ACC 564 Week 1 To Week 11 Complete Course

Strayer University ACC 564 Week 1 To Week 11 Complete Course ACC564 ACC564 Complete Course Week 1 to Week 11  ACC564 Week 1 Discussion 1 "Value of Information" Please respond to the following: • Firms realize that in order to make money, they have to invest money. This can be attributed to the information that the firm relies on. As discussed in the text, there are seven characteristics of useful information. From the first e-Activity and assuming that you are new CFO of Strayer University, identify the top-three characteristics you would rely on the most for improving the profitability of the firm. Provide an example of how each characteristic would directly help the firm in terms of profitability. • On the other hand, public and private firms are accountable to a wide range of regulators and stakeholders. Of the seven characteristics, identify the top three that would be applicable to meeting the needs of regulators and stakeholders. Provide an example of how each characteristic would directly help the firm in terms of meeting the needs of these key regulators and stakeholders. ACC564 Week 1 Discussion 2 "Impact of Design of an Accounting Information System (AIS)" Please respond to the following: •Some of the world’s most successful companies (Fortune 500) operate multiple lines of business. Despite this fact, many of these firms rely on a single AIS. From the second e-Activity, for the business you researched, examine how its lines of business would affect the design of a new AIS. •If the business was selecting a new AIS, examine how the business model would affect the design of a new AIS. ACC564 Week 2 Discussion 1` Evaluation of Documentation Tools" Please respond to the following: You have been assigned to analyze the accounting information for a Fortune 500 corporation. From the e-Activity, evaluate which tools you would use to analyze its business processes, indicating your rationale. On the other hand, resources, such as accountants, business analysts, and I/T specialists who rely on documentation tools, will need proper training on these tools. You have been given the responsibility of familiarizing your team with these tools. Evaluate which techniques, in terms of their appropriateness, you would use to get your team ready for its first assignment—the evaluation of a firm’s internal control structure. ACC564 Week 2 .Discussion 2 "David Miller" Please respond to the following: Read the David Miller case from Chapter 5. After reading the case, describe a reason why someone who has been entrusted with the firm’s assets would commit a fraudulent act against the company. Based upon your understanding of the case and your professional and personal experience, recommend a series of actions that should have been taken in order to prevent this. Now that the damage has been done by Mr. Miller after his last episode, the blame game begins. Review all of the parties who contributed to his ability to commit these acts, recommend who should be held liable, and suggest the punishment for the liable party / parties. ACC 564 Week 2 Assignment 1 - Information Needs for the AIS In 1967, Russell Ackoff presented a classical analysis of misinformation in management (Ackoff’s Management Misinformation Systems, Case 1-1, pg. 21 of the text). Now, you need to fast-forward to the present. After reading the case, craft your own version of misinformation in management by developing five (5) key incorrect assumptions that management makes about its accounting information systems. For this assignment, research the Internet or Strayer databases for information related to improper assumptions concerning accounting information systems. Write a five to seven (5-7) page paper in which you: Based on your research, assess how corporate leaders may make improper assumptions related to accounting information systems and the related information. Indicate the most negative potential impacts on business operations related to these assumptions. Provide support for your rationale. Suggest three to four (3-4) ways in which organizational performance may be improved when information is properly managed within a business system. Provide support for your rationale. Evaluate the level of system security (i.e., high, medium, low) needed to ensure information integrity within automated business systems. Provide support for your evaluation. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources. ACC564 Week 3 Discussion 1 "Attacks" Please respond to the following: You have been hired by the CFO of Strayer University to develop a plan to protect its accounting and financial systems at a reasonable cost. Suggest a high-level plan for the CFO. Provide support for your suggestion. Based on your security plan recommendation, determine the system aspect that is most likely to be violated. ACC564 Week 3 Discussion 2 "Revamping the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)" Please respond to the following: We know that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was created as the result of several high-profile fraud cases. Now that the act is over 10 years old, many think that it needs to be updated to reflect the changing times. From the e-Activity, identify and discuss at least three changes that should be made to the act, indicating why these changes are necessary. Create an argument supporting three items in the act that