The following case was developed and used in an undergraduate Accounting Information Systems course at the University of Northern Colorado. It is a continuous case because it is introduced as the topics and software are scheduled in class during the semester. It is a final project because several components are not required to be handed in until the final week of the course. Teaching notes and portions of the course outline are provided. The project uses transaction processing, word processing, flowcharting, spreadsheet, database, and web authoring software. The software used by the author was AccPac Simply Accounting Pro Version 8.5, Microsoft Word, RFFlow Professional Flowcharting, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, and Microsoft FrontPage. Permission to use the material for your individual classroom use and to modify it to conform to your choice of software is hereby granted assuming proper references are provided. You will find that some detailed changes are required to adapt the project to other software. The project text in Word format and suggested solutions using the software indicated in the paper can be downloaded by accessing the following web addresses: and 1. Teaching Notes And Suggestions he textbooks used for the course were: ï‚· Core Concepts of Accounting Information Systems, Sixth Edition, 1999, Moscove, Simkin, and Bagranoff, Wiley Publishing Company. ï‚· Using Access 2000 in Accounting, First Edition, 2001, Perry, Schneider, South-Western Thomson Learning. The weekly assignments and the points given are indicated in the following table to illustrate how the final project material fits into the entire course. The assignments that pertain to the material in this paper are in bold and lightly shaded. The class is an online assisted course meaning it meets in the classroom half time, in the lab half time, and Blackboard is used for communication, testing, and course administration. The continuous final project is worth a total of 350 or 35% of the total points for the semester. An attempt is made to integrate the assigned text material, the introduction of practice using the different software, and the GHC final project. Most of the practice material is completed and graded individually. All of the final project material is completed in groups consisting of three students each.
The first day of class the students are asked to skim chapters 11-13 in the Moscove, Simkin, and Bagranoff text to gain an understanding of how to conduct a systems study, complete the planning and analysis phase, and design an integrated accounting information system. They are not tested over these chapters until the last week. They are told they will be expected to apply the material to the final ____________________ Readers with comments or questions are encouraged to contact the author via email. T The Review Of Business Information Systems Volume 6, Number 4 2 project assignments. Each time a final project assignment is given the students are reminded that an important part of systems work is the planning phase. They need to carefully plan who is going to do what and when it will be completed. Table 1 Assignment Schedule (Additional details are provided in the download files.) The course is required for accounting majors. The class size is usually between 22 and 30 students. The prerequisites for this course are that the students must be accounting majors who have completed Intermediate Accounting I, and Information Systems. Information Systems is a basic CIS course in the business core. The students must also have completed or be currently enrolled in Intermediate Accounting II. Many of the students are also taking Auditing I but it is not a prerequisite. Very little lecturing is done in the course. Students are expected to read the material in the text and complete the online tests.
