ACT425: Information Systems Credit Hours: 3 Contact Hours: This is a 3-credit course, offered in accelerated format. This means that 16 weeks of material is covered in 8 weeks. The exact number of hours per week that you can expect to spend on each course will vary based upon the weekly coursework, as well as your study style and preferences. You should plan to spend 14-20 hours per week in each course reading material, interacting on the discussion boards, writing papers, completing projects, and doing research. Course Description and Outcomes Course Description: The Accounting Information Systems course covers the use of information systems in the accounting function with a focus on computer systems and internal controls. This course provides students with knowledge to evaluate users' accounting information needs, and the ability to design, implement, and maintain an accounting information system to meet the requirements of the businesses processes and cycles. Course Overview: The Accounting Information Systems course covers the use of information systems in the accounting function with a focus on computer systems and internal controls. This course provides students with knowledge to evaluate users' accounting information needs, and the ability to design, implement, and maintain an accounting information system to meet the requirements of the businesses processes and cycles. Topics covered include components of an accounting information system, overview of systems analysis and design, business data modeling, security, and internal controls. The delivery of the course stresses critical thinking and the application of the principles studied to real-life situations. Course Learning Outcomes: 1. Determine the primary information flows within a business organization. 2. Describe the analytical tools necessary to evaluate users' accounting information needs. 3. Apply principles that support the design, implementation, and maintenance of an accounting information system. 4. Apply traditional flowcharting and data-flow diagramming as the basis for designing an accounting information system. 5. Identify the security and internal controls required for an accounting information system. Participation & Attendance Prompt and consistent attendance in your online courses is essential for your success at CSU-Global Campus. Failure to verify your attendance within the first 7 days of this course may result in your withdrawal. If for some reason you would like to drop a course, please contact your advisor. Online classes have deadlines, assignments, and participation requirements just like on-campus classes. Budget your time carefully and keep an open line of communication with your instructor. If you are having technical
problems, problems with your assignments, or other problems that are impeding your progress, let your instructor know as soon as possible. Course Materials Textbook Information is located in the CSU-Global Booklist on the Student Portal. Course Schedule Due Dates The Academic Week at CSU-Global begins on Monday and ends the following Sunday. Discussion Boards: The original post must be completed by Thursday at 11:59 p.m. MT and Peer Responses posted by Sunday 11:59 p.m. MT. Late posts may not be awarded points. Opening Exercises: Take the opening exercise before reading each week s content to see which areas you will need to focus on. You may take these exercises as many times as you need. The opening exercises will not affect your final grade. Mastery Exercises: Students may access and retake mastery exercises through the last day of class until they achieve the scores they desire. Critical Thinking: Assignments are due Sunday at 11:59 p.m. MT. Live Classroom: Although participation is not required, Live Classroom sessions are held during Week 2 and Weeks 5 or 6. There are two total sessions. Week # Readings Assignments Chapters 1 & 2 in Accounting Information Systems: Discussion (25 points) The Processes and Controls 1 Critical Thinking (60 points) Chapters 3 & 4 in Accounting Information Systems: The Discussion (25 points) Processes and Controls 2 Critical Thinking (65 points) Live Classroom (0 points) Chapters 5 & 6 in Accounting Information Systems: The Discussion (25 points) Processes and Controls 3 Critical Thinking (60 points) Chapter 8 in Accounting Information Systems: The Discussion (25 points) Processes and Controls 4 Critical Thinking (60 points) Chapters 9 & 10 in Accounting Information Systems: Discussion (25 points) The Processes and Controls 5 Critical Thinking (60 points) Portfolio Project Milestone (Worth 20 points of final project)
6 7 8 Chapter 13 in Accounting Information Systems: The Processes and Controls Chapter 14 in Accounting Information Systems: The Processes and Controls Chapter 15 in Accounting Information Systems: The Processes and Controls Assignment Details This course includes the following assignments/projects: Module 1 CRITICAL THINKING ASSIGNMENT (60 points) Live Classroom Option 1 (0 points) Discussion (25 points) Critical Thinking (65 points) Live Classroom Option 2 (0 points) Discussion (25 points) Discussion (25 points) Portfolio (350 points) Below is the assignment to complete this week. Choose one of the following two assignment options. Do not do both assignments. Identify your assignment choice in the title of your submission. Assignment Option #1: For an organization that you are familiar with, discuss how the sophistication of the organization s accounting information system impacts the accounting data and output and how the requirements for the accounting outputs impact the design of the accounting information system. Therefore always include at least two outside sources in all of your submissions. Assignment Option #2: Are there business processes that do not in some way affect accounting records or financial statements? Perform some research, state your position, and fully support your conclusions.
