Provide your answer to the following question contained with theAccounting for the Public Interest: A Revenue Recognition Dilemma case:

5. After careful consideration of the public interest consequences of ASC 605-15-S99-1, would it be appropriate for the SEC to modify its revenue recognition position exclusively for pharmaceutical companies stockpiling vaccines for the federal government by allowing them to recognize revenue on stockpiled vaccines? Why or why not?

ISSUES IN ACCOUNTING EDUCATION Vol. 28, No. 3 2013 pp. 691-703 American Accounting Association DOI: 10.2308/iace-50463 Accounting for the Public Interest: A Revenue Recognition Dilemma Arline Savage, Douglas C. Cerf, and Roberta A. Barra ABSTRACT: This case illustrates how accounting rules impact the public interest and vice versa. The setting is a gray area of accounting in which management, the external auditors, the SEC, and international accounting standard setters may have differing opinions about the accounting treatment. Students consider the situation in which an accounting rule leads to a business and societal problem. They gain an understanding of how this happens and how such problems can be addressed. The context for this case is a revenue recognition issue for bill-and-hold sales. It also provides students with the opportunity to consider the real-world implications of accrual- versus cash-based accounting. This case is useful for intermediate- to graduate-level financial accounting classes or an accounting capstone class. Keywords: revenue recognition; bill-and-hold sales; public interest; international accounting standards; cash versus accrual. INTRODUCTION Y ou are a newly promoted audit manager at a national CPA firm with international affiliates, and you are very excited about being part of the audit team of a major client of the firm: a large pharmaceutical corporation that participates in the U.S. government's Vaccine for Children Program (VCP). The VCP purchases its federal stockpile of pediatric vaccines from only a small, select group of major pharmaceutical companies deemed eligible to participate in this program. This vaccine stockpile is a strategic reserve in which vaccine makers maintain a sixmonth supply. Your appointment to this audit team bodes well for your long-term goal of becoming a partner at the firm. Your first task is to educate yourself about the vaccine industry, in compliance with AU 210.04. You prepare a brief overview of the industry (see Appendix A) to discuss with the audit team. Your personal interest in the vaccine case extends beyond that of an auditor. You remember only too well the following newspaper report: ''Pediatric vaccine stockpile drops: The stockpile Arline Savage is a Professor at The University of Alabama at Birmingham; Douglas C. Cerf is a Professor at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; and Roberta A. Barra is an Associate Professor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. The authors thank Paul Munter (KPMG Partner in the Department of Professional Practice, lead technical partner for international accounting and IFRS activities, and member of KPMG's IFRS Panel) for his insightful comments, which significantly improved this case. Published Online: March 2013 691 Savage, Cerf, and Barra 692 apparently has become a victim of a U.S. campaign against deceptive accounting practices'' (Brown 2005a). Your appointment as a member of the audit team for one of the pharmaceutical firms involved in the controversy brings to mind the extreme anxiety experienced by your sister and her husband when their baby could not get a vaccine that she needed because of the vaccine shortage, which had resulted from an accounting dispute between the SEC and the vaccine makers and their auditors. As you sit at your desk, you ask yourself the following questions: \u0002 \u0002 \u0002 \u0002 Could a similar situation happen on my watch as an audit manager? What should an auditor do when accounting policy has significant adverse impacts on society or on some groups in a particular society? What takes precedence: accounting for economic substance or the public interest? Isn't accounting supposed to be in the public interest? Now that you think about it, one of your colleagues recently mentioned that the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC 2012) had recently finalized a Policy Position on A Definition of the Public Interest and that IFAC's concept of the public interest addresses a broader set of stakeholders than does the AICPA's Public Interest principle. IFAC defines the public interest as ''the net benefits derived for, and procedural rigor employed on behalf of, all society in relation to any action, decision, or policy'' (IFAC 2012; emphasis added). You decide that conducting an investigation and analysis of this topical issue, even if it includes use of your rather scarce personal