---------New Mexico State University Library (revised 5/30/94)--------- HOW TO DO LIBRARY RESEARCH IN TAX ACCOUNTING Compiled by Bobray Bordelon Spring, 1993 Conducting research in the field of tax accounting requires the use of many different materials in the library. This guide provides a bibliography of useful sources as well as a basic approach to researching a topic. THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY The NMSU Library is housed in two buildings: Branson Hall and New Library. Books and journals are arranged by call number and divided between the buildings as follows: Call Number Locations New Library: A-H, HM-PZ Branson: HA-HJ, Q-Z Arts Agriculture Education Business Social Sciences Engineering Humanities Science BEGINNING YOUR RESEARCH Dictionaries and encyclopedias are excellent starting points for research. They can provide general background information to help narrow or broaden the focus of a topic, define unfamiliar terms, and offer bibliographies of other sources. Some works include an index, which will provide the best access to a subject. Dictionaries and Encyclopedias > Branson (Ref) HF5635 P93 1980 ACCOUNTANT'S ENCYCLOPEDIA, REVISED. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1980. > Branson (Ref) HF5621 E77 1985 Estes, Ralph. DICTIONARY OF ACCOUNTING. Cambridge: MIT P, 1985. > Branson (Ref) HF5621 B55 1972 Prieto, Joaquin Blanes. DICCIONARIO DE TERMINOS CONTABLES. Mexico: Compania Editorial Continental, 1972. An English-Spanish and Spanish-English dictionary of accounting terms. > Branson (Ref) HF5621 W67 1981 WORTERBUCH DER DEUTSCH-ENGLISCHEN FACHAUSDRUCKE DES RECHNUNGSWESENS UND DES GESCHAFTSVERKEHRS [DICTIONARY OF GERMAN-ENGLISH ACCOUNTING AND BUSINESS TERMS]. Stuttgart: Schaffer, 1981. Guides and Handbooks > Branson (Ref) HF5621 A22 1991 ACCOUNTANT'S HANDBOOK. New York: Wiley, 1991. Provides encyclopedic coverage on financial accounting and related topics. Covers structure of standards, financial statements, specialized industries, compensation and benefits, auditing, and management of information systems. > Branson (Ref) HF5667 C32 1986 CASHIN'S HANDBOOK FOR AUDITORS. New York: McGraw, 1986. > Branson (Ref) HF5686 I56 H36 1991 HANDBOOK OF INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING. New York: Wiley, 1991. Covers the international dimensions of accounting, reporting, and control. LOCATING TAX DECISIONS The Internal Revenue Code forms the foundation of U.S. tax law. The Internal Revenue Code can be found in Title 26 of the UNITED STATES CODE (NewLib (Ref) KF62 1988 A2 1989). Because UNITED STATES CODE is rewritten only once every six years, other publications prove to be more useful and provide the up-to-date information which is essential in tax research. > Branson (Docs) T22.25: CUMULATIVE BULLETIN. Washington: U. S. Internal Revenue Service. Contains IRS rulings and regulations, the full text of new tax statutes and their accompanying committee reports. Issued biannually. > Branson (Docs) T22.23: INTERNAL REVENUE BULLETIN. Washington: U. S. Internal Revenue Service. Contains current IRS announcements, full text of Treasury decisions, revenue rulings and procedures, and other official releases. Includes text of proposed regulations for public review. Issued weekly with semiannual cumulations. For U.S. Tax Court regular decisions, consult: > Branson (Docs) Ju11.7: U.S TAX REPORTS > NewLib (Ref) KF6324 A512 U53 TAX COURT REPORTED AND MEMERANDUM DECISIONS (RIA) U.S. Tax Court memorandum decisions: > NewLib (Ref) KF6324 A5 U52 T. C. MEMORANDUM DECISIONS (RIA) Other federal court decisions: > NewLib (Ref) KF6280 A2 C63 U. S. TAX CASES (CCH) > NewLib (Ref) KF6280 A2 A5 AMERICAN FEDERAL TAX REPORTS (RIA) Case citators: > NewLib (Ref Index Area) STANDARD FEDERAL TAX REPORTER (CCH) > NewLib (Ref Index Area) UNITED STATES TAX REPORTER New Mexico taxes: > NewLib (Ref) KFN4070 A6 C6 NEW MEXICO TAX REPORTER: STATE AND LOCAL. Chicago: Commerce Clearing House. Loose-leaf service provdes taxation law and legislation for New Mexico. > NewLib (Ref) KF6750 A6 S75 1925 STATE AND LOCAL TAX SERVICE. New York: Prentice. Loose-leaf service provides taxtation law and legislation for New Mexico. FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES Journals are the best source for current information on a topic. This is especially important if an area of study is new, currently being investigated, or subject to frequent change. If there is a list of references following a journal article it might provide leads to further sources. Indexes and Abstracts Journal articles on a specific subject can be identified through the use of a general or specialized index. Some indexes include abstracts (summaries) of articles. The library subscribes to