Faculty Research Activity
June 2006
ACCEPTED PAPERS
Marianne Bradford
Bradford, M., Richtermeyer, S. and Roberts, D. System Diagramming Techniques: Insights into Accounting Education and Practice. Journal of Information Systems, Forthcoming Spring 2007.
ABSTRACT: System diagrams (SD) are an integral component of system documentation and have become increasingly important in response to heightened awareness surrounding process improvement and documentation as well as compliance concerns with legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. SD is also an important concept in accounting information systems and auditing education. This study examines SD commonly included in accounting curricula and compares the methods with those used by accounting practitioners. The SD included in the study are system flowcharts, entity-relationship diagrams, data flow diagrams, resource-event agent models, process maps, and Unified Modeling Language. The results include analyses of frequency of use, purpose of use, and strengths and weaknesses based on several dimensions. Using a survey of accounting practitioners, we find that SD use in practice is not entirely consistent with what is included in accounting curricula. This study can be useful to accounting educators by providing insight into SD use in practice and comparing that to methods emphasized in accounting education. Educators can use the results to plan and modify their curricula, particularly in accounting information systems and auditing courses. Additionally, the practice community may find the results useful as they suggest differences in how, when, and why a SD method may be useful. Practitioners can also benefit from the descriptive analysis of current techniques employed across industries and accounting job functions.
Bradford, M. Pet Shop on the Corner: An Accounting Information Systems Project using Peachtree Complete. 2006 Compendium of Classroom Cases and Projects (C3), vol. 3, forthcoming Summer 2007.
Glenn Voss
Voss, Zannie Giraud, Daniel M. Cable, and Glenn B. Voss, “Organizational Identity and Firm Performance: What Happens when Leaders Disagree about ‘Who We Are?’” Organization Science, forthcoming.
ABSTRACT: This study examines how the organizational success of 113 nonprofit professional theatres was affected when two top leaders responsible for different parts of the organization held divergent views about organizational identity. Focusing on five values that differentiate theatres, we find that leaders’ disagreement about organizational identity was related to lower ticket revenues and lower net income, and that organizational performance was lowest when disagreement about identity was extreme. Although some findings suggest that minor identity disagreement between leaders may not hurt organizations, results generally support the perspective that leaders should actively promote a single identity.
Don Warsing
Thomas, D. J. and D. P. Warsing, "A Periodic Inventory Model for Stocking Modular Components," Production and Operations Management (forthcoming).
ABSTRACT: We study the benefit that can be obtained by exploiting modular product design in fulfilling demand for components and modular assemblies in field service. More specifically, we model a service parts inventory system with exogenous demand for both a complete assembly and its components. Our goal is to reduce overall service system costs when assembly and/or disassembly (A/D) can occur at a distribution point---at some unit cost per assembly/disassembly action---by explicitly considering the relationship between an assembly and its components. For a periodic-review inventory system with no ordering cost, we find the base stock policy that minimizes holding, backorder, and A/D-related costs. In an extensive set of computational experiments, we compare a naive stocking and operating policy---one that treats all items independently and ignores the modular product structure and related A/D capability---to the optimal base stock policy and to a policy that simply allows A/D from the naive stocking levels. We find from our computational analysis that the optimal base stock policy improves the system cost between 3–26% over the naive approach. We also find that merely allowing A/D from the naive stocking levels can capture a significant portion of the naive–optimal gap (an average of 67% of the gap across our experiments). Using our computational results, we explain the manner in which the optimization shifts the mix of components and assemblies from the naive stocking levels, and we demonstrate how this mix can be affected by placing limits on A/D capacity. Interestingly, we find that under reasonable conditions, limiting A/D capacity can actually increase the expected number of assemblies and disassemblies that are performed (as compared to the uncapacitated case) since the optimization forces higher stocking levels in order to reduce the probability that "too many" A/D actions will be required.
PUBLISHED PAPERS
Marianne Bradford
Fisher, I. and Bradford, M. New York State Agencies: A Case Study for Analyzing the Process of Legacy System Migration: Part II. Journal of Information Systems, Vol. 20, No.1 (Spring) 2006, pp. 141-162.
Bradford, M. and Houston, M. IT and the Accounting Profession: Using Certifications to Prove Your Worth. North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountant’s Interim Report. May, 2006.
GRANTS & CONTRACTS
Glenn Voss
Winning Proposal. Marketing Science Institute Research Competition on Nonprofit Marketing, 2006, $7,000, with Zannie Voss & Wooseong Kang.
PRESENTATIONS
Marianne Bradford
“Business Process Documentation: Learn How to Document Business Processes Using Visio”, Institute of Management Accountants Annual Conference, 2006.
Presenter: MS Visio for Business Users, Institute of Management Accountants Annual Conference, 2006.
Joe Brazel
“What Can Nonfinancial Measures Tell Us About the Likelihood of Fraud?”
with Keith Jones and Mark Zimbelman. Presented at the 2006 International Symposium on Audit Research, Sydney, Australia and to the North Carolina Association of Government Accountants.
“An Examination of Auditor Planning Judgments in a Complex AIS Environment: The Moderating Role of Auditor AIS Expertise,” with Christopher P. Agoglia. Presented at the 2006 International Symposium on Audit Research, Sydney, Australia.
Glenn Voss
Sangkil Moon, Moon, Sangkil and Glenn B. Voss (2006) “How Do Price Range Shoppers Differ from Reference Price Shoppers?” Marketing Science Conference Presentation, Pittsburg (June).
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