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Preface
Whether accountants work in public accounting or in industry, they use a variety of
technology tools. The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) describes four
roles for accountants with respect to information technology: (1) users of technology and
information systems, (2) managers of users of technology and related information
systems, (3) designers of information systems, and (4) evaluators of information
systems. As users, managers, designers, and evaluators of technology and technology-
driven business processes, accountants must understand the organization and how
organizational processes generate information important to management. To ensure that
processes and systems are documented—and to participate in improvements to processes
and systems—accountants must be business analysts.
This textbook aims to provide students with a variety of technology and business
analysis concepts and skills. It is intended for use in the first Accounting Information
Systems course at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Ongoing changes in
business technology—such as the move to Internet-based systems, Big Data and data
analytics, software as a service, and mobile access to enterprise information, as well as
increased security and control requirements—make technological skills more important
than ever for accounting graduates. This textbook also aims to show how current changes
in accounting and technology affect each of these roles. For example, the Sarbanes-Oxley
Act affects financial reporting system controls, and XBRL changes system requirements
and affects how companies develop and report financial information. We also consider
the role of Big Data and data analytics and how they are used in financial accounting,
managerial accounting, and auditing. Additionally, we consider both the COBIT and
COSO frameworks to describe how organizations deal with risk management. In their roles
as managers, designers, and evaluators, accountants must know how those frameworks
affect their accounting and related information systems.
The core competencies of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
emphasize accounting skills over content. This textbook emphasizes examples, problems,
and projects through which students can develop the technological skills they need for their
accounting careers. It uses real-world companies such as Starbucks, Walmart, Google, and
Amazon that students can relate to. It takes a broad view of accounting information systems
that emphasizes the accountants’ roles in the use, management, design, and evaluation
of the systems and the management information that they produce. To assist accounting
students in experiencing the benefit of learning information technology/information services
(IT/IS) concepts and using IT/IS skills in accounting, we focus on business processes,
business requirements, how information technology supports those requirements, and how
accountants contribute. In particular, this textbook helps students learn to:

• Design business processes and represent them with standard documentation

tools. The role of the accounting function has evolved from stewardship and
reporting to full partnership, supporting management decisions throughout the
organization. As business analysts, accountants must be able to document business
processes, identify potential improvements, and design and implement new
business processes. Thus, this textbook helps develop business process modeling
skills.
• Design and implement well-structured databases to enable business processes.
Accountants must also understand how business processes generate data and how
such data are structured, interrelated, and stored in a database system. To ensure
that business processes and the database systems are documented and to participate

vii
viii   Preface

in improvements to processes and systems, accountants must understand and be

able to model such systems. Thus, this textbook helps develop data modeling and
database implementation skills.
• Query databases to provide insights about the performance of business
operations. Most organizational information resides in databases. To support
management decisions throughout the organization, accountants must understand
how those data are structured and how to retrieve information to support business
management decisions. Thus, this textbook develops skills on the use of Microsoft
Access and databases in general. This textbook also develops data analytics tools
through the use of Microsoft Excel and Tableau.
• Evaluate internal control systems and apply business rules to implement
controls and mitigate information systems risks. Recent federal legislation—
for example, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and COSO and COBIT guidance—
emphasizes the importance of risk mitigation in modern organizations. Internal
control systems must constantly evolve to meet a changing risk environment.
Accountants are often the internal control experts and must, therefore, understand
how internal controls should be implemented in business processes as part of
the organization’s overall risk mitigation and governance framework. Thus, this
textbook presents specific material on internal control and accounting information
systems, as well as general information about computer fraud and security. It also
describes how to monitor and audit accounting information systems.
AIS 2e Content Updates
General Updates for the 2nd Edition
• Added additional End-of-Chapter Multiple Choice Questions and Problems
throughout the text.
• Significantly revised many End-of-Chapter Problems for availability and auto-grading
within Connect.
• Revised and added many new Discussion Questions in most chapters.

Chapter by Chapter Updates

Specific chapter changes for Accounting Information Systems, 2nd Edition, are as follows:

Chapter 1
• Updated the opening vignette, highlighting the use of Starbucks Clover coffee
machines.
• Updated real-world references.
• Edited and updated the Progress Check questions.

Chapter 2
• Increased introductory coverage of BPMN.
• Added discussion of flow object types, including gateway and event types.
• Introduced repeating activities.
• Added introduction to data objects, data stores, and associations.

Chapter 3
• Updated discussion of how the multiplicities for associations indicate where foreign
keys are posted in relational tables.
• Added discussion of business rules, decision requirements, and decision tables.

Chapter 4
• Updated the section on Using Microsoft Access to Implement a Relational
Database. Figures 4.6 through 4.17 were updated using Microsoft Access 2013.
• Updated Appendix A. Figures 4.A1 through 4.A9 were updated using Microsoft
Access 2013.

Chapter 5
• Added additional figures related to sales activity models.
• Updated the Chapter 5 Comprehensive Exercise.

Chapter 6
• Updated the Chapter 6 Comprehensive Exercise.

Chapter 7
• Updated BPMN diagrams to include revisions to Chapter 2.

ix
x   AIS 2e Content Updates

Chapter 8
• Substantially modified the chapter to describe to students how to approach an
integrated project.
• Created two new integrated projects with multiple versions to accommodate
various class schedules and to allow instructors to rotate projects.
• The first of the two integrated projects is a more challenging project that includes
issues related to managing inventory levels and internal inventory transfers. Other
topics covered include multiple sales types, including Internet, wholesale, and
retail sales, where customers can pay by cash, check, or credit card.
• The second of the two integrated projects is shorter and less challenging and
focuses on wholesale sales from multiple distribution centers.

Chapter 9
• This is an all-new chapter emphasizing data analytics.
• Illustrated how data analytics is used to help Starbucks pick its store locations.
• Inserted an all-new explanation of how data analytics is used in business and
accounting.
• Added an explanation and example of how Audit Data Standards provided by the
AICPA are used to facilitate data analytics between a company’s financial staff and
the external auditors.
• Explained how the DATA Act recently passed by Congress gives firms specific
responsibilities to protect privacy and the breach of individual identifying
information.
• Illustrated data analytics and data analytics techniques in both Excel and Tableau.

