Integrating XBRL Into The Accounting Curriculum

The rush to conduct business over the Internet has led to increased pressure for up-to-date and on-demand access to financial and non-financial business information.  The providers and users of this information have banded together to create a standardized taxonomy based on XML to communicate business information over the Web.  XBRL, the eXtensible Business Reporting Language, will provide this mechanism.  Accountants and auditors will need to react quickly to the increased demand for accurate data that will make this feasible.  The article covers XBRL's development process, the underlying XML framework and examples of its use on the Web.  It introduces XBRL’s educational impacts, and discusses its incorporation into an Advanced Accounting Information Systems course. Recommendations for incorporating XBRL across the accounting curriculum based on an informal Internet survey conclude the article

COMMUNICATION TOOLS AND PROJECT SUCCESS IN COMPLEX OUTSOURCED IT PROJECTS

Web 2.0 technologies, such as shared documents, Wikis, and virtual social networks, are increasingly used for communication in complex IT projects. In this study, we apply the boundary spanning theoretical perspective and Carlile´s (2002) model of boundary complexity to investigate how these tools relate to projects´ outcomes, and analyze the characteristics of the projects and organizations where these tools are adopted. The analysis is based on post-hoc field data collected from client side project managers through an online cross sectional survey. We observed higher level of reflection on communication practices among adopters of Web 2.0 tools. We also found that, along with reflection, the freedom to choose and alter communication tools, strong leadership and approaching client-vendor communication as negotiation of new knowledge (the pragmatic level of Carlile´s model) are strongly associated with project success for Web 2.0 adopters; this is not the case for projects where Web 2.0 tools have never been tried. \ \ This work provides evidence of the valu of the boundary spanning conceptual approach to communication and particularly to Carlile´s model of boundary complexity. Practitioners will gain a better understanding of how tools that support higher levels of communication complexity contribute to a project´s success.

Adoption and Usage Patterns of an IT Audit and Control Framework,

In 1996, the Information Systems Audit and Control Foundation (ISACF) published Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT)i. COBIT provides a framework of generally applicable and accepted IT security and control practicesii that can be used to evaluate an organization’s current and planned IT environment. The COBIT framework is intended to be useful to management and users (business process owners), in addition to auditors. For management, users, and auditors COBIT provides a framework to evaluate IT investments and risks and to provide assurance that IT- related business objectives are achieved. COBIT strengthens the understanding, design, exercise and evaluation of internal controls. It also helps to focus management’s responsibilities to ensure that systems have integrity and that appropriate controls are in effect. COBIT outlines internal or external audit’s responsibility to provide assurance with respect to those objectives

Domain-Independent Decision Aids for Managerial Decision Making

An examination of the literature on managerial decision making provides insights for improving the design of Declslon Support Systems. Frequently, these systems are designed using one dominant decision making model; some ignore them altogether. This paper incorporates conflicting decision making constructs into an overall framework for designing Decision Support System and discusses the evolution of Decision Support Systems within this framework. This framework is then used to examine advances in decision support research. Perceived useful ness and appl icabillty of decision support tool s demonstrate the trend toward domai n- independent General Decision Support Systems. Domain-independent systems are those which can be adapted to many different problem areas, usually by the addition or del etion of pertinent data and models. We conclude with an evaluation of the advances that artificial intelligence techniques can bring to decision support system research. The major purpose of this paper is to identify aspects of managerial decision support where techniques of artificial intelligence may provide useful contributions. In addition, a framework is devel oped for positioning and eval uating current research efforts on AI-based Decision Support Systems (DSS) vis-a-vis other approaches identified in the literature. The paper is organized as follows: The first section presents a brief review of the organizational and individual decision making literature relevant to the design and evaluation of DSS. The next section outlines the evolution of DSS design phil osophy over the last two decades with a view toward identifying major contributions made to managerial decision making. Finally, the third section examines recent advances made in AI-based DSS

Does social media promote the public’s perception of the police: Survey results on trust cultivation

Police departments use social media to inform the local community. Additionally, police share self-promotional information to enhance the public’s perception of law enforcement. Research using cultivation theory shows that reliance on a media source such as television cultivates viewer perceptions of a subject. We apply cultivation theory to this interactive medium to test whether viewing and responding to social media messages increases followers’ satisfaction with the police. Surveys administered online to the followers of four police departments show that followers who view and respond to police posts more frequently are also inclined to be more satisfied with the police. Minorities are less satisfied with police than whites, but not significantly so. Finally, followers who like (dislike) police self-promotion are more (less) satisfied with police. The findings provide partial support for applying cultivation theory to the social media setting and suggest that police use of social media can help achieve community policing goals

Reuse of Object and Component Technologies

Companies are increasingly requiring that new information systems development projects employ object- oriented (OO) approaches. The hottest new Web tools and languages have object capabilities built into them. Much of the movement toward the OO paradigm for systems development is based on claims of vendors and pioneers that adoption will lead to better and faster designs, more maintainable systems, and most audibly, reusable software

Determinants and Success Factors of IT Outsourcing in the Public Sector

Public organizations often turn to the private sector for guidance and best practice examples when faced with technological or organizational change. However, private-sector business practices do not always translate neatly into the government domain. In this study, we analyze data from 82 collaborative projects in the public safety domain to establish whether public-sector IT outsourcing (ITO) practices match practices that researchers have documented in the private sector. In particular, we focus on the ITO decision process components and outcomes that they have identified as challenging for public-sector ITO. Results show that: 1) public organizations adopt ITO due to expertise gaps and cost considerations more than any other factor, 2) capital funding’s availability affects ITO decisions, 3) public-sector organizations outsource complex systems more often, 4) multiple successful ITO configurations exist, and 5) like the private sector, knowledge sharing and the vendor’s involvement in defining requirements represent important factors for whether ITO projects in public organizations succeed. Our descriptive, exploratory study extends previous ITO research by providing a framing for the fragmented literature on ITO in the public sector and laying a foundation for more systematic and theory-based scholarship. Our observations also guide governmental practitioners in their sourcing decisions

Accounting Information Quality: Reconciling Hierarchical and Dimensional Contexts

This paper examines and reconciles the defining dimensions of information quality in these two areas. The IQ literature can inform accountants of systems issues that may be missing from the hierarchy of information qualities published by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), which is the basis of much accounting practice. In addition, IQ researchers and practitioners can learn from the tools and approaches developed by accountants. Many frameworks, rules and laws exist governing IQ issues as they apply to the accountant’s role in providing, controlling, auditing and interpreting accounting data