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NOTE: ACTG 378 is not being offered during Summer 2008.
The course materials below are for reference purposes only.
ACTG 378: ACCOUNTING INFORMATION MANAGEMENT -- Winter 2008
Tuesday/Thursday 8-9:50 and
Tuesday/Thursday 12-1:50,
Bexell Hall Room 323
CONTENTS
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INSTRUCTOR
Byron Marshall, Ph.D. |
OFFICE HOURS
I
would enjoy talking to you! |
COURSE
DESCRIPTION -- ACTG378 is a four unit course.
This course is both a required accounting course and the first course in the MIS junior sequence.
The Catalog Description: Introduce students to the field of information management. Topics include information systems technology, the strategic role of IT, the business applications of networks, databases and Internet technologies, the system life cycle model, systems analysis and design methodologies, and the development and implementation of information systems. PREREQ: BA 213, BA 271, BA 275 and junior standing.
Informally: The rapid evolution and diffusion of information
technology (IT) is transforming businesses and managed organizations. In most
organizations today, IT systems are crucial for daily operations. These systems
are facing new threats and new regulations. To be successful in the
"information age," organizations need people who are knowledgeable
about the operation and implementation of IT-based business applications. The
ACTG378 course has been designed to introduce students to the information
systems field. The lectures, readings, and assignments will introduce a number
of key concepts and timely issues related to the use of Information Systems in organizations.
Specific topics to be addressed include (among other topics): information
systems technology, the business applications of networks and databases, the
development of information systems, the implementation of systems, IT
Governance, and appropriate internal control environments for IT-based business
applications. In addition to the lecture and reading material, students will
apply the techniques we cover in an integrated group project.
Tentative Course Schedule -- Winter 2008
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JR#
refers to a chapter in Jones-Rama. Please read Reading assignments in
preparation for class. |
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Week |
Tuesday |
Thursday |
Due Thursday Night |
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1 |
Welcome
- Introduction, Assignments |
Read: JR1. Introduction to
Accounting Information Systems |
Due: List Group Members |
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2 |
Read: JR2. Business Processes
and Data |
Read:Brynjolfsson
& Hitt (1998) |
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3 |
Modeling
Systems |
Read: JR4. Identifying Risks and
Controls |
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4 |
COBIT:
Controlling and Auditing IS |
Review
& Project Work |
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5 |
Mid Term Exam: JR Chapters 1-4, COBIT, The Productivity Paradox, &
other material from the slides. |
Read: JR5. Data Design |
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6 |
Structured
and Unstructured Data |
Read: JR6. Queries and Reports |
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7 |
SQL:
Structured Query Language |
More
SQL (Room 324): Authentication and Authorization data structures |
Due: PRJ5: Design Reports |
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8 |
Computer
Hardware |
Software:
Read: An
Empirical Comparison of Seven Programming Languages Prechelt (2000) IEEE
Computer, V33 |
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9 |
How
Does the Internet Work? |
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10 |
XML,
XBRL, Web Services, and Feasibility Analysis |
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March 17th-21st, Finals
Week |
8:00am Section: Wednesday,
March 19th, 6:00pm |
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STUDENT
EVALUATION
Student evaluation will consist of two related areas--the understanding of
basic concepts and the ability to apply tools and techniques. Students will
demonstrate their understanding of concepts by participating in classroom
discussions and completing written assignments, quizzes, and examinations.
Students will demonstrate their ability to apply tools through completing
assignments and projects.
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Grade
Component |
Weighting |
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30 % |
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10 % |
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30 % |
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30 % |
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Final grade percentages |
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Individual Assignments, and Quizzes:
· Assignments: Two assignments are
planned
- Individual UML Activity Diagram: See Group Project Description
- SQL exercises. These exercises will be made available
in Blackboard.
· Quizzes may be given during the
term. Quizzes will be given during class and are usually discussed immediately
after completion. Individuals not in class will not be allowed to make up the
quiz once it is discussed in class. Quizzes will be based upon the assigned
readings or material previously presented in class.