time, provides you with an opportunity to become a better auditor who considers all aspects of an accounting issue. As part of your audit planning, you begin by reviewing U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) revenue recognition concepts and criteria, followed by transaction-specific guidance that directly relates to pharmaceutical companies' vaccine stockpiles, which are classified as bill-and-hold sales. You know that a bill-and-hold sale is a sale in which the buyer purchases products and requests that the seller hold the product to be delivered upon request at a future time. The seller can charge the buyer an inventory carrying cost. Sometimes, the buyer pays for the product before it is shipped, such as the VCP in which your client participates. The government prepays for the stockpiled vaccines, which are stored by the vaccine companies in their warehouses and are not delivered until the governmentin this case, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) request delivery. The vaccine makers are also required to rotate the inventory as the vaccines expire. After preparing a synopsis of U.S. GAAP revenue recognition concepts and criteria in general, you follow up with further research on the accounting treatment of bill-and-hold sales using the GAAP codification, as well as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) relating to these issues. A few days later, you meet with your client's CFO. During lunch, the conversation casually evolves into a discussion of the vaccine shortage controversy that occurred some years ago. The CFO tells you that he was, in fact, CFO at that time. He explains to you the issue within the context of your client, and he also discusses the ensuing controversy. After lunch, you do some research on the vaccine industry (Appendix A; Prifti 2010) and document the issue from the vaccine maker's perspective, and you also summarize the consequences of the controversy. The Vaccine Makers' Perspective The development of a single vaccine by a pharmaceutical company can take 12 to 15 years and between $500 million and $1 billion in funding (Sloan et al. 2004). In late 1999, the SEC issued guidance in ASC 605-15-S99-1. Prior to the issuance of ASC 605-15-S99-1, vaccine makers recognized revenue once the government made the agreement to stockpile the vaccine and the vaccine company received payment and stockpiled the inventory. But because of ASC 605-15-S99Issues in Accounting Education Volume 28, No. 3, 2013 Accounting for the Public Interest: A Revenue Recognition Dilemma 693 1, stockpiled inventories of vaccines held in the companies' warehouses were officially considered unsold by the external auditors, stockholders, and Wall Street. Despite the significant amount of cash that the vaccine makers received up-front from the federal government stockpile program, they could no longer recognize revenue at the time the vaccines were placed in the stockpile, but had to wait until the vaccines were shipped upon government request. The vaccine makers' reactions to ASC 605-15-S99-1 were generally negative. Although ultimately responsible for GAAP, the SEC does not set GAAP (having delegated that authority to the FASB). SEC guidance is authoritative in that it prescribes financial statement presentation formats and disclosures and accounting recognition and measurement principles that public companies are obligated to follow (Deloitte Global Services Limited 2012). So whereas the SEC did not ''technically'' create a new accounting standard with ASC 605-15-S99-1, an external auditor for the vaccine makers correctly opines that ''we expect the implementation [of ASC 60515-S99-1] . . . to have a significant impact on the revenue reporting practices of a number of [companies]'' (Brown 2005a). The vaccine makers' perspective was that they should be allowed to recognize the revenue when the vaccines are inventoried and stockpiled instead of when the vaccines are delivered. By delaying the point at which vaccine makers could recognize revenue for these vaccines, the new accounting standard had created a disincentive to participate in the government program. The Consequences of ASC 605-15-S99-1 The vaccine situation came to a head in the summer of 2004, when the CDC asked the vaccine makers to make additions to the stockpile. Three said no. Only one vaccine maker said yes. One vaccine maker's response was: ''Almost 2 years ago, [we] raised the 'revenue recognition' issue with CDC. . . . We understood from our conversations that we were the first manufacturer to do so. . . . We stated then that short of SEC changes in the interpretation of Staff Accounting Bulletin #101, and/or changes to the stockpile terms, [we] would be out of the stockpile business'' (Brown 2005b). All the pharmaceutical firms involved said they supported the idea of a stockpile and termed its diminished state ''really