ISSUES IN ACCOUNTING EDUCATION Vol. 25, No. 3 2010 pp. 599 603 Book Reviews Michael K. Shaub, Editor DOI: 10.2308/iace.2010.25.3.600 Editor s Note: Books for review should be sent to Michael K. Shaub, Texas A&M University, Department of Accounting, 485H Wehner Building, 4353 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843 4353. The policy of Issues in Accounting Education is to publish only those reviews solicited by the Book Reviews Editor. Unsolicited reviews will not be accepted. SALLY M. JONES and SHELLEY C. RHOADES-CATANACH, Principles of Taxation for Business and Investment Planning, 2010 Edition Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2010, pp. xxv, 610. The 2010 edition is the latest annual update of a text that dates to 1998. Jones was coauthor of an earlier text, Federal Taxes and Management Decisions, with Ray Sommerfeld. The Jones and Rhoades-Catanach text employs the same user perspective as the Jones and Sommerfeld text. This user perspective is what differentiates the Jones and Rhoades-Catanach text from competitor texts that employ the more traditional preparer perspective. Aside from the usual revisions that make annual updates necessary, there are no significant differences when compared with earlier editions of the text. Competitor texts are multi-volume efforts: Volume One follows the individual tax formula in exploring topics. Volume Two primarily covers entity-owner transactions for corporations and partnerships. Volume Three provides a condensed summary of volumes one and two. In contrast, the Jones and Rhoades-Catanach text is a one-volume effort organized around a tax-planning perspective. Parts One and Two build a foundation by exploring the tax environment and the fundamentals of tax planning. Parts Three through Five use this foundation to examine the measurement of taxable income, the taxation of business income, and the taxation of individual income. Part Six concludes the text with a single chapter on the tax compliance process. Given the above, the Jones and Rhoades-Catanach text provides tax educators facing an adoption decision with a different product and approach to consider. Following are some factors that tax educators can use when choosing between the Jones and Rhoades-Catanach text and competitor texts. First, all tax courses are part of larger tax, accounting, and business programs. Is there a discernable curricular orientation to these programs? In answering this question, one can consult program purpose statements; program goals and outcomes; course descriptions, goals and outcomes; and/or other parts of program assessment plans. If the preparer perspective guides, this would point toward more traditional competitor texts. In contrast, if the user perspective guides, this would point toward the Jones and Rhoades-Catanach text. Second, is the tax program a multi-course sequence? If so, more traditional competitor texts easily accommodate a two and potentially three course tax sequence. In contrast, the Jones and 599
600 Book Reviews Rhoades-Catanach text is designed for a single tax course. Tax programs with multi-course sequences, then, will have to look elsewhere in selecting texts for later courses. Third, using Bloom s Taxonomy, if the course is more likely to emphasize recall, comprehension, and application, then it may point toward more traditional competitor texts. In contrast, if the course is more likely to emphasize analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, that may point toward the Jones and Rhoades-Catanach text. In summary, tax educators who are frustrated with their current text and who understand and teach taxation from a user perspective may well find the Jones and Rhoades-Catanach text a better fit for their courses. In contrast, tax educators who are frustrated with their current text, but who understand and teach taxation from a preparer perspective, may wish to limit their searches to other largely similar but marginally different texts. Sans the frustration with their current text, educators who are new to taxation can employ similar criteria. While the Jones and Rhoades- Catanach text is not the best text for all tax educators, programs, and courses, tax education is enhanced by having the Jones and Rhoades-Catanach text as an available differentiated option. BRAD LEMLER Professor Grace College WILLIAM HOFFMAN, JAMES E. SMITH, and EUGENE WILLIS, South-Western Federal Taxation: Individual Income Taxes, 2010 Edition Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2010. This popular tax text, as its name indicates, focuses on individual taxation material taught in the first tax course in many schools. It is generally familiar to the community of tax educators, as it is the latest edition in a long-running series by the authors. The textbook s first three chapters address the tax formula and tax research, followed by two on gross income, and six on deductions. Tax computations are covered in the alternative minimum tax and credits chapters, while four chapters are devoted to property transactions. A chapter each on accounting periods and methods, deferred compensation, and corporations and partnerships complete the text. Several appendices present the tax rate schedules and tables, sales tax tables, common tax forms, glossary of terms, tables of code sections and cases cited, additional depreciation information, and two comprehensive tax return problems. The text is well written and easy to follow. It is compliance- or law-oriented, with tax planning opportunities and ethical decision-making emphasized throughout. The chapters are introduced with outlines of the learning objectives for each chapter, and homework and test items in the 2010 edition have been tagged to the text learning objectives, as well as to AACSB and AICPA core competencies. Chapter introductions also focus on the tax formula and include the portion of form 1040 related to the topical coverage of the chapter. Chapter openings and closings attempt to focus on and remind students of the larger picture to which the chapter materials relate, while sidebars and boxes throughout the chapters relate global tax issues and tax in the news segments. The chapters are visually appealing to the average reader, and include many illustrative examples. The use of flowcharts to illustrate processes and concept summaries is a strength of the text. Additional use of flowcharting in certain areas QC and QR pathways to dependency exemption, the taxation of social security benefits, for example would be helpful to the reader. Numerous teaching and learning aids are provided through a comprehensive range of instructor and student ancillaries. These include an Instructor s Guide, Solutions Manual, Test Bank,
