Professor: Jane Fedorowicz
Ofrice: AGC 267
Office Phone: 891-3153
Fax: 891-2896
Email: JFEDOROWICZ ( add @BENTLEY.EDU for Internet access)
Office Hours: Monday 2:10-3:25, Thursday 1 0: 00- 1 1:00 and by appointment Classroom:
Text: Gelinas, Oram, and Wiggins. Accounting Information Systems (3rd Edition). South-Westem Publishing, 1995. ISBN # 0-538-82486-7
Other Materials: AC340 case packet (cases and readings)
Optional Materials (DO NOT PURCHASE BEFORE CLASS):
MYOB Software
SnapGraphics Software
In addition to assigned readings, students are expected to regularly read at least one general-business periodical, in order to identify emerging stories relating to accounting information systems. Suitable periodicals include Business Week, Journal of Accountancy, Fortune, Forbes, The Economist, and The Wall Street JournaL
Course Description: AC340 examines accounting information systems (AIS) in the context of an organization's information technology architecture. It explores several typical AIS application subsystems, such as order-entry/sales, billing/receivables/cash receipts, and general ledger. Issues that will be addressed include the relationship between AIS and an organization's existing and planned Information Technology (IT) architecture, the impact of emerging information technologies on AIS and related systems, the control ramifications of a computerized AIS environment, ethical concerns, and implications of total quality management, interorganizational partnering and business process reengineering initiatives on AIS design, implementation, and management. Students will engage in a variety of leaming experiences, including team participation in outside-of-class assignments, hands-on use of state-of-the-art software, oral classroom presentations, case discussions, examination of videotapes, and practitioner guest lectures.
Course Objectives:
Grading: Your final grade will be determined approximately as follows, subject to the professor's judgment of the skills and understanding you have mastered and demonstrated in the course:
AIS article: 5%
MYOB assignment: 5
Team Project: 25
Draft ].- 5
Draft 2: 5
Draft 3: 5
Presentation.- 5
Final Report: 5
4 tests (IO points each) 40
Final Exam: 15
Class Participation: 10
100%
Each student is to hand in a copy of an article describing an AIS application in a company setting. The article can be handed in at any time during the semester. However, the article cannot be more than one month old on the date it is submitted. The article can be from any source in the popular press, including newspapers and magazines. A search of LexusNexus, the Wall Street Journal online, or any other CDROM database may be a good starting point.
In addition to the above-noted assignments, the professor may use short, unannounced in-class quizzes to gauge students' grasp of the day's assignment.
To obtain full credit for "class participation," a student would attend all classes and participate actively and with useful comments in all discussions and question-and-answer sessions - including in-class group exercises.
Course Notes
1. An exam average of at least 60% must be achieved to pass the course (higher grades in other parts of the course will not compensate for failure on the exams).
2. Group project assignments will be done in teams of 3 to 5 students. Teams will be established by the second class.
3. Your commitment to your team partners is a critical part of this course, and you will be required to evaluate the performance of your partners before the end of the term. These evaluations provide a control for those students who do not do their share of the team work, and to adjust final grades, if necessary. If there is a problem in the functioning of the team that apparently cannot be resolved through discussion, please consult with your professor. The formal evaluation at the end of the term may lead to more equitable grades, but it will not solve the problem of a dysfunctional team.
4. Knowledge accumulates from others' work; as Einstein said, "If I saw further, it was because I stood on the shoulders of giants." Academic integrity requires that you acknowledge the many "shoulders" on which you have "stood." Although groups may work together to share ideas, the assignments submitted must evidence the independent work of each student. Teams or students with substantially similar assignments will receive grades of zero. Note also that when quoting or using the work of another, a complete citation (author, article, source, date) must be included or the assignment will receive a grade of zero. In addition, the professor reserves
the right to invoke more severe sanctions under the provisions of Bentley College's Academic Honesty Code.
5. Class attendance is mandatory. Many class sessions are designed for collaborative leaming, so your absence would penalize both yourself and your class-mates. As an aspiring professional, you are expected to schedule your time far enough in advance so that absence from class can be minimized. Please notify me in advance ifyou will not be able to attend a class.
6. 1 will call on students to answer questions about the homework, assigned cases, chapters and other readings; however, your voluntary contributions to class discussions are more valuable. Please see me ifyou have a hard time participating in class. Many students have this problem, and over the years I have identified a few techniques to help you "get in the game."
7. Please do not expect me to accept late assignments. Other students will have made adjustments to their schedules in order to complete their work on time. It is unfair to them if I accept your assignment late. Furthermore, late assignments upset the process of giving the class feedback (solutions or graded papers) on them. Plan ahead. The syllabus lists all assignments and their due dates.
