Course Syllabus

University Of Oklahoma – ACCT 3353 Summer 2021

Instructor	Yue Ma (Mark)
Office	AH 210	E-mail	Markyuema@ou.edu
Office Hours	Mon-Fri 10:00 am-11:00 am	Lecture	Mon-Fri 8:00 am-10:00 am

Zoom Links:
Class link

Office Hour Link

Course Objectives

Accounting information systems (AISs) develop and distribute information about organizations for use in both internal and external decision-making. This course will assist you in developing a conceptual understanding of the roles and impacts of accounting information and information technology in decision-making. You will learn to use AISs, as well as learn to contribute to the interdisciplinary team effort of designing, implementing, maintaining, and enhancing AISs.

Specifically, we will focus on the study of systems development and documentation principles, information technology and its effects on an AIS, the design and organization of database systems, the design, and organization of system controls, and the differences in accounting systems for large and small organizations.

These objectives will be achieved as students are encouraged to (a) develop and enhance their analytical skills and their ability to analyze unstructured problems (i.e. problems with more than one defensible solution), (b) utilize effective communication (oral and writing) skills and group skills, and (c) develop various computer skills.

This course does require extensive use of the computer as a tool. To accomplish the objectives of this course, you will spend a significant portion of your time both in and out of the class learning and using computerized information systems and their vagaries. Many of the class assignments will involve the use of the computer.

To facilitate your learning experience, please be prepared to cope with the realities of working with computers. As you have undoubtedly learned by now, computer networks may go down without any warning and hard drives can crash, again without any warning. Since most computer assignments take longer to complete than you anticipate, YOU need to allow additional time for this possibility. Please keep in mind that the computer labs and/or networks may become very busy at times (particularly towards the end of the semester!) and you may have a difficult time getting your work completed if you do not plan for these eventualities.

Course Content Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

LO1: Build on technical skills in technologies like Excel and Access and understand how these are part of a larger data analytics skillset relevant to accounting.

LO2: Understand uses and limitations of particular accounting information systems/technologies in relation to the characteristics of businesses including characteristics of the data.

LO3: Discuss the various types of computer fraud and abuse techniques and controls.

LO4: Understand the fundamentals of controls structure and controls necessary to combat computer fraud and abuse.

LO5: Utilize appropriate documentation techniques, including flowcharts, DFD, business process maps, and process memos.

LO6: Understand the basics of a computer-based information system audit.

Required Text / Software

Accounting Information Systems, 13^th, Romney & Steinbart, 2014
Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access will be required for some homework.
R and RStudio is required for homework and lab

Course Website/Communications

Announcements, course materials, and grades will be posted on Canvas (http:// canvas.ou.edu).

Please do NOT email me through the canvas. Rather, email from outlook or your email account from the university. This is the best way to get a quick response.

Assignments and Grading Policy

Performance in this course will be evaluated in four areas: class participation and quizzes, homework assignments, two group projects, and three exams. These components will be weighted according to the table below with the following grade assignments:

Participation

For the design of this class to work, students must be actively involved in the class. Active involvement consists of three components: (1) class attendance; (2) reading and thinking about the material before coming to class; and (3) sharing of and discussing thoughts and ideas. Students’ participation grades are dependent on all of these, culminating in the third item

We will have lab sessions for up to half of the duration of the class, we will finish short coding assignments in the lab session. These assignments will be counted towards your attendance grade.

10 Point Homework Assignments

Homework assignments for this course are designed to encourage students to work actively with the course material and thereby master course materials. Further, homework enables students and the instructor to recognize any points that are not yet fully understood. Students are encouraged to seriously attempt each of the homework problems. If you get seriously stuck on a problem, note (on the homework) the specific difficulty you are having and move on. All homework assignments except the ACCESS TUTORIAL are worth 10 points.

Homework will be graded 100%, 50%, or 0. A zero will be given if an assignment is not turned in on time. A 100% will be given to students who complete 80% of the assignment correctly. If you made a good attempt, 50% will be given.

