ACCT 3310 ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS & CONTROLS (PROJECT) BUEINSS CYCLES & INTERNAL CONTROL The strategic objectives of the project are: • To master and apply the course material • To provide you with the opportunity to reach out to the real business world and work with a real organization • To gain experience working as a team with real-life constraints and opportunities • To practice communicating your work orally and in writing 1.Introduction Requirement: Your final document should include: • A web link to a video about your client or similar to your client’s business (if you cannot find a video for your client). • Introduction to your client (e.g., show why the business cycles you are going to study are critical for your client’s success). • Importance of your work: Explain how your client will benefit from your work 2. Business Cycle Documentation If necessary, visit your client and conduct interviews with people involved in the business cycles that you wish to study. We have applied three systems documentation techniques in Chap 3 (Data Flow Program, Flowcharts, and Business Process Diagram) to four business cycles: The Revenue Cycle (Chap 12), The Expenditure Cycle (Chap 13), The Production Cycle (Chap 14), and HRM/Payroll Cycle (Chap 15). Your goal is to understand the business processes in depth: • The step-by-step activities • The flows of physical products or services • The ways of information collection, storage and process Requirement: Your final document should include: • Four business cycles of your clients: (a) Use all three systems documentation techniques (Data Flow Program, Flowcharts, and Business Process Diagram) to document the first business cycle of your choice for your client (e.g., the Revenue Cycle); (b) Use Data Flow Program (one of three systems documentation techniques) to document the second business cycle of your choice for your client (e.g., the Expenditure Cycle); (c) Use Flowcharts (one of three systems documentation techniques) to document the third business cycle of your choice for your client (e.g., the Production Cycle); and (d) Use Business Process Diagram (one of three systems documentation techniques) to document the fourth business cycle of your choice for your client (e.g., the HRM/Payroll Cycle); • • Business cycle overview: Discuss the objectives of the business cycles and their alignment with your client goals, inputs and outputs, interactions with other cycles and external entities Narrative description and tables: Describe business cycle activities and use table of entities and activities in order to reduces the narrative to a list of simple sentences delineating “who does what” 3. Internal Control Mechanism When visiting your client, you also need to understand your client’s internal control mechanisms. The internal control mechanisms involve controls against Computer Fraud and Abuse (Chap 6), Control and AIS such as Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, COSO’s Internal Control Framework, COSO’s ERM Framework, COBIT Framework, etc. (Chap 7), Controls for Information Security (Chap 8), Confidentiality and Privacy Controls (Chap 9), and Processing Integrity and Availability Controls (Chap 10). Requirement: Your final document should include: • Five internal control mechanisms of your client: (a) Controls against Computer Fraud and Abuse; (b) Control and AIS; (c) Controls for Information Security; (d) Confidentiality and Privacy Controls; and (e) Processing Integrity and Availability Controls • Internal control overview: Discuss the objectives of the internal control mechanism and their alignment with your client goals. • Narrative description and tables: Describe business cycle activities and use table of entities and activities in order to reduces the narrative to a list of simple sentences delineating “who does what.” 4. Conclusion and Recommendations Requirement: Your final document should include: • Any interesting things about your clients. • An Executive Summary of your work and Recommendation to your client. • Your client’s feedback on your work, if applicable. Your client’s feedback is a great addition to your final report. If your client provides you with formal or informal feedback, describe it in your own words in a paragraph or two. However, it is not always possible to receive your client’s feedback; if you do not have your client’s feedback, do not fake it!
Purchase answer to see full attachment