Chapter 10
• Updated the opening vignette, highlighting Kevin Johnson, who has substantial
technology leadership as Starbucks’s new president and chief operating officer.
• Added an all-new example and inserted an additional figure illustrating a digital
marketing dashboard.
• Updated real-world references, particularly of examples of business intelligence.
• Edited and updated Progress Check questions.

Chapter 11
• Updated COSO Internal Control Framework to COSO 2013 by updating the five
components and adding the 17 relevant principles of internal controls.
• Added Figure 11.2 to summarize COSO 2013 control components and principles.

Chapter 12
• Updated the opening vignette.
• Revised the contents of computer fraud and abuse as well as vulnerability
assessment and management.
• Edited and updated the Progress Check questions.

Chapter 13
• Updated the opening vignette.
 AIS 2e Content Updates    xi

Chapter 14
• Added discussion of the IT Governance Institute Val IT Framework.

Chapter 15
• Added an all-new opening vignette, highlighting Gerri Martin-Flickinger as
the Starbucks chief technology officer.
• Edited and updated Progress Check questions.

Chapter 16
• Updated the opening vignette highlighting technology used at Walmart.
• Updated Figure 16.2 with recent information technology project outcomes.
 Main Features
Accounting Information Systems, 2nd Edition, focuses on
the accountant’s role as business analyst in solving busi-
ness problems by database modeling, database design, and
business process modeling.

Rev. Confirming Pages

Chapter Maps Chapter Two

Chapter Maps provide a handy guide at the start of
every chapter. These remind students what they have
learned in previous chapters, what they can expect
to learn in the current chapter, and how the topics
will build on each other in chapters to come. This
allows them to stay more focused and organized
along the way.
A look at this chapter
A look back
Accountants as Business
Analysts
A look at this chapter
As users, managers, designers, and evaluators of technology and technology-driven business processes,
accountants must understand the organization and how organizational processes generate information
important to management. To ensure that processes and systems are documented—and to participate
in improvements to processes and systems—accountants must also be business analysts. This chapter
defines business process modeling and describes how it supports the roles of accountants. It explains
the potential value of business process modeling. Finally, it describes the types of business process mod-
els and introduces basic modeling tools to guide the student’s development of modeling skills.

A look back
Chapter 1 discussed the importance of accounting information systems and the role accountants play in
those systems. It further described how investments in information technology might improve the ability to
A look ahead manage business processes and create value for the firm.

A look ahead
Chapter 3 introduces data modeling. It describes how data modeling supports the design, implementa-
tion, and operation of database systems. It introduces basic modeling tools that will be used throughout
the rest of the text.

Chapter-Opening Vignettes One recent morning, I stopped at a very busy Starbucks in San
Francisco. I looked at the line coming out of the door and
immediately thought that it would take at least 20 minutes to
Do your students sometimes wonder how the course get my morning coffee. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised at
the efficiency of the employees who got me through that line
connects with their future? Each chapter opens with in less than 2 minutes.
I watched closely as the Starbucks partners behind the coun-
a vignette, which sets the stage for the rest of the ter executed the workflow of the process. One partner took my
order and relayed my pastry order to another partner behind
chapter and encourages students to think of concepts the pastry case. He also relayed my coffee order to the barista
at the other end of the counter. As I moved through the line to

in a business context. © AFP/Getty Images

the register, my order arrived just as I did, and a fourth partner

30

ric38877_ch02_030-059.indd 30 09/21/16 10:52 AM

xii
 “I believe that the sequence of topics follows a logical “I like how it relates many of the concepts to real
pattern by moving from introducing the general con- companies, like Starbucks.”
cepts of AIS to students to internal controls and a need
—Linda Wallace, Virginia Tech
to automate them, to design of the DB—‘backbone’ of
the IT system—and then to specific accounting cycles,
and to general IT-related issues.”
—Dmitriy Shaltayev, Christopher Newport
University

Rev. Confirming Pages

Chapter Outline
Each chapter opens with an Outline that pro-
vides direction to the students about the top-
ics they can expect to learn throughout the
chapter.

Learning Objectives
checked the order and took my payment. Within those 2 minutes, they had served at least a
dozen other customers, too.
I thought about the number of options they had to deal with, the variety of hot and cold drinks,

Learning Objectives are featured at the begin-

the pastries and other breakfast items, while also keeping a supply of freshly brewed coffee
ready. I was sure that Starbucks had analyzed the process in detail to eliminate waste and

ning of each chapter. The objectives provide

enhance their partners’ productivity. Then, they had to train all their partners in that process so
they could work as one highly synchronized team. Finally, they delivered a hot cup of coffee to

students with an overview of the concepts they

a grateful customer on a cool San Francisco morning.

should understand after reading the chapter.

Chapter Outline
Changing Roles of Accountants in
Business
Business Process Documentation
Definitions
Purposes of Process Documentation
Value of Business Models
Types of Business Models
Activity Models
Business Process Modeling Notation
Building Blocks for BPMN Diagrams
Example of a Business Process Diagram
Identifying Participants in Business Process
Diagrams
Messages in BPMN
Extended Building Blocks for BPMN
Diagrams and Modeling Concepts
Subprocesses and Repeating Activities
Data Objects, Datastores, and
Associations
Best Practices in Preparing BPMN
Diagrams
Appendix A: Flowcharting
These Learning Objectives are repeated in the
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be
margin of the text where they apply.
able to:
2-1 Describe the roles of the accounting/
finance function in business and why
those roles require knowledge of
technology and business processes.
2-2 Understand the importance of
business process documentation.
2-3 Recognize the value of business
models.
2-4 Articulate the characteristics of
activity models.
2-5 Understand and apply the building
blocks for BPMN (activity) diagrams.
2-6 Use pools and lanes to identify
process participants.
2-7 Apply message flows to show
interactions between pools.
2-8 Understand and apply flow object
types.
2-9 Recognize and model repeating
activities.
2-10 Understand and apply data objects

“Well-written with great examples.

