ACCT3390
ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Spring, 2009
Email: tombeam@dr.com
Dr. T Beam
Fax:
215-836-7158 Prerequisite:
ACCT1122
Home Page: alpha.fdu.edu/~tbeam
Objective: To study the
problems and procedures concerning the design and installation of
accounting
systems. To discuss the development of account classifications and
internal controls with emphasis on
the accountant's use of the computer as an aid to management.
Text Dunn,
Cherrington, and Hollander, Enterprise Information Systems,
McGraw-Hill/Irwin,
3rd Ed, 2005.
Knapp, Michael C, Contemporary Auditing Issues and
Cases, 5th Ed, West, 2004.
(You may use an earlier edition.)
Grades:
Movie Review 10% Homework &
Participation
20% Case 5 10%
Book Review 10%
Exam
40%
Memos 10%
Cases
Week
/ Chapter
Questions &
Problems
-
1
-
-
Memo Art / Email
2 1-Introduction
R3,4,5,D1,5
5-Flow
Charting(91-105) R2,D3,A6an
Case 1 / News Item
3 14-Risks & Controls
R1,2,5,6,8,16,D1,3,C5-A4a,A7
Km - Trolley Dodgers / CC1 4 2- REA
Modeling
R1,6,D2,A1,C5-A8
SIIA / CC 2 / Case 2
5 3-Value Systems &
Chains R1,4,7,D1,5,C5-A1-1
Km - PTL Club / Policy / CC3 6 4-Business
Processes
R3,4,12,13,14,D1,C5-A1-2,5c
Movie Due (m) / CC4 / HO1 7 6-Data Base
Design
R2,4,8,9,D2,D5,D9,A1
Only Read Case 123
HO2,3 / Km - ZZZZ Best
8 7-Information Retrieval
R4,8,D1,7
Km - Howard Street/HO 4,5 9
8-Sales/Collections
R1,3,4,8
Book Due (m) / HO 6,7 10
9-Acquisition/Pymts(259-78) R1,2,4,9
K-Enron
-
11 Exam (All Chapters and Course Materials)
-
12 -
-
Case 5m
13 Presentations of Case 5
-
-
14 -
-
-
15
10-Integration
R1,3,D1
QUIZZES may be given
unannounced throughout the semester and will cover material assigned
for the given class. There is no makeup of quiz grades.
NOTES: All assignments: Try to
turn them in on time, if they are late they will not count fully. If
you are not in class or you do not have a copy of the material, or you
are not familiar with it,
your participation grade will suffer.
GENERAL NOTES: You should
always keep a copy of anything that you turn into me. You
should proof read anything you turn in with your name on it. All exams
and usually quizzes will
be given allowing open books and open notes. Notes, however, does
not include notes from
outside sources. Only your personal notes are allowed.
NOTES ON PROBLEMS: For the
problems marked “n”, use the following additional
information:
5- Applied Learning Whenever you are preparing
a flowchart, always identify all of the
internal control points (A, C, R, and IC) and any other issues. Make
recommendations for
improvement where appropriate.
GROUP WORK Most of this
material may be done in groups. However, that does not mean
that you should divide up the effort to the exclusion of some members
and the exhaustion of
others. I expect that each individual will read the chapter, read the
book, and watch the movie.
The group efforts consists in discussing, writing up, reviewing, and
turning in one solution. I
reserve the right to quiz group members to insure that each has read
the book, etc. Please
turn in one document with the names of all members on it. Do not give
me multiple copies.
EMAIL - I want you to send me
an email message before the second class. It should be from
an account where I can regularly send you messages. If you do not now
have an email account,
you can get one at the computer center. There are also some free email
services that you may
want to use.
NEWS ITEM Find an item in the
news that is relevant to the course. Get a copy of it and make
a list of the 5 key points.
CC# (Computer Crime) There are
4 pages of Computer Crimes which can be accessed from
my home page. As each page is due, identify what internal control
technique you would
recommend for each specific case to prevent its reoccurrence. Computer Crime
K(Knapp Cases): DO NOT DO the requirements printed at the end of
the case. Cases should
be read and a one page summary memo of the internal control issues
should be prepared.
Assume that you are employed by the company, i.e., NOT THE AUDITOR, and
you are
recommending internal control improvements to the audit committee of
the Board of Directors,
to whom the memo should be addressed. You should recommend a solution
to any poor internal
controls.
The Trolley Dodgers The PTL Club
ZZZZ Best Company Howard Street
Jewelers
For the Enron case, just prepare a list of the 5 key points and in one
paragraph discuss what you
would do if you worked for a company which was preparing what you
considered misleading , but
legal, financial statements.
Enron Corporation
MANAGEMENT MEMOS For the
problems marked as a management memo (m), in general,
do the material assigned in the problem and add a one page management
memo briefly recommending
your solution. (If you use a template of a memo which has a provision
for the company’s name, please
use the company’s name, and NOT “Company Name”) This memo should be no
more than ONE type
written double spaced page with normal margins and a point size of 12.