you would not change. ACC564 Week 4 Discussion 1 "The Cloud Effect" Please respond to the following: Many firms are relying on cloud computing, also known as “the cloud,” to perform key business functions. By moving transactional processing to the cloud, firms are exposing themselves to additional attacks as well as to tighter scrutiny from regulators and stakeholders. From the e-Activity, assume that you are the CFO of Amazon.com. Create an argument indicating how your firm will be able to balance the needs of security with the desire of being a dominant player in the global market. As the CFO, describe your top-three fears in competing in the global market, and how you plan to overcome those fears. Provide support for your rationale. ACC564 Week 4 Discussion 2 "Securing Data" Please respond to the following: In this global age of information, suggest which threats are posed to the principles of confidentiality and privacy, related to offshore outsourcing of various information systems functions. Provide support for your rationale. Determine who should be held liable for any breaches that occur, and indicate the course(s) of action that should be taken ACC564 Week 4 Assignment 2: Hacking the AIS Due Week 4 and worth 240 points In today’s technology environment, hackers present a substantial risk to a firm’s accounting or business system. As the result of these attacks, firms suffer huge losses, ranging from financial losses to losses in confidence by consumers, creditors, and suppliers. Firms may have made a significant investment in financial and non-financial resources to secure these systems. For this assignment, research the Internet or Strayer databases for information related to business systems that have been hacked. Write a five to seven (5-7) page paper in which you: 1. Based on the information you researched, evaluate the level of responsibility of the company in terms of the effectiveness of the response to the security breach. Provide support for your rationale. 2. Imagine that the company that you researched uses a third-party accounting system. Assess the level of responsibility of the software provider to both the business and its clients. Provide support for your rationale. 3. Create an argument for additional regulation as a preventative measure against businesses being hacked. Provide support for your argument. 4. Provide at least three (3) recommendations for businesses to secure their systems and assets from hackers. Provide support for your recommendation. 5. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources. ACC564 Week 5 Discussion 1 "Integrity vs. Availability" Please respond to the following: In the global enterprise, firms are insistent that their accounting information systems (AIS) and other key systems are available 100% of the time, and that these systems are the highest in integrity. Evaluate how a firm manages the balance of high availability with high integrity in these days of tight budgets and additional oversight from regulators. As a student taking online classes or relying on online resources such as libraries and tech support, evaluate the benefits of the school providing you with 24 / 7 access to these resources in relation to the costs incurred by the school itself. ACC564 Week 5 Discussion 2 "The 21st Century Auditor" Please respond to the following: The 21st century auditor requires knowledge of technology and accounting information systems in addition to his / her understanding of accounting concepts and guidelines. The degree of knowledge in technology and AIS will vary with each auditor. Recommend the top-five technology and AIS skills that the 21st century auditor should have. Justify your recommendations Now, recommend a series of actions that need to be taken by auditors and their firms to ensure that the auditors maintain their skills. ACC564 Week 6 Discussion 1 "Revenue Cycle" Please respond to the following: •From the e-Activity, examine the steps necessary to complete a sale and discuss how the sales order process is integrated with other processes (credit and collections, delivery, etc.). Indicate your overall satisfaction with the process. •From the e-Activity, recommend at least one improvement in the Website’s sales order process you would implement to make it more efficient in order to improve the customer experience. Then, assess whether the recommendation meant to benefits the clients warrants the potential cost of implementation for the company. Provide specific examples to support your response ACC564 Week 6 Discussion 2 "Expenditure Cycle" Please respond to the following: •Using your own present or previous place of work as an example, propose a method for mitigating the problem of separate departments (e.g., academics, student services, information technology, etc.) ordering the same item. •From the proposal above, discuss the possible issues that implementing the proposed method would cause to the organization. Suggest additional controls that you would put into place to overcome the issues. Provide specific examples to support your response. ACC564 Week 7 Discussion 1 "Professional Service Organizations" Please respond to the following: You have been asked by the CFO of the company where you work or previously worked to evaluate the use of a professional service organization for processing the company’s payroll. Identify the top-three issues that should be discussed