Module 2 Therefore always include at least two outside sources in all of your submissions CRITICAL THINKING ASSIGNMENT (65 points) Below is the assignment to complete this week. Choose one of the following two assignments. Do not do both assignments. Identify your assignment choice in the title of your submission. Assignment Option #1: Internal Control Review You are an accountant at a CPA firm that is auditing the accounting records of YYZ Company. You have been tasked along with the accounting department to identify the limitations of the internal control system. During the audit, you identified that because of a weak internal control system, an adjusting entry was not recorded. Identify any limitations of the current internal control system. Recommend internal control procedures that should be implemented. Explain the impact of the missing journal entry on the financial statements. Assignment Option #2: The Fashionable Company manufactures various types of clothing. The computerized cost accounting system accumulates the costs of manufacturing these products. Variance reports are produced and reviewed but sometimes need to be run again due to errors or revised data. The costs of this reprocessing work is $15,000. A new data validation control procedure within the cost accounting system is proposed to reduce the risk of the data errors from 12% to 1.5%. Costs to implement this procedure and run it every week amount to $700. Perform an analysis of this procedure and recommend whether the cost-benefit of implementing such a procedure makes sense or not. help both to bolster your own assertions and supplement your ideas Module 3
CRITICAL THINKING ASSIGNMENT (60 points) Below is the assignment to complete this week. Choose one of the following two assignments. Do not do both assignments. Identify your assignment choice in the title of your submission. Assignment Option #1: Wendy is an accountant for a local service company. Without prior authorization or knowledge by anyone else, she set up several dummy companies and began writing checks to them for fictitious purchases. Her scheme was discovered later when her numerous purchases of luxury goods came to light. What controls should have been in place and therefore might have prevented this fraudulent activity from occurring? Assignment Option #2: Increased attention to corporate governance resulted from the passage the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX). Discuss three ways in which those who are responsible for a company s accounting information have been affected. Module 4 CRITICAL THINKING ASSIGNMENT (60 points) Below is the assignment to complete this week. Choose one of the following two assignments. Do not do both assignments. Identify your assignment choice in the title of your submission. Assignment Option #1: Sales Process Analysis Game On! Company is a regional retailer that sells used video games. The company has four stores throughout the Denver region. At each store, customers can bring in used video games to sell to Game On! or to trade for used video games in stock. When a used video game arrives at a Game On! store, it is checked for damage, labeled with a bar code, and entered into inventory. A customer buying a used video game takes it to the cash register, where it is scanned into the system and the payment is processed. Game On! is setting up a website to begin selling video games online.
Module 5 Discuss any differences in the sales processes between the online sales and the in-store sales processes, including any differences in data and how the data can be used for competitive advantage. Assignment Option #2 Jack Spratt is opening a BBQ shack that will accept both cash and credit card payments. Identify some advantages and disadvantages of investing in a Point of Sale (POS) system to manage the sales and revenue processes. What internal controls should be implemented to reduce the risk of theft or error related to the correct handling of cash, credit card payments, and coupons? CRITICAL THINKING ASSIGNMENT (60 points) Below is the assignment to complete this week. Choose one of the following two assignments. Do not do both assignments. Identify your assignment choice in the title of your submission. Assignment Option #1: Ralley Inc. is beginning a project to convert their paper-based manual purchase and payment process to an automated process in their new system. What recommendations would you make to redesign the process and implement best practices? Be 3-4 pages in length Be formatted according to the CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA Requirements course. The CSU-Global Library is a great place to find these scholarly sources!