Appendix B: Data Flow Diagrams and datastores to model data
created, updated, transferred, and
deleted in a process.
Students should like reading this book.”
—Marcia Watson, Mississippi
31 State University

ric38877_ch02_030-059.indd 31 09/21/16 10:52 AM

xiii
 Final PDF to printer

206 Chapter 8 Integrated Project

Import the data in the SALES and SALES ITEMS worksheets into Access. During the
import, select order# as the primary key for the SALES table but no primary key for the
SALES ITEMS table. After the import, open the SALES ITEMS table in design view and
select both order# and inventory# as the primary key. Then, set the relationship between
SALES and SALES ITEMS as shown in Figure 8.10.

LO 8-5 Prepare Queries

Employ the relational
After importing all the data and setting the relationships to match the UML class diagram,
database to answer

Integrated Project
Projects can generate classroom discussion, foster
good teamwork, and prepare students for their
accounting careers. Chapter 8 provides guidance
to students on how to approach a systems project;
a variety of business
performance questions
FIGURE 8.10
Setting Relationship
between SALES
you are ready to prepare queries for the financial statements and any other operational perfor-
mance information. Each deliverable may require multiple queries. For example, to determine
sales revenue for the quarter, you would first extend the SALES ITEMS table information to
determine the amount for each item sold on each sale, as shown in Figure 8.11.
Then, using the query shown in Figure 8.11 and the SALES table, calculate the amount
of each sale within the fiscal period, in this case the first calendar quarter, as shown in
Figure 8.12. Set the criteria to constrain transactions to the first quarter. Sum the amount
field, calculated as shown in Figure 8.11. Then, the summed amount from this query can
be used to calculate overall sales revenue for the quarter in a subsequent query.

related material provides information and data for

and SALES ITEMS
Tables

the projects. There are now two different projects, © Microsoft Excel

so instructors can select the project level of dif-

ficulty to match the time available or the sophis-
tication of their students. Both integrated projects
require students to apply the different techniques FIGURE 8.11
Calculating
“I like comprehensive problems that extend across
they have learned in Chapters 5, 6, and 7 to a real- Amounts from the
SALES ITEMS
multiple chapters so students can see how different
istic situation. One project focuses on inventory Table

components of a problem fit together.”

© Microsoft Excel

management in a small business with multiple

retail stores and a central warehouse. The second —Janice Benson, University of Wyoming
project also involves a small wholesale distribution FIGURE 8.12
business with multiple stores but without inven- Summing Amounts
for Each SALE
Final PDF to printer
tory management complications. Students use © Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Access to implement their data models

and prepare financial reports in both projects.
220 Chapter 9 Data Analytics in Accounting

LO 9-7 DATA ANALYTICS TOOLS

Use Excel spreadsheet
Using Excel for Data Analytics
Data Analytics
tables for data
analytics This section provides an introduction to the use of Excel to perform data analytics. The
example employs freely available U.S. Census data,23 and it shows state and county popula-
tion and changes in population due to births and deaths over the period from 2010 to 2015.

Due to its importance and popularity, we have added This particular example uses only state population data as shown in Figure 9.2.09/21/16
Note that the
ric38877_ch08_198-207.indd 206 11:07 AM

data start in the first row of the worksheet, and any blank rows or blank columns are deleted.
an all-new chapter on data analytics (Chapter 9). Thus, the data extend from cell A1 to cell AD52 with variable names in the first row. The
region numbers indicate areas of the country, such as Northeast or South. The division num-
That chapter introduces the importance and impact bers represent further subdivisions of the regions, such as New England or South Atlantic.
We describe tab, section, and item selection as X > Y > Z, where X represents the Excel tab,
of data analytics in the business world and specifi- Y is the section of the ribbon bar, and Z is the specific icon on the ribbon bar.
The first step is to convert the raw data to a table in Excel. Click on any cell within the
cally on the accounting profession. Data analytics data. Select INSERT > Table > Table, as shown in Figure 9.3. A Create Table popup will
appear to specify where the data for the table are and whether the table has headers. If there
holds great value to these businesses, whether the are no blank rows or columns in the data, Excel will correctly identify the extent of the data
for the table. Check the box to specify that the table has headers, as shown in Figure 9.4.
data reveal certain patterns in their marketing or
advertising, provide insight into seasonal trends,
or offer anything else that could be relevant to the
businesses’ success. However, the value of data ana-
lytics is really only as valuable as the insight it pro-
vides. We highlight the importance of data analytics
in accounting, especially in auditing. The chapter
also introduces several data analytics techniques in
Excel and Tableau.

