Dear SET members –

It is a great honor and privilege to serve as the Chair of the AAA Strategic and Emerging Technologies Section. First, I would like to thank Roger Debreceny, the immediate past chair, for his outstanding service. Many of his initiatives and accomplishments will have a lasting impact on the Section: the strengthening of the Section’s organizational structure, the SET podcast series, and sponsorship by CaseWare-IDEA; to name a few. He leaves big shoes to fill. Moving forward, I would like to inform you on what is currently happening. More specifically, there are five developments I would like you to update on.

First, the 2010 IS/SET Joint Mid-Year Meeting will be held in Clearwater Beach Florida from January 6-9. Our SET section coordinator, Graham Gal, has put together an excellent program. There will be two research paper sessions, one on “Information Retrieval and Reporting” and one on “Specialized Knowledge and Applications.” There will also be a panel on “The Impact of Technology on Assurance in the 21st Century” with Glen Gray, Rajendra  Srivastava, Michael Alles, and Efrim Boritz as panel members. It promises to be a great meeting and you can find program and registration information at http://aaahq.org/meetings/2010IS_online.htm. We hope to see all of you in Clearwater Beach!

Second, the submission deadline for the AAA annual meeting is January 6, 2010. Having a high quality program at the annual meeting gives our section a lot of visibility. You can submit your paper at http://aaahq.org/AM2010/call2010.cfm.This year’s coordinator is Graham Gal and you can e-mail him at gfgal@som.umass.edu if you have any questions.

Third, most regional meetings will take place during Spring. One of our objectives is to have a strong presence at the regional meetings. So, if you have a research paper you would like to present, you would like to put together a CPE session or a panel, or you would like to get involved in any other way, please contact your regional coordinator (http://aaahq.org/set/committees/regions.html) or Nancy Uddin (nuddin@monmouth.edu).

Fourth, the SET section will run two CPE workshops just before the 2010 AAA annual meeting. On Friday July 30th, we will have our first SET Transformative Technologies Workshop. The workshop aims at bringing together both academics and practitioners to explore a series of emerging technologies that have the potential to radically change accounting.  We will see demonstrations of these technologies, and then have lively discussions about how we can incorporate the new concepts into industry, teaching, and research.  Julie Smith David will run this workshop and you can contact her at julie.smith.david@gmail.com if you have any questions or ideas.  And please mark your calendars now - we know this is earlier than usual to start your Annual Meeting activities, but to attract a significant set of industry participants, Friday is the day!  On Saturday July 31st, we will have our Nineteenth Annual Research Workshop on Strategic and Emerging Technologies in Accounting, Auditing and Tax. Co-chairs are Carol Brown and Greg Gerard.

Fifth, we have now, thanks to Roger Debreceny, three podcasts available on the SET web site: http://aaahq.org/set/podcasts/podcast.html. Please contact me (geertsg@lerner.udel.edu) if you are interested in putting a podcast together.

Finally, I would like to thank all the SET officers and members that have worked hard with me during Fall to get things done. I could not have asked for a better team to work with! Also, special thanks to CaseWare-IDEA for their continuous financial support to the section.

Happy Holidays!

Guido Geerts
President SET section 2009/2010

The American Accounting Association (AAA) Annual Meeting

AAA Annual Meeting, July 31-August 4, 2010
Deadline: Wednesday January 6, 2010
(http://aaahq.org/AM2010/Call2010.cfm)

The theme for our 2010 meeting is "Global Thought Leadership." The AAA's strategic plan emphasizes our vision of Thought Leadership. We accomplish this through our research, education, and input on accounting policies and standard setting. Today we need to think more about how we provide accounting thought leadership in a global economy. More and more countries are moving to adopt one global set of financial reporting standards, the largest accounting firms and corporations are multinational, accreditation crosses international borders, and many of our colleges and universities are partnering with schools from other countries. In our 2010 AAA meeting, we will celebrate and explore global thought leadership in accounting.

