Samuel Burton Bonsall
Professor of Accounting, Deloitte & Touche Teaching Excellence Professor, Director of Smeal Schreyer Honors Program
Department Accounting
Office Address 385 Business Building
Phone Number
814-865-4572
Email Address
sbb151@psu.edu
Samuel Burton Bonsall
Professor of Accounting, Deloitte & Touche Teaching Excellence Professor, Director of Smeal Schreyer Honors Program
Department Accounting
Office Address 385 Business Building
Phone Number
814-865-4572
Email Address
sbb151@psu.edu
Professor Sam Bonsall is the Deloitte & Touche Teaching Excellence Professor and a Professor of Accounting at Penn State University. He previously held positions as an Assistant and Associate Professor of Accounting at the Ohio State University from 2012–2017. Professor Bonsall’s research has focused on the role of credit rating agencies as information intermediaries and how their economic incentives shape their behavior. Professor Bonsall has published his research in The Accounting Review, the Journal of Accounting and Economics, the Journal of Accounting Research, the Review of Accounting Studies, Contemporary Accounting Research, and Management Science. Professor Bonsall teaches advanced financial accounting in Penn State’s Integrated Master of Accounting Program and introductory programming for accounting doctoral students. Prior to graduate school, Professor Bonsall worked as a senior consultant at Bates White LLC in Washington, DC, providing expert witness support in civil litigation matters—including Enron’s bankruptcy. Professor Bonsall graduated with his PhD from Penn State University in 2012 and with his B.S. and M.S. from Penn State University in 2004.
Expertise
Credit rating agencies
Debt markets
Textual analysis
Business media
Education
Ph D, Accounting, The Pennsylvania State University, 2012
BS, Economics, The Pennsylvania State University, 2004
MS, Accounting, The Pennsylvania State University, 2004
Courses Taught
ACCTG 211H – Fin Mgl Acc Dec Mk - Honors (4)
Introduction to the role of accounting numbers in the process of managing a business and in investor decision making.ACCTG 211H 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. For accounting majors it is a prerequisite for ACCTG 405, 404, and 471.The course format consists of lectures, outside reading, class discussion, projects and homework assignments.The semester grade for this course will be determined by a weighted average of performance on mainly exams, quizzes, projects and participation.
ACCTG 494H – Acctg Sr Hon Thes (Variable)
Supervised student activities on research projects identified on an individual or small-group basis.ACCTG 494H Research Project (1-6) ACCTG 494H, Senior Honors Thesis in Accounting - Investigation of an original problem area associated with accounting, including literature review. A thesis topic must be approved and a thesis supervisor must be identified before the course may be scheduled. Students sign up for three credits in each of their last two semesters for a total of six credits.
BA 412H – Honors Int and Res (3)
The integration of the business core into a detailed financial, strategy and market analysis of actual companies selected by student teams. B A 412H B A 412H Honors Integration and Research (2-3 credits)The purpose of this course is to assist students in developing their Schreyer Honors Thesis. It proceeds by exposing students to research conducted within the various business majors; the research conducted by prior honors students; and having student teams conduct research or contemporary businesses and industries. Typical readings include materials related to evaluating an actual company, prior Schreyer Honors theses, contemporary business articles, prior course projects and supporting academic literature. Written company analyses and oral presentations are made by the teams.
ACCTG 497 – Special Topics (3)
Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in depth, a comparatively narrow subject which may be topical or of special interest.
ACCTG 805 – Applied ACCTG & FIN Analytics (3)
ACCTG 805 impounds knowledge gained from prior coursework and serves as the culminating experience for students enrolled in the Master of Accounting in Accounting Analytics (MAA) program. This course provides an advanced application of the Python programming language to the analysis of large-scale datasets which lie at the intersection of accounting and finance. Students will build upon prior work with the Python programming language and acquire more advanced syntax and building blocks for use in Python. They will also build upon prior work with the Extract-Transform-Load process and learn how to acquire, import, modify, join, summarize, visualize, and analyze datasets in order to better understand the relationships between accounting information and capital markets such as how stock prices respond to earnings information, what financial statement information best predicts accounting irregularities, and how eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) can be harnessed to make more uniform comparisons across companies. Prior work with designing and using relational databases will be enhanced in this course, with a continued emphasis on using data in an ethical manner. The course will be structured around hands-on programming sessions and accompanied by individual assignments to gauge students¿ mastery of the Python language and multiple projects built around using data to gain insights about the real-world relationships between accounting information and capital market outcomes. Specific topics will vary based on current issues and instructor interest.
BA 412 – Honors Int and Res (3)
The integration of the business core into a detailed financial, strategy and market analysis of actual companies selected by student teams. BA 412H Honors Integration and Research (2-3 credits)The purpose of this course is to assist students in developing their Schreyer Honors Thesis. It proceeds by exposing students to research conducted within the various business majors; the research conducted by prior honors students; and having student teams conduct research or contemporary businesses and industries. Typical readings include materials related to evaluating an actual company, prior Schreyer Honors theses, contemporary business articles, prior course projects and supporting academic literature. Written company analyses and oral presentations are made by the teams.
ACCTG 573 – FINANCIAL REPORTING (3)
This course examines the accounting for complex business transactions with an emphasis on understanding the "why", rather than exclusively the "how". There is a focus on the economic substance of transactions and developing a deep understanding of the Financial Accounting Standards Board Conceptual Framework. This enables one to analyze the consistency of current financial reporting standards within a conceptual framework while considering alternative accounting treatments that can better reflect the economic substance of transactions. An overview of the conceptual and practical issues surrounding the accounting for investments, fair values, business combinations, consolidation of financial statements, structured transactions, derivatives, and hedging activities and foreign operations will also be covered with the intent for developing an awareness of academic research related to the economics of and accounting for complex business transactions.
ACCTG 590 – Colloquium (1)
ACCTG 494 – Research Project (Variable)
Supervised student activities on research projects identified on an individual or small-group basis.
ACCTG 873 – Adv Acct Rep (3)
Financial disclosure and reporting for complex business enterprises and activities; current issues in financial reporting.