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Kevin and Debra Rollins Center for eBusiness

E-Business

E-Business

Principles and strategies for accountants - Second Edition
Steven M. Glover, Stephen W. Liddle, & Douglas F. Prawitt

Reviewed by D. Richard Dance, CPA, President/CEO of UPchannels, and Ann H. Jenkins, Office Manager

November 2002

Richard Dance reviews the book E-Business - Principles and strategies for accountants. The book acts as a supplement for accounting students. Unlike some books with a technical backbone E-Business is "short, concise, understandable, connected, and useful." Even though the book was written for accountants, the contents are geared towards anyone wanting to gain a better understanding of e-business and the Internet.

Purpose of the book

This is a college textbook. It is intended as a supplement for existing accounting courses. At the end of each chapter it has review questions, research cases, and explanatory notes.

Blow-by-blow comments

Chapter 1

Page 2 – Their definition of e-business is reasonable:

"Electronic business (e-business) is the use of information technology and electronic communication networks to exchange business information and conduct transactions in electronic, paperless form."
Page 15 – I am particularly pleased that the authors referenced the CPA vision process. The value chain in Figure 1.2 is deceptively simple, yet elegantly useful in many ways.

Page 21 – It would be smart for CPA firms to develop the matrix suggested in discussion question 1-5 and review it with their clients.

Chapter 2

Pages 28-36 – Their section on the history of e-business that covers the Internet and EDI are particularly noteworthy. I still find a lot of people today who think the Internet and Worldwide Web are the same thing.

Chapter 3

Pages 41-76 –Chapters 1 and 2 were informative and engaging. Chapter 3 is not quite as engaging as the first two chapters. It doesn't have many discussion points for accountants. It introduces web typology from Tapscott's Digital Capital book. Some of the points seem out of place.

Chapter 4

Pages 77-108 –Chapter 4 was hard-hitting. If I had any doubts about e-business affecting the security of my client's accounting books, they would be long gone now. This chapter was short, concise, understandable, connected, and useful. The following subjects are adequately discussed in only 30 pages:

  • What Is Risk in e-Business?
  • Infrastructure Vulnerabilities: Risks and Controls
  • Falsified Identity: Risks and Controls
  • Compromised Privacy: Risks and Controls
  • Destructive Codes and Programs: Risks and Controls
  • Human Factors in E-Business
  • Anticipating and Managing E-Business Risk

Chapter 5

This chapter opens with the following lines:

"We identified several risks related to e-business and discussed internal controls to mitigate these risks. However, even with effective internal controls in place, there are important risks that cannot be completely ‘controlled away' in an e-business environment. This creates demand for external parties who can provide e-business assurance."
Chapter 5 is all about e-business assurance.

This is one of the few books that correlates the following standards to e-business:

  • SAB 101, Revenue Recognition in Financial Statements
  • EITF 99-19
  • Sales tax nexus on Internet transactions
  • AICPA.org web site
  • CPA WebTrust seals
  • Non-CPA web site seals
  • SysTrust
  • SAS 70
One of the things I liked about chapter 5 is that they also included the SCAS Elliott Committee's six new service areas for assurance providers.

Companion web site

There is a companion web site found at www.prenhall.com/glover that contains links to web addresses referenced in the book, updates to references, and links to current e-business articles. We went there to see how well it was executed, and what other information it contained. However, at the present time we were not able to completely evaluate book 2 because the materials were not posted yet. The following comments are for Book 1 only. Our ratings are: (+) = good; (o) = the idea is great, but not fully executed; and (-) = there could be improvement or a different approach taken.

Here are our impressions for the book 1 materials:

  • (-) The site navigation was different than expected and somewhat awkward. You had to select an edition and chapter before you could get to the goodies.
  • (+) The faculty solution manuals online are a great idea, and are password protected.
  • (o) The message board has promise, just not enough participation yet.
  • (-) Other than the Internet links there appeared to be too much duplication among chapters.
Although we haven't seen how book 2 is going to appear, we expect that Prentice Hall probably needs our consulting help about how to put together channels of information.

Conclusion

These were our overall reactions to the book:

  1. Thank you from all the students backpacks for making it light and short. Just the good stuff and no fluff.
  2. It was intelligently put together.
  3. The use of text boxes for case studies was efficient and effective.
  4. No hype, a rational useful book as you would expect coming from accountants.
  5. It is useful to both students and practicing accountants, and should be marketed more to the latter.
With the exception chapter 3, and the companion web site, this is a first class book that accomplishes its task of pointing out principles and strategies to accountants. Kudos to Steven M. Glover, Stephen W. Liddle, and Douglas F. Prawitt.

Where to obtain the book

It can be purchased directly from the following sources:

  • Amazon.com (www.amazon.com) [Paperback] | $33.60
  • Barnes and Noble store or (www.bn.com) Steven M. Glover, Stephen W. Liddle, Douglas F. Prawitt [Paperback] /Pearson Education /August 2002 |$33.40
  • Booksamillion (www.bamm.com) [Paperback] | Regular price $32.00, Club price $28.80

Standard Information about UPchannels

UPchannels focuses on delivering five primary services:

  1. Provides hope for information overload through Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) training and seminars for individuals, families, and organizations.
  2. Offers the CRM Researcher's Directory through Bob Thompson's CRMGuru.
  3. Serves as Knowledge Management editor for the Open Directory Project on the Internet.
  4. Creates XBRL Financial Reporting knowledge bases and training for CPAs and companies.
  5. Does special projects and marketing whitepapers for growth oriented software vendors.

For more information on UPchannels visit their website at www.upchannels.com

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