Kaplan University
Unit 1 Assignment
Chapter 1
5 What role does professional research play within an accounting firm or department? Who primarily conducts the research?
Professional research, if carried out properly, gives an accounting professional the tools need to investigate and assess an issue or problem that a client, business, or government may have. Being able to do this on a regular basis is a very important aspect of being a public accountant. Especially in today’s society, it is important because there are many changes that are occurring with regards to laws, services, technologies, and standards. Thus, to keep up with all this, professional research is required to decipher the problem and come out with a solution. It is also the responsibility of a public accountant to carry out or conduct auditing and accounting research in the same fashion that an attorney is responsible to conduct proper legal research. The public accountant that is dealing with the issue or problem is primarily the one who will carry out the research. He or she knows the issue the best and therefore has the best knowledge with regard to what they should be looking for in order to give some knowledgeable response to their problem.
7 Identify and explain some basic questions the researcher must address in performing accounting, auditing, or tax research.
1. Do I have complete knowledge to answer the question, or must I conduct research to consult authoritative references?
This question helps to address whether or not the practitioner has to take on a research approach when dealing with an issue or problem.
2. What is the law (tax law) or authoritative literature?
This give the practitioner an idea of where he or she must look in order to find the correct and liable source to answer the issue or problem.
3. Does the law or authoritative literature address the issue under review?
Here, the practitioner must know if the source has the proper information in it. This
References: Weirich, T. Pearson, T. Churyk, N. (2009). Accounting & Auditing Research Tools & Strategies. Seventh Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, NJ