An Educational Novel byD. Larry CrumbleyDonald L. AriailJeanne DavidVeronica Paz
Costly Reflectoins in a Midas Mirror, Fourth Edition, is a supplementary text to be used near the end of a principles of managerial accounting course or at the beginning of a second-level cost accounting course. This instructoinal novel is ideal for an MBA program or finance course which has a light coverage of managerial accouting or can be used in CPA firms' or IRS in-house training programs. The book also is suitable for a law school course on mangerial accounting or a criminal justice course on white collar crime.
Gerhard G. Mueller, past president of the American Accounting Association, indicates that "malaise" best describes accounting education today. "Our present textbooks and pedagogy haven't changed since the 1950s and are quite obsolete." A scenario approach is one answer to this malaise. A scenario is an example with a character (a person) performing certain actions in a particular situation.
The use of an imaginative novel is an ultimate extension of the scenario approach. A novel can be a series of continuous examples relating to a central theme instead of just several unrelated examples put forth as separate scenarios. In addition, students tend to relate to fictional characters in action-packed adventures. The story, along wtih its verbal pictures, jogs the memory more easily than gray pages of technical material alone. Proven aids in learning include the element of surprise when a learner encounters an unexpected phenomenon and the retention of a new concept which appears in a dramatic, unusual context.
This novel mixes fraud, murder, art, ethics, humor, cost, and managerial accounting together to provide a better way of learning the managerial accounting process. Lenny Cramer, a professor at Columbia University, tries to help a wealthy friend of his university. As a managerial professor, he uses his forensic accounting background to solve a "whodunnit" plot. Along the way, business practices and accounting concepts are elucidated in a way both students and instructors will find gripping as well as informative.
In 1976, L.G. Eckel penned the following:
There was an accountant
who got in a stew.
He had so many choices
He didn't know what to do.
The potential murderers are, likewise, numerous in this fast-paced Philip Marlow-type intrigue. Althoguh a fundamental premise in accounting is that the reporting entity is a going-concern in the absence of evidence to the contrary, with so many murders in this plot, a liquidation assumption is more appropriate. So, jump on board and enjoy the read. Learn how life imitates cost accounting. But keep sunk cost values and salability of assets in mind as you unravel the plot, rather than the traditional historical costs. Remember that an effective managerial accountant must be a good detective and interviewer, even without the fedora and snub-nosed revolver.
We wish to thank Ronald Bagley, Alan Blankley, Marc J. Epstein, Dana Forgione, Jeffrey Kantor, Winston Shearon, Skip Hughes, Joseph Matoney, Arnold Marmor, and Jean Ware.
D. Larry Crumbley
Louisiana State University
Donald L. Ariail
Kennesaw State University
Jeanne M. David
University of Detroit Mercy
Veronica C. Paz
Indiana University of Pennslyvania
For more detail, see https://business.lsu.edu/news/releases/Pages/2015/09/Crumbleys-Novels-Make-a-Splash.aspx?DeptID=1.
How to Order: Carolina Academic Press, 700 Kent Street, Durham, N.C. 27701, Phone: 800.489.7486, Fax: 919.419.0761, www.cap-press.com
