Archive for February, 2013

UIU alumna Nancy Heidt was honored as February Volunteer of the Month by her community for her work with the Beloit International Film Festival.

 From the International Film Festival to the Greater Beloit Chamber of Commerce and on to the Beloit Lioness Club and more, it’s hard to find places where Nancy Heidt’s footprints haven’t been found and haven’t left an impact.

The 2006 Upper Iowa University alumna is making an impact in her community.

Read more

Competing on the Peacock alumni Iowa Winter Games team were (from left) Zach Reed, Rob Bailey, Austin Putman, Matt Lux, Josh Handke ‘07, Nick Larson ‘07, Adam Winters ‘07, Chris Handke and Jon Glaser. Not pictured were Mitch Melega ‘07 and Marcus Uhlenhopp ’08.

For six consecutive years, a core group of UIU Peacock alums have competed as a team at the Iowa Winter Games. Originally composed entirely of former Peacock Men’s Basketball players, the group has had to open its arms to others as players move away or juggle priorities.

This year’s team finished third, meeting their rival, the “Playground Legends,” a team of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, locals with high school and college basketball experience. “It’s always a very close and very competitive game,” said Josh Handke. “This year they were the only team to beat us. We made a three-point shot to tie the game with four seconds left, and then they made a three-pointer at the buzzer just inside half-court over our seven-foot-tall center to beat us.”

Playing every Iowa Winter Games since graduating from Upper Iowa, the team is known for its competitive edge and being a force to contend with in the final rounds.

All of the UIU alums on the team played for coach Dave Martin and/or coach Brian Dolan during their college years.

Featured on the team are:

Nick Larson (’05-’06 and ’06-’07 seasons)
Mitch Melega (’05-’06 and ’06-’07)
Marcus Uhlenhopp (’04-’05, ’05-’06, ’06-’07 and part of ’07-’08)
Josh Handke (’03-’04, ’04-’05, ’05-’06, ’06-’07)
Adam Winters (’03-’04, redshirt ’04-’05, ’05-’06 and part of ’06-’07)

Other UIU Basketball alumni that have played on the team at one time or another:

Cody Lycke (’04-’05, ’05-’06 and’06-’07)
Leif Hetzler (’05-’06, ’06-’07)
Storm Schmitt (’04-’05, ’05-’06, ’06-’07 and ’07-’08)

UIU Associate Professor of Accouting Randy Thomas (right) shakes hands with Pawn Stars’ Rick Harrison.

By Randy Thomas, associate professor of accounting for Upper Iowa University

What do you call 700 accountants in Las Vegas?  Be kind, as this is not another accountant joke – we are already the object of one too many!  The answer is the Institute of Management (IMA) Annual Conference & Exposition. I attended this event with the aid of the Upper Iowa University Summer Faculty Scholarship Stipend, a program that encourages UIU faculty to participate in scholarly activity over the summer.

Conference sessions included several technical topics including an important discussion of the role of FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board) and its efforts to work with the IASB (International Accounting Standards Board) to establish International Financial Reporting Standards. 

One of the earlier sessions was dedicated to discovering the characteristics of accountants.  Clearly accountants have a rich heritage. They have always been an integral part of society, in a position of trust, and used as “change agents”. We explored the time-honored traits people look for in accountants – trust, accuracy, timeliness, competency and business acumen.  These traits were demanded as far back as the ancient empires of Egypt, Greece and Rome.  Indeed, it is said that if a pharaoh discovered an auditor couldn’t do the job, he was terminated, which at the time meant put to death!  Today’s accountants must still possess these five traits, but also master the leadership traits of vision, communication and teamwork.

Leadership has evolved over the past 30-40 years.  It is no longer enough that an accountant be really smart.  They must also be a great leader of people. The trend in today’s work environment is less directives and more direction supplied by inspiring people and thus the organization!  The ideal leader is a visionary, who has knowledge via experience, and a warm personality.

Another session emphasized the need for strong ethics in the accounting profession.  It is believed that the future will bring an ever-increasing emphasis on:  1) ethics and control, 2) compliance, 3) transparency, and 4) cost improvements (understanding lean accounting).   This session was a great prelude to one of the conferences keynote speakers, Rick Harrison of the popular history channel show Pawn Stars.