a threat to public health'' (Brown 2005b). By 2005 the stockpile of eight vaccines that provided protection against 11 childhood diseases had fallen to less than a third of the required level, at 13.2 million doses of vaccine instead of 41 million doses. For two vaccines, including one that protected children against diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus, the stockpile was empty. This situation posed an enormous threat to the health of children in the United States and put the nation in a vulnerable position in the event of an emergency situation. The fallout was that parents were shocked and incredulous that their children's lives were being put at risk because of an accounting rule, and so they took their infuriation to Congress, where a congressional representative succinctly expressed parents' sentiments: ''I don't care how they solve it; they should just solve it'' (Brown 2005b). CASE QUESTIONS 1. Appendix B provides a synopsis from four sources of revenue recognition rules: (1) General U.S. GAAP Revenue Recognition Concepts and Criteria, (2) General IFRS Revenue Recognition Concepts and Criteria, (3) Accounting Treatment for Bill-and-Hold Sales Using the GAAP Codification, and (4) Accounting Treatment for Bill-and-Hold Sales Using IFRS. Answer the questions below. Base your analyses on the literature from Appendix B and use this literature to support your conclusions. (a) Associate IFRS revenue recognition concepts and criteria to those of U.S. GAAP, using only Appendix B, Parts 1 and 2, by building a table with two columns. Label Issues in Accounting Education Volume 28, No. 3, 2013 Savage, Cerf, and Barra 694 one column ''IFRS'' and the other column ''U.S. GAAP.'' In each row of the first column of your table, list an IFRS criterion or concept and then draw arrows from each of these to the U.S. GAAP criteria or concepts listed in the second column. (b) Explain how revenue recognition for bill-and-hold sales under IFRS (Appendix B, Part 4) differs from the GAAP Codification (Appendix B, Part 3). (c) Would the bill-and-hold sales of stockpiled vaccines, as described in this case, constitute a revenue transaction under IFRS? Why or why not? 2. Go back to the time of this case, when the government made the agreement to purchase the vaccine and the vaccine company received payment and stockpiled the inventory. According to U.S. GAAP revenue recognition concepts and criteria at that time (i.e., Appendix B, Part 1), did the management of the vaccine companies and their external auditors have authoritative accounting justification for recognizing revenue on the stockpiled vaccines? Support your answer by referring only to the relevant revenue recognition concepts and criteria in Appendix B, Part 1. 3. Operating cash flow is often referred to as the lifeblood of a firm. The vaccine makers received cash up-front from the government for the stockpiled vaccines. Such cash would be reported to stakeholders (financial analysts, stockholders, lenders, etc.) in the operating cash flow section of the Statement of Cash Flows in the fiscal period of receipt. Given this, why would these pharmaceutical companies be so concerned about when the revenue related to this cash is recognized for income statement purposes? In your response, consider how recognized revenues are used by firm stakeholders. Use your library databases to provide at least two references to support your answer. 4. Do you agree or disagree with the position taken by the vaccine companies? Should they be allowed to recognize revenue for stockpiled vaccines? Why or why not? 5. After careful consideration of the public interest consequences of ASC 605-15-S99-1, would it be appropriate for the SEC to modify its revenue recognition position exclusively for pharmaceutical companies stockpiling vaccines for the federal government by allowing them to recognize revenue on stockpiled vaccines? Why or why not? 6. Use the SEC website to determine whether the SEC subsequently modified its revenue recognition position for these vaccine makers by amending its authoritative guidance, given the public outcry about the vaccine shortage. Provide information that supports your answer. REFERENCES Brown, D. 2005a. Pediatric vaccine stockpile drops. The Tribune (April 17): A1, A13. Brown, D. 2005b. Pediatric vaccine stockpile at risk; makers hesitate to supply government. The Washington Post (April 17): A01. Deloitte Global Services Limited. 2012. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Available at: http://www.iasplus.com/en/resources/resource49. Economist, The. 2007. Beyond the egg. (March 10): 65. International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). 2012. A Definition of the Public Interest. Policy Position No. 5. New York, NY: IFAC. Available at: http://www.ifac.org/publications-resources/ definition-public-interest Lancet Infectious Diseases, The. 2004. Where have all the vaccines gone? 4 (4): 187. National Network for Immunization Information. 