Financial accounting and reporting

The Term Paper is an opportunity for you to conduct research and explore in depth an issue pertinent to the role of an accountant in your chosen area of interest. The objective of the Term Paper is to research, evaluate, and propose practical applications of the concepts you learned from many courses and from your chosen area of interest in your MSAC degree program. Accordingly, you will be able to choose a topic from any of the following broad areas.

 

Financial accounting and reporting

 

Governmental accounting and reporting

 

Nonprofit accounting and reporting

 

Managerial accounting

 

Auditing—public

 

Auditing—internal

 

Taxation

 

Fraud

 

Other topic from a course that you took in your MSAC program

 

Although the topic areas are fairly open-ended, it is expected that your paper will document theoretical underpinnings as well as practical implications. Suppose, for example, your interest is in auditing for fraud. An ideal paper would include not only a discussion of why fraud occurs but also recommendations for a business or other entity to guard against fraud. Hence, a deeper discussion of internal control procedures and the role of internal and external auditors would be appropriate. In effect, both the why and how of implementing relevant tools, technologies, process, procedures, and policies would need to be addressed.

 

Guidelines

 

APA format and citations are required. All DeVry University policies are in effect, including the plagiarism policy. Any questions about this paper may be discussed in the Course Q and A Forum discussion topic. Please note that no late submissions will be accepted for the Final Term Paper or Oral Presentation in Weeks 7 and 8, respectively.

 

Assignments and Milestones

 

The work you complete through your research in this course will culminate in a Final Term Paper in APA format along with an Oral Presentation explaining the key aspects of this Term Paper. The Final Term Paper is due in Week 7 and the related Oral Presentation will be presented by you in Week 8. Because the research and writing of the paper is a course-long effort, a number of weekly submissions are required to incrementally complete the multiple sections of the Term Paper. For additional guidance, please download and refer to the Term Paper Grading Rubrics and Term Paper Template documents available in Course Documents located under Introduction & Resources for this course.

 

Week 2 Term Paper Submission

 

Submit a list of five to eight current references, in APA format, that will ultimately be incorporated into your Final Term Paper. Briefly describe the content of each reference and how it relates to your selected research topic. Submit your Week 2 list of references no later than midnight Sunday at the end of Week 2.

 

References

 

References are very important. At least five to eight references are required for the Term Paper. Anonymous authors or web pages are not acceptable. At least three of these sources used should be from academic journals or professional publications. All sources should be current within the past 18 to 24 months from the Keller library. All references should be cited within the body of your work and will also be listed on the last page of your Term Paper in a section titled References.