Collection Development Policies: Accounting

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY
Subject: ACCOUNTING

Program Description

The Accounting Department within the UTEP College of Business Administration offers three Accounting degree Plans:

At the undergraduate level, the Accounting Department’s goal is to provide a Bachelor of Business Administration degree which prepares graduates for:

Students who are not majoring in Business may obtain minors in Business and Economics in four areas. One of those areas is Accounting.

At the graduate level, the Accounting Department’s goal is to provide a Master of Accountancy degree (MAcc) which enables career advancement in the accounting profession. The MAcc program permits students to tailor their curriculum to meet their career objectives, allowing specialization in taxation; managerial accounting; or financial accounting and auditing.

Description of Existing Collection

Materials are classified in the Library of Congress call numbers: HF 5601 - HF 5686, KF 889 - 912, and KF 70.A3. Primary areas for both instruction and research fall within the scope of topics broadly represented by the following terms: accounting, auditing, controllership, taxation, business law, and law for accountants.

The collection for accounting focuses on how today’s professional accountant competently, effectively, legally and ethically performs an increasingly large number of tasks. In recent years there has been a great expansion in the knowledge base required of the professional accountant. Many of the more recent books in the collection reflect this direction of growth: books in the accounting area with subjects such as computerized control, information systems; communications and analytical skills; professional ethics; and global issues.

The collection contains very few books relating to accounting or business law in the Spanish language. Future collection practices should include an attempt to seek out for evaluation, materials in the Spanish languages. It must be noted that it appears few items are published that meet these conditions. When located, actual purchase of such materials should be considered only after the needs of existing programs and research projects are met and, of course, as funds become available.

After undergoing a series of extensive serial funding cuts in all academic areas during the early 1990's, some additional allotments of funds from time to time, permit an attempt to reinstate selected serial titles.

Electronics Resources:

The online database Business Source Complete is a source for worldwide information on business and management. Most citations include abstracts and full text or link to full text content from other providers, based on institutional subscriptions. Its coverage is from 1886 to the present. Access is for current UTEP faculty, staff, and students both on and off campus; community users within Library building at public access computers only.

Mergent Online is an electronic database which provides comprehensive coverage for global business and financial research. This database is also available from sites outside of the Library.

CCH Tax Research Network and RIA Checkpoint are two major databases that contain U. S. Federal tax information.

Westlaw and Lexis Nexis Academic University are very expensive online databases providing information pertaining to federal and state laws, cases, rulings, etc. It is a product often found useful to attorneys and accountants. It is hoped it will also be useful to students as they prepare for careers in accounting and to faculty and graduate students as they conduct research.

The Library also subscribes to numerous reference material in accounting. 

Current Collecting Intensity

Current collection practices attempt to support the UTEP undergraduate and graduate instruction, and graduate and faculty research, College of Business Administration, Accounting Department. The attempt is to maintain the collection of books and journals in a depth sufficient to support undergraduate and graduate instruction and a significant portion of graduate and faculty research. Both monographs and serials are considered equally important.

In the future, purchasing decisions relating to serials must consider the question of electronic journals vs. the print versions.

Current practices seek out titles relating to border, Latin American and other appropriate international accounting literature, but additional efforts should be made in searching for sources of these materials.

In keeping with library-wide guidelines, required textbooks for UTEP courses are generally not purchased. Other prominent accounting textbooks, including those written by UTEP faculty members are routinely purchased.

The recommendations of the faculty at the College of Business Administration, Accounting Department are a source for purchasing decisions. The recommendations listed in several accounting journals are also considered. Examples: Accounting and Business Research, and The Accounting Review. Choice, Guide to Reference Books, and Magazines for Libraries are also useful selection aids.

For the last ten years, the Library’s accounting subject specialist has paid very close attention to the books purchased by Harvard University for the Harvard Business School Core Collection (Baker Library Core Collection). At the Baker Library there is an attempt to maintain this collection at approximately the 3,500 item level. It is composed of the most useful and in-demand business-related titles. Most of the accounting books purchased for this Harvard Business School Core Collection are also purchased for the UTEP Library.

The books which arrive through the Library’s Yankee Book Pedler Approval Plan (while few in number) are usually purchased.

Last updated: March 20, 2003