indexes in print format and on CD-ROM. The library doesn't subscribe to all of the journals in these indexes. A list of journals to which the library does subscribe accompanies some of the indexes on the index and CD-ROM tables. Electronic Indexes Electronic indexes offer a computerized approach to the retrieval of citations to journal articles. A user can specify a combination of subject terms in order to find references to articles which contain those terms in their titles, in their abstracts, or as assigned descriptors. The following indexes may be useful for finding information on tax accounting topics. New products may be added; check the CD-ROM area near the reference desk. > Branson (Cafe OLE terminals and Library Network) > NewLib (Cafe OLE terminals and Library Network) PAN An index to articles on a wide range of subjects. It provides information about articles published since January 1990 in over 1,700 magazines and journals, and newscasts from major television networks and National Public Radio. It is updated monthly. The library subscribes to around 65% of the magazines and journals in PAN. PAN is available on any Cafe OLE terminal. Ask at the desk if you need any help. > Branson (Library Network) > NewLib (Library Network) ABI/INFORM Gives citations and abstracts for articles in business journals. Many of these articles relate to tax accounting, often from a business point of view. Appropriate subjects for this database can be found by consulting the ABI/INFORM THESAURUS. Updated monthly. > Branson (Ref CD-ROM Area) Compact Disclosure Contains financial and management information on over 11,000 public companies. Company data is extracted from annual and periodic reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Updated quarterly. > Branson (Library Network) > NewLib (Library Network) InfoTrac Academic Index Provides easy-to-use access to articles in periodicals of a popular nature (TIME, NEWSWEEK, etc.) as well as some specialized business journals. Gives access to stories in the news through references to the NEW YORK TIMES. Updated monthly. Printed Indexes Indexes or abstracts in printed form give subject and/or author access to journal articles. Some of the indexes are located on tables in the reference area; others can be found in the reference stacks by call number. The following indexes list references to journal articles in the field of tax accounting. > Branson (Ref Index Area) ACCOUNTANTS' INDEX. Supplements. New York: AICPA, 1920-1992. Index to periodicals and publication in accounting, taxation, and related fields. Library has 1940-1991. Continued by ACCOUNTING AND TAX INDEX. > Branson (Ref Index Area) ACCOUNTING & TAX INDEX. Ann Arbor: UMI, 1992 - . Index to periodicals and publications in accounting, taxation, and related fields. Continues ACCOUNTANTS' INDEX. Supplement. > Branson (Ref Index Area) BUSINESS PERIOCICALS INDEX. New York: Wilson, 1959 - . A monthly index to periodicals covering business and management topics including tax accounting. Subjects are arranged in alphabetical order. Cumulated annually. Period covered begins with 1958. > Branson (Ref Index Area) WALL STREET JOURNAL INDEX. New York: Dow Jones, 1957 - . The index to the leading U. S. daily financial newspaper. Each issue is divided into two parts: corporate news and general news. Coverage begins with 1955. Newspaper and microfilm at Branson Periodicals. Location of Journals Journals are shelved in call number order. Use the title of the journal, NOT the title of the article. Use OLE (the online catalog) to find the call number and format of a journal. Type T/ followed by the title of the journal. For assistance, ask a reference librarian. Current issues of most journals are shelved in the Periodicals areas. Use the location charts to find bound journals, which are shelved in the stacks with the books. Microfiche and microfilm journals are housed in cabinets in the microform areas of Branson and New Library. Selected List of Current Journals The following list is a sample of some of the journals the library carries in the field of tax accounting. Branson HF5681 T3 J68 JOURNAL OF AMERICAN TAXATION ASSOCIATION HF5681 T3 T35 (microfiche) TAXATION FOR ACCOUNTANTS HJ2360 J826t JOURNAL OF TAXATION HJ2360 N213t NATIONAL TAX JOURNAL HJ2360 T1992t TAXES: THE TAX MAGAZINE NewLib K24 A84 TAX ADVISER K24 A9 TAX EXECUTIVE (Ref) KF6289 T3 MAJOR TAX ACCOUNTING FINDING BOOKS Books are not as current as journal articles but will provide more comprehensive coverage of a subject. Access to the book collection is through the online catalog (OLE). Terminals are located in the reference and periodical areas on each floor. Older materials not yet entered into the OLE system are listed in the card catalog