xiv

FIGURE 9.2

Progress Checks
These self-test questions and problems in the body
of the chapter enable the student to determine
whether he or she has understood the preceding
material and to reinforce that understanding before
reading further. Detailed solutions to these ques-
tions are found at the end of each chapter.
“I really like the Progress Check box. It is a
great tool for students’ self assessment.”
—Chih-Chen Lee, Northern Illinois University
Data Modeling and
Microsoft Access
Chapter 3 describes how data modeling supports
the design, implementation, and operation of
database systems. Basic modeling tools are used
throughout the rest of the text.
“This textbook would be good when using the
database approach. It provides the informa-
tion needed to develop and use a database
without getting into the details of transaction
processing (activities, documents, and internal
control).”
—Janice Benson, University of Wyoming
to make the change. In particular, business models create value in the following ways.
• Managing complexity. Models are simpler than the processes and systems they depict,
but they incorporate the essential elements.
• Eliciting requirements. Models offer a communications tool that can be used to inter-
view involved parties and discuss the impact of possible changes.
• Reconciling viewpoints. Models can combine various local views into one integrated
view. Some models can be used to simulate potential outcomes from a change to better
assess the impact of the change.
• Specifying requirements. Models can be the basis for documentation of the changed process
or system. Additionally, some models can be used to generate working software directly.
• Managing compliance. Models can be used to identify legal and regulatory require-
ments and how those requirements affect business processes. When new laws are
passed, the models quickly show where changes must be made to comply.
• Supporting training. Models can support training of employees on how to implement
new business processes.
• Managing and reusing knowledge. Models support knowledge management, the prac-
tice of systematically capturing individuals’ knowledge and making it available where
needed throughout the organization. Business models can convert tacit knowledge,
found only in people’s heads, to explicit knowledge that can be taught to others.
Progress Check 1. How would documentation help accountants perform some of the roles listed in
Table 2.1?
2. From your own experience, describe how models (or pictures or maps) have helped
you understand a complex issue.
LO 2-4
Articulate the
TYPES OF BUSINESS MODELS
This textbook will focus on three different elements of business process models. To be
characteristics of
activity models. complete, concise, and useful, business process models need to describe process activ-
ity, data structures, and the business rules that constrain and guide process operations
(see Figure 2.1). This chapter focuses on activity models, and Chapter 3 introduces data
models.
FIGURE 2.1 Business Process
Business Process Models
Models and Business
Rules
Activity Models Structure Models
Business Rules
ric38877_ch02_030-059.indd 35 09/21/16 10:52 AM
Rev. Confirming Pages
Chapter Three
Data Modeling
A look at this chapter
Today’s accountants must understand how business processes generate data and how those data
are structured, interrelated, and stored in a database system. To ensure that business processes and
the database systems are documented and to participate in improvements to processes and systems,
accountants must understand and be able to model such systems. This chapter describes data modeling.
It explains how data models support database-driven systems. It introduces basic data modeling tools to
guide the student’s development of modeling skills. Finally, it discusses business rules and how the iden-
tification of relevant business rules supports both process and data modeling.
A look back
Chapter 2 described the roles of accountants as users, managers, designers, and evaluators of technol-
ogy and technology-driven business processes. To perform in those roles, accountants need to ensure
that processes and systems are documented—and to participate in improvements to processes and sys-
tems. Thus, accountants must be business analysts. The chapter continued to introduce types of business
process models as well as the potential value of business process modeling.
A look ahead
In the next several chapters, we use business process and data models to examine sales, acquisition,
conversion, and related management processes.
Recently, Starbucks replaced a variety of systems with
Oracle’s application suite. According to Karen Metro, vice
president of global business system solutions for Starbucks,
“Many of our systems had grown up in silos and were loosely
connected, and we were having a hard time keeping them
upgraded or getting the functionality we needed out of those
systems. Accenture came in to help us review the state of
the environment and put together a global program to deploy
standardized business processes and systems around the
world.” About 200 people from both Accenture and Starbucks
worked full time for 3 years on the project. The software was
first implemented in Europe, then North America, and finally
© Purestock/SuperStock
China. Starbucks expects a variety of performance benefits,
60
ric38877_ch03_060-081.indd 60 09/21/16 10:54 AM
xv
 Connect Accounting for Accounting Information
Systems
The 2nd Edition of Accounting Information Systems has a full Connect package, with the
following features available for instructors and students.
• SmartBook® is the market-leading adaptive study resource that is proven to
strengthen memory recall, increase retention, and boost grades. SmartBook,
which is powered by LearnSmart, is the first and only adaptive reading experience
designed to change the way students read and learn. It creates a personalized
reading experience by highlighting the most impactful concepts a student needs to
learn at that moment in time. As a student engages with SmartBook, the reading
experience continuously adapts by highlighting content based on what the student
has mastered or is ready to learn. This ensures that the focus is on the content he or
she needs to learn, while simultaneously promoting long-term retention of material.
Both students and instructors can use SmartBook’s real-time reports to quickly
identify the concepts that require more attention from individual students—or the
entire class. The end result? Students are more engaged with course content, can
better prioritize their time, and come to class ready to participate.
• Online Assignments. New to Connect for Accounting Information Systems, 2nd
Edition, is the addition of all End-of-Chapter Multiple Choice questions as assignable.
Additionally, applicable End-of-Chapter Problems from each chapter have been added
to Connect in an auto-gradable format. Connect helps students learn more efficiently
by providing feedback and practice material when and where they need it. Connect
grades homework automatically, and students benefit from the immediate feedback
that they receive, particularly on any questions they may have missed.

Example of End-of-Chapter Problem

xvi
 • Comprehensive Exercises and Integrated Project. The setup information for
the Comprehensive Exercises for Chapters 5 and 6 and the Integrated Project in
Chapter 8 have been added to Connect, along with the ability for students to upload
their submission files for their instructors to grade. Narrated videos explaining the
background, setup, and goals of the Exercises and Project have also been provided.
• Multiple Choice Quizzes. The Multiple Choice Quizzes from the Online Learning
Center have been revised and can now be assigned to students through Connect for
grading.
• Test Bank. The Test Bank for each chapter has been updated and significantly
expanded for the 2nd Edition to stay current with new and revised chapter material,
with all questions available for assignment through Connect. Instructors can also
create tests and quizzes from the Test Bank through our TestGen software.
• The Instructor and Student Resources have been updated for the 2nd edition
and are available in the Connect Instructor Resources page. Available resources
include Instructor Resource and Solutions Manuals, Comprehensive Exercise
and Integrated Project setup and solutions files, PowerPoint presentations, Test
Bank files, and other ancillary materials. All applicable Student Resources will be
available in a convenient file that can be distributed to students for classes either
directly, through Connect, or via courseware.

Example of Test Bank Question in Connect

xvii
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Acknowledgments
Throughout the development of this book, we were privileged to have the candid and valu-
able advice of our contributors, reviewers, and survey and focus group participants. These
reviewers instructors provided us with priceless suggestions, feedback, and constructive
criticism. The depth and sincerity of their reviews indicate that they are a devoted group of
teacher-scholars. The content of the book over various versions and editions was greatly
enhanced because of their efforts.
T. S. Amer Terry Glandon
Northern Arizona University University of Texas, El Paso
Victoria Badura Severin Grabski
Chadron State College Michigan State University
James Bay Gerry Grant
University of Utah California State University, Fullerton
Tanya Benford Rebekah Heath
Florida Gulf Coast University St. Ambrose University
Janice Benson William Heninger
University of Wyoming Brigham Young University
Jennifer Blaskovich Kenneth Henry
University of Nebraska, Omaha Florida International University
A. Faye Borthick Sarah Hill
Georgia State University Northcentral Technical College
Kristine Brands Rani Hoitash
Regis University Bentley University
Linda Bressler Diane Janvrin
University of Houston Iowa State University
Kimberly Brickler-Ulrich Nancy Jones
Lindenwood University California State University, Chico
Sandra Cereola Grover Kearns
James Madison University University of South Florida, St.
Siew Chan Petersburg
Nova Southeastern University Kevin Kobelsky
Shifei Chung University of Michigan–Dearborn
Rowan University Joseph Komar
Kim Church University of St. Thomas
Oklahoma State University Don Kovacic
Ronald Clark California State University, San
Auburn University Marcos
Curtis Clements Brenda Lauer
Abilene Christian University Davenport University
Donna Free Mark Lawrence
Oakland University University of North Alabama
Graham Gal Yvette Lazdowski
University of Massachusetts, Amherst Plymouth State University
Andy Garcia Maria Leach
Bowling Green State University Auburn University
David Gelb Chih-Chen Lee
Seton Hall University Northern Illinois University
Jan Gillespie Picheng Lee
University of Texas Pace University
xx
 Acknowledgments   xxi