The online tests completed in the labs using Blackboard, are open book, open notes, and timed. Students are told they can use any resource other than another person. Students are also provided with practice quizzes that can be completed anytime but do not count in their final grade. Projects are difficult to grade. It is the author’s belief that the instructor should act as a project coach providing feedback often but normally only at the student’s request. The objective is to have the students gain the experience and not necessarily learn to use a specific set of software tools. WEEK ASSIGNMENT POINTS 1-4 Moscove/Simkin/Bagranoff – Online tests are completed over Chapters 1, 2, and 3. Two introductory Simply Accounting projects are completed and students are introduced to the RFFlow flowcharting software. 249 4 Simply V8 for Greeley Health Club Final Project – Introduction and start the configuration process. (Due Finals Week) 50 4 RFFlow Greeley Health Club Final Project – Prepare Document and Cross Functional Process Mapping Flowcharts for the project. (Due Finals Week) 50 5-9 Moscove/Simkin/Bagranoff – Online tests are completed over Chapters 4, 5, and 14. Two budget projects are completed using excel. One of these is entered into Simply. 169 9 Excel Greeley Health Club Final Project Budget – Prepare a budgeted Income Statement for the upcoming year for the clubs operations and enter it into Simply Accounting. (Due Finals Week) 50 10-12 Moscove/Simkin/Bagranoff – Online tests are completed over Chapter 6, 7, and 8. Perry/Schneider – Chapters 2-5 are completed. 148 12 Access Assignment Greeley Health Club Final Project – Part I – Establish the fields, tables, and input forms for the restaurants accounts receivable subsidiary ledger. (Handed in upon completion and graded in a group meeting.) 50 13 Moscove/Simkin/Bagranoff – Online Tests over Chapter 9 and 10. 31 13 Access Assignment Greeley Health Club Final Project Part II – The emphasis for this part is on data entry, and preparing queries. (Handed in upon completion and graded in a group meeting.) 50 13 Website for Greeley Health Club Final Project – Using FrontPage develop and post a website that is informative, provides easy navigation, and contains the Greeley Health Club logo and restaurant menu. (Due Finals Week) 50 14 Moscove/Simkin/Bagranoff – Online tests over Chapter 15. 17 14 Access Assignment Greeley Health Club Final Project Part III – The emphasis for this part is on reporting the information from the database and integrating it with the general ledger Simply Accounting material. (Handed in upon completion and graded in a group meeting.) 50 15 No additional assignment or points. Work on integrating all the parts of the final project. (Due Finals Week) 16 Moscove/Simkin/Bagranoff – Chapter 11-13 Online Test.
37 Total Points 1001 The Review Of Business Information Systems Volume 6, Number 4 3 You will find on the following pages part of the narrative presented to the students for the final project called the Greeley Health Club and for the proposed restaurant accounts receivable subsidiary ledger database project. Personalizing project information such as using faculty names as employees enhances students’ interest and the ability to remember information. The project is written as instructions to the students and again you are encouraged to modify and use this material in your classes. 2. The Greeley Health Club Project You have been assigned to develop an accounting information system for Greeley Health Club, Inc. (GHC). GHC is a closely held corporation that has three major shareholders. Each shareholder made an initial capital contribution of $3,333.33 on June 1, 2001 when the business was first started. In anticipation of expanding operations in 2002 each stockholder made an additional investment of $20,000.00 in late December 2001. Another major source of financing is provided by a loan from the First Bank of Greeley. The amount of this loan can be up to $210,000.00 and can be used as follows: $150,000.00 for inventory purchases, $35,000.00 for equipment and leasehold improvement expenditures, and $25,000.00 for working capital for operating expenditures. The bank loan agreement requires that GHC expenditures cannot exceed these amounts for each category, however smaller amounts may be used. The loan proceeds will be disbursed when needed, however, GHC must accumulate vendor invoices and provide copies of the expenditures to the bank to verify that the expenditures are in accordance with the agreement to receive any additional funds. In other words, GHC will receive the funds on a demand basis for appropriate expenditures and only when they provide the loan officer with adequate verification of the amount to be paid. There are currently three major revenue-producing functions at GHC. They are:  Simulation golf, racquetball, and tennis  Exercise facilities and training programs  Merchandise sales of golf, racquetball, and tennis accessories A fourth revenue producing function is scheduled to start in January 2002. It is a gourmet health food restaurant. The simulations are high tech cubicles that allow the user to practice their chosen sport using their own equipment. Sensors in the walls simulate actually playing a game and provide the user with feedback and suggestions for improvement. The cubicles are rented to customers at an hourly rate of $50 for golf, $40 for racquetball, and $30 for tennis. There are three cubicles of each type available for a total of nine. The exercise facilities are included with the sale of a training program. The customer is assigned to a trainer who sets up a specific program of exercise and diet. The trainer’s fee and the use of the exercise facilities for a specified time are included with the training program contract. Trainers encourage customers to also use the simulations for further exercise at an additional fee. It is anticipated that the restaurant will also be recommended to customers by the trainers as a part of their diet program.