Harrison discussed the importance of ethics even in what he acknowledges is traditionally viewed as the “shady-deal” pawn business. This business owner related how he believes that honesty pays.  He referred to instances in his show where he informed the selling customer the item was worth far more than they were asking. 

Harrison truly believes ethical conduct is essential to his business. He believes news of an honest deal will multiply “4x4x4”, and is convinced word of a bad deal can spread “10x10x10”.  This multiplier effect stemming from unethical behavior results in a business growing into “something you really don’t want”.  While he didn’t wish to discuss religion, he believes Mother Theresa and Hitler are in different places!  This drives his store policy of not handling “evil items” such as Nazi products, even though there is a demand for them in the pawn industry.

One session focused on valuing diversity.  We learned that businesses will increasingly be required to serve a global customer base that grows more diverse every day.  This requires building an employee team where the values of diversity are inclusive in the work environment and are well understood and fully embraced.  It is predicted that customers will trend toward seeking suppliers and dealers that represent the diversity of the marketplace.  Thus the ideal work environment of the future will be a place where every person is valued, every voice is heard, and every point of view is respected. 

“I looked all over Vegas for a peacock, but all I could find was this flamingo.” – Randy Thomas

We discussed what business sees as the needs of students graduating today!  While most are strong in accounting they need to be stronger in “driving the business and making decisions.”   As a result, I plan to adjust UIU’s accounting curriculum to include more business cases.  In addition, I will recommend students take optional classes in leadership and supervision.  The business world sees a minor in management as an excellent complement to a major in accounting.

Another session discussed was mega trends in cost accounting.  It is predicted that cost accounting will be instrumental in providing solutions to the country’s health care cost crisis. An example is that patient data will be used to reduce costly hospital re-admissions.  Data currently shows that 30 percent of patients are re-admitted within 30 days.  Reducing readmission could save an estimated $17 billion annually. 

Another keynote speaker was Stephen M. R. Covey of Franklin Covey.  Covey delivered a summary of his book, The Speed of Trust.  He revealed trust as the hidden variable that can be a person’s greatest strength and fuel key strategic goals.  Trust was presented as an economic driver, rather than merely a social virtue.  Covey calls it the number one competency of leadership today.  Trust, and the ability to create it, was claimed to be a learnable competency.

To prove his point he asked that we think first of a person we trust and next of a person we do not trust.  Next, we considered the differences in working with these two individuals.  We all agreed on the extremes in terms of the ability to: communicate, getting things done, and how long it takes to get results.

The speaker claims that trust equals confidence.  And that the opposite is distrust and suspicion.  Trust involves both character and competence.  Smart trust means both a high propensity to trust and equally high analysis.  He noted that accountants love the analysis part!  As accountants, we need to both trust and verify.  We are good at measuring trusting too much, but not as good at measuring the cost of not trusting enough!

Finally he discussed two formulas.  The trust tax means that low trust equals low speed and high cost.  An example is the results from our distrust of air travel after September 11, 2001.  The trust dividend means high trust yields high speed and low cost.  This represents the benefit received from trusted co-workers. 

Another session covered credibility, which was defined as the calling card of a professional.  The components of credibility – character, competence and current performance – were compared to the parts of a fruit tree.

The tree’s roots are character.  They are made up of integrity and intent.  It was explained that integrity requires both humility and courage.  Intent is when you care about the folks you do business with letthem know it.  Your “tree roots” need to show the integrity that you seek a win-win, mutual benefit.  And you need to declare your intent by giving the why as well as the what.

The tree itself is competence.  This is the capability and relevance you maintain.  A group like IMA does that via continuous improvement.  You must even re-invent yourself if necessary.

Finally the fruit of the tree is our current performance.  Yes, our results, both past and current matter!  When there is a trend of good results people believe in you.  The trust in the accounting profession comes from showing results.

As you can see, this conference “jump starts” the management accountant to insure they are progressing in the right direction for both the benefit of their firm and the continued prestige in the management accounting profession.   One final treat I enjoyed was the acceptance of our ninth-place (out of 100 chapters) banner for the 2011-12 year for the Waterloo/Cedar Falls chapter of the IMA. 

Accountants attending the IMA Annual Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas.

UIU will summarize additional stories about how faculty spent their summer stipends in the next issue of The Bridge, due out in February.  The complete stories can be viewed at http://www.uiu.edu/facultystaff/summerstipend/index.html