Adena LeJeune Juan Manuel Sanchez

Louisiana College Texas Tech University
Chan Li Paul San Miguel
University of Pittsburg Western Michigan University
Tina Loraas Arline Savage
Auburn University Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Lois Mahoney Lloyd Seaton
Eastern Michigan University University of Northern Colorado
James Mensching Dmitriy Shaltayev
California State University, Chico Christopher Newport University
Mike Metzcar Lewis Shaw
Indiana Wesleyan University Suffolk University
Bonnie Morris Robert Slater
West Virginia University University of North Florida
Johnna Murray Kathleen Sobieralski
University of Missouri, St. Louis University of Maryland
Bruce Neumann Eileen Taylor
University of Colorado, Denver North Carolina State University
Oluwakemi Onwuchekwa Ryan Teeter
University of Central Florida University of Pittsburgh
Debra Petrizzo Barbara Uliss
Franklin University Metropolitan State University of Denver
Theresa Phinney Linda Wallace
Texas A&M University Virginia Tech
Ronald Premuroso Marcia Watson
University of Montana Mississippi State University
Helen Pruitt Mitchell Wenger
University of Maryland The University of Mississippi
Jeffrey Pullen Veronda Willis
University of Maryland The University of Texas at Tyler
Austin Reitenga Darryl Woolley
University of Alabama University of Idaho
Mohd Rujob Al Chen Yuang-Sung
Eastern Connecticut State University North Carolina State University

Dedications
To Joe and Mossi White, for being wonderful
second parents.
—Vern Richardson
To my students and my family who have inspired
and supported me.
—Janie Chang
To my wife, Gayla.
—Rod Smith
Brief Contents
Preface vii 12. Information Security and Computer
Fraud 300
1. Accounting Information Systems and
Firm Value 2 13. Monitoring and Auditing AIS 324

2. Accountants as Business Analysts 30 14. The Balanced Scorecard and Business

Value of Information Technology 344
3. Data Modeling 60
15. Evaluating AIS Investments 364
4. Relational Databases and Enterprise
Systems 82 16. The Systems Development Life Cycle
and Project Management: Addressing
5. Sales and Collections Business the Challenges of Building AIS
Process 118 Systems 384
6. Purchases and Payments Business
Process­  150 GLOSSARY OF MODELS 406
7. Conversion Business Process 176 GLOSSARY 420
8. Integrated Project 198
INDEX 429
9. Data Analytics in Accounting 208
10. Reporting Processes and eXtensible
Business Reporting Language
(XBRL) 248
11. Accounting Information Systems and
Internal Controls 270

