Sanjay Gupta, PhD, CPA, CMA

During this time period, I earned the following awards and recognitions:

* 2001, 2000, 1999 Received a summer grant for the Implementation of Technology in Academic Courses

* 2000 Outstanding Teacher Award, Student Advisory Council

* 1999 Selected by the School of Accounting, University of Central Florida, to attend the Doctoral Consortium sponsored by Deloitte & Touche in Lake Tahoe, American Accounting Association

Presented at the Institute of Management Accountants, IMA in Las Vegas in June of 2012.

Presented with R. Elson at the American Accounting Association, AAA in Denver, CO. in August 2011.

Presented at the Academic and Business Research Institute, AABRI in Orlando, FL. on September 24, 2010.

Presented at the American Accounting Association, AAA, in San Francisco, CA. on August 2, 2010. Published in the proceedings.

Presented with N. Swanson and E. Walker at the Institute of Management Accountants, IMA in Baltimore, MD. on June 7, 2010.

Presented with W. Moore at the Southeast Case Research Association in Myrtle Beach, SC. in February 2010. Published in the proceedings.

Presented with T. Reisenwitz at The International Applied Business Research Conference, IABR in Orlando, FL. in January of 2010. Published in the proceedings.

Presented with D. Cunningham and N. Swanson at the Allied Academies Fall Conference, Allied Academies.com in Las Vegas, NV on October 17, 2009.

Presented with R. Elson at the American Accounting Association in New York, NY. in August of 2009.

Presented with S. Ostapski at the Institute of Management Accountants, IMA, in Denver, CO. in June of 2009. Published in the proceedings.

Presented with L. Marshall at the Allied Academies Fall 2008 International Conference, Allied Academies in Reno, NV in October of 2008.

Presented with D. Cunningham at the Institute of Management Accountants, IMA in Tampa, FL. in June of 2008.

Presented with R. Elson at the American Accounting Association, AAA in Chicago, IL. in August of 2007.

Presented with M. Schnake at the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) in Phoenix, AZ. in June of 2007.

Presented with R. Elson and S. Ostapski at the South Eastern American Accounting Association (SEAAA) in Atlanta, GA. in May of 2007. Published in the proceedings.

Presented at the Institute of Management Accountants in Las Vegas, Nevada. in June of 2006.

Presented with R. Elson at the Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Accounting Association in Knoxville, TN. in April of 2006.

Presented with R. Elson at the Southeastern Meeting of the American Accounting Association in Knoxville, TN. in March of 2006.

Presented with R. Elson and S. Ostapski at the American Accounting Association in San Francisco, CA. in August of 2005.

Presented at the Institute of Management Accountants Annual Meeting in Boston, MA. in June of 2005.

Presented with S. Ostapski at the American Accounting Association in Honolulu, HI. in August of 2003.

Presented at the Institute of Management Accountants Annual Meeting in Nashville, KY. in June of 2003.

Presented with M. Zarzeski at the Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Accounting Association in Charleston, SC. in March of 2003.

Presented with C. Bailey at the American Accounting Association in San Antonio, Texas. in August of 2002.

Presented at the Institute of Management Accountants Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA in June of 2002.

Presented at the American Accounting Association in Atlanta, GA. in August of 2001.

Presented with C. Superville at the Institute of Management Accountants Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA. in June of 2001.

Presented with C. Bailey at the American Accounting Association in Philadelphia, PA. in August of 2000.

Presented at the Southeastern Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences in Myrtle Beach, SC. in September of 1999.

Presented at the American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences in Las Vegas, NV. in February of 1999.

Presented at the Georgia Association of Accounting Educators in Statesboro, GA on February of 1999.

Presented with C. Superville at the Southeastern Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences in Myrtle Beach, SC. in October of 1998.

Presented at the Southeastern Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences in Myrtle Beach, SC in October of 1998.

Presented at the American Statistical Association Quality and Productivity Section in Santa Rosa, CA in May of 1998.