2006. Vaccine Supply and Shortages. Available at: http:// www.immunizationinfo.org/es/issues/immunization-policy/vaccine-supply-and-shortages Prifti, C. 2010. The Vaccine Industry: An Overview. VaccineEthics.org. Available at: http://www. vaccineethics.org/issue_briefs/industry.php Issues in Accounting Education Volume 28, No. 3, 2013 Accounting for the Public Interest: A Revenue Recognition Dilemma 695 Salinsky, E., and C. Warble. 2006. The vaccine industry: Does it need a shot in the arm? National Health Policy Forum 25 (January): 14. Sloan, F. A., S. Berman, S. Rosenbaum, R. A. Chalk, and R. B. Giffin. 2004. The fragility of the U.S. vaccine supply. The New England Journal of Medicine 351 (23): 2443. APPENDIX A Overview of the Vaccine Industry Vaccine makers are pharmaceutical companies that make vaccine production decisions based on profitability (National Network for Immunization Information 2006). Virtually all licensed vaccines in the U.S. are produced by five companies, including our client. Thirty years ago, the vaccine industry included many more firms, with 35 companies producing vaccines for the U.S. Vaccine shortages are not confined to the U.S. Between 1988 and 2001, 10 of 14 global vaccine manufacturers partially or completely stopped production of traditional childhood vaccines (The Lancet Infectious Diseases 2004). This trend is primarily attributed to low profitability, costly R&D and production, and liability issues. Analysts expect vaccine profit margins to remain below the profit margins of branded pharmaceuticals (The Economist 2007). Demand for pediatric vaccines is directly related to the size of the birth cohort in a given year and is consequently not difficult for manufacturers to predict. Governments are the largest single purchasers of vaccines. U.S. federal and state government purchases of pediatric vaccines account for almost 60 percent of total pediatric vaccines purchased in the country. Many factors discourage vaccine research and development, including limited demand, liability issues, and bulk purchasing discounts. By comparison to the demand by the government, the demand for vaccines by others is in small quantities and widely distributed. This leads to significant sales transaction costs. Many organizations believe that the revenue received from administering vaccines does not warrant the assumed liability. Because the government purchases large quantities, they are able to obtain bulk purchase discounts. These factors all lead to lower motivation to perform research and development on vaccines. Additionally, the production of an approved vaccine requires approximately 12 to 15 years of research and costs $500 million to $1 billion (Sloan et al. 2004). Fixed costs of vaccine production are estimated at approximately 60 percent, requiring substantial sales to exceed fixed costs (Salinsky and Warble 2006). Given that vaccines are only administered a few times per individual, markets and profitability are limited. APPENDIX B Synopsis of Revenue Recognition Rules Applicable At Time of Vaccine Case Part 1. General U.S. GAAP Revenue Recognition Concepts and Criteria Revenue recognition under U.S. GAAP is heavily prescriptive and requires that two conditions be met: the revenue must be both earned and realized or realizable. To meet the first condition, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Concepts Statement No. 5, paragraph 83 (b), issued December 1984, states that ''an entity's revenue-earning activities involve delivering or producing goods, rendering services, or other activities that constitute its ongoing major or central operations, and revenues are considered to be earned when the entity has substantially accomplished what it must do to be entitled to the benefits represented by the revenues.'' More specificity is provided by the SEC, which gives additional authoritative guidance for companies registered with the SEC. The Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) incorporates some SEC guidance. With respect to revenue recognition, the SEC guidance can be found in Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) Topic 13 Issues in Accounting Education Volume 28, No. 3, 2013 Savage, Cerf, and Barra 696 (included in the Codification as ASC 605-10-S99-1), which states that for revenue to be ''earned'' from the sale of goods, two criteria must be met: (1) persuasive evidence of an arrangement must exist (in other words, the final agreement between the parties must specify the nature and terms of the transaction and must consequently be in writing), and (2) delivery of the goods must have occurred (i.e., the risks and rewards of ownership have been transferred). ASC 605-10-25-1, derived from FASB Concepts Statement No. 5, paragraphs 83(a) and (b), states that ''the two