in the reference area. For books that are on order or recently received, use the INNOVACQ terminals, located in the reference and current periodicals areas. Using OLE OLE may be accessed by author, title, subject, or keyword. Consult the printed instruction sheet, the help screens on the terminal, or ask a reference librarian for further assistance. For most items, the OLE screen will give circulation information, indicating whether the item is available or checked out and, if checked out, when it is due. The Card Catalog Materials acquired by the library before 1975 may not be entered into the OLE system yet. For such material, check the card catalog in the reference area. Author, title and subject entries are arranged in a single alphabetical order in each card catalog. The card catalog in each building contains only cards for books in that building. Library of Congress Subject Headings To determine the appropriate heading(s) for a topic, consult the multi-volume LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBJECT HEADINGS (LCSH). These large red books, located at the reference desk and also near the OLE terminals, are very useful for suggesting alternate or additional headings to search. UF means "used for" and indicates terms that are not used. BT means "broader term," RT means "related term," SA means "see also," and NT means "narrower term." For example, under the term tax accounting, some of the narrower terms listed are Income tax Sales tax Tax planning Taxation, Double While Library of Congress headings can be very useful in finding books on a topic, the researcher should also explore keyword and Boolean (logical combinations of keywords using and, or, not) searching options on OLE. See the OLE handout, or use the OLE help screens for more information on keyword searching. Location of Books To locate a book in the library, first obtain the call number from the OLE screen or the card catalog, then consult one of the location charts found in the reference area or throughout each building. Books are shelved in call number order; however, if a call number is preceded by "(SpC)," the book will be located in Special Collections (Branson). If the call number is preceded by "(Ref)," the book will be located in the reference area. Special Collections materials and reference books cannot be checked out. Remember, the reference staff can always give you further assistance in locating a book. GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS The U.S. government publishes information that may be of use in the study of tax accounting. Many of these materials are found on OLE. The way to find older documents is to use the MONTHLY CATALOG OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS, GPO on CD-ROM, or one of several indexes located in the documents area. Government documents do not have the same type of call number as other materials in the library. They are organized by the Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc) classification system. The first letters in the SuDoc represent the issuing agency. The Government Documents collection is located in Branson Hall. Documents reference service is available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The collection is open to the public the same hours that the library is open. Indexes to Government Documents > Branson (Doc) > Branson (Library Network) > NewLib (Library Network) GPO GPO is a CD-ROM database that lists publications by the U.S. Government Printing Office from 1976 to the present. The user can type in title, agency, subject, or a combination of subject terms and retrieve a listing of titles and SuDoc numbers of documents that may be available in the NMSU documents collection. Issued bi-monthly. Tax Forms and Publications > Branson (Doc Ref) T22.57: yr. REPRODUCIBLE FEDERAL TAX FORMS FOR USE IN LIBRARIES. Washington: GPO. This current loose-leaf compilation of federal tax forms may be photocopied. Indexes by form number and subject lead you to the page numbers of the form you need. > Branson (Doc Ref) T22.44/2:no./yr. INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE PUBLICATIONS. Washington: GPO. Each current publication provides detailed information on a specific aspect of tax preparation. The most frequently requested publications have been compiled into a multi-volume set. Tax Information Publications (Current. (Doc Ref) T22.44/2:) shelved next to the boxes containing individual publications. Each volume is indexed by subject and publication number to lead you to the page number of the publication you need. Note: State and Federal tax forms and instructions are available on a rack outside the documents office prior to "tax season." If they are not there, ask in the office.