On July 31-August 4, 2010, the American Accounting Association (AAA) will hold its Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California. The Program Advisory Committee for the 2010 Annual Meeting of the AAA invites academic and practitioner members from around the world to submit the following:

Research Papers
Panel Session Proposals
Effective Learning Strategies Session Proposals
Emerging/Innovative Research Projects
CPE Session Proposals
Conference on Teaching and Learning in Accounting (CTLA) Proposals
Reviewer/Moderator/Discussant Volunteers

The Committee is particularly interested in ideas for Concurrent Sessions that are highly innovative and bring fresh perspectives to bear on accounting research and education.

The AAA Southwest Region will hold its annual meeting on March 2-6, 2010 at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel, Dallas, Texas. The AAA Southwest Region meets in conjunction with the FBD (http://www.fbds.org/). Call for papers for AAA regional meetings is shown in the Events and Call for Papers Section below.

XBRL and IFRS continue to be at the forefront of the international news. Together they are expected to have a synergistic effect on accounting and financial reporting worldwide. A few examples of recent research are shown in the publications section below.

Research & Publications:

Interacting with Interactive Data: The Effects of Interface and Context on Mapping Financial Statement Elements to the XBRL U.S. GAAP Taxonomy by Roger Debreceny, Stephanie Farewell, and Nolan Kido. Working Paper (January 4, 2009) Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1323530.

Abstract: The Securities and Exchange Commission has mandated the phase-in of an interactive data format termed XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language). Given that successful mapping of financial statement line items to the XBRL taxonomy is critical to the accuracy of the instance document, it is important to understand factors that influence mapping success. We study the impact of how the navigation method used to locate financial statement line items within the U.S. GAAP Taxonomy impacts the effectiveness and efficiency of the mapping task. In a between-subjects experiment, we investigate three navigation methods: hierarchical, direct search and the availability of both hierarchical and direct search. We assess the influence of line-item complexity on effectiveness and efficiency as a within-subjects variable. Results indicate that the use of direct search leads to a decrease in time taken, a significant increase in incorrect answers and overconfidence in those incorrect answers. Complexity leads to a significant decline in accuracy across navigation methods. We further find that the presence of context does not affect mapping effectiveness or efficiency. The results of the study are important to corporations as they begin to prepare tagged financial statements and to financial statement consumers such as auditors, the SEC and investors.
_____

Longitudinal Analysis of Voluntary Adoption of XBRL on Financial Reporting by Jap Efendi, Murphy Smith, and Jeffrey Wong. Working Paper (July 29, 2009). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1440956.

Abstract: In December 2008, the SEC approved final rules which require companies to submit financial statements in XBRL format with their SEC filings, beginning with quarterly June 2009 filings for the largest companies and within three years for all public companies. Previously, the SEC established a voluntary filing program for XBRL reporting in March 2005. Accordingly, the objectives of our study are: (1) to provide an overview of the benefits and global development of XBRL and (2) to evaluate the extent of XBRL adoption following the implementation of the voluntary filing program. We find the quantity of voluntary reporting to be relatively low, but reporting significantly increased over time. Voluntary adopters are larger and more innovative firms in their industries. We find evidence suggesting increasing efficiency in XBRL reporting, as reporting lags have significantly decreased over time. This efficiency improvement is positive news and may accrue to other companies after they are required to use XBRL reporting. XBRL is expected to have a positive effect on accounting and financial reporting worldwide, particularly used in conjunction with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
_____

A Comparison of XBRL Filings to Corporate 10-Ks - Evidence from the Voluntary Filing Program by Jon W. Bartley, Y. Al Chen, and Eileen Z. Taylor. Working Paper (April 30, 2009). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1397658.

