No abstract

No abstract

The Department of Accounting at our university implemented a Principles of Accounting Competency Exam (PACE) in an attempt to stem the high failure and withdrawal rates in Intermediate Accounting I. To support the PACE, we created a menu of study alternatives for students needing remedial instruction. During the period under review, we observed evidence of improvement in student success in Intermediate I. This discussion describes the PACE and its implementation during Fall 2006, but more importantly, it describes the supplemental measures we have taken to prepare students for the PACE.

This paper investigates changes in electric utilities' dividend policies following the onset of deregulation. Consistent with the theory of dividend clienteles, we find that utilities continue to pay high dividends after the onset of deregulation. Under a regulated regime, we find no systematic pattern of associations between dividend changes and abnormal stock returns or future earnings changes. Post-deregulation, however, we find that, consistent with prior research on unregulated firms, dividend increases (decreases) are viewed by the market as good (bad) news. When we examine earnings following changes in dividends, we do not find evidence in favor of the dividend signaling theory.