Presented at the American Statistical Association Quality and Productivity Section in Orlando, FL in May of 1997.

Presented at the Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Accounting Association in Nashville, KY in April of 1997.

Presented at the Southeastern Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences in Myrtle Beach, SC in October of 1993.

Valdosta, GA: Teachers Own Publishing. (2009)

Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin (2007)

Georgia Association of Accounting Educators, Macon, GA. (February 5, 2010).

Best Practices Teaching Seminar, LCOBA. (February 2008).

VSU Langdale College's Best Practices in Teaching Seminar, Valdosta, Georgia. (February 2007).

VSU Langdale College, Valdosta, Georgia. (February 2006)

Co-authored with R. Elson and J. Krispin. Given the pressures on colleges and universities to use large classes as a means to leverage resources while maintaining or even improving student and graduation rates, the present study seeks to identify several key factors that influence student perceptions of course effectiveness in large classes. Students from large sections of a Principles of Managerial Accounting class were surveyed at the end of the semester and across three successive semesters. Survey results were factor analyzed, leading to the development of scales relating to student perceptions of the timeliness of feedback provided on course assignments, instructor-student interactions, and course effectiveness. Timeliness of feedback on course assignments was significantly correlated with perceptions of course effectiveness, as was the perceptions of instructor-student interactions within the classroom. Interestingly, instructor-student interactions outside of the classroom were not significantly correlated with perceptions of course effectiveness, suggesting that efforts to create meaningful interactions between students and instructors should be focused within the classroom.

Co-authored with T. Reisenwitz. The product warranty plays an increasingly important role in today's highly competitive marketplace. The use of warranties is widespread, but their use has only relatively recently been applied in the health care sector. This study will look at the different levels of brand loyalty and store loyalty for respondents who were grouped by demographic characteristics. The demographics were divided into two groups: male/female, high income/low income, and younger/older. The respondents consisted of 120 patients at a privately-owned and operated, single-outlet, retail optical center. The two groups were compared based on brand loyalty and store loyalty using independent-samples t-tests. The analysis revealed that younger patients who purchase the warranty are more brand loyal than older patients who purchase the warranty. Additionally, patients with higher incomes were significantly more store loyal than patients with lower incomes.

Co-authored with K. Bell and T. Lee. One of the important duties of faculty is advising students on courses and careers. Undergraduate students often have little information on what factors they might consider in selecting a career or how they might weight these factors. This paper reports the results of a survey of undergraduate students on their preferences with respect to job characteristics and analyses the relationships between student preferences and their demographics and personality traits. This information can be useful to faculty and students during advising on career planning.

Co-authored with T. Lee and K. Kicklighter. The article discusses job characteristics attractive to accounting professionals as gleaned from a survey of 164 accountants in the U.S. Southeast. The three most desirable aspects of a job were the work environment, the nature of the work, and its potential for professional development. Consideration is given to implications of the survey findings to employers looking to hire accountants.

Co-authored with N. Swanson. The article focuses on lack of business ethics in professional and academic community in the U.S., referring a research conducted on college students. As mentioned, research was conducted to examine the ethical choices made by students and actual implementation of the choice. Results of the research is also discussed which indicate that stated behavior was not in correlation to actual behavior and choices were not influenced by gender or Grade Point Averages (GPAs) of students.

Co-authored with R. Elson in the National Accounting Journal. While large classes have been around at larger universities for several years, budget and facility constraints have made it necessary for smaller institutions to start offering lower level courses in large class sizes. Large classes can pose several pedagogical challenges. From an instructor's point of view, students enrolled in these lower level courses are typically freshman or sophomores and are the ones most in need of faculty mentorship, constructive feedback, and active participation in order to succeed, criteria that instructor's teaching large classes find difficult to provide. This research surveys students enrolled in large sections of the Principles of Accounting courses across four semesters at a regional university in the Southeastern US. Students completed an online survey in the last two weeks of the semester which included questions on a wide range of variables ranging from student demographic information (age, gender, cumulative GPA, and major) to student in-class experience (relating to level of interaction with instructor, feedback, technology, and leaning effectiveness).

