Accounting 345
Presentation Topics


Presentation topics are offered on a first come first serve basis.  Groups of no more than (3) should choose one of the topics below to be presented the last three class periods.  The presentation should last from 15-20 minutes with time allowed for a few questions.  Grades for the presentation will be based on instructor evaluation, evaluation by all class members excluding members of the group presenting the topic,  and an evaluation of individual efforts within the group while  putting together the presentation.  You should consider what skills you bring to the group, what skills the other members bring, and what you take away from the activity.  No topics will be duplicated on any day.   Be sure you print a copy of the oral presentation hints available from the class page.  An electronic copy of each presentation is due to me one day prior to the presentation date.   The presentation will be placed on the web for observation by outside parties.

Hints:

Your presentation should not try to encompass too much material.  Remember you only have 10-20 minutes depending on the number of groups.  This could be a presentation to a new client, a group of colleagues, or a continuing education class.  However, the topic, style and presentation format must be decided by your group.  Everyone in the group is not required to speak, however, you should realize that choosing a single presenter means that the group is responsible for that decision and any grades from the presentation that are the result of that choice are shared by the group.  

No group member may martyr themselves to potentially raise other group member scores because of a poor presentation.  You should present material that you are comfortable with and that "you know well."  It is not a good idea to pick a subject or topic that you are not comfortable with or cannot become comfortable with before the presentation.  The greatest failure of any presentation is the lack of preparation and practice on the part of the presenters.  I suggest that you concentrate on:

  1. providing an explanation of material covered in class that you feel could use review or

  2. material covered in class that you would like to provide a more in-depth discussion, or

  3. material not covered in class that interests you and you believe would be of interest to the rest of the class.  

A good presentation is not based on the amount of time that is spent before your audience but the preparation prior to and the content provided in the presentation itself. Hard work on the inputs should result in positive output.

Remember, your grade will be assessed on three dimensions: 

Topic (Only these topics are allowed) July 18
Like-Kind Exchange Gee, Cook, Motten
Section 1245, 1250 Recapture Silva, Song, Dahilig
Section 1231 Kyros, Ullrich, Gannaban
Cost Recovery  
Partnership Formation Raigaga, Oveido, Magana
Partnership Basis Issues Lichterman,Reich, Hong
Corporate Tax Liabilities Piwnicki, Desalvo, Simon
Corporation Formation Adam, Berg, Dimand
Corporate Basis Issues  

Rules for Presentations:

1.  Because each groups' grade depends on the audience evaluation, every member of the class must attend all presentations and provide feedback regardless of whether your presentation is scheduled for that day or not.  Class members that fail to attend all presentations will receive a score of zero for the instructor evaluation part of their grade.

2.  Comments are allowed on the evaluation form and should be professional in nature and not personal.

3. DO NOT FILL-IN A SCORE FOR YOUR GROUP ON THE EVALUATION FORM. WHY? BECAUSE:

  1. It slows down the grading process so feedback on how you did will be delayed.
  2. It provides no information to the instructor and has no influence on the instructors evaluation.
  3. In this situation no one wants to know the score you would give yourself, the feedback questions are used to assess your thoughts.
  4. It will result in a penalty of half the points available for the presentation.