COURSE
POLICIES
University wide Student Conduct Polices
Academic Honesty Policy:
Individuals
are encouraged to discuss the projects and assignments outside of class and
share ideas. However, unless specified as a team assignment, each person
must individually complete and submit his/her own work. Students are
expected to uphold the OSU standard of conduct for students relating to
academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty is defined as an intentional act of
deception in which a student seeks to claim credit for the work or effort of
another person or uses unauthorized materials or fabricated information in any
academic work Students assume full responsibility for the content and integrity
of the academic work they submit. The guiding principle of academic integrity
is that a student's submitted work, examinations, reports, and projects must be
that student's own work for individual assignments, and the group's own work
for group assignments/projects. Students are guilty of academic dishonesty if
they:
- Use or obtain unauthorized materials or assistance in
any academic work; i.e., cheating. </li
- Falsify or invent any information regarded as cheating
by the instructor; i.e., fabrication. </li
- Give unauthorized assistance to other students; i.e.,
assisting in dishonesty. </li
- Represent the work of others as their own; i.e.,
plagiarism. </li
- Modify, without instructor approval, an examination,
paper, record or report for the purpose of obtaining additional credit;
i.e., tampering.
The
penalty for academic dishonesty is severe. Any student guilty of academic dishonesty
may be subject to receive a failing grade for the exam, assignment, quiz, or
class participation exercise as deemed appropriate by the instructor. In
addition, the penalty could also imply that the student receive a failing grade
for the course and be reported to the University officials at the College of
Business, and the officials at the Office of Student Affairs.
Behavior in Class:
- Behavior in class should be professional at all times.
The atmosphere within the classroom should be the same as you might expect
in a casual business meeting. People must treat each other with
dignity and respect in order for scholarship to thrive. Behaviors
that are disruptive to learning will not be tolerated and may be referred
to the Office of the Dean of Students for disciplinary action.
Accommodations:
- Students who have any emergency medical information the
instructor should know of, who need special arrangements in the event of
evacuation, or students with documented disabilities who may need
accommodations should make an appointment with the instructor as early as
possible, no later than the first week of the term. If additional
assistance is required the student should contact the Office of Disability
Services.
This statement is gladly included in cooperation with University policy: "Accommodations are collaborative efforts between students, faculty and Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD). Students with accommodations approved through SSD are responsible for contacting the faculty member in charge of the course prior to or during the first week of the term to discuss accommodations. Students who believe they are eligible for accommodations but who have not yet obtained approval through SSD should contact SSD immediately at 737-4098."
Discrimination or Harassment:
- Discrimination or harassment will not be tolerated in
the classroom. Most cases of discrimination or harassment violate Federal
and State laws and University Policies and Regulations. Intentional
discrimination or harassment will be referred to the Affirmative Action
Office and dealt with in accordance with the appropriate rules and
regulations.
- Unintentional discrimination or harassment is just as
damaging to the offended party, but it usually results from people not
understanding the impact of their remarks or actions on others, or an
insensitivity to the feelings of others. We must all strive to work
together to create a positive learning environment. This means that each
individual should be sensitive to the feelings of others and tolerant of
the remarks and actions of others. If you find the remarks and actions of
another individual offensive, please bring it to their attention. If you
believe those remarks and actions constitute intentional discrimination or
harassment, please bring it to your instructor's attention.
Arbitration:
- There will be a one-week arbitration period after
graded items (projects, assignments, etc.) are returned. Within
that one-week period, you are encouraged to discuss any assumptions and/or
misinterpretations that you made about the activity that may have
influenced your grade.
LEARNING
OUTCOMES
My
goal for each of you this term is that you will be able to:
- Explain how business processes, transaction cycles, and
IT systems (both AIS and MIS) relate to each other.
- Document individual business processes from an
information system perspective.
- Explain how internal controls are implemented in an
information system.
- Work productively in a group environment.
- Recognize limiting and enabling factors of technology,
and describe the forces and processes governing modern day business
computing.