Abstract: The SEC has mandated a phase-in of XBRL filings beginning June 2009 for accelerated filers. Although companies have limited legal liability for initial filings, registrants may suffer reputational and other risks should the filings include errors. To assess the likelihood of material errors, we evaluate the accuracy of XBRL filings for 22 companies participating in the SEC’s voluntary filing program in 2006. Results of a comparison of XBRL filings to Forms 10-K reveal multiple errors in signage, amounts, labeling, and classification. These errors are serious because since XBRL data is computer-readable, users will not visually recognize the errors, especially when using XBRL analysis software. Although XBRL software and taxonomy have improved since 2006, the potential for some errors remains. The SEC, registrants, and accountants need to take note of the complexities of XBRL tagging and identify solutions (e.g., assurance, training) to ensure successful adoption.

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). 

Upcoming Meetings:

AAA Annual Meeting, July 31-August 4, 2010
Deadline: Wednesday January 6, 2010
(http://aaahq.org/AM2010/Call2010.cfm)

The theme for our 2010 meeting is "Global Thought Leadership." The AAA's strategic plan emphasizes our vision of Thought Leadership. We accomplish this through our research, education, and input on accounting policies and standard setting. Today we need to think more about how we provide accounting thought leadership in a global economy. More and more countries are moving to adopt one global set of financial reporting standards, the largest accounting firms and corporations are multinational, accreditation crosses international borders, and many of our colleges and universities are partnering with schools from other countries. In our 2010 AAA meeting, we will celebrate and explore global thought leadership in accounting.

On July 31-August 4, 2010, the American Accounting Association (AAA) will hold its Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California. The Program Advisory Committee for the 2010 Annual Meeting of the AAA invites academic and practitioner members from around the world to submit the following:

Research Papers
Panel Session Proposals
Effective Learning Strategies Session Proposals
Emerging/Innovative Research Projects
CPE Session Proposals
Conference on Teaching and Learning in Accounting (CTLA) Proposals
Reviewer/Moderator/Discussant Volunteers

The Committee is particularly interested in ideas for Concurrent Sessions that are highly innovative and bring fresh perspectives to bear on accounting research and education.
___________________________________________________________________

Regional Meetings:

Southeast Region April 8th - 10th, submission deadline: Jan 15th.
Mid-Atlantic Region April 22nd - 24th, submission deadline: Jan 6th.
Western Region April 29th - May 1st, submission deadline: Jan 18th.
Ohio Region May 6th - 8th, submission deadline: Jan 31st.
Southeast Region April 8th - 10th, submission deadline: Jan 15th.
Southwest Region March 2-6, deadline passed.
*For submission info, go the AAA website link to sections and regions
(http://aaahq.org/srg.cfm)
__________________________________________________________________

Call for Papers-ISAR 2010
16th Annual International Symposium on Audit Research
Singapore
24 and 25 June, 2010

The 16th Annual International Symposium on Audit Research (ISAR) will be hosted by
Nanyang Technological University on 24 and 25 June, 2010 in Singapore. ISAR is jointly
organized by Nanyang Technological University, the University of Southern California
(USA), Maastricht University (Netherlands), and the University of New South Wales
(Australia). The symposium will be held at the Marina Mandarin hotel, Singapore.

Scope of Topics
The scope of ISAR is intended to be broad and includes research papers and panels that
deal with all aspects of auditing, attestation and assurance. Papers that utilize any of a
broad range of research methodologies will be considered.

ISAR 2010 will coordinate with the World Continuous Auditing & Reporting
Symposium [WCARS] to present research that focuses on information technology and
continuous auditing. Papers in this area are to be submitted to ISAR as indicated below,
and subject to regular review.

ISAR 2010 will also be preceded immediately by a by-invitation ACCA/IAAER mini-conference in conjunction with the ACCA/IAAER call for academic research proposals
[http://www.iaaer.org/research ] that support the work of the International Auditing and
Assurance Standards Board. During the mini-conference, proposal winners will present
their research designs and preliminary results.