Co-authored with T. Reisenwitz. The product warranty plays an increasingly important role in today's highly competitive marketplace. The use of warranties is widespread, but its use has only relatively recently been applied in the health-care sector. This study will attempt to assess the effectiveness of an eyeglass warranty at a privately owned and operated, single outlet, retail optical center. The respondents were divided into two groups: respondents who had purchased an eyeglass warranty in a previous visit and respondents who did not purchase an eyeglass warranty in a previous visit. The two groups were compared based on several variables associated with the role of a product warranty: brand loyalty, store loyalty, satisfaction and risk aversion. Implications for health-care marketing were discussed and limitations and future research directions were suggested.

Co-authored with N. Swanson and E. Walker. The article focuses on lack of business ethics in professional and academic community in the U.S., referring a research conducted on college students. As mentioned, research was conducted to examine the ethical choices made by students and actual implementation of the choice. Results of the research is also discussed which indicate that stated behavior was not in correlation to actual behavior and choices were not influenced by gender or Grade Point Averages (GPAs) of students.

Co-authored with W. Moore in the Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies. This article is a case study about the retirement plan decisions.

Co-authored with W. Moore. Dr. Larry Taylor has taught for more than 30 years at Southeast State University. He is contemplating retiring within a year and has begun evaluating the various retirement plan options available to determine the ideal plan for him and his wife, Amanda.

Co-authored with D. Cunningham and N. Swanson. Continuing failures in the accounting profession have demonstrated a paucity of ethics at all levels. This has renewed discussions among accounting educators regarding their role in preparing accounting students to face ethical dilemmas in the accounting profession. This study first measured accounting students’ stated behavior by recording their responses to different scenarios on a Business Ethics Quiz. In a follow up experiment, these students’ grades are temporarily changed and an opportunity given to them to report the grading error. The purpose of this study is to observe whether their actual conduct (Actual Behavior) is consistent with their Stated Behavior. The results of this research indicate that, when faced with an ethical dilemma, although accounting students may state they will make ethical choices, their “Stated Behavior” had no correlation to their “Actual Behavior.” Additional findings indicate that accounting students’ ethical choices are also not influenced by their age, gender, or GPA.

Co-authored with R. Elson. The purpose of this paper is to identify effective feedback tools that are available for the various senders in the feedback loop, teachers and students, who are both senders and receivers in the feedback process. We believe that the use of these tools will help enhance the student learning process.

Co-authored with L. Marshall. While there appears to be consensus that the demand for accounting majors is on the rise, widespread concern exists that the gap between current accounting education and the needs of industry are widening. Evidence in the accounting literature indicates accounting instructors rely heavily on textbooks and end-of-chapter (EOC) materials for homework assignments and coverage of course content. Accordingly, the skill set development of an accounting student may largely depend on the EOC materials contained in the prescribed text. This paper examines the congruence between the EOC materials in select accounting textbooks and the cognitive and behavioral (e.g. communication, technology, etc.) skills identified by professional organizations. Specifically, the authors performed a systematic analysis of the leading text for Accounting Information Systems (AIS), Auditing, Cost, Intermediate, and Tax Accounting to determine the extent to which textbooks facilitate the move from the transmittal of knowledge to the development of the higher-order cognitive skills as well as the behavioral skills. The results of this study indicate that the leading accounting texts tend to focus more on lower-order cognitive skills. The results also indicate that there is a significant difference in the coverage of cognitive skills across the different accounting disciplines.