Module 6 Assignment Option #2 You are an accounts-payable clerk at a small contractor. A site supervisor submitted an invoice requesting immediate payment to a new vendor for materials he states were delivered directly to a work site. A note on the invoice asked that the check be delivered directly to him so that he could deliver it personally to the vendor, as payment needed to be made immediately to prevent delays. This request is unusual and outside of the normal process, but you are considering complying, as the purchasing manager is on vacation and not available to consult with. Although you are suspicious of this unusual request, you are tempted to accommodate it. Discuss the potential for fraud given these facts. How can you determine the legitimacy of the transaction given these facts so that payment can be issued? PORTFOLIO PROJECT MILESTONE: Week 5: Outline (worth 20 points of the Portfolio Project) Submit an outline of your Portfolio Project. Your outline should include bullet points describing each requirement, organized as the final project will be organized. This should by no means be a complete or final document, but should be sufficiently advanced to serve as a guide for a working draft of your project with some careful consideration and a few drafts to ensure that your writing is clear, thoughtful, and precise. CRITICAL THINKING ASSIGNMENT (65 points) Below is the assignment to complete this week. Choose one of the following two assignments. Do not do both assignments. Identify your assignment choice in the title of your submission. Assignment Option #1: You are a consultant assisting the Hana Company in the implementation of its AIS and are focusing on financial analyses and reports that are used internally and also distributed to other firms that operate partnerships with Hana. The accounting staff prepares reports based on queries of the data, which takes time each month to adjust, filter, format, and produce the report. By the time this process is complete, which takes several weeks, the data is not current. Hana is now considering the possibility of developing functionality to automatically generate the financial analyses and reports to reduce or eliminate manual processes and manipulation of data. Determine the requirements and recommend a solution to achieve the desired results that include timeliness and completeness of the information, describe what controls need to be in place, and choose the best platform. Critical Thinking Assignment in Week 7
Module 8 Assignment Option #2: Data breaches have occurred at a number of organizations lately, causing numerous problems and exposing the organizations to significant liabilities. What recommendations, processes, and best practices would you make to mitigate the potential risks in this area? Portfolio Project Assignment (350 points) Below is the Portfolio Project to complete this week. Choose one of the following two projects. Do not do both projects. Identify your project choice in the title of your submission. Be sure to thoroughly read the Portfolio Project descriptions below before making your selection and beginning to work on the project. Option #1: Research Project A Description: This project requires you to select a business and analyze part of its accounting information system. You will focus on a selected business process, develop conclusions from your observations, and address the requirements using the information we covered in class. Requirements: 1. Select and research a business that you are familiar with. Report on one process such as sales, purchases, payroll, fixed asset acquisitions, inventory, etc. 2. Prepare an outline of your project. It should include bullet points describing each requirement, organized as the final project will be organized. (This is due in Week 5.) 3. Study the information system, using various tools that will be covered in this course (i.e. flowcharts, risk assessments, control matrices, etc.). 4. Prepare and submit your report. Paper Content: 1. Brief summary of business selected (e.g., industry, organizational structure, purpose, number of employees, revenues, etc.)
2. Overview of component of company s AIS selected (e.g., what does it accomplish for the company, accounting cycle, number of employees involved, manual vs. automated) 3. Process flowchart 4. Risk assessment 5. Control matrix of key controls 6. Summary assessment of results (what did company do right/wrong, what needs improvement and how to improve) Be 8-10 pages in length. Cite at least three scholarly sources, at least one of which is not provided in, or linked from, the course, to support your assertions and strengthen your arguments. The CSU-Global Library is a great place to find these sources. Refer to the Portfolio Project rubric on the Course Information page for grading criteria. Please proofread your paper to ensure the sentences, paragraphs, and ideas flow well and are logical, concise, and grammatically errorfree. Option #2: Research Project B OVERVIEW OF PROJECT This project requires you to evaluate Quick Books, a common accounting information system, to see how the system handles recording transactions, collecting data, and generating reports and information. STEP 1: ACCESS QUICKBOOKS You will access QuickBooks via www.quickbooks.com. STEP 2: EXPLORE THE SOFTWARE Review the QuickBooks Guided Tour to see some of the features. Review any online documentation (QuickBooks User Guide, etc.) regarding how to use the application. STEP 3: TRY OUT THE SOFTWARE USING A COMPANY 1. QuickBooks has sample companies that you can play around with. 2. Once you are in the sample company, explore it to determine how you can do the following. Revenue Cycle How can you create and maintain customers? How can you create customer invoices? How can you apply customer payments? What reports can be run to provide information regarding customers and their orders? What reports can be run in order to provide information regarding key revenue cycle information - sales, accounts receivable, cash? Expenditure Cycle How can you create and maintain vendors? How can you create and maintain inventory? How can you generate payments to vendors? What reports can you run to provide information regarding vendors and accounts payable? What reports can you run in order to provide information regarding key expenditure cycle information - purchases, inventory, and cash? Financing Cycle How can you create and maintain the chart of accounts? How can you post journal entries?