conditions (being realized or realizable and being earned) are usually met by the time the product or merchandise is delivered . . . to customers, and revenues from manufacturing and selling activities . . . are commonly recognized at the time of sale (usually meaning delivery).'' Specifically, with respect to ''realized or realizable,'' ASC 605-10-S99-1 also requires that (1) the seller's price to the buyer must be fixed or determinable, and (2) collectability must be reasonably assured. Part 2. General IFRS Revenue Recognition Concepts and Criteria While U.S. GAAP revenue recognition guidance is heavily prescriptive and comprises more than a hundred standards (pre-codification), many of which are industry-specific and can produce conflicting results for economically similar transactions, IFRS principles underlying the revenue recognition standard (IAS 18, Revenue) are more high-level and general. According to IAS 18, revenue is recognized when probable future economic benefits exist for the selling entity and the revenues and related costs can be reliably measured. Furthermore, the seller must have transferred the significant risks and rewards of ownership to the buyer. In addition, the seller cannot retain managerial involvement to the degree usually associated with ownership, nor effective control over the goods sold. Part 3. Accounting Treatment for Bill-and-Hold Sales Using the GAAP Codification For bill-and-hold sales, SAB 104, issued by the SEC on December 17, 2003, and incorporated into ASC 605-10-S99-1 as Topic 13 in the Codification, states that delivery generally is not considered to have occurred unless the buyer has taken title and assumed the risks and rewards of ownership of the products specified in the buyer's purchase order or sales agreement. This typically occurs when a product is delivered to the customer's delivery site (if the terms of the sale are ''FOB destination'') or when a product is shipped to the customer (if the terms are ''FOB shipping point''). More specifically, the following are the criteria to recognize revenue on bill-and-hold sales when delivery has not yet occurred: \u0002 \u0002 \u0002 \u0002 \u0002 \u0002 \u0002 The risks of ownership must have passed to the buyer. The customer must have made a fixed commitment to purchase the goods, preferably in writing. The buyer, not the seller, must request (typically in writing) that the transaction be on a billand-hold basis. The buyer must have a substantial business purpose for ordering the goods on a bill-and-hold basis. There must be a fixed schedule for delivery of the goods, i.e., the date for delivery must be reasonable and must be consistent with the buyer's business purpose (e.g., storage periods are customary in the industry). The seller must not have retained any specific performance obligations such that the earning process is not complete. The ordered goods must have been segregated from the seller's inventory and not be subject to being used to fill other orders. The product must be complete and ready for shipment. Issues in Accounting Education Volume 28, No. 3, 2013 Accounting for the Public Interest: A Revenue Recognition Dilemma 697 Part 4. Accounting Treatment for Bill-and-Hold Sales Using IFRS Paragraph 1 of the Appendix to IAS 18 discusses bill-and-hold sales. It states that ''revenue is recognized when the buyer takes title,'' provided that: \u0002 \u0002 \u0002 \u0002 Delivery is probable. The inventory is on hand, identified, and ready for delivery to the buyer. The buyer specifically acknowledges the deferred delivery instructions. The usual payment terms apply. Issues in Accounting Education Volume 28, No. 3, 2013 Savage, Cerf, and Barra 698 CASE LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND IMPLEMENTATION GUIDANCE Learning Objectives This case helps students to (1) analyze and articulate how the public interest can be impacted by accounting standards and vice versa, (2) compare U.S. GAAP revenue recognition criteria with IFRS, (3) analyze and critique a situation in which an accounting rule leads to a business and societal problem, (4) discover how this situation can happen and how it can be addressed, and (5) discuss why accrual-based revenue recognition is important vis-a`-vis cash collections for sales. The AICPA Core Competency Framework defines a set of skills-based competencies needed by all students entering the accounting profession, regardless of the career path they choose (public, industry, government, or nonprofit) or the specific accounting services they will perform (AICPA 2013). This case also assists students in reaching functional, personal, and broad business perspective core competencies of the AICPA Core Competency Framework, as follows: \u0002 \u0002 \u0002 Functional competencies, i.e., decision modeling, reporting, and research; Personal competencies, i.e., professional demeanor, problem