Co-authored with D. Cunningham. Today's business community has demonstrated a paucity of business ethics, and raised concern among business educators about the efficacy of ethics instruction as part of a business education. While some business faculties are struggling to incorporate an increased ethics component into their curricula, others believe that ethics cannot be taught in the classroom. In an effort to contribute to our understanding of the dynamics of ethical decision-making by business students, this research was devised with several objectives: (1) to examine the ethical choices business students make when faced with an ethical dilemma in a controlled environment, (2) to examine whether business students will make the choices they stated they would make when actually placed in a similar ethical dilemma, and (3) to determine whether age, gender, student status, or GPA are factors that influence ethical choices made by these students. Results of this research indicate that while the majority of business students state they will make ethical choices when faced with an ethical dilemma (Stated Behavior), most students' Actual Behavior had no correlation to their Stated Behavior. Additional findings indicate that a student's ethical choices are not influenced by his age, GPA, major, or student type (graduate versus undergraduate, or traditional versus non-traditional). However, our findings indicate that female students are more likely to behave ethically than male students.

Co-authored with M. Schnake. There is evidence that suggests that in many professions careers are either over or under managed. In an overwhelmingly complex global business environment it is also evident that individuals have to become more self reliant in making career choices. In order to be self reliant, however, individuals would need to have an understanding of their strengths, things that motivate them, and the values that are important to them. This self-image of competence, motives, and values are your "career anchors."

Co-authored with A. Arya. Despite such widespread use of distance learning technology, there is scant evidence about students’ perceptions of the teaching environment in distance learning courses. This paper examines responses to a survey of students enrolled in a variety of distance learning business courses. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. First, various distance learning delivery formats are reviewed and the class environment in which distance learning courses are offered at a regional university is described. Sample selection procedure and descriptive statistics are provided in section 3. The fourth section provides a review of prior research and presents the hypotheses tested in this study. The results appear in section 5. Limitations of the study are pointed out in section 6. The final section summarizes the results of the study.

Co-authored with R. Elson and A. Ostapski.Previous research has found that the use of non-traditional teaching aids is beneficial in terms of students’ perceptions of learning, exam performance, and the learning process. The objective of this research is to determine if the use of non-traditional teaching aids, specifically crossword puzzles, in an introductory accounting course, increases student interest in the subject matter and, therefore, enhances learning. The education literature has identified a number of situations in which various games have been used in different academic disciplines as effective teaching aids to enhance student learning. Lewis and Mierzwa (1989) suggest that games such as charades, crossword puzzles, board games, word searches and bingo are effective teaching aids when used in the right situation. Rotter (2004) believes that the game “Jeopardy!” can be modified by teachers to assess knowledge thus replacing the need for formal tests. Bailey, Hsu and DiCarlo (1999) developed educational puzzles as supplemental materials to complement and enhance the information presented in the traditional lecture. They believed that the crossword puzzles provided students with a unique, innovative, and fun opportunity to evaluate their own level of learning by identifying concepts not yet mastered.

Co-authored with J. Eastman and C. Swift. The emergence of the Internet and the World Wide Web has significantly changed every aspect of business. Education, too, has changed considerably as evidenced by the exponential increase in online courses. Online courses offer numerous advantages over traditional courses to administrators, instructors, and students. However, while the use of online courses is increasing, it remains unclear whether the pedagogical and learning approaches, that are required to make these courses effective, are keeping pace with the ability to deliver such courses. The primary objective of this paper is to describe the growth and development of distance education, discuss the three dimensions of teaching online courses, examine some of the issues and concerns for faculty teaching online courses, and provide some implications for faculty either teaching or considering teaching online courses.

Co-authored with A. Ostapski. The business environment of corporate America is changing rapidly and has necessitated a change in accounting education to keep pace with the needs of the business world. Accounting educators are being urged to reevaluate the curricula and focus on improving students' critical thinking, communication and interpersonal skills, and active participation in the learning process. Businesses need more speed, flexibility, and integration to operate successfully in both the local and global economies. They are finding that the flow of information across business functions is critical to achieving good decision-making. To facilitate the flow of information, companies are developing various types of work teams. The purpose of this study is to discuss the proposed changes in accounting education, provide an overview of the use of teams in the workplace, introduce THE GAME, a structured and collaborative exercise designed to increase student participation in the learning process, and develop some short activities that students work on collaboratively. These exercises contribute to active learning, critical thinking, problem solving, and interpersonal skills, which are attributes critical for success in the accounting profession.