xxii
Contents
Chapter 1
Accounting Information Systems and Firm
Value 2
Introduction 4
Accountants as Business Analysts 4
Definition of Accounting Information Systems 4
A Simple Information System 5
Attributes of Useful Information 5
Data versus Information 6
Discretionary versus Mandatory Information 7
Role of Accountants in Accounting Information
Systems 8
Specific Accounting Roles 8
Certifications in Accounting Information Systems 9
The Value Chain and Accounting Information
Systems 10
AIS and Internal Business Processes 13
AIS and External Business Processes 14
The Supply Chain 14
Customer Relationship Management 16
AIS, Firm Profitability, and Stock Prices 17
AIS and Firm Profitability 17
AIS and Stock Prices 18
Summary 19
Key Words 20
Answers to Progress Checks 21
Multiple Choice Questions 23
Discussion Questions 25
Problems 25
Chapter 2
Accountants as Business Analysts 30
Changing Roles of Accountants in Business 32
Business Process Documentation 33
Definitions 33
Purposes of Documentation 33
Value of Business Models 34
Types of Business Models 35
Activity Models 36
Business Process Modeling Notation 36
Basic Building Blocks for BPMN Diagrams 36
Example of a Business Process Diagram 37
Identifying Participants in Business Process
Diagrams 38
Messages in BPMN 39
Extended Building Blocks for BPMN Diagrams and
Modeling Concepts 40
Subprocesses and Repeating Activities 44
Data Objects, Datastores, and Associations 45
Best Practices in Preparing BPMN Diagrams 46
Summary 46
Key Words 47
Appendix A: Flowcharting 47
Appendix B: Data Flow Diagrams 52
Answers to Progress Checks 54
Multiple Choice Questions 54
Discussion Questions 57
Problems 58
Chapter 3
Data Modeling 60
Structure Models 62
Unified Modeling Language Class Diagrams 62
Building Blocks for UML Class Diagrams 62
Best Practices in Preparing Class Diagrams 66
UML Class Models for Relational Database
Design 66
Decision Requirements and Business Rules 69
Business Rules and Decision Tables 70
Summary 71
Key Words 72
Appendix A: Entity-Relationship Diagrams 73
Answers to Progress Checks 75
Multiple Choice Questions 76
Discussion Questions 80
Problems 80
Chapter 4
Relational Databases and Enterprise
Systems 82
Introduction 84
Definitions for Databases 84
Fundamentals of Relational Databases 85
Entities and Attributes 85
Keys and Relationships 85
Basic Requirements of Tables 87
Using Microsoft Access to Implement a Relational
Database 87
Introduction to Microsoft Access 87
Steve’s Stylin’ Sunglasses 88
A Data Model and Attributes for Steve’s Stylin’
Sunglasses’ Sales Process 88
Multiplicities in Steve’s Stylin’ Sunglasses’ Data
Model 89
Using Access to Implement a Simple Database for
Steve’s Stylin’ Sunglasses 91
xxiii
xxiv   Contents
Structured Query Language (SQL) 96
Enterprise Systems 102
Challenges of Enterprise System
Implementation 103
Enterprise Systems Computing in the Cloud 104
Summary 105
Key Words 105
Answers to Progress Checks 106
Appendix A: Creating a Form for Data Entry
and Display 107
Multiple Choice Questions 112
Discussion Questions 114
Problems 114
Chapter 5
Sales and Collections Business Process 118
Sales and Collection Process 120
Sunset Graphics Example 120
Company Overview 120
Sunset Graphics’ Sales and Collection Process
Description 121
Sunset Graphics’ Activity Models 121
Basic Sales Activity Model 121
Refining the Model to Show Collaboration 121
Refining the Model to Consider Exceptions 122
Business Rules and Sunset Graphics’ Sales and
Collection Process Controls 124
Sunset Graphics’ Structure Models 126
UML Class Model for Quotes 126
UML Class Model for Adding Orders 126
UML Class Model for Adding Cash Receipts 127
UML Class Model for Adding Categorical
Information 128
UML Class Model for Supporting Relational
Database Planning 128
Sunset Graphics’ Relational Database 131
Relational Database Planning for Attributes 131
Create Database and Define Tables 132
Set Relationships 133
Comprehensive Exercise: Baer Belly Bikinis’ Sales
to Retailers 134
Summary 137
Key Words 137
Appendix A: Generic REA Model with
Multiplicities for the Sales and Collection
Process 138
Answers to Progress Checks 140
Multiple Choice Questions 140
Discussion Questions 145
Problems 146
Chapter 6
Purchases and Payments Business
Process 150
Purchases and Payments Process 152
Sunset Graphics Example 152
Company Overview 152
Sunset Graphics’ Purchases and Payments Process
Description 152
Sunset Graphics’ Activity Models 153
Basic Purchases Activity Model 153
Refining the Model to Show Collaboration 153
Business Rules and Sunset Graphics’ Purchases
and Payments Process Controls 155
Sunset Graphics’ Structure Models 156
Basic UML Class Diagram for Purchases and
Payments 157
Refining the UML Class Diagram for Purchases and
Payments 158
Sunset Graphics’ Relational Database 159
Relational Database Planning for Attributes 159
Creating the Database and Defining the Tables 160
Comprehensive Exercise: Baer Belly Bikinis’
Purchases of Fabric 161
Summary 163
Key Words 163
Appendix A: Generic REA Model with
Multiplicities for the Purchases and Payments
Process 165
Answers to Progress Checks 166
Multiple Choice Questions 166
Discussion Questions 171
Problems 172
Chapter 7
Conversion Business Process 176
Conversion Process 178
Sunset Graphics Example 178
Company Overview 178
Sunset Graphics’ Conversion Process
Description 178
Sunset Graphics’ Activity Models 180
Basic Conversion Activity Model 180
Refining the Model 180
Business Rules and Sunset Graphics’ Conversion
Process Controls 182
Sunset Graphics’ Structure Models 183
Basic UML Class Diagram for Conversion 183
Refining the UML Class Diagram for Sunset’s
Conversion Process 184
Another random document with
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But, James Garston was on his knees before her now.
“Our child—Margaret! It can all be made right, now. Trust to me. Let
me take you openly to my heart. Be my wife once more. Be a world’s
queen. I will make you happy.”
Bold as he was, he shuddered, as she sprang to her feet. “You
hound!” she bitterly cried, and then slowly turned, and walked
unsteadily to the door. He had found a way to wring her heart at last,
but her courage had returned. The wrongs of her youth burned in her
bosom again.
“Hear me. You must! You shall!” he pleaded, seizing her in his strong
arms. “I knew not even the horn book of my own nature when we
married as young fools marry.” She had torn herself away from him,
and stood at bay with an unutterable loathing hardening upon her
face. “I am rich, now, a Senator to be, and the friend of your friends.
“You dare not openly defy me. For, I can publicly claim you as mine. I
demand to see our child. I offer you myself—the matured man—a
leader of men. I offer you a secured, honored place in Washington
life. And, you need me, for I can throw down your house of cards.
When Alynton told me of the wonder-worker, the Queen of the
Street, the Lady of Lakemere, I was merely interested. But, when I
saw you, last night, my heart leaped up. For mine you were, mine
you are—mine you shall be.”
The strong man counted upon the physical subjection of the woman
once reduced to be his loving vassal—the girl wife who had lain in
his arms.
And, master of her destiny once, he would now bend her to his will
again.
His eyes were burning, his breath came quickly, and he awaited the
physical revulsion of a weakened womanhood.
“There is always the tie that binds—the child—and, she belongs by
Nature’s bond to me.”
But, the man who coarsely counted upon “a previous condition of
