A. Frank Thompson

Factors Distinguishing Exceptional Performance on the Uniform CPA Exam

Abstract The Uniform Certified Public Accounting (CPA) exam has been used to define what an accounting professional should know before beginning practice. This study examined the factors associated with passing all parts of the CPA exam on the first attempt. Results of a discriminant analysis, for which we used a cross-validation hold-out sample methodology, indicate three variables (i.e., CPA review course grade, high school class rank, high school class size) contribute to the discriminatory power of the discriminant function. Interpretations, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.

An Empirical Analysis of Real Estate Brokerage Ethics

The purpose of this chapter is to provide analysis of real estate brokerage practices in relation to the National Association of Realtors’ Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice and legislated standards of practice in the state of Iowa. This study investigates the relationship between real estate brokerage practices in Iowa and demographic factors such as age, income, and educational background. It utilizes data gathered from a survey questionnaire administered to a random sample of 300 real estate agents and brokers who are members of the Greater Des Moines Board of Realtors. The results of this investigation show that ethical judgment by real estate brokers may vary according to level of education, income, and sex of the selling agent. Age and whether part-time or full-time real estate brokerage work status did not appear to be significant in terms of altering ethical decisions.

Cyclical variations of advertising and personal selling

This paper examines the cyclical behavior of advertising and personal selling, the two major promotional tools, during the period 1958–1976. The study concludes that while advertising expenditures have fluctuated with business cycles (up following increases in corporate income, sometimes up and sometimes down following decreases in corporate income), personal selling effort has shown a steady increase over time, regardless of cyclical moves. The paper also examines economic theory and managerial concerns in order to explain the behavior observed.

Abandonment value in capital budgeting: a mathematical programming approach

Abstract While some general algorithms for evaluating interrelated capital projects with abandonment values are illustrated in a separate study, this paper shows how an integer program may be used to resolve the project interaction problem when including abandonment value in capital budgeting. In addition, by employing the mathematical programming framework, the optimal capital budgeting decision is obtained for all the projects under consideration. Thus, the technique provided here gives an efficient and general algorithm for capital budgeting decisions.