Accounting Information Systems

Winter 2020

Professor: Kristi Yuthas

Office: KMC 510A
Cell phone: 503-250-1812 for urgent texts – please include your name and section
Office Hours: H 2:00-3:00 and 7:30-8:30 pm – hours will begin outside KMC 560 and
move to Zoom
Email: yuthask@pdx.edu - always use 335 in the subject line. Use Gmail rather than
sending mail via D2L. kyuthas@pdx.edu is not my account; please take care when
addressing messages. If I don’t reply to your email within a day or two, please re-send.

Section HB1 CRN 40003 1200-1350 H KMC 560

Section HB2 CRN 40004 1740-1920 H KMC 560

Materials:

1) REQUIRED and only available in the bookstore:

Systems Understanding Aid (w/Computerized Acct Using QuickBooks Pro 2018)
$147.00 Edition: 9th ISBN: 9780912503721 Author Arens Publisher: Armond Dalton
Publishers, Incorporated

2) RECOMMENDED:
From bookstore: Accounting Information Systems (ebook)(Custom) $127.75 ISBN:
9781307115666 Author Kaufman Publisher: MCGRAW HILL CREATE (CUSTOM
PUBLISHING)
Or, from Amazon or another bookseller, or you can borrow from the Reserve Desk in
the library:
First *or* Second Edition of Accounting Information Systems, Richardson, Chang
and Smith, McGraw Hill.

Communication
Please take a moment to turn on notifications in D2L--start by clicking on your
picture.
I’ll communicate with you primarily through the course D2L page at d2l.pdx.edu. I’ll post
an announcement when there is a schedule change, an error, or other important course
update. Other course information will be posted in the Content modules. I expect you to
check in to the D2L page frequently throughout the term.
If I need to email you directly, I will use your .pdx address (*not* your D2L mail). If you
don’t check your PSU mail regularly, please autoforward messages to your preferred
account.
When you communicate with me, please use PSU gmail (*not* D2L mail.) and put 335 in
the subject line to ensure that I see your message. If I don’t respond within a day or two,

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please re-send—I won’t mind at all. My PSU username is yuthask, not kyuthas. Please
make sure you’re directing email to the right account.
During office hours, I’ll be available in person outside KMC 560 or via Zoom.
Computer Use
This course works best for students with up-to-date Windows-capable computers and
internet access at home, or flexible schedules that accommodate work in the lab. The
QuickBooks project cannot be completed on a Mac. It takes most students 5-10
hours to complete. QuickBooks, Microsoft Access, and other specialized software for the
class can be accessed in the computer lab where we will have class (KMC 560). Info about
lab hours and availability can be found at https://www.pdx.edu/sba/computer-lab and
https://www.pdx.edu/oit/labs. The KMC labs will have the specialized software we use, and
the other labs have MS Office.

Learning Objectives
This course will help you develop business acumen by using critical thinking and analytical
skills to improve business processes and outcomes. After completing the course you
should be able to:
1. Analyze information flows in an organization and develop conceptual models of
organizational relationships
2. Implement conceptual models of information systems using software tools
3. Identify problems, organize and evaluate information, explore costs and benefits of
alternative scenarios, and develop appropriate solutions
4. Develop support for business decisions by employing appropriate model building,
analytical, and visualization techniques
5. Identify organizational risks and develop plans for effectively controlling those risks
We’ll also use technologies that will be new to many of you, so you’ll also gain a lot of
experience accessing, navigating, and troubleshooting a variety of systems.

Participation
Much of the time in class will be spent working in groups on in-class activities or
discussing homework and readings you’ve done on your own. Every student is an
important contributor to course learning; preparing for, attending, and participating fully
in every class session is expected.

Collaboration
I strongly encourage you to exchange contact information and collaborate outside of class.
Much of the material in this class may be new and can be very challenging; please make it
a habit to ask for help and provide help to your classmates.
You are allowed and encouraged to work together on homework and projects. Just make
sure that each student completes and submits their own work (as opposed to submitting
two copies of a single assignment). Please do not collaborate with students outside your
group on the group project.