Book Reviews 601 PowerPoint lectures, practice set solutions, and transparency solutions available in a variety of formats hardcopy, CD and online, PC and Mac, Word and pdf, etc.. Deloitte Tax Case Study competition cases are available through the companion website, as well as tax law updates. Test items are available in Word and also may be accessed through the provided test creation software. Homework and test items are accompanied by estimated completion time and difficulty information, and include items that emphasize decision-making, communication, and issue identification skills. Though the provided homework and test items are generous in offering, the perennial request of many instructors for more of each is included here. Print, online, and digital student resources are also available, and can be easily utilized in both traditionally taught and online courses, and either through, or independently of, course management systems such as Blackboard. New to the 2010 edition is the option of using the Aplia online homework resource for students http://www.aplia.com. The new text includes six months access to the Student Edition of Checkpoint and a TaxCut CD. Other options WebTutor for Blackboard, study guide, and practice sets are available for bundling with the text, and customized versions of the text are available as well. In sum, the text is of high quality and is well amplified in the variety and comprehensive nature of available ancillaries. It s clear that the authors are committed to continuous improvement, and to providing adopters with a wide range of excellent course delivery tools. NELL ADKINS Associate Professor The University of Alabama at Birmingham KEVIN E. MURPHY and MARK HIGGINS, Concepts in Federal Taxation, 2010 Edition Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2010. There are two approaches that most Introductory Income Tax textbooks use to teach federal tax law. One examines tax law from an Internal Revenue Code, rule-based, technical approach, while the other uses a conceptual approach. The goal of the conceptual approach at the introductory level is to utilize the conceptual framework that underlies our tax system to help students understand the taxation of economic transactions. When students understand the underlying conceptual framework that influences taxation, they are able to understand a wide range of tax law without memorizing a large number of Code sections. Concepts in Federal Taxation is written from this conceptual perspective. Chapter Two of Concepts in Federal Taxation introduces all of the concepts used throughout the textbook to implement and understand tax law. Each concept is discussed along with various constructs, mechanisms to implement a concept, and doctrines, court decisions that determine tax treatment, to help the student understand the application of each concept. These constructs and doctrines also serve as an anchor for the student to remember how a specific concept fits in the tax system and how to apply the concept as they learn new tax law. Concepts in Federal Taxation is a relatively easy-to-read text with relevant examples, tables, and Concept Checks. The examples within each chapter are fairly difficult and challenge the student to think. There are a sufficient number of homework and test bank problems of varying difficulty. The supplements PowerPoint slides, Instructors Manual, and Solutions Manual are updated regularly and of a high quality. The website for the book has a student section that offers practice quizzes, flash cards for definitional-type items, and other information for each chapter.
602 Book Reviews My complaints are small in nature and few in number. Students enjoy learning about and working with the actual tax return. They feel successful and feel they are learning the material when they are able to complete a form or understand where a particular item fits within the structure of the tax return. It helps them see the big picture and how items and transactions fit within the tax system. I would like to see small line item tax return examples incorporated into each chapter so that students understand how the items they are studying fit within the Form 1040 and other associated Schedules and Forms. Additionally, I would like to see a few examples in each chapter that combine current chapter material with information in prior chapters to present a more comprehensive understanding of tax law. I believe this textbook is a very good textbook for any introductory tax course. The adoption costs are fairly low due to the quality of the supplements. However, if an instructor feels more comfortable with students learning taxation from an Internal Revenue Code, rule-based approach, then other textbooks should be considered. TERESA LIGHTNER Associate Professor University of North Texas BRIAN C. SPILKER, BENJAMIN C. AYERS, JOHN R. ROBINSON, EDMUND OUTSLAY, RON G. WORSHAM, JOHN A. BARRICK, and CONNIE D. WEAVER, Taxation of Individuals, 2010 Edition New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2010, pp. xxxi Taxation of Individuals, 2010 Edition, is a new text that is targeted at introductory tax classes. The text is comprised of 14 chapters and is divided into four broad sections. The first section discusses different types of taxes, the legal framework that surrounds taxation, and different tax planning strategies. The second section introduces the fundamentals of the individual income tax system. The third section discusses topics related to profit-motivated activities i.e., business and investment activities such as accounting methods, cost recovery, property transactions, and the capital gains netting process. The fourth section builds upon the first three sections and discusses specialized topics such as evaluating compensation packages, retirement planning, and home ownership. In addition to the text, each chapter contains a summary of the chapter s main topics as well as practice assignments. The practice assignments include open-ended discussion questions and practice problems. The practice problems include both single-issue and comprehensive problems, some of which emphasize tax research or tax planning concepts. The textbook has a number of strengths. The primary strength of the textbook is its clientbased approach. At the beginning of each chapter, the authors develop a fact pattern for a fictional client and use the fact pattern to illustrate the concepts and rules discussed in the chapter. This approach allows the authors to demonstrate each topic using a common fact pattern as well as illustrate the tax consequences and planning opportunities that occur when there are changes in the fact pattern. A second strength of the textbook is its organizational layout. For example, Chapter 4 of the book provides a broad framework of the individual income tax formula. The chapters that follow provide the details of each component of the income tax formula. As a result, the reader is able to assimilate the different components of the income tax formula and how they relate to each other.
Book Reviews 603 A final strength of the textbook is the manner in which it is written. The authors communicate technical topics in a clear and concise manner without sacrificing technical details. In sum, this textbook provides a great introduction to individual taxation. The book is strongly recommended regardless of whether an instructor is teaching the course for the first time or has taught the course for several years. SEAN T. MCGUIRE Assistant Professor Texas A&M University