Co-authored with C. Bailey. Focuses on a study which examined the role of performance plans in mitigating managers' short-term decision orientation and risk-averse behavior. Influence of the availability of internal cash on the association between capital expenditure levels and adoption of performance plans; Impact of manager's behavior on risk-aversion; Results and conclusion.

Co-authored with C. Superville. There is consensus that money invested in quality programs provides a high rate of return, but disagreement on how the optimal level of quality investment can be modeled. It has been postulated that there is no correct cost of quality (COQ) model since quality costs are dynamic and firm specific. Firms tend to move to new quality levels over time as they increase their prevention activities aimed at detecting and eliminating cause of variation. Many firms tend to misallocate quality spending by investing the greatest percentage of quality costs to the lowest yielding categories and the lowest percentage of quality costs to the highest yielding categories. Examines the various COQ models that have been proposed and explains the misallocation of quality investment by firms. Describes why quality initiatives undertaken by a firm are generally consistent with corporate goals and strategy, the maturity level of a firm, and management commitment.

Co-authored with M. Schnake. Schools of business are increasingly adopting distance-learning technologies for the delivery of courses and even complete degree programs (Hildebrand, 1995). This trend has resulted from the rapid developments in information technology, the ability of schools of business to reach students in distant locations, and the sharing of costs and expertise across multiple locations (Webster & Hackley, 1997). A recent survey indicated that more than half of the 2, 215 four-year colleges and universities in the U.S., offer distance learning courses (Gubernich & Ebeling, 1997; Vasarhelyi & Graham, 1997). In addition, the growth of part-time, non-residential, non-traditional students has further increased the demand for distance learning (Hubbard, 1997; Green, 1996). Given it's relatively recent development, little research exists examining the effectiveness of, and student reaction to, these methods of course delivery.

Technology mediated distance learning is changing the pedagogical environment for business schools. Two major factors that have spurred the growth of distance learning are the exponentially increasing power of informational technology and a dramatic increase in the ranks of non-traditional students. An increasing number of universities, both large and small, currently offer entire degree programs in a distance learning environment. Distance learning allows the sharing of information and costs among multiple sites, provides educational opportunities for distant or disadvantaged locations, and introduces students to the use of information technology used by businesses. While distance learning may be a growing trend, there is limited evidence regarding student experiences and perceptions of distance learning courses and the effectiveness of this method. This paper examines 565 business student responses, enrolled in a variety of distance learning business courses at a regional university, to a questionnaire administered in a distance learning course. The results indicate that remote students tend to be non-traditional students that outperform the traditional on-site students, as indicated by their course grades. Remote students perceive the effectiveness of class discussions and group projects to be higher than the on-site students. There is no significant difference between remote and on-site students' perception about the quality of instruction and technology, with both groups rating these criteria high. An overwhelming majority of both remote and on-site students indicate that they feel this is an appropriate course to be offered in the future and will be willing to enroll in another distance learning course. In conclusion, the positive perceptions and experiences of business students, both remote and on-site, are a clear indication that effective use of this media of instruction can create a pedagogically effective learning environment. These results have implications for school administrators and policy makers who are either considering expanding the number and range of courses offered in a distance learning format or are getting ready to offer these courses for the first time. Also, instructors of distance learning courses can benefit tremendously from feedback about students' perceptions of these courses.

Co-authored with C. Bailey and R. Schrader. Student evaluations of teaching (SET) are commonly used to evaluate classroom instruction, but their validity in assessing teaching effectiveness is not firmly established. This study investigates a question not previously studied in the literature: the consistency with which students utilize information in evaluating different instructors and courses. Specifically, the study examines students’ relative weightings of six factors in their judgment models for instructor effectiveness. Significant differences (p≤0.0001) are found between the models used to evaluate instructors in upper-level and lower-level accounting courses, instructors in cost/managerial and financial accounting courses, and even different instructors teaching the same course. The data are from the SET instrument used at a major state university, and cover a 6-year period. The findings imply that, in comparing and rewarding instructors based on summative evaluations, one needs to be aware of contingencies that affect students’ judgment models. Some of the differences in models are normatively appropriate, but personality or other extraneous environmental variables may inappropriately influence students’ judgment models of instructor effectiveness.