- Understand the
relationships, both historical and current, between the use of
information system technology and business productivity.
- Provide an overview of
information successes and failures and some of their causes.
- Match standard business
data processing needs with standard technologies.
- Demonstrate a fundamental understanding of how the
Internet works. Note: this is not the same as knowing how to navigate the
Internet.
- Recognize the various
Internet and WWW standard setting organizations, their responsibilities
and their governance.
- Describe the function
of basic HTTP commands (GET, HEAD, and POST) and generally describe how
requests and responses move around the internet.
- Explain what a protocol
does and how protocols are a key element in the growth of the Internet.
- Explain the role of the
W3C in guiding the development of the Internet.
- Contrast the basic
purpose and syntax of XML vs. HTML.
- Recognize the operational and strategic business opportunities
of XML-based data communications such as web services.
- Formulate a simple XML
model of a standard set of business information; e.g., a simple earnings
statement, a sales order, or a customer complaint.
- Explain the role of
XBRL in financial business reporting.
- Conceptually formulate
an XML-based web service for sharing information between a B2B supplier
and consumer.
- Explain general IT Governance principles, including
some key details.
- Design and read the relational structure of
prototypical complexes of business data and information and distinguish
good from bad data models.
- Classify an arbitrary
selection of business processing data into entities, attributes and
relationships.
- Specify primary and
foreign key structures.
- Differentiate master,
transaction, and junction tables, explaining their characteristics and
role in a relational database system.
- Translate back and
forth between standard business information and its relational representation.
- Name the major
characteristics of industry-strength database systems.
- Describe
the basics of several system modeling techniques.
- List the basic diagrams
of and concepts behind the UML (Unified Modeling Language).
- Create a UML activity
diagram or flow chart for a business process depicting events, actors,
forms, decision points, and data stores.
- Draw simple data models
such as Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERD) or data-oriented UML Class
Diagrams.
- Recognize and describe
the advantages and limitations of psuedo code or structured English.
- List the basic
components of Data Flow Diagrams (DFD) and describe basic DFD balancing
rules.
- Recognize and describe
the advantages and limitations of decision tables.
- Demonstrate a basic understanding of relational
database access concepts:
- Explain what makes a
password relatively strong or relatively weak.
- Discuss how an RDBMS
(Relational Database Management System) can support business processes
and controls based on Referential Integrity (foreign keys) and
Transaction Integrity (Roll Back).
- Describe how an RDBMS
supports data documentation. (Diagrams and a database about the
database.)
- Generally interpret an
SQL query. What are the basic key words? What do those key words do?
(SELECT, FROM, WHERE)
- Create simple SQL
statements which create lists of items from the database.
- Adapt more complex
statements to add columns or join to additional tables.
- Understand how SQL
supports list filtering and joining (WHERE), subtotals (GROUP BY),
sorting (ORDER BY), Uniqueness (DISTINCT) and a few other functions (MIN,
MAX, AVG, COUNT, SUM).
- Describe how different
queries can be used to support realistic business tasks.
- Recognize key computer hardware and software
terminology:
- Identify CPU, primary
storage, secondary storage, and IO device descriptors in a PC purchase
specification.
- List several factors
affecting computer performance.
- Contrast compiled and
scripted languages, listing examples and comparing functionality.
- List and briefly
explain several measures of software performance.
- Relate binary numbers
to data encoding, counting forward and backwrads in binary as it to
identify ascii characters.
- Explain key system characteristics:
- List and explain the
components of the DIKW framework.
- Demonstrate how the
terms modularity and coupling can be used in evaluating business
processes.
- Contrast black/white
box and open/closed as they apply to systems.
- Explain how the terms
extensibility, entropy, and scope apply to the evaluation of systems and
system risks.
Chapter 1
A
successful student will be able to:
- describe and contrast the scope of MIS and AIS systems,
identifying how individual systems, business processes, transaction
cycles, and events are situated;
- define the key terms: MIS, AIS, business processes,
transaction cycles, events, applications, internal control, assurance
services, ERP, and off-the-shelf software; and
- explain the various roles IS and non-IS users play in
IS acquisition, development, management, and use.