solving, decision making, and communication; and Broad business perspective competencies, i.e., critical thinking and industry perspectives. Implementation Guidance We have used this case in many undergraduate intermediate and graduate financial accounting classes during its development. Different accounting textbooks were used in the various classes. However, all professors covered the topics of revenue recognition and bill-and hold sales in all classes before the case was assigned. Although we use this case as an individual assignment and require the students to do individual preparation, we do require students to participate in small group discussions prior to the class discussion. Other instructors may wish to assign this as a group project. We estimate that it takes a minimum of 1.25 hours of class time for the introduction of the case and the subsequent class discussion, and 2.5 to 3.5 hours for students to complete the case outside of class. A benefit of this case is that students engage in active learning. Bonwell and Eison (1991) found that students who engage in active learning use higher-order thinking skills than students who merely observe the same principles demonstrated during a lecture. Students are more connected to the learning concepts, are able to see the context of the learning, and can better apply course concepts (Whitfield 1999). Bonwell (1997) provides evidence of the benefits of active learning in a university setting. Active learning promotes inductive learning, where students explore and discover how to apply (and, in this case, critique) the principles and rules that they learned in class (Bell and Kozlowski 2008). Some students may initially be uncomfortable with the amount of ambiguity inherent in this case. They are accustomed to solving problems in most of their accounting classes and are comfortable with solutions that are either right or wrong. However, after completion of this case, students view the potential public interest consequences of accounting standards in a different light. This case also extends the instructional resource recently provided by Alford et al. (2011), in which students research a series of revenue recognition mini-cases, including bill-and-hold sales, using the FASB Accounting Standards Codification. These mini-cases also illustrate the complexity and ambiguity inherent in the area of revenue recognition. As accounting professionals, students will face these challenges in the future. Issues in Accounting Education Volume 28, No. 3, 2013 Accounting for the Public Interest: A Revenue Recognition Dilemma 699 Evidence of Efficacy We tested the efficacy of this case in four courses offered by three different professors at three institutions. Class sizes were 67 students, 53 students, 29 students, and 21 students, for n 170. During spring 2010, we formally tested the case in two Intermediate Financial Accounting I classes at University A and University B. In spring 2011, we again tested the case in an Intermediate Financial Accounting I class at University A and an Executive M.B.A. Accounting class at University C, consequently eliminating quarter-after-quarter, or semester-after-semester bias. No student repeated the test in a different class. For the Intermediate Financial Accounting courses, the prerequisite courses were Introductory Financial Accounting and the first Managerial Accounting course. For the Executive M.B.A. course, the prerequisite course was a graduate Introductory Financial Accounting course. In this graduate class of 21 students, only two students had completed any undergraduate accounting courses. To evaluate the efficacy, we administered a seven-question multiple-choice test twice (the multiple-choice questions are shown in Appendix C1), except for one class, in which students received only six test questions (Question 6 of Appendix C had not yet been included in the test). Consequently, Question 6 of Appendix C was administered to only a subset of students. We analyzed Question 6 separately and have included the separate results in the tables that follow. We administered the first test (i.e., the pre-test) after students had read their various textbook chapters on revenue recognition and attended the lecture on that topic, which included bill-and-hold sales. The students did not have access to the case material until after completion of the pre-test. We administered the second test (i.e., the post-test) following completion of the case study. Our testing of the case study appears to indicate efficacy for the project. Table 1 shows the average score on the pre-test was fewer than 3 questions (2.18) correct, or 36 percent correcta failing score. The average score on the post-test was more than 4 questions correct (4.31), or 72 percent correct; thus the students almost doubled their score by completing this project. The results are statistically significant