servitude” as establishing a valid claim upon the Lady of Lakemere,
shivered under the cold scorn of her words, for the wife of his youth
seated herself, and, gazing into his eyes with an unutterable
contempt, read the death warrant of his hopes.
“Let me cast up our accounts, here, now, in my home, Arnold
Cranstoun, on this winter day, in a solitude on which you shall never
intrude again save when I call upon you.
“The dead past is buried. Let it rest. Dare not to cry Resurgam! I
dismiss all your sneers as to Alynton, and, I fear not your circle. You
are as yet, but a clumsy neophyte there.
“Know, once for all, that your friends are in my power, but they trust
to me, and, I am more than worthy of their confidence.
“For another circle of men of boundless power also trust me—men
who would not trust them, save through me, and, men who would
resistlessly crush you at my bidding.
“I speak now for the woman who is dead.
“Margaret Cranstoun, the woman heart slain by your cowardice, the
loving and tender girl-wife. Look back nineteen long years to see
yourself the trusted bank-cashier, a rising man of thirty-two.
“I was then your slave, your loving slave, a wearer of self-forced
heart shackles. I, the girl of seventeen, believed you to be my lover
husband—a man among men.”
Senator James Garston’s head was bowed in his hands, as the
accusing voice rang out. He heard the knell of his last hopes.
“A year later, when you basely fled, leaving me, the mother of your
two months’ old helpless girl to face the employers whom you had
robbed in your hidden speculations, then, only then, I learned of your
double life in New York. I knew that I was the innocent hostage of
purity and honor. The screen of your dearest vices.”
Garston groaned as the voice rose high in its scorn and Elaine
Willoughby stood before him, with outstretched arm, an angel with a
flaming sword, at the shut gates of his Lost Paradise.
“Where you fled to I knew not—I cared not, for, with young blood and
a loving heart, I might even have shared the fate of a bold sinner.
“But a sneaking coward must learn that woman’s heart condones not
poltrooning nor meanness!
“You would now hold the dead past over my head—trumpet to the
world your own story!” she cried. “I can easily confirm it. I have kept
all your letters—the story of your crime, the papers and vouchers
which were found in your New York room.
“Your letters of egoistic love, your later whining apologies from your
unknown Western haunt. And armed with these, I could chase
James Garston from the Senate.”
The suffering man sprang up. “Not so. I have a right to my name. I
legally changed it years ago. The bank is long years out of
existence; there is also the limitation of the past years. No one would
believe you.”
His voice was broken with helpless tears now.
“Look at me! look at me!” the splendid woman proudly cried. “Dare
any man say that my life has been a lie? Hear my story.
“Starvation, cold charity or the ignominy of helpless dependence was
all you left me. I put our babe away. I went out a toiler into the world.
As a school teacher I drifted away to the far West, and only changed
my name. I left our home to avoid the honest love of good men who
would have married me for pity’s sake. For men were good to the
shamed widowed Margaret Cranstoun.
“My clean hands were still linked by law to the unpunished fugitive
felon. I am free now, and I know that you never would dare to speak.
I know your coward soul. A judicial decree that you are dead can be
easily had; your eighteen years of absence makes that my legal
right. Widow of the heart, I will be a widow by law. But your coward
silence will continue.
“Where did I gain wealth? I see the question in your eyes. I became
a school teacher at Leadville. A few acres of ground and a cottage
were the first fruits of my savings.
“The kindly mountain gnomes worked for me, with fairy friendship.
“There was a million in carbonates under those rocky slopes where I
tempted the hardy flower to grow.
“Young yet—beautiful then—I became the ardent chase of men in
marriage. My gold gilded my lonely life. Many wished to share it.
“I was made sadly wise, and I reaped my harvest of sorrows. Five
years in Europe made me a woman of the world—an accomplished
world wanderer. I have learned in these lonely years the delicious
power of wealth.
“I followed your secret example. I legally changed my name to Elaine
Willoughby. And my honest title is clearer than yours.
“I have an able lawyer to defend my rights, in whom you would find
an implacable foe.”
She paused and spoke the final doom of his hopes.
“Had you come to me, red-handed, but loving, I might have forgiven
you, followed you—loved you even in your crime—and suffered all to
shield the one beloved head. I did love you once with my whole
soul.”
There was the sound of choking sobs, and in an instant, Garston
was on his knees before her. The silence was broken by her faltering
accents.
“But now, freed by Nature’s reincarnation, loyal even yet to a dead
past, I exult in the unchallenged ownership of my mind, body and
soul. You would take to your bosom the woman you still find fair, rich,
powerful and respected. Never! Nature revolts!
“For the starving outcast of the streets who sells herself for bread to
the first chance comer were white as snow compared to the woman
who would again sink to your level.
“Arnold Cranstoun, any man in the world but you may look on me
with longing eyes.
“Between us there is the gulf of your eternal shame! Now, leave me.
I fear you not! Let all else go on as fate ordains.
“Your silence will be assured, for fear will seal your lips. Let there be
neither approach nor avoidance—simply the oblivion of the absolute
divorce of all laws, God’s, Nature’s, and man’s.
“Go now! If you ever seek to cross my path, beware! You may haunt
the peopled solitudes around me and meet me as a chance
acquaintance.
“Your ‘society drill’ will hold you in your place in the poor parade of
this superficial life.”
She dropped her eyes, and her impassioned voice echoed sadly on
his ears. He was defeated, and an agony rent his heart.
“Let me do something for you, Margaret,” he pleaded.
“I am above your power to aid,” the proud woman replied.
“Let me atone,” he begged.
“Dead beyond awakening is my heart, and you know it. Do not now
add a hideous insult to Nature to your cowardly abandonment of the
past.”
The dull, level coldness of her voice proved to him that she bore a
frozen heart, one never to awaken at his touch. He cast himself
down before her in a last appeal.
And then, on his knees before the woman whom he had sworn to
cherish “till death do us part,” the strong man pleaded for the child
whom fate had robbed from the clinging arms of its mother. Margaret
Cranstoun sobbed:
“The child! Oh, my God! Never! Name not her name. Me, your victim
or your sacrifice. Her name shall never cross your lips. Wherever
God’s mercy takes that innocent one, she shall live and die
fatherless—save for Him above. I swear it, on the memory of a
mother’s natal anguish. And now, Senator James Garston,—”
The stately woman stood before him with the menace of a life in her
eyes.
“This is the end of all! Go! You are safe from my vengeance now. I
care not how you have dragged yourself up on Fortune’s wheel.
“Go! And if you ever break the sorrow-shaded stillness of my life,
then, may God help you. For I will strike you down for the sake of
that same fatherless child.”
A black storm of suddenly aroused jealousy swept over Garston’s
face.