Chapter 2
A
successful student will be able to:
- list three transaction cycles giving examples of
relevant processes and events;
- explain how data is generally organized in a computer
including key concepts (entities, fields, records, files, transaction
files, master files);
- explain the relationship between master and transaction
files, identifying them and giving examples of the kind of data
(attributes) each includes;
- identify events in a business process;
- identify reference and summary data as it commonly
appears in an information system and explain why the distinction is
important to data processing; and
- explain the difference between recording, updating, and
file maintenance activities.
Chapter 3
A
successful student will be able to:
- list several reasons why process modeling is important
in business;
- contrast functional, object, and dynamic models in
usefully describing business processes;
- list and describe the kinds of information depicted in
a UML activity diagram (sequential flow of activities, responsibilities,
documents, and information flow);
- list and describe the key components of UML activity
diagrams, relating each component to the type of information it depicts
(swimlanes, start and end points, branches, events, documents, sequence
arrows, information flow arrows, and tables);
- differentiate overview and detailed UML activity
diagrams (process decomposition);
- interpret UML activity diagrams; and
- prepare UML activity diagrams.
Chapter 4
A
successful student will be able to:
- list and describe internal control objectives and
components within a coherent framework using examples from the COBIT
framework;
- differentiate between execution, information systems,
asset protection, and performance objectives;
- identify and describe execution and information systems
risks associated with processes in the acquisition and revenue cycles;
- identify and describe record and update risks associated
with a general ledger system;
- explain how workflow controls can be used to reduce
risk; and
- depict or highlight the need for or use of internal
controls using business processes narratives and activity diagrams.
Chapter 5
A
successful student will be able to:
- define key data representation terms: attributes,
primary keys, and foreign keys;
- identify relational cardinalities (1:1, 1:M, and M:M)
for entities and transactions related to business processes;
- understand the role of junction tables in managing many
to many relationships; and
- create a data-oriented UML class diagram depicting
tables, attributes, and primary and foreign keys.
Chapter 6
A
successful student will be able to:
- categorize reports based on the kind of data they
report (e.g., master, transaction, detail, summary, or derived); and
- map documented data structures to generated reports.
Chapter 7
A
successful student will be able to document computer forms, demonstrating the
ability to :
- create UML use case diagrams and explain their
importance for system development;
- identify forms needed to support a business process;
- list a number of commonly used form elements;
- associate those elements with their role as system
controls to manage IS risks;
- generate simple use case descriptions; and
- map documented data structures to forms.
These
objectives were selected after reviewing existing courses in our program,
talking to industry practitioners, and reviewing the model curriculum proposed
by ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association). The text,
examinations, assignments, and project formulation have all been chosen to
support these objectives.
This
course will address the following College of Business
Learning Outcomes
- College of Business Specific Learning Outcomes
- Each student must
understand and be able to use team building, collaborative behaviors and
project management in the accomplishment of group tasks.
- Each student shall
demonstrate information technology skills as they apply to today’s
business environment.
- Each student shall be
able to converse and to write at an acceptable level for business
communications in English.
- Accounting Option Specific Learning Outcomes
- Each student shall be
able to apply accounting concepts, principles, standards, and processes.
- Each student shall
demonstrate information technology skills as they apply to today’s
business environment to solve business problems and to communicate those
solutions.
- Each student must
demonstrate analytical skills through finding, organizing, assessing, and
analyzing data appropriate to a given situation.
- Each student shall be
able to impart the knowledge and skills listed above to provide
insightful advisory judgments and recommendations regarding the
accounting for and the business implications of events, conditions,
circumstances, and transactions that give rise to business opportunities
or problems.
- Each student must
demonstrate strong organizational skills and a capacity for responsive
and timely work.
This page is maintained by Byron Marshall Send
E-mail to byron.marshall@bus.oregonstate.edu.