It will be graded on both form
and content. It should be prepared on a word processor and should be
both spell checked and grammar
checked. This may be done working in groups.
CASES 1-2 Do the material as
assigned.
CASE 5 Do one written procedure
with a flowchart. Select a real system and flow chart the steps.
Identify all of the internal control points (A, C, R, and IC). Point
out any internal control failures, and
prepare a memo making recommendations to management. Prepare one
overhead slide (power point
page) of the bullet points of your recommendations. The system may be
at the university or any other
organization (it may or may not be one in which you are a member),
e.g., religious, Greek, social, etc.
In your class presentation you should have copies of the flow chart
(only) for everyone in the class.
This can be done in groups and your grade will suffer if this is not
submitted on time.
CASE 123 Read the case.
Consider what a chart of accounts would look like.
HAND-OUTS There are 7 handouts
which describe procedures which can be accessed from my
home page. Prepare a flowchart of each procedure and identify all
internal control points (A, C, R,
and IC). Also identify any internal control problems and recommend
corrections. AIS FlowChart
Handouts
SIIA - The Software and
Information Industry Association (SIIA) has merged with the Software
Producers Association (SPA) which is now a division of the SIIA. The
SPA polices software piracy
and maintains an internet page of their activities. Please visit their
page at www.siia.net. Choose one
of their news items, read it, print out a copy, and create a list of
the key facts. Or visit www.fraud.org
and treat one of their presentations as if it were a press release and
do the same as the above.
POLICY Review the sample
policies in this course which can be accessed from my home page. Write
a new policy or rewrite one of the existing ones. If you rewrite one of
the existing ones, please indicate
text that you recommend be removed in square brackets ([,]) or with a
line through the text (like this),
and insertions in curly brackets ({,}). Please do not just change the
wording or a few values. Make the
change substantive. AIS
Policies
ARTICLE REVIEW / WEEKLY HANDOUTS Each week there will usually be
three things handed
out: (1) a short article to be read and discussed in class; (2) a
somewhat longer article taken home, read,
and used to prepare a list of the author’s 5 key points for the
following class’s discussion; and (3) a
problem or puzzle list to be attempted at home for discussion in the
following class.
MOVIE REVIEW Watch the movie
Weekend at Bernie’s. [1] Identify exactly how funds were
embezzled from the insurance company. [2] Draft a double
spaced, single page memo to the audit
committee of the board of directors clearly stating the internal
control changes that you recommend
to prevent it from happening again? This may be done working in a group.
BOOK REVIEW Read the book Proof
by Dick Francis. This may be done working in a group.
Note: Please do not repeat the story as I already know it.
(1) Assume you were assigned to review the internal
controls for Quigley, LTD (the caterer's
business at the race track). Prepare a double spaced, single page
summary memo of internal control
weaknesses and recommendations to the audit committee of the board of
directors.
(2) In no more than 2 type written pages: Identify
which character was an accounting major in
college and discuss the ethical behavior of the following characters:
Larry Trent, Stewart Naylor,
Kenneth Charter Jr., Zorac, Vernon, Tony Beech, and Gerard
McGregor. Describe how they each
justified their behavior. Is it possible that an ethical business
person might have behaved as each of
them did?
LIBRARY ASSIGNMENT Select two articles relevant to the course.
List what you believe to be
the author’s 5 key points. Turn in a copy of each article with the list
of key points. Be prepared to
discuss each article in class.
WEB COURSE JOURNAL ENTRIES (W)
are to be made at least once each week starting in
the second week. You enter the web course through the FDU page (
webcampus.fdu.edu ). I will
post questions concerning the course and identified with the week to
which it relates. They should
be responded to in that week. Every student is expected to respond to
each of them or to one of
the responses of one of the other students. I may respond as well. If I
respond to one of your
postings, your are expected to answer my response if it poses a
question or challenge. I very often
ask people to explain themselves. Try to remember that just stating how
you feel about something
is not an acceptable response. This is not a survey of your feelings or
opinions. You need to give
reasoned positions. Expect me to challenge you.
MISSED ASSIGNMENTS & EXAMS
Any assignment that will be graded should be turned
in on time. There are various way that you can get your material to me:
fax, email, etc. Material
that will not be graded can be turned in during the following class
that you attend. If you must miss
the exam, we can arrange a makeup, certainly no later than early next
semester. If you must miss
Case 5 we will arrange a make up where you present your analysis to
someone (probably one of
my other classes and probably next semester). The exam will be open
book and open notes and
will cover all the material in the course to that point including
chapter material, homework, articles,
and videos. In fact, anything covered in class is fair game for the
exam.
PARTICIPATION & TIMELINESS
Your level of participation will be assessed at the end of
the semester and it will be part of your grade. If material is turned
in late, it will lower the grade
you would otherwise have received.
INTEGRITY Please note the
university's policy on cheating, plagiarism, and other violations of
integrity which allows each professor some freedom within constraints.
