Welcome Accounting Researchers!

About FASB Office Hours in Second Life

Professors Robert Bloomfield (Cornell University) and Ray Pfeiffer (University of Massachusetts, Amherst) hold weekly office hours in the virtual world Second Life® to discuss opportunities for research on standard setting. All researchers, including doctoral students as well as faculty, are welcome to attend.

Office hours take place every Wednesday, from 8am-9am Pacific Time (11am-noon Eastern Time), in the region called "Metanomics."

If you have Second Life installed on your computer, you can simply click here to teleport immediately to office hours.

Professor Bloomfield is the Director of FASB’s Financial Accounting Standards Research Initiative, which is conducting experimental and survey research to assess the likely effect of standards that have not yet been implemented. Professor Pfeiffer is the FASB Research Fellow, and works with staff and Board members to summarize the findings and implications of empirical research. Rob and Ray share a mission to foster communication between researchers and the FASB, and office hours in Second Life are intended to help reach that goal.

Office hours will allow researchers to learn about research opportunities with FASB. As the weeks progress we expect to have a variety of staff members, Board members and researchers join us for more focused discussions on specific topics. For now, however, we will focus on introducing researchers to Second Life and to the FASRI/research fellow programs.

Getting into Second Life

Second Life® is a virtual world that allow people to meet in a setting that shares many of the advantages of face-to-face contact, without the expense and hassle of travel.

If you are unfamiliar with Second Life, here is what you need to do:

Make sure you have a recently current computer, a broadband connection, and a headset with a microphone. Complete system requirements are available here.

You can create an account here . Keep in mind that you will need to choose a last name from a drop down list, and then any first name you wish.

After creating an account, download Second Life here . Then simply open up Second Life, and log in with your account name and password.

Getting to office hours

You can simply click here to teleport immediately to the office hours location. (You will need to click the Orange Teleport button once the map appears.)

Alternatively, when you are “inworld,” use the search tool (the button is on the bottom of your screen) and choose the “people” tab. Then search for any of the following people:

Beyers Sellers (Robert Bloomfield)
ProfessorRay Paule (Ray Pfeiffer)
Bjorlyn Loon (Lynn Cullens, Metanomics Director of Communications)
JenzZa Misfit (Metanomics Estate Manager)

Click the "instant message" button on the person's profile, and let them know you are an accounting researcher interested in attending FASB office hours in Second Life.

Using Second Life Voice

Office hours will be conducted using Second Life voice technology. You can find detailed information about using voice here.