Kristy Schenck

Color portrait of Kristy Schenck

Associate Clinical Professor, Clinical Associate Professor of Accounting

Department Accounting
Office Address 317 Business Building
Email Address kms563@psu.edu

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Education

Ph D, Accounting, The Pennsylvania State University, 2012

BS, Accounting, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2001

Courses Taught

ACCTG 211 – Fin Mgl Acc Dec Mk (4)
Introduction to the role of accounting numbers in the process of managing a business and in investor decision making. ACCTG 211 Financial and Managerial Accounting for Decision Making (4)The objective of this course is to introduce students to the discipline of accounting through an introduction to two of accounting's sub-disciplines, financial and managerial accounting. The more specific purpose is to provide students a basic understanding of the role of financial and managerial accounting information in the decisions of capital market participants external to a business enterprise (e.g., stockholders, banks, financial analysts, prospective stockholders), and in the decisions of those who manage business enterprises. Accounting information has an important role in the resource allocation process in our socio-economic system as a whole, as well as in each individual business enterprise. This course provides students an understanding of (1) the nature of the accounting function, and (2) how the information in accounting reports are used by various decision makers in their resource allocation decisions. In this course students will develop an understanding of (a) the five activity dimensions of accounting (the collection, recording, analysis, interpretation and reporting of information to decision makers for (mainly) their investment decisions), (b) the issues surrounding the five activity dimensions, (c) the environment in which accounting is practiced, and (d) what information is used in a number of specific decision situations, and how such information is used in such decision situations. The analysis, interpretation and decision-making orientation of this course includes a study of the procedural (mechanical and processing) aspects of the recording activity dimension which is an important means to the end --where the end is the analysis and interpretation of the information, and the reports produced by the recording/processing part of accounting. Through this focus on the recording activity dimension, students will obtain an understanding of (a) the nature and quality (strengths and weaknesses) of accounting information, (b) how to proceed in analyzing and interpreting accounting information, and (c) numerous other aspects of financial and managerial accounting. This course is an important background course for all business majors, as well as for numerous non-business majors.

ACCTG 822 – CORP TAX REPORTING (3)
ACCTG 822 provides accounting students with knowledge about the taxation of corporations. The course focuses on the tax law treatment of corporate formations, operations, distributions, mergers, and acquisitions. Additionally, students learn about Accounting Standards Codification Topic 740--Income Tax, planning for corporate structure classification, and related ethical considerations.

ACCTG 522 – CORP TAX REPORTING (3)
ACCTG 522 provides accounting students with knowledge about the taxation of corporations. The course focuses on the tax law treatment of corporate formations, operations, distributions, mergers, and acquisitions. Additionally, students learn about Accounting Standards Codification Topic 740--Income Tax, planning for corporate structure classification, and related ethical considerations.

ACCTG 472 – Int Fin Acctg II (3)
Off-balance-sheet financing; special issues in cost capitalization, liabilities, and equities; matching; funds flow statements; statement analysis; inflation accounting.

ACCTG 440 – Adv Mngmt Acctg (3)
Management accounting topics such as decision models, quantitative techniques, variance analysis, and their use in accounting. ACCTG 440 Advanced Management Accounting (3) An in-depth examination of accounting techniques used within modern organizations. The course is designed for students interested in pursuing careers in corporate accounting or financial management. The portfolio of managerial accounting procedures, including cost measurement and allocation, budgeting practices, transfer pricing, and variance analyses appropriate to an organization's unique circumstances are derived. The student will learn to apply psychological and sociological theories of behavior to practical problems of control and to apply quantitative methods and models to managerial decision-making. Other topics covered by the course may include, financial management of working capital, long-term assets and liabilities; techniques for managing inventory; and strategic cost management including inter-organizational cost management.

ACCTG 481 – Fin Anal Eval Dec (3)
An accounting based evaluation and decision making approach to analyzing financial statements by studying business and firm valuation.ACCTG 481 Financial Statement Analysis (3) The proposed course in financial statement analysis is structured to improve the student's ability to extract and interpret information from actual financial statements and to expose the student to how financial statement information is integrated into equity valuation and credit analysis. The course would not only rely upon textbook-based and lecture-based learning, but also emphasize case-based learning.The course will consist of two main sections. The first will deal with accounting and business analysis. This part will explore the types of financial information data typically available for publicly traded companies and introduce a model of the economic drivers of company performance. It would incorporate some technical accounting as well as some standards business economics/strategy concepts. Students will be forced to recast financial statements that they believe do not reflect the underlying economic state of the company. Financial reporting issues relating to revenue and expense recognition, leases and consolidations will be discussed.The other section of the course will deal with firm valuation. Students would be exposed to some standard approaches to equity valuation and the analysis activities underlying these approaches. Aspects of valuation that would be covered in this section of the course are financial ratio analysis, forecasting, pro-forma statements, cost of capital and valuation methods.The course will rely on lectures and extensive use of case studies.

Selected Publications

Cheng C., Flasher R., Schenck K., "Ethics in Higher Education." 2019
We are still awaiting publication of the text. This project was an accepted chapter in a text about ethics in accounting.
Cheng C., Flasher R., Schenck K., "Decade Comparisons: Do students’ ethical attitudes shift?." Advances in Accounting Education, 2019
Flasher R., Schenck K., "Exploring Audit Quality Differences among the Lower Tier Global Audit Firms: Preliminary Evidence." Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, 2019
Hennes K., Schenck K., "The Development of Reporting Norms without Explicit Guidance: An Example from Accounting for Gift Cards." Accounting Horizons, vol. 28, no. 3, 2014, pp. 561-578

Honors and Awards