Students may discuss the homework problems and approaches to answering them with their classmates. However, students are expected to work independently in the actual writing up of their work. For instance, if two (or more) homework answers have the same typos, it will be assumed that work was not done independently and therefore represents an honor code violation. In such cases, the instructor will take appropriate action and report the violation. More importantly, it is essential that you understand the homework assignments in order to do well on the exams.

Projects

The goals of the project are: (1) to integrate and apply what you learn in this class; (2) to give you experience working in team situations; and (3) to enhance your communication and presentation skills. Teams, created before the first group project is explained, will consist of four or five students. These projects’ grades will be based on the team’s completion of a project and a final written report. “The Ark” will enable students to apply the control frameworks and documentation techniques learned during the semester to a real-life scenario where a small organization is struggling with business processes. “The Merger” entails about 2.5 million payroll register records that students will be asked to analyze. Much like many accounting firms today, the students are given several flat files and a scenario and asked to answer several questions about the data.

Exams

There will be TWO exams in the course. The two exams account for 30% of the final grade. The midterms will cover material from the first half of the semester and will consist of questions and problems in multiple formats (multiple-choice, short answer problems, etc.).

The Technical Quiz, worth 75 points will ask the students to work on a few problems, writing out their answers with the technical tools they have learned (SQL, R, Segregation of duties, Flowcharting, and Data Flow Diagramming).

The final exam will be comprehensive (i.e., cover all course material – as the final chapters build on previous knowledge). It will consist of multiple-choice questions. The exam is designed to assess your basic understanding of the concepts and their application. Students will be provided with a study guide prior to the final. In taking the exam, students will be allowed to use one 8.5×11 note sheet, front-and-back, which may be either hand-written or printed out.

Current Events in Technology

Information technology changes at an extraordinary pace. It is in every accountant’s best interest to understand something about information technology. Therefore, we will discuss current events in IT and why this might be important to the field of accounting. The specific date for extra credit is in the schedule. To encourage you to keep abreast on IT, I will award up to 5 extra credit points for each article. Only one article per student on each of the extra credit opportunities outlined in the schedule, for a total of 20 possible extra credit points (if a student chooses to earn all EC points from Current Events in Technology) The requirement to earn the Extra Points are:

You must be prepared to summarize an IT current event for the class in a complete and thorough manner (though it may not be required – I will call on you in class if I want you to summarize the event for the class) and you must turn in reference to the article with your name on it (from a newspaper, magazine, online). A written two-paragraph summary is required with the article citation uploaded to the assignment in canvas. No duplicate articles/topics will be accepted. This must be an individual effort. There will be a place on canvas to drop these submissions.

Grading

The letter grading systems will be used in this course. The following interpretation of this grading scale will be used:

A = Excellent work. Assigned work is clearly presented, thoughtful, insightful, and creative. The student has demonstrated that the course material has been thoroughly learned. The student has demonstrated the creative application of the course material to novel situations.

B = Good work. Assigned work is clearly presented and thoughtful. The student has clearly demonstrated that the course material has been learned.

C = Acceptable work. Assigned work is completed and the course standards are met. The student has clearly demonstrated that much of the course material has been learned.

D = Marginally acceptable work. Most of the assigned work is completed in a way that meets the course standards or all of the assigned work is completed in a way that almost meets the course standards. The student has clearly demonstrated that some of the course material has been learned.

F = Unacceptable work. The student has not demonstrated that a significant portion of the course material has been learned.

Timeliness

To receive full credit for a written assignment, assignments must be turned in at the beginning of the class period on the day it is due or via email before class. Late work will not be accepted. If you have obligations that conflict with exam or assignment due dates, you should make arrangements with the instructor as soon as possible. Feel free to email homework assignments if necessary.

Missed Exams/Assignments

Make-up exams will be given only in extraordinary circumstances. If you expect to miss an exam or to be unable to meet another requirement, please discuss this with the instructor before the scheduled date.