at a p-value of less than 0.0001 (see Table 2). These results were insensitive to various correlation tests. Pearson coefficient values on correlation tests ranged from \u00030.29 to 0.19. Correlation on the change in test scores with the gender of the student (\u00030.03), the class (\u00030.29), or the rank of the student (0.19) were all significantly less than 1 or \u00031. The Chi-Square for the pre-test questions was 0.17 by class, 0.9 by gender, and 0.10 by rank. The Chi-Square for the post-test questions was 0.35 by class, 0.67 by gender, and 0.61 by rank. None of these are significant, and we feel comfortable ruling out any influence due to instructors or student rank. The overall efficacy ANOVA results are presented in Table 3. Regarding the efficacy testing of this case in the classroom, the institutional human subject policy affords researchers exemptions from review by the Human Subjects Committee, provided that the research falls into the following category of ''Research conducted in educational settings involving normal educational practices, such as research on instructional strategies, curricula, or classroom management methods.'' TEACHING NOTES T 1 eaching Notes are available only to non-student-member subscribers to Issues in Accounting Education through the American Accounting Association's electronic publications system at http://aaapubs.org/. Non-student-member subscribers should use Although the wording of the test was refined as the case developed, the essence of each question remained the same. Issues in Accounting Education Volume 28, No. 3, 2013 Savage, Cerf, and Barra 700 TABLE 1 Descriptive Statistics Panel A: Gender Gender Number Percent No. Correct (Percent) Pre No. Correct (Percent) Post Male Female 103 67 61% 39% 238 (39%) 132 (33%) 447 (72%) 285 (71%) Total 170 100% 370 (36%) 732 (72%) Panel B: Rank Rank Number Percent Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior Graduate 1 15 72 60 22 1% 9% 42% 35% 13% Total 170 100% a No. (Percent) Correct Pre 4 34 151 142 39 No. (Percent) Correct Post (67%) (38%) (35%) (39%) (30%) 5 64 306 274 83 370 (36%) (83%) (71%) (71%) (76%) (63%) 732 (72%) Results are not statistically significant by gender or rank; p-values ranging from 0.102 to 0.89 using Chi-Square tests. a Transfer student. TABLE 2 Efficacy Questions Question 1. U. S. GAAP Revenue Recognition for Inventory 2. Define term ''earned'' 3. SEC relaxes accounting rules for public interest 4. Pharmaceutical company-specific accounting rules 5. Public interest consequences of following accounting rules 7. Main forecasting and valuation models Subtotal 6. U.S. GAAP and IFRS Total a No. Correct (Mean) Pre No. Correct (Mean) Post Change p-value For Meansa 33 (0.19) 129 (0.76) 96 (0.57) , 0.0001 146 (0.86) 59 (0.35) 152 (0.89) 144 (0.85) 6 (0.03) 85 (0.50) 0.258 , 0.0000 58 (0.34) 141 (0.83) 83 (0.49) , 0.0001 55 (0.32) 69 (0.41) 14 (0.09) 19 (0.11) 97 (0.57) 78 (0.46) , 0.0000 370 (2.18) 9 (0.17) 732 (4.31) 38 (0.33) 362 (2.13) 19 (0.16) , 0.0001 0.002 389 (2.29) 770 (4.53) 381 (2.24) , 0.0001 0.113 Two-tailed paired t-test two-sample for means. All questions are significant except Questions 2 and 5. Question 6 was not posed to all students and was analyzed separately. Issues in Accounting Education Volume 28, No. 3, 2013 Accounting for the Public Interest: A Revenue Recognition Dilemma 701 TABLE 3 Overall Efficacy ANOVA Results Panel A: Summary Groups Pre Post Count Sum Average Variance 170 170 370 732 2.18 4.31 1.29 1.48 Panel B: ANOVA Source of Variation Between Groups Within Groups Total SS df MS F p-value F crit 525.51 781.95 1,307.46 2 507 509 262.75 1.54 170.36 2.55E-57 3.01 Panel C: Change from Pre to Post Mean Standard Error Median Mode Standard Deviation Sample Variance Kurtosis Skewness Range Minimum Maximum Sum Count Confidence Level (95.0%) 2.13 0.10 2.00 2.00 1.36 1.85 (0.49) 0.10 6.00 (1.00) 5.00 362.00 170.00 0.21 their usernames and passwords for entry into the system where the Teaching Notes can be reviewed and printed. Please do not make the Teaching Notes available to students or post them on websites. If you are a non-student-member of AAA with a subscription to Issues in Accounting Education and have any trouble accessing this material, then please contact the AAA headquarters office at info@aaahq.org or (941) 921-7747. REFERENCES Alford, R. M., T. M. DiMattia, N. T. Nill, and K. T. Stevens. 2011. A series of revenue recognition research cases using the Codification. Issues in Accounting Education 26 (3): 609-618. American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). 2013. Core Competency Framework and Educational Competency Assessment Web Site. Available at: http://www.aicpa.org/interestareas/ accountingeducation/resources/pages/corecompetency.aspx Bell, B. S., and S. W. J. Kozlowski. 