8. Discussion questions and problems should be prepared for the day assigned. Generally the discussion in class will encompass the assigned questions and problems. If you prepare written answers, you will be better able to participate in class discussions (and better able to answer some of the exam questions, also).
9. All examinations must be taken as scheduled, except in cases of valid, documented emergencies. In such an event, please notify the instructor or leave a message in the Accountancy office (891-2134) before the test is over. If make-up examinations are necessary, they will be administered on a Friday evening.
I 0. Please fill out a Student Information Sheet and return it in the second class, with a small photograph of yourself taped in the upper right comer. FAILURE TO TURN IN BOTH THE SHEET AND YOUR PICTURE MAY LOWER YOUR CLASS PARTICIPATION GRADE (since I need your picture to connect your name with your face!)
Monday Tuesday Thursday
12:45-2:00 (001) 12:45-2:00 (001) 12:45-2:00 (001)
3:35-4:50 (002) 2:10-3:25 (002) 2:10-3:25 (002)
9/11 Data Flow Diagrams 9/12 SnapGraphics
Rea C . 3: pp.??-??
Prepare PI,P2: Landsdowne 9/7 Introduction to AIS
1 9/19 Data Management Read Ch. 1
9/18 DFDS, cont. Read Ch. 4 pp. ??-?? Prepare DQ 2,6,11
Prepare ch. 3 P8 9/14 DFDS, cont.
9/26 Flow Charts, cont. Prepare ch3 P3:
9/22 Systems Flow Charts Prepare Ch. 3, P7,P9 Landsdowne I
Read Ch. 3, pp. ??-??
Prepare P4 1013 Flow Charts, cont. 9/21 Data Flow Diagrams
TEST 2 on flow charts TEST I on Data Flow
10/2 Interviewing Diagrams and Chapter I
Workshop
Read Ch. 17, Appendix A 9/28 Flow Charts, cont.
and 10/10 Control Concepts TURN IN Group Project,
"Conducting Interviews Read ch. 5 Part 1
for Prepare DQ 5,13, P2,P3
Consulting Engagements" 1015 Information Quality
10/17 TEST and Uses
NO CLASS Test 3 on Ch. 2,5,6,7 Read ch. 2
COLUMBUS DAY Prepare DQ 2,12,16
10/16 Control Concepts 10/12 Control Concepts
Read Ch. 7 10/24 B/AR/CR System Read ch. 6
Prepare DQ 3,4 PI, P4 Read ch. 9 Prepare DQ4, PI, P2
Prepare DQ 5, P7
10/23 O/E/Sales, Cont. 10/19 Order Entry/Sales
Prepare Ch. 8 PI, P2 10131 P/AP/CD System System
(Astro Athletic) Read ch. 10, "EDI Moves Read Ch. 8
the Prepare DQ 2,5,9
10130 Wireless Computing Data"
Read "Pepsi Savors the Prepare DQ 12,13 10/26 MYOB Software
Taste...", "Wireless TURN IN Group Project,
Modem Parts 2,3,4
Puts Trading..."
11/2 Business Process
Reengineering
Read "Northwest
Productivity
Takes off', "Imaging
Takes off at SABRE",
"Life! Give my Data
Life!"
TURN IN MYOB Exercise
11/6 General Ledger 11/7 Applying Controls
Read Ch. 13 Prepare Case: Mrs. Fields 11/9 Applying Controls
Cookies TEST 4 on Ch. 8,9,10,13
11/13 Applying Controls
Read "NASDAQ Still Trying 11/14 Term Project Due 11/16 Presentation
to Find......... Errant TURN IN project parts Workshop
Squirrel 5,6,7
Causes....... "Fraud
alleged in
Electronic...", "Human
Error
Blamed..." NO CLASS
11/21 Systems Analysis and THANKSG@G
11/20 Systems Development Design HOLIDAY
Read ch. 15,16 Read ch. 17,19
Prepare ch.15 DQ 4,5,6,
ch. 16 DQ 5,7 11/28 PROJECT 11130 PROJECT
PRESENTATIONS PRESENTATIONS
11/27 PROJECT
PRESENTATIONS 12/5 NO CLASS 12/7 Accounting Tomorrow
REGISTRATION DAY Read "Keys to the
12/4 Working With Vendors Future",
Read "How an NCR "The Great Equalizer",
System.." 12/12 Final Review "The
Turn in Project parts 9, 1 Future of Audits"
12/11 Accounting Tomorrow 0 and
Read: [E&Y article???] revisions
Prepare Case: KPMG Peat
Marwick: The Shadow
Partner Project
DATE TBA
FINAL EXAM