Bryan, College Station Texas-RELLIS Professor of Accounting Dr. Murphy Smith received the Business School Researcher of the Year Award from the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi College of Business. Smith is one of TAMU-CC’s business faculty teaching at the RELLIS Campus in Bryan, Texas. At RELLIS, TAMU-CC offers bachelor’s degree programs in accounting, finance, management, and marketing.
Smith’s academic record includes over 200 research articles, books and monographs, academic conference presentations, research grants, and awards for teaching and research. Among his awards are the Outstanding Educator Award from the Texas Society of CPAs and the Outstanding International Accounting Educator Award from the American Accounting Association International Accounting Section. He ranks in the top one percent of authors on Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN.com) by downloaded articles, with over 86,000. His work is highly referenced, with over 4.700 citations to his work shown on Google Scholar. His work has been reported in various news media, including National Public Radio, Fortune, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal.
Smith’s recent research examines cryptocurrency, cyber terrorism, tax ethics, and accounting history. Smith notes, “In some prior years, cryptocurrencies have outperformed stock market indices, but recent fraud cases and high volatility of cryptocurrencies suggest that investing in cryptocurrencies entails much higher risk than traditional stock market investments. The debate continues over the investment potential of cryptocurrencies, whether they have real intrinsic value or that they are simply the new Dutch Tulip Bubble, with a giant crash coming.”
Smith observes, “A current project involves a comprehensive review of tax history. Findings indicate that various forms of taxation played a critical role in accumulating resources necessary to build and sustain world empires and republics. Excessive taxation sometimes was as a factor in the downfall of an empire. Without the revenues accumulated via taxation, world history might have taken a notably different direction.”
Smith continues, “A person’s moral responsibility to pay taxes was declared in the Ancient Roman Province of Judea. Judea was ruled by a prefect, the most famous being Pontius Pilate, who governed from 26 to 36 AD. In a clash in Ancient Judea with his detractors, Jesus of Nazareth was asked whether Jewish citizens should pay taxes to the Roman government. He indicates that a citizen has a moral responsibility to pay taxes: ‘…Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.’ And they brought one. And he said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?’ They said to him, ‘Caesar’s.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’”
Smith speaks enthusiastically about the RELLIS Campus. He says, “For me, teaching on the RELLIS Campus is a marvelous opportunity to benefit the lives of students and help them earn a college degree to prepare them for a future professional career. The field of accounting offers excellent job opportunities in public accounting, industry, and government.”
Smith adds, “At RELLIS, academic programs are provided by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and other Texas A&M System universities. The System universities have joined together in a unique, transformative academic alliance. For fans of military history, I think it really cool that RELLIS is located on a former military airbase where fighter pilots were trained to fight in WW2 and the Korean War. Now we’ll be training students for high-demand jobs in accounting, finance, marketing, and other excellent career fields.”
For more information about the RELLIS Campus, see the website (https://rellis.tamus.edu/academicallaince). Information about the RELLIS business programs offered by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is available online (https://www.tamucc.edu/business/undergraduate-programs/bachelors-of-business-administration-rellis.php).
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Contact Info:
Dr. Lawrence Murphy Smith, CPA
Professor of Accounting
College of Business, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
RELLIS Campus
Bryan, TX 77807
SSRN Listed Papers: http://ssrn.com/author=242236
Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1tYV82AAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Email: Lawrence.Smith@tamucc.edu