Score/Grade Appeals

Students wishing to appeal a grade or score must submit the appeal to the instructor in writing within 48 hours of receiving the graded work. Score changes are at the discretion of the instructor. It is important to understand that your score may go up or down based upon a complete review of the work in question. It is usually the case that changing a few points on an assignment rarely makes a difference in the final grade. As such, student (and instructor) time is generally much better spent discussing and clarifying the information content presented in the course.

Policies

Academic Conduct

The accounting and finance professions demand adherence to ethical standards, and I expect integrity in all that you do in class. Any attempt to unfairly influence your grade or the grade of another student (including submitting the work of another student or team as your own, misrepresenting attendance for yourself or others, violating stated exam policies or lying to your instructor or teammates to influence outcomes) violates the OU Academic Integrity Code that governs student academic performance in and out of the classroom. The Academic Integrity Code can be reviewed online at http://integrity.ou.edu. All work assigned in this course is to be completed individually (unless otherwise stated). The steps and procedures as outlined in the Academic Integrity Code will be followed in all cases of academic misconduct in this class.

Incomplete Grades Policy

A grade of Incomplete may be awarded to students who have a legitimate reason for needing additional time to complete a course. Legitimate reasons include emergencies or extenuating circumstances that prevent a student from completing the course requirements within the normal time frame. Students must initiate the request for an incomplete prior to the end of the semester, and must be in good standing in the course. In no case will a grade of incomplete be awarded to someone seeking more time to master the course material in order to improve their grade.

Accommodations for Students with Special Needs

Any student requiring a special accommodation because of a disability should contact the instructor by the end of the first week of class and plan to meet with the instructor by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how course requirements and activities may impact the student’s ability to fully participate.

Religious Holidays

It is the policy of the University to excuse absences of students that result from religious observances and to provide without penalty for the rescheduling of examinations and additional required course work that may fall on religious holidays. Students must notify the instructors in advance of any such observances.

Backups

Students are expected to keep a backup copy of any material submitted for class.

Assignments are weighted by group:

Group	Weight
Discussion Boards	5%
Assignments	20%
Homework	15%
Exams	30%
Exam 1	10%
Final	20%
LAB	15%
Quiz	15%
Extra Credit	5%
Total	105%

Tentative Schedule

Weeks	Date	Topic/Readings	Assignment Due	Lab Due
1	12-Jul	Syllabus; Chapter 1: An Overview; Lab setup
	13-Jul	Chapter 2: Overview of Transaction Processing and Enterprise Resource Planning Systems	HW1	Yes
	14-Jul	Chapter 4: Relational Databases Romney Queries	HW2	Yes
	15-Jul	Chapter 5 Computer Fraud;	HW3	Yes
	16-Jul	Chapter 6 Computer Fraud and Abuse Techniques;	HW4
2	19-Jul	Technical Quiz 1 SQL etc.
	20-Jul	Chapter 8: Controls for Information Security		Yes
	21-Jul	Chapter 7: Control and Accounting Information Systems	HW5	Yes
	22-Jul	Database Recap and ETL Project
	23-Jul	Chapter 9: Confidentiality and Privacy Controls, continue on ETL project	HW6
3	26-Jul	Merger Project Discussion, review for Midterm	Merger Quiz and Memo	Yes
	27-Jul	Midterm 1
	28-Jul	Chapter 12: The Revenue Cycle: Sales to Cash Collections	Merger Part 2	Yes
	29-Jul	Chapter 3: Systems Documentation Techniques		Yes
	30-Jul	Chapter 10: Processing Integrity and Availability Controls	Merger Part 3	Yes
4	2-Aug	Chapter 4/10 – Visualization	HW10	Yes
	3-Aug	Chapter 4/10 – Alteryx
	4-Aug	Blockchain/AI/BOTs discussion	Alteryx Sign-up required - Due
	5-Aug	Finals on Zoom	Alteryx Homework Due