Workload
Normally, for every hour in class, a student is expected to study 2-3 hours outside of class
for a total of 12-16 hours per week. Because we’re only meeting once per week, add the

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two additional hours you’d normally be in class. Project and computer snags are
unpredictable and can easily cause you to exceed these time guidelines. Plan ahead and
consider rescheduling the course if you are not able to commit to this workload in this
term.

Late Work and Absences

You will have opportunities to earn points for your participation in class. You won’t be able
to make up work for days you are absent but you can earn extra credit to make up for lost
points. Assignments and projects are due at the start of class on the day indicated. Late
projects receive a 10% penalty each calendar day they are late. Late homework
assignments are not accepted. If you are unable to come to class, please email me a
complete copy of the assignment and upload it to the assignment folder prior to the time
due. Bring the hard copy to the next class, attached to a printout of your email. Please
plan ahead so that last-minute computer glitches, lab shut-downs, personal emergencies,
etc. don’t stop you from completing your work on time. If you get behind in this class, it’s
hard to catch back up. You’ll benefit by staying on schedule.

Interruptions
Texting, typing on your keyboard, surfing, or doing work unrelated to this class can be
really distracting to other students. The classroom is small and very full so your
classmates can see what you’re doing. Please be respectful.

Grading
This class requires a lot of independent work on readings, homework, and projects—much
of it computer-based—every week throughout the term. For much of the work in this
class, your grade will be determined by the level of effort you put in, rather than through
performance on exams and other assessments. Homework scores will be based on
completion and level of effort evidenced rather than accuracy. For the SUA and
QuickBooks projects, you’ll have access to check figures to guide your work. So you’ll get
out of this class what you put in, both in learning and in grades. Percentage breakdowns
for course assignments are as follows:
Systems Understanding Aid quizzes: 20%
Quickbooks project 15%
Group analytics project 20%
Data visualization project 5%
Exam 20%
Homework and participation 20% (no makeups or late HW)
100%
Extra credit 3% (research studies)
Grades will be assigned using the standard distribution for the School of Business. I may
adjust grade cutoffs when calcualting grades, but only to benefit students and raise the
distribution of grades assigned.

Academic Dishonesty

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Personal integrity is a critical characteristic for accountants. Cheating on a quiz,
homework assignment, or project will result in a grade of 0 for that category, referral to
the student disciplinary committee, and potential expulsion from the university.
1) You may not work together on or discuss questions on any quiz or exam. For the
SUA project, if quiz scores are inconsistent with the quality of your packet, you may
be required to complete a makeup quiz and/or we will discuss the discrepancy with
the student disciplinary representative.
2) You may not work with anyone from another group on the group analytics project.
3) You are encouraged to work together and help each other on all other
homeworks and projects as long as every student completes and submits their
own version of the work (i.e. you may not submit two copies of one assignment.)

Prerequisites
The SBA strictly enforces prerequisites for business courses. If a student completes a
course before completing the prerequisites and later completes the prerequisites, he/she
will NOT receive any credit for the prerequisites. The prerequisites for this course are BA
213 (decision making with accounting information) and BA 325 (competing with
information technology).

Pronoun etiquette
I use female pronouns and want to make sure to use the preferred names and pronouns
for all students. Please let me know if I make a mistake or if you have any concerns.

Academic advising
The School of Business Administration provides Career & Academic Advisors to assist students
in making the most of their collegiate experience. Career & Academic Advisors are trained to
provide counsel in a wide range of issues. From selecting a business major and planning out
classes to creating a job search strategy and writing resumes, Career & Academic Advisors are
here to help students with all of their academic & career related questions. Business students
are assigned an academic & career advisor who will assist them from orientation to
graduation.
All SBA advisors are available by appointment, which must be scheduled in advance. Students
can make an academic & career advising appointment throughout the year by visiting or
calling 503-725-3712. Drop-in peer advising hours are available as well. Drop-in hours are
held regularly throughout the week and are designed to help answer routine or simple
questions. For more information about SBA advising and drop-in hours, please visit the School
of Business website at www.pdx.edu/sba and click on Undergraduate, then Student
Resources. Students with concerns about courses or the advising services provided by the
Undergraduate Programs Office can contact the Director of the Undergraduate Programs Office
via email at beckys@pdx.edu.
The Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs oversees the execution of all undergraduate
degrees and certificates in the School of Business. Appointments are available for students
with confidential/sensitive issues related to their studies at Portland State. Please visit the
front desk staff in the Deans’ suite.

