill McCarthy.
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My Semester in Central Europe by Richard Dull

When helping my daughter with her math, I see a characteristic that is inherent to all of us. "Let's do what we are familiar with, and skip the things we don't know."  The problem with this attitude is that we don't learn new things when we stick to the familiar. 

This semester, my family and I stepped outside of our familiar routine and are spending the semester in Dubrovnik, Croatia.  It all began in the summer of 2007, when I applied for a Fulbright award.  For those of you that do not know, the Fulbright Program is sponsored by the US Department of State and is "the largest U.S. international exchange program offering opportunities for students, scholars, and professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide." (http://us.fulbrightonline.org/about.html).  If you are in the US looking for an opportunity to share your expertise abroad, or living anywhere else in the world and would like to share your expertise in the US, you may find an opportunity with the Fulbright Program.

Our time in Dubrovnik has been a learning experience on many levels.  I have learned that in other cultures, people and institutions may not be as tied to the clock or calendar as I was accustomed -- teaching me flexibility beyond what I thought was possible.  I have learned that in every institution there are people that want help -- and some that do not.  I have also acquired a new respect for international students that come to the US to study; in addition to the stresses of school, they may be expending a huge amount of mental energy at every decision they must make to survive (such as buying dairy products at the grocery store) -- decisions that at home we all take for granted.

This year, if you sit by the holiday fire (or pool, depending on your location), dreaming of far away places, consider the Fulbright Program to help make that dream a reality -- while helping others reach their goals.
Richard Dull
2008-2009 Fulbright Scholar
University of Dubrovnik
Croatia
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Associate Professor of Accounting
Clemson University
USA

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Life as a New Department Chair by Ingrid Fisher

For most assistant professors, the successful attainment of tenure is followed by relief and a year spent preparing their application for a sabbatical. No such luck here! This is not to say that I was not both relieved and overjoyed when I read the letter that conferred my tenure and promotion to associate professor. However, even before that letter arrived in my university mailbox, my department had elected me department chair (either a huge leap of faith or an act of sheer desperation on their part). I cannot say that their decision surprised me, though the timing most certainly did. Admittedly, I have seen the chair’s position coming toward me like a steamroller down a mountain slope. I have been a member of the University at Albany (SUNY) Department of Accounting and Law since 1987, working as a lecturer for over fifteen years before moving to a tenure track line in 2002. This made me one of the “oldest” (in more ways than one) members of the department and arguably next in line for the job.

Timing aside, I am not an unwilling servant. Part of me embraces what I hope is a chance to make a difference in a department and school that means a great deal to me. All of my university degrees come from the University at Albany and I would not be in the accounting profession absent a valuable master’s degree from the same. I am the first female to successfully progress through the tenure process in the Department of Accounting and Law at Albany and, thus, the first female department chair. Will I be the Hillary Clinton or the Sarah Palin of the female chairs? Ok, I can’t believe I wrote that, but my answer is neither, thank you. I will be myself.

As a result of my history, the chair’s position is one that represents to me both a professional duty and a personal opportunity. I suffer both deeply. These are complex times in the State University of New York system. Our state budget crisis is real and it is ugly. We have a hiring freeze and yet our department very much needs to hire. I also need to support the professional development of our assistant professors, yet have limited resources to do so. These are thorny issues that often keep me awake at night and find me at my computer during odd early morning hours. Intellectually I recognize that there is only so much that I can do and there are matters that lie completely outside my control or influence. But as I said, I suffer the job deeply. There has been far more administrative work than I had anticipated. And despite my years of experience I still find “difficult conversations” with faculty, students, or administrators challenging. It is not easy to appropriately allocate my time across research, teaching and the chair’s responsibilities. On the other hand, I love the development side, working with alumni to raise funds, promoting and advancing our people and programs. I do not know how the road ahead will twist and turn amidst the New York State fiscal dilemma. What I do know is that I will travel it as it comes, best that I am able. Despite the challenges, I am up to the job. For me, this is personal and that is ultimately what motivates me in those odd early morning hours.

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SET Section Members in the News:

Member Receives Research Award:

SET Section member Dr. Murphy Smith, Dr. Katherine Smith, and Dr. Craig Keller (not shown) received the KPMG 2008 Outstanding Published Manuscript Award from the American Accounting Association Gender Issues and Work-Life Balance Section. The award-winning article which appeared in Volume 18 of Critical Perspectives on Accounting: “Do Gender, Educational Level, Religiosity, and Work Experience Affect the Ethical Decision-Making of U.S. Accountants?” The authors received plaques and a $1,000 award provided by the Gender Issues and Work-Life Balance Section.

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Committees:

Education and Research Committees

The Education and Research Committees have been reconstituted this year under Chairs Akhilesh Chandra (Education) and Jagdish Pathak (Research). Both committees have actively pursued new opportunities. The Education committee is working on a survey of membership on how you use the various strategic and emerging technologies in the classroom. The Research committee has started work on projects to map future research directions in the research areas covered by members of the section. Expect to receive emails from Akhilesh and Jagdish in the coming weeks.
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The SET Section operates effectively through a structure of committees who collectively take responsibility for the variety of tasks and functions the section aims to provide coverage over. Current committee information is on the SET website (http://aaahq.org/set/committees.html). 

Please send me items of interest for the next newsletter, including: 

- Recent books or journal articles related to SET - whether you have published them or you have seen other peoples' work that you think would be of interest to section members.
- Conferences and calls for papers related to SET - make sure all regional or local events you may be involved with get good billing this way. This could include non-AAA events too (if directly relevant to section members' interests)
- Have you been to an interesting meeting recently? Why not write a few paragraphs for us describing who presented what so we can all benefit in some way from events we couldn't attend? 
- Personal accomplishments e.g. promotions or awards (don't be shy now!) Have you changed jobs recently? Let people know where you are now via the newsletter perhaps! 
- New research projects started or updates on current ones you may be working on. PhD students - tell us what you are doing and what you are finding out - there may be people out there who can help you in all kinds of ways you hadn't thought about - ask!
- Other items related to SET e.g. comments or questions you'd like answers to or help with. Maybe someone out there has an answer that can help you with an issue you are facing? Ask! 

Best regards, 

L. Murphy Smith, Newsletter Editor 
Professor of Accounting
Texas A&M University
Lmsmith@tamu.edu