ACCT 6226 – Accounting Information Systems
Semester & Year: Fall 2008
Daytime Session: W 2:20 -5:10pm
Classroom: 195 Crow
Evening Session: W 6:30-9:20pm
Classroom: 195 Crow
Professor: Ulrike Schultze
Email: uschultz@smu.edu
Phone: 214-768-4265
Office: 378 Crow
Office Hours: By appointment
Course Website: http://faculty.smu.edu/uschultz/acct6226 (under construction;
will be live for beginning of class)
Course Description
The primary objective of the course is to enhance students’ auditing, SOX 404
consulting and enterprise risk mitigation skills by providing them an understanding
of:
- the core business processes that operate within most businesses (i.e.,
sales/order fulfillment, billing/AR, purchasing and AP, HR, and production)
- the functional areas and actors typically involved in these processes
- the internal controls needed to provide assurance of accounting information
accuracy and integrity in each of the processes
- the information technologies typically used to support each of the processes
- the risk and control implications of information technology
- the tools typically used to document processes and internal controls (process
flowcharting and control matrices)
A secondary objective is to prepare the students for the “Information Technology”
portion of the CPA exam. Sample test questions will be incorporated into the course
in the form of quizzes.
Required Textbook:
Accounting Information Systems, 7th Edition. Gelinas & Dull. Thomson
SouthWestern Publishing, 2008.
Grading Breakdown
Class Participation
Quizzes (4)
Group Assignments (3@10%)
Final Exam
15%
15%
30%
40%
Total
100%
Class Participation:
Considering the interactive nature of the class sessions, class participation is an
important part of the learning experience in this course. Please make every effort to
attend class and to contribute to the discussion. Prepare for each class by reading
the assigned material and answering the study questions.
I take the following into account in grading class participation:
 Attendance: If you are not there, you cannot participate.
 In-Class Participation: The following are some guidelines that I use to grade class
participation. If you almost never speak up in class or miss several classes, you
will receive a participation grade of no higher than a C. If you contribute
occasionally but rarely say anything inspired, your participation grade will be
some sort of a B. The path to an A participation grade involves things like:
integrating conceptual materials from the readings and applying them to a case
or real-life situation, doing a bit of outside reading/research and applying it to
the class discussion, integrating comments made by fellow-students earlier in
the discussion, taking substantive issue with a class-mate’s analysis, and
generally demonstrating that you have understood the readings.
Quizzes
With the exception of the first class session, there will be a quiz in the first 10
minutes of every class. Please be on time for class; no extra time will be given to
‘late arrivals.’ The quizzes will contain questions from past CPA exams as well as
back-of-chapter questions from chapters assigned for the class session. Of the six
quizzes given during the course of this module, only the top 4 will be counted
towards students’ final quiz grade.
Group Assignments
In groups of 4-5, students will complete three process and control documentation
exercises. Each assignment will require a flowchart drawn in Visio (or an equivalent
flowcharting tool), a control matrix and narrative explanations of the entries in the
control matrix.
Professionalism with regard to presentation is expected and each assignment must
be accompanied by a completed peer evaluation (a template can be downloaded
from the course website). If the group is in agreement on the contributions made by
team members, a single peer evaluation, signed by all group members, can be
handed in. If there are disagreements, it is recommended that individual peer
evaluations are completed.
Final Exam
The final exam will be an in-class, closed book exam. It will be a comprehensive
exam, covering all the material taught during the module. There will be an exam
review on the pen-ultimate day of class.
Course Outline (subject to modification)
Week
Date
Topic
1
8/20
Introduction to AIS and
Controlling Information
Systems
(Visio lab)
2
8/27
Business and Application
Controls and the Sales
Process
3
9/3
DBMS and the AR Process
4
9/10
Pervasive and General IT
Controls and the Purchasing
Process
5
9/17
E-Business Systems and the
AP Process
Readings & Study
Questions
Ch 1: RQ1-5, 1-13, 115, P1-4, 1-7
Ch 7: RQ7-3, 7-7, 7-9,
7-15, 7-17, DQ 7-2, 73, 7-10, P7-3, 7-5, 7-7
Ch 4 (highly
recommended):P4-7
for Trillium Insurance
Co, 4-8
Ch 9: R9-4, 9-6, 9-10,
DQ 9-1, P9-1, 9-3, 9-4
Ch 10: RQ10-5, P10-5
Ch 2 (highly
recommended): RQ22, 2-4, 2-5, 2-11, 2-3,
DQ2-5, 2-6, 2-8
Ch 5: RQ5-1, 5-5, 5-6,
5-7, 5-10, 5-16, 5-17,
DQ5-2, 5-3, 5-7, P5-9,
5-10
Ch 11: RQ11-6, 11-7,
11-15, DQ11-6, 11-7,
P11-2 for Case A, P117
Ch 8: RQ8-1, 8-2, 8-6,
8-16, 8-23, 8-28, P8-1,
8-2, 8-4, 8-11
Ch 12: RQ12-8, 12-9,
12-12, 12-4,
Ch 3: RQ3-5, 3-8, 3-11,
3-16, 3-17, DQ3-6,3-8,
3-11
Ch 13: RQ13-6, 13-9,
13-11, DQ13-5, 13-8,
P13-2 for Case B, 13-3,
13-5
Homework
Due
Group: P10-2
for Case B
Group: P12-2
for Case A,
and consider
how the
process and
the controls
could be
improved
with RFID
6
9/24
Acquiring and Implementing
AIS and the HR/Payroll
Process
Ch 14: RQ14-15, 1416, DQ14-8, P14-6,
Ch 17: RQ17-2,17-3,
17-22,17-23, 17-26,
DQ17-2, 17-10, 1715,17-17
7
10/1
The Compliance Journey
Case Study
& Exam Review
Trinity Industries Case
Ch 15: RQ15-7, 15-10,
15-15, 15-20, DQ15-6,
P15-10
8
10/8
Exam
Group: P14-2
for Case A,
and describe
technology to
improve the
process, then
draw a new
flowchart and
control matrix
(incl
narrative)