I. Course Overview
II. Lecture Outline
Ill. Specific Instructions for Group Assignments
IV. System Design Project Data
V. Sample Peer Evaluation Form
Professor.- Ron Kucic
office: BA 232
Phone.- 871-2017
Ofrice Hours:
Monday/Wednesday: 2:00 5:00 PM
Tuesday: 9:30 1 1:00 AM
At Other Times By Appointment
Bodnar, George H. and William S. Hopwood Accounting Information Systems (6th Edition). Prentice Hall; Englewood Cliffs, NJ: 1995). (B)
Handout Material. (H)
In order to use, develop, and/or audit accounting systems, one must have a fundamental understanding of the components of accounting systems, the ways in which data and information flow through these systems, the ways in which they are built, and the ways in which they are controlled. Therefore this course seeks:
Junior standing and basic computer knowledge are prerequisites. Cases and class discussion will be used to build specific accounting systems skills and to sharpen written and verbal skills in the analysis of often ill-defined organizational and systems problems. There also is a spreadsheet assignment which will be graded. Students are assumed to have basic electronic spreadsheet (Lotus 1-2-3, Excel, etc.) and word processing skills (WordPerfect, Word, etc.) or are expected to acquire such proficiency on their own during the quarter.
Grading will be based on your performance in the following areas:
ITEM POINTS PERCENT'
Newspaper Articles (Note 1) P/F
Class Participation (Note 2) 100 16.67
Exams (Note 3) 200 33.33
Manual Practice Set (Note 4) 100 16.67
Group Assignments (Note 5) 200 33.33
Total Points 600 100.0%
Notes
AF Spreadsheet Accounting System: Your group is to use electronic spreadsheet software (Lotus 1-2-3, Excel, Quattro Pro, etc.) to develop a payroll system for the hourly and salaried employees of a small company (see Section III for additional detail on the company's needs) -- 75 Points (Due Date: 5/8/95).
AF System Design Project. Your group will use the Peachtree Accounting Software available on the Daniels College of Business network (BA 109) or other approved accounting software to design a complete sales and accounts receivable system and a complete purchases and accounts payable system for the Pump and Jump Shoe Company (refer to Section IV and the Project Handout for more detail on this assignment) -- 125 Points (Due Date: 5/22/95).
Peer Evaluations: Each member of each team will evaluate the performance of all the other team members twice during the quarter, and a sample Poor Evaluation Form can be found at the end of the syllabus. The first evaluation will be conducted on May 8, subsequent to the submission of the spreadsheet project. This evaluation will be for informational purposes only, i.e., the results will be collated and returned to the individual team members, but the scores will not be recorded. A final peer evaluation will be conducted on the last day of class. The scores from this evaluation will be recorded and used to determine the individual student's grade on the two team projects (see the Peer Evaluation Form at the end of the syliabus).
School of Accountancy Policy.-
The School of Accountancy policy on cheating is automatic failure of the course. Any student determined to be cheating on examinations or required outside homework that is to be based on individual effort only will receive a failing grade for the course.
Genuine cooperative efforts to prepare for and to solve classroom cases and problems other than those described above are excluded from the School of Accountancy policy on cheating.
75 Points -- Due Date: 5/8195
The following specifications apply to the electronic spreadsheet assignment. This spreadsheet is to serve as the payroll system for a small business with from 10 to 20 employees. There are 24 pay periods per year. Hourly employees are paid bimonthly (on the 15th and on the last day of the month), and salaried staff are paid monthly (on the last day of the month). The system should show for each employee both regular and overtime hours, pay rate, total hours, federal income tax withheld, state income tax withheld, FICA (Social Security tax), Medicaid tax, gross pay, deductions, net pay, and any other items relevant to a paystub. The spreadsheet must make use of both "table lookup" functions and "if" statements.
Assume any pay rates you wish, but hourly workers receive 1.5 times their regular wage rate for any hours worked in excess of 40 per week. Salaried workers are not paid for overtime, but overtime hours must be recorded to provide a record for compensatory time.
FICA taxes are for social security. Assume that gross pay is taxed at 6.2%, and that employers must match FICA amounts withheld from employees' paychecks. Assume that the FICA tax is collected on only the first $57,000 of gross pay in any single year.
The Medicaid tax deduction is 1.45% of gross pay. The cap on the total amount of gross pay to which the Medicaid tax applies is $135,000. The employer also must match the employee contribution.
For federal income taxes, assume that all monthly income less than or equal to $1,000 is taxed at the rate of 5%. All monthly income greater than $1,000 but less than or equal to $2,000 is taxed at the rate of 10%, and all monthly income greater then $2,000 but less than or equal to $3,000 is taxed at the rate of 15%. All income greater than $3,000 is taxed at 17.5%. To obtain bimonthly tax rates, divide the above amounts by 2.
Assume that the employer is liable for unemployment taxes (UTA) of 4% of the first $10,000 of each employee's gross wages in any year.
For state income taxes, assume monthly state tax rates for the four brackets are 2.5%, 5%, 7% and 8.5%, respectively. To obtain bimonthly rates, divide by 2.
With regard to other deductions, assume that an optional medical plan is available to all employees. The employee pays a portion of the fee and the employer pays a portion. An employee may choose not to be covered by the medical plan or (s)he may select from among single, couple, and family coverages. The cost of the single plan is $30 every month for the employee and $60 for the employer. The couple plan is $50 every month plus $100 for the employer, and the family plan is $70 every month plus $140 for the employer.
Assume that the completed spreadsheet will be used by clerical personnel who will enter employee names, id numbers, and hours worked for the pay period. The spreadsheet also should generate the various journal entries related to the generation of the biweekly and monthly payrolls. This includes employee and employer amounts. Furthermore, the spreadsheet should track compensatory time for salaried employees.
The spreadsheet also should maintain cumulative payroll amounts on an employee by employee basis.
Test the spreadsheet by including sufficient data in terms of the numbers and types of employees to insure that the model will handle all of the above assumptions. Process at least two full months of payroll data.
Be sure and build internal control and error trapping routines into the spreadsheet, and include sufficient documentation to insure that the user understands the function of the spreadsheet, how it works, and whore to turn for support and maintenance A floppy disk copy of your spreadsheet solution is to be submitted for grading purposes.
Your grade will be a function of the accuracy of the spreadsheet, the appropriateness of the documentation included within or in addition to the spreadsheet, and the adequacy of the internal controls provided. A word processor must be used for any documentation external to the spreadsheet.
125 Points -- Due Date: 5122/95
Your group is to design complete computerized sales order, accounts receivable, purchases, and accounts payable systems for the Pump & Jump Shoe Company. Section IV provides detailed information on the Pump & Jump Shoe Co. The Peachtree Accounting software is to be used for this project. If you wish to use an alternate package, please discuss it with the instructor.
Specific tasks are as follows:
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