Student with disabilities

If you are a student with a documented disability and registered with the Disability Resource
Center, please contact me immediately to facilitate arranging academic accommodations. If
you have questions, you may contact the DRC at (503) 725-4240.

Student Health and Counseling

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SHAC Counseling Services offers individual and group counseling, emergency/crisis
counseling, LD/ADHD testing, medication evaluation and management, and consultation and
outreach services.
Students interested in any of SHAC's counseling services are encouraged to walk-in to SHAC
and consult with a counselor during daily walk-in hours. SHAC counselors will meet with
students to determine appropriate next steps for care which may include: referral to another
PSU support resource, referral to group counseling, a follow up appointment with SHAC
Counseling Services, being placed on Counseling Service's waitlist for individual counseling,
and/or referral to a community resource. For more information visit www.pdx.edu/shac.

Title IX
As an instructor, one of my responsibilities is to help create a safe learning environment for my
students and for the campus as a whole. We expect a culture of professionalism and mutual
respect in our department and class. You may report any incident of discrimination or
discriminatory harassment, including sexual harassment, to either the Office of Equity and
Compliance or the Office of the Dean of Student Life.
Please be aware that as a faculty member, I have the responsibility to report any instances of
sexual harassment, sexual violence and/or other forms of prohibited discrimination. If you
would rather share information about sexual harassment or sexual violence to a confidential
employee who does not have this reporting responsibility, you can find a list of those
individuals. For more information about Title IX, please complete the required student module
Creating a Safe Campus in your D2L.

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITIES

Students have the opportunity to earn extra credit through participation in research activities
that are approved by the Institutional Review Board in the School of Business (SB). These
activities will expose students to business research conducted by the SB faculty. To
participate, students will need to create an account on the SB’s research
site, SONA, using their PSU email address. Students who created a SONA account last
term (Fall 2019) may log in using their existing SONA account. From there, students will be
able to choose and participate in online studies and sign-up to participate in on-campus
studies (in KMC 262). Each study is associated with a different credit-value (e.g., a 6-minute
online study is worth 1 credit and a 12-minute on-campus study is worth 4 credits). If
students complete 10 credits on SONA this quarter, they will receive a 2% extra
credit addition to their grade in this class. The research studies will be available between
Weeks 3 – 8 of the term. If you have questions please contact the SB research administrator
at SB-ResearchLab@pdx.edu.
In addition, you’ll have the opportunity to participate in another study on blockchain
technology for 1% extra credit. Details for that study will be announced on D2L.

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Course Schedule
Schedule may change as course progresses. Check D2L regularly for updates .

Week Topics Homework Due Projects

Due
Week 1 Introduction HW 1 Intro SUA Quiz #1
Jan 9 Begin work on SUA Due Sun. 11:59
Document flowcharts
Week 2 Flowcharting HW 2 Excel SUA Quiz #2
Jan 16 BPMN flowcharting Due Sun. 11:59

Week 3 Data Modeling HW 3 BPMN SUA Quiz #3

Jan 23 Databases and E/R Due Sun. 11:59
Diagrams
Quickbooks
Week 4 Relational Databases HW 4 E/R Diagrams
Jan 30 SQL, Access
Week 5 Sales processes HW 5 DB QuickBooks
Feb 6 Intro to analytics project Bring to class

Week 6 Purchase processes HW 6 sales queries

Feb 13 Internal controls

Week 7 TBA HW 7 purchasing queries

Feb 20
Week 8 Analytics & data HW 8 controls
Feb 27 visualization
Tableau lab
Intro to visualization project
Week 9 Emerging topics HW 9 analytics Group
Mar 6 Analytics
Bring to class
Week 10 Viz-a-thon HW 10 emerging topic Data
Mar 13 Visualization
Bring to class

Finals week Exam HW 11 reflection