About the Authors

J. David Spiceland
David Spiceland is Professor of Accounting at the University of Memphis where he teaches intermediate accounting and other financial accounting courses at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral levels. He received his B.S. degree in finance from the University of Tennessee, his M.B.A. from Southern Illinois University, and his Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Arkansas. Professor Spiceland's primary research interests are in earnings management and educational research. He has published articles in a variety of journals including The Accounting Review, Accounting and Business Research, the Journal of Financial Research, and the Journal of Accounting Education. David has received university and college awards and recognition for his teaching, research, and technological innovations in the classroom.

James F. Sepe
Jim Sepe is an Associate Professor of Accounting at Santa Clara University where he teaches primarily intermediate accounting in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. He previously taught at California State Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo, and the University of Washington, and has visited at Stanford University and the Rome campus of Loyola University of Chicago.

Professor Sepe received his B.S. from Santa Clara University, M.B.A from the University of California at Berkeley, and Ph.D. from the University of Washington. His research interests concern financial reporting issues and the use of financial information by capital markets. He has published in The Accounting Review, the Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, Financial Management, and Journal of Accounting Education. He is a past recipient of the American Accounting Association's Competitive Manuscript Award, and has served as a member of the editorial board of The Accounting Review. Jim has received numerous awards at Santa Clara for his teaching excellence and innovations in the classroom. Most recently he received Santa Clara University's Brutocao Award for Excellence in Curriculum Innovation.

Lawrence A. Tomassini
Professor Tomassini is the Ernst and Young Scholar and Department Chair of the accounting and MIS department at The Ohio State University. Prior to that, he was Department Head and the Ernst and Young Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois (1987-93). From 1973-87, Professor Tomassini served on the University of Texas at Austin faculty, where he held the John Arch White and the Peat Marwick Mitchell Centennial Professorships in Accounting. His scholarly interests are in the application of judgment and decision making theories to understand and improve the practice of accounting and auditing. Professor Tomassini has published articles in many academic journals including Accounting Horizons, Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting Research, and The Accounting Review.