What are the key financial statements that are available? What are some key reports can be generated to measure the company s financial performance? STEP 4: COMPLETE THE PROJECT REQUIREMENTS Once you have completed your evaluation, you will need to develop a report using the following layout. The details of the report are outlined below. Make sure to number your sections and use the following format requirements. Though essentially provided in the structure below, submit an outline to your instructor in Week 5 providing as many details about each section and subsection that you can. Section I: Overview Provide a general overview of QuickBooks. Make sure the overview provides the reader with a general understanding of the application, including costs and functionality. Section II: Transactional Processing and Data Management Describe how QuickBooks handles processing the accounting transactions and recording business activities for the revenue, expenditure and financing cycles. You should provide at least one detailed example of how one would record a specific accounting transaction/ business activity for each of the three transaction cycles below. Address the following questions in this section of the report. 1. Revenue Cycle (Answer the following questions) How can you create and maintain customers? How can you create customer invoices? How can you apply customer payments? What reports can you run to provide you with information regarding your customers and their orders? Describe them. What reports can you run in order to provide you with information regarding key revenue cycle information - sales, accounts receivable, cash? 2. Expenditure Cycle (Answer the following questions) How can you create and maintain vendors? How can you create and maintain inventory? How can you generate payments to vendors? What reports can you run to provide you with information regarding your vendors and your accounts payable? Describe them. What reports can you run in order to provide you with information regarding key expenditure cycle information - purchases, inventory, and cash? 3. Financing Cycle (Answer the following questions) How can you create and maintain the chart of accounts? How can you post journal entries? What are the key financial statements that are available? Describe them. What are some key reports one can generate to measure the firm s financial performance? Section III: Reporting An ERP system can produce volumes of information useful for running the business. For the Income, Expense, and Finance cycles, list three reports for each of these areas. Describe how the report is used and why it is important in this section. Be 8-10 pages in length Be formatted according to the CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA Requirements Cite at least three scholarly sources, at least one of which is not provided in, or linked from, the course, to support your assertions and strengthen your arguments. The CSU-Global Library is a great place to find these sources!
Refer to the Portfolio Project rubric for grading criteria. Please proofread your paper to ensure the sentences, paragraphs, and ideas flow well and are logical, concise, and grammatically error-free. Course Policies Course Grading Grading Scale and Policies A 95.0 100 20% Discussion Participation A- 90.0 94.9 0% Opening Exercises 0% Live Classroom B+ 86.7 89.9 8% Mastery Exercises B 83.3 86.6 37% Critical Thinking Assignments B- 80.0 83.2 35% Final Portfolio Paper C+ 75.0 79.9 C 70.0 74.9 D 60.0 69.9 F 59.9 or below In-Classroom Policies For information on late work and incomplete grade policies, please refer to our In-Classroom Student Policies and Guidelines or the Academic Catalog for comprehensive documentation of CSU-Global institutional policies. Academic Integrity Students must assume responsibility for maintaining honesty in all work submitted for credit and in any other work designated by the instructor of the course. Academic dishonesty includes cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty, plagiarism, reusing /re-purposing your own work (see CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA Requirements for percentage of repurposed work that can be used in an assignment), unauthorized possession of academic materials, and unauthorized collaboration. The CSU-Global Library provides information on how students can avoid plagiarism by understanding what it is and how to use the Library and Internet resources. Citing Sources with APA Style All students are expected to follow the CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA Requirements when citing in APA (based on the APA Style Manual, 6th edition) for all assignments. For details on CSU-Global APA style, please review the APA resources within the CSU-Global Library under the APA Guide & Resources link. A link to this document should also be provided within most assignment descriptions on your course s Assignments page. Disability Services Statement CSU-Global is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all persons with disabilities. Any student with a documented disability requesting academic accommodations should contact the Disability Resource Coordinator at 720-279-0650 and/or email ada@csuglobal.edu for additional information to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities. Netiquette Respect the diversity of opinions among the instructor and classmates and engage with them in a courteous, respectful, and professional manner. All posts and classroom communication must be conducted in accordance with the student code of conduct. Think before you push the Send button. Did you say just what you meant? How will the person on the other end read the words?
Maintain an environment free of harassment, stalking, threats, abuse, insults or humiliation toward the instructor and classmates. This includes, but is not limited to, demeaning written or oral comments of an ethnic, religious, age, disability, sexist (or sexual orientation), or racist nature; and the unwanted sexual advances or intimidations by email, or on discussion boards and other postings within or connected to the online classroom. If you have concerns about something that has been said, please let your instructor know.