Improving Capital Budgeting Decisions with Real Options
David E. Stout, Ph.D.; Yan Alice Xie, Ph.D.; and Howard Qi, Ph.D.
The authors provide accounting practitioners with a primer on how to supplement traditional discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis with real options. To illustrate their points, they use an example of a rental car company that is trying to decide whether to buy a conventional gasoline-engine car or a hybrid vehicle to add to its fleet.

The Redesign and Implementation of a Cost Accounting System for América Latina Logística
Marco Antonio de Modesti and Scott Eriksen, CMA, CFM, CPA, Ph.D.
Here is the story of how a rail cargo transportation company operating in Brazil and Argentina implemented a new cost accounting system that provided managers with powerful information they needed to better evaluate the needs of their business units.

Examining Southwest Airlines’ Strategic Execution: A Strategic Variance Analysis
Paul A. Mudde, Ph.D., and Parvez R. Sopariwala, Ph.D.
In this extensive analysis of Southwest Airlines’ increase in revenue in 2005, the authors show how several strategic changes the company made improved profits from gains in market size and share, improved financial performance from efficiencies, reduced operating profits from rising costs that were not offset by price increases, and reduced operating profits because of the increased cost of investments in capacity.

What Accounting Students Think About Whistleblowing
Tara Shawver, DBA, CMA
Are future accounting professionals willing to blow the whistle internally or externally when they see ethics violations? To find out, the author surveyed a group of accounting seniors, getting their opinions about three ethics scenarios, each involving a higher materiality level.

In Search of Practice-Based Topics for Management Accounting Education
Nas Ahadiat, Ph.D.
The author surveyed a sample of IMA members and members of the AICPA to find the skills and abilities that accounting practitioners say are most important for people entering the management accounting profession. The results indicate a need for some changes to accounting curricula.