My policy is: First offence,
F in the course. I know my policy is somewhat severe and I have no
sense of humor on this subject.
I encourage you to get help with all of your education, but help means
assistance and not
replacement of effort. You should understand anything that you turn in
with your name on it. If you
can not explain any word or phrase that you use, it will be treated as
plagiarism.
OUTCOMES The student should
learn, understand and be able to use all of the topics, concepts,
and techniques enumerated in the course description and list of topics.
The eventual goal is best
described by Frank H. T. Rhodes, President of Cornel University:
“A college graduate
should ... be able to work with precision, rigor, and understanding
in a chosen discipline so as to understand not only something of its
content but also its
premises, relationships, limitations, and significance.”
This course should provide the foundation of the accumulation and
integrity of financial information
necessary to accounting major and non-major alike so that they may
further pursue their business
educations and become a valuable member of a business profession.
A SIMPLE EXAMPLE: Thursday Dec
1, 2005 3:04 PM EST: a Yahoo.com News Item
Greenville County investigators are warning the public about a pair of
swindler[s].
Deputies said a woman was in the parking lot of
Wal-Mart on Woodruff Road when she was
approached by a woman and a man, the woman told the victim that she had
$8,000 in cash, but
did not like the serial numbers on the money and wanted to exchange it
with the victim.
The victim was asked to go to her bank with the
other man, withdraw $6,000 and give it to
the suspect, and in turn she would receive the $8,000.
When the victim withdrew the money and gave it to
the woman, the woman and the man left
without giving the victim anything. The victim was not hurt.
Investigators said people should take steps to avoid
this situation, such as:
# Never shop
alone.
# Do not speak to strangers.
# Ask yourself why someone would
give you more money than they will receive.
THE OFFICIAL FIRST PAGE
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Silberman College of Business
Administration
Accounting Department
Title: Accounting Information Systems
Semester: Spring, 2009
Code: ACCT3390
Instructor: Dr. T. Beam
Meeting Times: Madison: Monday 8:10pm to
10:40pm
Email: ombeam@dr.com
Teaneck: Wednesday 5:25pm to
8:00pm
Office Hours: Madison/Monday 1:00pm to 2:00pm & 4:30pm to
5:30pm Office: Madison M20A
Teaneck/Wednesday 4:30pm to
5:30pm
Teaneck Dickinson Hall 2110
Voice mail: 973-443-8810
Fax: 215-836-7158
Course Description To
study the problems and procedures concerning the design and
installation of
accounting systems. To discuss the development of account
classifications and internal controls with
emphasis on the accountant's use of the computer as an aid to
management.
Prerequisite: ACCT 1122
Business Perspective Outcomes:
This course contributes to a graduate who should “ ... be able to
work with precision, rigor, and understanding in a chosen discipline so
as to understand not only
something of its content but also its premises, relationships,
limitations, and significance.” This
course should provide the foundation of the accumulation and integrity
of financial information
necessary to accounting major and non-major alike so that they may
further pursue their business
educations and become a valuable member of a business profession.
Outcomes: Upon the
successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Demonstrate a basic understanding of the
underlying concepts involved in developing
information systems in
the accounting arena.
2. Discuss internal control concepts in a business
environment and the control of fraud.
3. Use and control spreadsheeting in accounting
applications.
4. Recognize potential ethical conflicts which may
arise in the design of an accounting
information system.
5. Describe the role of various techniques in
developing management information for decision
making.
Relation to Silberman College
of Business (SCB) Mission: In keeping with SCB’s mission, this
course contributes to prepare graduates who as decision makers are
aware of ethical issues,
who are ready to assume positions in global and multi-cultural
businesses, who are technologically
competent and knowledgeable in the various business disciplines.
Course Topics:
Internal Control
Organizational
Control
Coding the General Ledger
Ownership of
Organizational Information
Documentation
Transactions and Events
A (Control) Framework
Pervasive Controls
Technology
Systems Analysis
Needs Survey
Software & Hardware
Implementation
Sales / Collections Processes
Acquisition / Payment Processes
Other Processes
Instructional Resources:
Texts, Extensive Articles, Internet Sites, mystery novel (“Proof” by
Dick
Francis), a video (“Weekend at Bernie’s”), and Video Documentaries
(“Charles Ponzi & His
Scheme,” and “The Phar-Mor Fraud”)
Required Texts: Dunn,
Cherrington, and Hollander, Enterprise Information Systems,
McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 3rd Ed, 2005; & Knapp, Michael C, Contemporary
Auditing Issues and
Cases, 5th Ed, West, 2004.
Additional Reference Texts:
Suggested in Class.
Assessment Strategy:
Objective demonstration of material understanding (exam), 40%; Practice
and demonstration of reading and viewing information and the analysis
of same (book, movie,
and memos), 30%; Presentation and communication skills (above and Case
5), 10% more; and
In-class participation and responsiveness (preparation and thinking on
one’s feet), 20%.