Author: rormsby

Deloitte has issued Media Consumption Habits Across Generations: Rethinking What You Know, which is discussed in a podcast with a transcript available.  Among the discussion points is the continual importance of television to people and the popularity of smartphones.  It is the latest in a series of reports on media and democracy.

The Washington Post published on May 21  a graphic explanation of the  reforms in financial regulation included in the landmark Senate bill last week.  The graphic is drawing notice for its clarity.

A student reported that the hand dryer in the men’s room on the 2nd floor is running continuously and can’t be stopped.  So I placed a work request order, number 31398 about it tonight.  Rita

On Saturday, at a student’s request, I placed a work order, 31147, for new tube lights in the graduate student carrels on the 4th floor as the student said they were burned out.

FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, last week released several new upgrades to their  free  Fund Analyzer tool, which enables  comparisons of up to three mutual funds or exchange-traded funds side-by-side and evaluate the impact of fees and expenses over time . Using the new Fund Screener, one can  search more than 23,000 funds and ETFs on nine key criteria, making the task of finding funds that meet investors’ objectives quicker and easier. The new Annual Expense Comparison illustrates how a fund’s expense ratio stacks up against an industry average of similar funds. Other new features include one-click access to a fund’s prospectus and other disclosure documents, a PDF report that may be printed or saved and a “Share This” function to send the report to others.

The Brookings Institute recently published a State of Metropolitan America Report with some interactive maps of data.

A student has reported that Pharos MFP #6 is making dirty copies..it leaves black toner on the white copies.  This printer is the closest to the door on the south side of the printing room.  I made a help desk request.

Friday at the reference desk I had a call from a woman, not a Baruch student, who was to take the SimNet exam today.   She said the CD, available in the bookstore, doesn’t work on VISTA, which she had on her home computer.  Today I learned from Arthur the following:

Folks who need to take the  SimNet exam can do so in the 6th floor lab.  They receive a letter from the testing center that they can present at the entry desk for access.

I will update the Wiki.

Accountancy professor Hugo Nurnberg has assigned his Acc 9805 students an assignment that  requires searching the FASB Codification.  All students have received a guide to the three databases that offer the FASB Codification.  As the assignment deals with the division of partnership income and a limited liability medical practice, with some of the doctors owning the voting stock of a separate company that consists of the building and equipment used in the medical practice, I will post via email separately some suggested search strategies and the assignment.  I helped a student today and we found some information that will require further study by the students.  The student had not previously searched the Codification.  Since it became effective last July, many people have not yet searched it.  Please let me know if you have any questions.   Rita

I learned today that Prof. Carmichael has assigned his Acc5400H class an assignment dealing with 5 questions and that the paper, about 15 pages, is due May 1.  This is an auditing class.  I have revised my handout on how to access the FASB Codification to include how to access the Audit and Accounting Guides that are available in CCH Accounting Research Manager and RIA Checkpoint–Accounting, Audit.  I sent him a copy of the guide to give the students and I have also posted a copy of it on the shared drive, under IS.  There is a folder 2010 Carmichael assignment.  The handout also suggests looking for articles in ABI Inform and Business Source Complete and Books 24×7.   I had a research consultation with a student today and we worked through some searches on each of the five questions. (That’s how I learned of the assignment.)

I will post some suggested searches to the listserv as it is too much to handle here.