Submission of Papers
To be eligible for presentation, manuscripts must follow the style guidelines of Auditing:
A Journal of Practice & Theory. Please pay particular attention to the format and length
requirements – the body of the manuscripts should not exceed 7,000 words or
approximately 20-25 double-spaced pages. Please submit a single document with a title
page which includes author(s) affiliation(s), and the contact author's email address.
Accepted papers will not be published in formal proceedings and thus may be submitted
to any appropriate journal for publication.

Paper Submission Deadline and Requirements
Papers including the title page should be submitted electronically in Adobe Acrobat or
Word formats. Papers, and where appropriate, related research instruments must be
received no later than 31 January 2010, and should be sent to: papers@isarhq.org.

Further Information
If you have questions about paper submission please email to papers@isarhq.org. For
questions about the symposium please contact Hun Tong Tan at AHTTAN@ntu.edu.sg
or Ted Mock at tmock@ucr.edu . Further information is also posted at the ISAR website
at www.isarhq.org where you can also register for email updates on ISAR 2010.

_______________________________________________________________________

Call for Papers
International Journal of Accounting Information Systems
Special Issue on Business Process Modeling

Business Process Modeling or BPM has become an essential part of a wide range of applications including enterprise systems development, business process analysis, business process management, and business process reengineering. The goal of this special issue is to present the state-of-the-art in BPM research. We will consider research papers of high quality that address any BPM related issue, regardless of research methods. Research questions that could be addressed in this special issue include, but are not limited to:

·    The ontological foundation of BPM notations: what is a business process and what elements are needed to represent it.  Related research questions include: (a) an in-depth study of the nature of business processes, (b) the formal specification of BPM semantics, and (c) integration of the different dimensions of business processes and their specifications: why, what, and how?
·    Standardization of BPM notations.
·    BPM reference models and best practices for specific industries or application domains.
·    The role of BPM within enterprise architectures and its role in business/IT alignment.
·    The evolution of business process specifications and their adaptation to emerging technologies such as Model-Driven Architectures, Service-Oriented Architectures, and the Semantic Web. More specifically, to what extent do such emerging technologies enable the execution of more complex, inter-organizational, and semantically enhanced business process definitions.
·    Empirical verification of BPM notations and BPM methods. What notations and methods work in practice, under what conditions, and for which applications?

Special Issue Guest Editors

Frederik Gailly, Ghent University, Belgium, frederik.gailly@ugent.be
Guido Geerts, University of Delaware, USA, geertsg@lerner.udel.edu

Submission Guidelines and Important Dates

·    To submit your paper, use the IJAIS online submission system at http://ees.elsevier.com/accinf/default.asp.
·    Follow the IJAIS author guidelines.
·    Specify in your cover letter that your submission is intended for the special issue on “Business Process Modeling.”
·    The submission deadline for the special issue is March 1, 2011, but earlier submissions are encouraged.
·    Papers will be subjected to a double-blind review process.
________________________________________________________________

Call for Papers
XBRL: Research Implications and Future Directions
A Special Issue of the International Journal of Accounting Information Systems

The eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is now globally adopted and is thought to improve data quality and enhance the effectiveness of data transfers in a variety of information value chains. From its foundations for financial reporting, we see XBRL now adopted in many industries and government sectors, and serves as a major impetus for the enhanced business reporting movement. In several countries, XBRL serves as an open standard for Standard Business Reporting (SBR), where businesses report to a variety of agencies and stakeholders.

There exist many research issues both within the XBRL community and between XBRL and other communities and knowledge domains. For example, do XBRL’s implications reach beyond the typically regulator-driven adoptions seen today? Is XBRL “extensible enough” to accommodate various types of data, without resulting in a new complicated system of reporting that shares many of the same weaknesses of currently used systems? What are the audit and assurance implications of XBRL data? Will the adoption of XBRL change the way accounting standards are set? How will XBRL work, if at all, with other cognate standards such as ebXML, RIXML and SDMX? What are the implications for corporate and governmental transparency, within and between countries? How do we build massive information repositories of XBRL data and build business intelligence around those repositories? Can we formalize XBRL taxonomic structures? What lessons can we learn from current adoptions and what impacts will those have on the way organizations manage data?