2008. Active learning: Effects of core training design elements on selfregulatory processes, learning, and adaptability. Journal of Applied Psychology 93 (2): 296-316. Issues in Accounting Education Volume 28, No. 3, 2013 Savage, Cerf, and Barra 702 Bonwell, C. C. 1997. Using active learning as assessment in the postsecondary classroom. The Clearing House 71 (2): 73-76. Bonwell, C., and J. Eison. 1991. Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 1. Washington, DC: The George Washington University, School of Education and Human Development. Whitfield, T. 1999. Connecting service and classroom-based learning: The use of problem-based learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning 6: 106-111. APPENDIX C Efficacy Testing Multiple-Choice Questions Choose the best answer: 1. In order to recognize revenue in accordance with U.S. GAAP from the sale of inventory (LO #2): (A) Cash must have been received or collection of cash is reasonably assured. (B) Delivery has occurred or services have been rendered. (C) Persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists. (D) A, B, and C are all revenue recognition criteria. (E) A and B are revenue recognition criteria; C is not. 2. The term ''earned'' refers to which of the following (LO #2) (A) The firm has accomplished, or substantially accomplished, the activities it must perform to be entitled to the revenue benefits. (B) A desire by the firm's management to recognize earlier than the time of the sale the effect of earnings activities. (C) The firm has received an irrevocable order for the goods. (D) The firm has received full cash payment with an irrevocable order for the goods. (E) The firm engaged in a bill-and-hold sale for a manufacturer of vehicle parts; the cash has been received and the goods are being stockpiled, ready for delivery upon request. 3. The SEC relaxes rules for revenue recognition for some companies if compliance adversely affects the public interest (LO #4). (A) No, because the same accounting rules must be applied consistently across companies for comparability purposes. (B) Yes, because the public interest always takes precedence over accounting rules. (C) No, because rules consistently applied cannot adversely affect the public interest. (D) Yes, because the SEC does sometimes relax accounting rules for some companies for the public good. (E) None of the above. 4. Which of the following is currently true only for pharmaceutical companies that stockpile childhood-disease and certain other designated vaccines for the federal government (LO #4)? (A) The companies may recognize revenue on vaccines that have been shipped and collection of cash is not reasonably assured. (B) The companies may recognize revenue on vaccines for which cash has been received but the vaccines have not yet been shipped. Issues in Accounting Education Volume 28, No. 3, 2013 Accounting for the Public Interest: A Revenue Recognition Dilemma 703 (C) The companies may not recognize revenue on vaccines that have been delivered until the cash has been received. (D) None of the above is true. (E) A, B, and C are all true. 5. Which of the following statements is true regarding the public interest consequences of following authoritative accounting rules (LO #1)? (A) There are no public interest consequences from following authoritative accounting rules. (B) There are only good public interest consequences from following authoritative accounting rules. (C) There can be adverse public interest consequences from following authoritative accounting rules that necessitate the SEC relaxing the rules for certain firms/ industries. (D) There can adverse public interest consequences from following accounting rules that necessitate changing the rules for everyone. (E) Both C and D are true. 6. Does revenue recognition for bill-and-hold sales differ from U.S. GAAP under IFRS principles (LO #2)? (A) No, it is identical. (B) Yes, because under IFRS, all bill-and-hold sales are recognized as revenue as soon as payment is received. (C) Yes, because U.S. GAAP for bill-and-hold sales is deemed less restrictive than IFRS. (D) Yes, IFRS would view the pharmaceutical companies as merely providing custodial services to the government for the vaccine stockpiles because these companies cannot use the inventory to fulfill other contracts. (E) Both B and D are true. 7. If a public company receives the cash up-front for a transaction, why would management be concerned about when they would recognize the revenue for income statement purposes (LO #5)? (A) Because of the impact on the balance sheet. (B) Because of the impact on the Statement of Stockholders' Equity. (C) Because the timing of revenue recognition impacts cash flow from operations. (D) Because earnings is important as a main input for forecasting and valuation models for financial analysts on Wall Street. E) All of the above are equally important concerns for management. 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