Co-authored with C. Bailey. This article investigates the usefulness of industrial learning curves in a laboratory setting. Learning curves are mathematical or graphical representations of how the time taken to complete a task is reduced with repetition. While the learning-curve concept was originally applied in industries with repetitive tasks (mass manufacturing) or where the tasks were of a complex nature and significant learning was possible (aircraft and aerospace industry), it has gained credibility over the years. The 79 subjects in this study consisted of 77 students from six semesters of the same master's level cost accounting course, plus two former students who had once worked as research assistants on earlier learning-curve studies with the first author. On the day of the experiment, each subject received written instructions and a package of 40 graphs. After reading the instructions and clearing up any questions, they recorded their forecasts on a data coding sheet, in minutes to one decimal place. The experimental sessions, conducted in five sections of a graduate cost accounting course over five semesters, resulted in 79 usable response sets. Most subjects did appear to take the task seriously, and had no difficulty finishing it in about 40 minutes.

Co-authored with T. Case. An exploratory investigation of the outward influence tactics used by practicing managers. Narrative accounts of 117 successful and unsuccessful influence attempts were content analyzed and categorized using Flanagan’s critical incident approach. Chi‐square analyses and Spearman Rank‐Order correlations were used to compare successful and unsuccessful influence tactics and determine the reasons these methods were employed. Similar to previous investigations, which focused on lateral and upward influence tactics, communicating facts and data in a rational manner was the most frequently used outward influence approach. Success was more likely when a combination of tactics was used and when more than one agent was involved. Successful attempts were associated with the achievement of objectives, creation of a positive image, and improved business relationships. Negative attempts were associated with a jeopardized future business relationship and generation of negative feelings. The implications of the findings and future research directions are identified.

Co-authored with C. Superville. There is a consensus that money invested in quality programs provides a high rate of return, but disagreement on how the optimal level of quality investment can be modeled. It has been postulated that there is no correct cost of quality (COQ) model since quality costs are dynamic and firm specific. Firms tend to move to new quality levels over time as they increase their prevention activities aimed at detecting and eliminating cause of variation. Many firms tend to misallocate quality spending by investing the greatest percentage of quality costs to the lowest yielding categories and the lowest percentage of quality costs to the highest yielding categories. Examines the various COQ models that have been proposed and explains the misallocation of quality investment by a firm are generally consistent with corporate goals and strategy, the maturity level of a firm, and management commitment.

Presented at The 13th Multidisciplinary Academic Conference, Prague, CZ in October of 2018.

Presented at International Conference on Social Science and Economics, ICSSE, Prague, CZ on September 21, 2017.

Presented at Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) Annual Conference, IMA, Denver on June 20, 2017.

Presented at The International Academic Conference, Global Academic Institute, Prague, CZ. on September 5, 2016.

Presented at SE AAA (South Eastern American Accounting Association), AAA, Atlanta, GA. on April 15, 2016.

Presented at IABPAD, International Academy of Business and Public Administration Disciplines in Orlando, FL. on January 3, 2016.

Presented at the International Academic Conference, Global Academic Institute in Prague, CZ. in September 2015.

Presented T. Lee at International Academy of Business and Public Administration Disciplines, IABPAD in Dallas, TX. on April 24, 2015.

Presented at SE AAA, South Eastern American Accounting Association, AAA in Asheville, NC. on April 17, 2015.

Presented with T. Lee at the American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, American Accounting Association in Atlanta GA. on August 5, 2014.

Presented with N. Swanson at the American Accounting Association, AAA in Anaheim, CA. in August 2013.