At a theory development level, can XBRL provide the necessary modulus to better understand the interchange between the usefulness of accounting information and the manifestation of information technology investments? Can XBRL leverage the relationships that exist between organizations and their data users/consumers, and if so, at what level of adoption? In the long run, would organizational strategic competencies be affected by the potential transparency of underlying organizational data and the resulting value associated with such transparency?

The purpose of this Call for Papers is to solicit research manuscripts that address one or more of these issues or other issues of tangential nature. Papers may have either a theoretical or an empirical focus. All research methodologies are welcome.

Special Issue Editors: 
Rajendra P. Srivastava, University of Kansas, rsrivastava@ku.edu 
Roger Debreceny, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, rogersd@hawaii.edu
Michael Alles, Rutgers University-Newark, alles@business.rutgers.edu

Submission Guidelines and Important Dates
• Papers may be submitted to the special issue anytime before October 30, 2010.
• Submit using the IJAIS online paper submission system at http://ees.elsevier.com/accinf/default.asp
• Follow the IJAIS guide for authors at http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620400/authorinstructions
Please specify in your cover letter that the submission is intended for the “XBRL Special Issue”.
• An initial selection of submitted papers will undergo a double-blind review process, which will offer authors an opportunity to revise their papers. Final editorial decisions will be provided to authors at the conclusion of that round of review. The IJAIS Special Issue will appear shortly thereafter.
_________________________________________________________________

Eighth Annual Information Security Symposium, February 26, 2010

CReTISA and the George W. Daverio School of Accountancy at the University of Akron will host its eighth annual Information Security Symposium on February 26, 2010 in Akron, Ohio.  This year’s theme is “Systems Security and Assurance for the Changing Economic Environment.”

Over the last eight years, the Symposium has grown in terms of its visibility and reputation.  The day-long deliberations will include important takeaways, both for your classroom and your research.

The Symposium will present sessions on the following four topics:
1.    Emerging Frameworks for Information and Systems Security
2.    Risks, Controls and Assurance Strategies for XBRL Financial Reporting Systems
3.    Innovations in Technologies for Information and Systems Security
4.    Dissecting a Fraud: A Page From Forensic Accounting

For program details and registration information, please visit http://www3.uakron.edu/cba/cretisa, or contact Akhilesh Chandra at ac10@uakron.edu.
____________________________________________________________________________

Call for Papers - Special Issue of the International Journal of Accounting Information Systems: “On the Relations between Modern IT, Decision Making and Management Control

For information about this special issue of IJAIS, go to the journal website (http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620400/description).
Deadline for submissions is January 31, 2011. Earlier submissions are encouraged.

Information regarding nominations for SET Section Awards can be found on the SET Section Website. Awards are as follows:

1. SET Section Outstanding Educator Award

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 

_____ 

2. SET Section Outstanding Researcher Award

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 

_____ 

3. SET Section Outstanding Dissertation Award

The award is to recognize outstanding dissertations in SET.

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.

AAA Meeting 2009 SET Section Awards Presented:

President Guido Geerts presenting Distinguished Service Award to Immediate Past-President Roger Debreceny	Skip White receiving Outstanding Educator Award from Stewart Leech
Amelia Baldwin and Carol Brown Receiving Outstanding Service Award from Alex Kogan	Murphy Smith receiving Outstanding Researcher Award from Stewart Leech
Shown on right: Carol Brown Presenting Yongbum Kim and David Y. Chan the Best Paper Award of the 18th Annual Research Workshop on Strategic and Emerging Technologies August 2, 2009 “Unsupervised Fraud Detection: A Rule-Based Model in the Wire Transfer Payment Process of a Major Insurance Company in the United States” co-authored with Alex Kogan and Miklos Vasarelyhi ofRutgers University

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.

Committees:

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