when considering contracting the services of a payroll service provider. Evaluate the impact, both positive and negative, of each issue on the process in question. Provide specific examples to support your response. Using the information from the e-Activity, identify the key elements of a plan to outsource your firm’s payroll function. For each element of the plan, describe the impact of each element. Be sure that the elements address the necessary controls needed to safeguard your firm’s personnel data. Provide specific examples to support your rationale. ACC564 Week 7 Discussion 2 "General Ledger and Reporting Systems" Please respond to the following: Your firm is planning to move to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) reporting within the next fiscal year. Analyze the risks and rewards by moving to IFRS and the impact that technology will have on the change. Include the advantages and disadvantages of IRFS compared to the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Provide specific examples to support your analysis. Develop a proposal for migrating your firm to IFRS from GAAP. Discuss how you will educate your users in IFRS. ACC564 Week 7 Assignment 3: Fraud in the AIS Due Week 7 and worth 280 points For this assignment, research the Internet or Strayer databases to locate a firm that was involved in a fraud and / or embezzlement case. Explain how the firm’s accounting information system (i.e., components and functions) contributed to the fraud and / or embezzlement. You will need to focus on how each component / function of the accounting information system failed, which resulted in the scandal / case. Write a ten to twelve (10-12) page paper in which you: 1. Based on the information you researched, assess the failure of the firm’s accounting information system to prevent the related fraud / embezzlement. 2. Imagine that the company that you researched uses a third-party accounting system. Evaluate the effectiveness of the firm’s stakeholder in the event that a third-party accounting system suffers a breach. Include an assessment of the level of responsibility of the software provider to the business and its clients. Provide support for your rationale. 3. Determine what advances in accounting and / or information technology could have prevented the event from occurring. Provide support for your argument. 4. Evaluate what changes should be made to both the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and other current laws in order to make them more effective in deterring companies from committing crimes. 5. Recommend a strategy that the company you indicated may use to prevent future business information failures. Indicate how the company should approach the implementation of your recommended strategy. Provide support for your recommendation. 6. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources. Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements: · Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions. · Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length ACC564 Week 8 Discussion 1 "Relational Databases" Please respond to the following: From the e-Activity, assess the advantages and disadvantages of the continued use of the traditional relational database and then decide if businesses should be moving toward relational databases in the cloud. Justify your decision and provide specific examples to support your response. Determine whether a company has an ethical obligation to share with external clients that key information about them is being stored in the cloud. Speculate how external clients would react if they were told in advance or it was kept from them and they found out another way. ACC564 Week 8 Discussion 2 "The REA Data Model" Please respond to the following: Your firm wants to move from a relational database model to the REA data model. Explain to your senior management the risks and rewards of such of a move. Be sure to provide specific examples to support your response. As we know, the REA data model is an emerging technology change. Make five recommendations for creating useful entity-relationship (E-R) diagrams. Rank them in level of importance, and then justify your ranking. ACC564 Week 9 Discussion 1 "Systems Analysis" Please respond to the following: Implementing a new AIS system could prove to be beneficial or detrimental to an organization’s IT infrastructure. Assess the risks associated with integrating a new AIS system and suggest what management can do to minimize those risks. You have been selected as the change agent for the implementation of a new AIS system that will ultimately affect the way all employees complete their daily tasks. The new AIS system will also require online approvals for all source documents. This will result in significant cost savings for the firm; however, in the past, employees have been resistant to radical changes such as this. Evaluate the risks and rewards of such a move by the firm. Provide specific examples to support your response. ACC564 Week 9 Discussion 2 "AIS" Please respond to the following: You are part of a project management team evaluating accounting software packages that could be used by S&S (i.e., the case company referenced in Chapters 1 through 4), which would incorporate its four basic transaction cycles. Suggest five factors that the team should consider when selecting the package. Rank the factors in order of importance, and then justify your ranking. From the e-Activity, evaluate two different software packages and propose how you would promote one package over the other to the management committee. Provide specific examples to support your response. ACC564 Week 10 Discussion 1 "Implementation" Please respond to the following: You are the manager of a payroll system. Your company is going to replace the legacy payroll system with a more robust, Web-based version. Suggest two approaches that would minimize downtime and interruption to the payroll process. Provide specific examples to support your response. Propose a process for evaluating the success of the new system and a procedure for implementing software fixes and enhancements. Provide specific examples to support your response. ACC564 Week 10 Discussion 2 "Operation" Please respond to the following: From the e-Activity, predict the effects that changes in one industry could have on modifying and updating a system of the business. Include any trickle-down effects that the changes would have on the business as well. Provide specific examples to support your response. From a managerial perspective, assess the greatest systems operational challenge. Then, recommend what management can do to overcome the challenge that you identified. Support your response with specific examples or evidence. ACC564 Week 10 Assignment 4: Changing the AIS Due Week 10 and worth 320 points Migrating to a new accounting information system is not an easy task. Many firms have struggled with this process, even though our textbook makes the process seem quite straightforward. Recently, IBM recapped some of the lessons learned in migrating to a new accounting information system within the federal government. These lessons can be applied to any accounting information system project. Others have developed their own recommendations for best practices and lessons learned involving implementing accounting information systems. However, in order to appreciate what IBM and others are proposing, we need to apply lessons learned to a real-life situation involving the failure to implement an accounting system properly. For this assignment, research the Internet or Strayer databases for information related to a real-life accounting information system failure and best practices, as well as lessons learned from implementing the accounting system. In addition to information that you may find during your research, please use the following IBM article to complete the assignment: (http://www.businessofgovernment.org/article/what-we-know-now-lessons-learned-implementing-federal-financial-systems-projects). Write a ten to twelve (10-12) page paper in which you: 1. Identify three to five (3-5) factors that contributed to the accounting information system failure within the business that you have identified. Indicate the impact to the business. Provide support for your rationale. 2. Assess senior management responsibility for the failure in question. Specify what the senior management could have done differently to avoid the failure. Provide support for your rationale. 3. Evaluate whether the most significant failure occurred within the system design, implementation, or operational phase of the process. Indicate what the company could have done to avoid the failed outcome. Provide support for your rationale. 4. Evaluate how implementing best practices would have reduced the chances for failure. Provide support for your rationale. 5. Based on your research, develop a list of between four (4) and six (6) best practices that organizations should use today to reduce the chances for failure. Provide support for your rationale. 6. Using the information provided by IBM and others, indicate which of the principles designed to provide insight into effective and efficient strategies on how to best deploy financial management systems, which were outlined within the related article, should serve as an example of what not to do when establishing the foundation for a firm to follow. Your proposed foundation should consist of at least two (2) principles, but no more than six (6). Provide support for your rationale. 7. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note:Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources. ACC564 Week 11 Discussion 1 "Looking Back" Please respond to the following: The AICPA would like for you to deliver a speech at one of its upcoming conferences on the future of accounting information systems. From the first e-Activity, select one conference and formulate the takeaway message and key points that you would want your audience to remember from your speech. After delivering your speech, you have been approached by representatives from Oracle (Oracle Financials) and Microsoft (Microsoft Dynamics) regarding your key points. From the second e-Activity, evaluate how your message can be used to enhance their product line and vision. ACC564 Week 11 Discussion 2 "Looking Ahead" Please respond to the following: Evaluate the top-three concepts covered in this course that provided the most value to you and how you might incorporate those concepts or processes into your current job or future endeavors. Evaluate the top-three concepts in this course that you found difficult to comprehend. Propose a recommendation to the author of the textbook on how he / she could have made that process or concept easier to understand. ACC564