“Your handsome lover Vreeland shall be my prey, my tool, my
confidant. I will creep into your heart through your own pleasant vice.
And, by God! He shall find out the girl for me.”
When James Garston’s passion-blinded eyes cleared, he was
standing there alone, and a sudden fear smote upon him.
The ghastly silence of the splendid deserted halls weighed upon him.
He staggered out into the blinding snows, now falling, and crossed
the park to where a sleigh waited at the garden gate.
He was half mad, as he wandered away under the trees, and he
hurled away his revolver lest he should be tempted to die there
before her windows.
“I have lost a woman upon whose breast a king’s head might proudly
rest,” he said to that ghost of his dead self which rose up to mock the
man of mark, the millionaire. “And—she loved me once. Fool—fool—
and—blind fool!” he muttered.
A mad resolve thrilled him now.
“The child! By God! she would hide her. The world is not wide
enough. There’s my money—and this young fellow Vreeland. I have
a lure for him.”
His busy brain thrilled with plots of the one revenge left to him. “I will
steal away both child and lover!” he swore.
Senator Garston’s face was sternly composed that night as he
indited his invitation to the rising young banker to join him at the
Plaza.
“Katie Norreys can soon twist him around her slim, white fingers—he
is young and rash,” the cold-hearted millionaire mused. “I am safe in
Margaret’s silence. My money will talk. My record is safe. I have
made my calling and election sure. I’ll get Vreeland into the fair
Katie’s hands.
“A little money will help. He shall be turned away from Margaret.
Once that I have the girl, then Margaret will surely soften—for that
child’s sake. By God! I’ll buy the girl’s heart! I have money enough,
and I’ll outbid even Mrs. Elaine Willoughby.”
The Senator-elect felt a new glow in his heart, the ardor of a wolf-like
chase, an untiring chase, for love, passion, and vengeance carried
him on.
“I’ll live to laugh at her heroics yet,” he cried, “for I will bring her into
camp. I am not accustomed to fail.” He was resolute now.
The lights were gleaming golden in the Circassia when a pale-faced
woman crept back to the splendors of the pearl boudoir.
No one had marked Senator James Garston’s visit to Lakemere, and
the two caretakers—man and wife—marveled at their mistress’
agitation when she bade them escort her back to New York City. The
gardener summoned to watch over the lonely mansion grumbled: “I
never saw her look like that.” For the brave woman was now “paying
the price.” It was the reflex swing of the pendulum of Life.
Could the three humble servitors have heard the accusing cry of
Elaine Willoughby’s heart they would have known the anguish of a
stricken woman’s arraignment of Providence.
“And he—oh, my God! He prospers, while my child is taken from me!
Is this the price of my mother’s love, my empty heart, my vacant
home, my death in life!”
It seemed as if God had spared the wrongdoer to smite her quivering
mother heart.
Dr. Hugo Alberg and the stolid-faced Martha Wilmot were busily
whispering in a corner of Mrs. Willoughby’s sick room that night long
after midnight had sounded on the frosty air.
For, relaxed and broken by the enforced bravery of her struggle with
the father of her lost child, the Lady of Lakemere had crept, bruised
and wounded in soul, back to die or live, she cared not, in the
peopled wilderness of the two million souls who envied her the lonely
luxuries of her life.
“She has had one dose,” whispered Alberg. “She is dead safe to
sleep till three o’clock. Give her this chloral carefully then. Get your
work done as soon as you can, and at eight o’clock your expected
telegram will call you away. The French woman will watch till the new
nurse comes. You have seen young Vreeland?”
The Doctor’s eyes glowed like live coals.
“Yes,” she whispered. “It’s all right,” and her fingers tightly closed on
the vial. “I am to meet him at the ferry. The boat sails at eleven. It will
be all right.”
Dr. Alberg passed out of the sick-room, and Justine Duprez followed
him down the stair.
“You have left all where she can do the work?” whispered the miserly
German, who already had the price of his treason in his pocket.
“Yes,” murmured Justine. “I’ll tell you all when we meet down there.”
The hoodwinked physician went out into the night, whispering: “I’ll be
here at seven, on the watch.”
It was but half an hour later that a man seated in August Helms’
darkened basement room opened his arms as Justine Duprez glided
in.
“She is sleeping like a log,” murmured the maid. “Here is what you
want. The nurse will do her part later, and be sure that she clears out
at once. I’ll keep the Doctor with me here till noon. She will get her
‘sudden telegram;’ he will be here on duty; while he is busied with
the new nurse Martha will go and rob the Doctor’s office and rooms,
and be soon on the sea. Then we are all covered.”
The schemer’s eyes gleamed as he pocketed the paper which made
his patroness an involuntary traitor to her dangerous trust. Vreeland
breathed in a happy triumph.
“You must not leave your rooms to-morrow. Keep in sight of the Kelly
girl,” warned the Frenchwoman. “Now I will steal away.”
There were words murmured which bound the two wretches to each
other, and they laughed as they pointed to the janitor’s new
telegraphic instrument and telephone.
“A great convenience to the patrons of the Circassia,” laughed
Vreeland. He alone knew how deftly the crafty August Helms had
seized upon Mrs. Willoughby’s absence of the day to effect the
joining of the skilfully hidden wires tapping the lines which led to the
Hanover Bank building and joined Judge Endicott’s private office to
Mrs. Willoughby’s pearl boudoir.
“When I have the extra instrument in my own room,” he exulted,
“then if Miss Romaine Garland is not approachable I will soon find
another more malleable.
“But the secret firm of Endicott & Willoughby will talk into my ear
when they think that the whole world is theirs. It’s a royal plan,” he
mused.
Justine’s gliding step had died away when Harold Vreeland crept out
like a guilty thief.
“Where shall I hide this original,” he muttered, as he disappeared in
the darkness. “I must find a place in my rooms. I cannot carry it
about me.”
When he had regained the Elmleaf he dared hardly breathe as he
carefully examined the original document which tied up the fate of
the Sugar Syndicate with that of men whose very names he feared
to utter.
“She is in my power at last. Her ruin is in my hands.
“And now to bring her into my arms to be my fond tool and willing
slave.”
There was no “stock plunging” for two long weeks, as the illness of
Mrs. Willoughby dragged on, and Martha Wilmot was well across the
seas before the police of New York City had ceased to blunder
around after the ungrateful nurse who had seemingly robbed her
benefactor’s office and then decamped.
Mr. Harold Vreeland was astounded at the golden sunshine of
Senator James Garston’s favors which followed on that luncheon at
the Plaza Hotel which had made him a sworn knight in the rosy
chains of Miss Katharine VanDyke Norreys.
There was little to do, for the market was quiescent.
Miss Mary Kelly’s desk, too, was vacant, for she lay at home ill with a
fever, and it was at the side of the girl’s sick-bed that Mrs. Elaine
Willoughby, still feeble and shaken in soul, suddenly seized a
photograph from the mantel. “Whose picture is this?” she cried, her
voice trembling in the throes of an emotion which swept her loving
soul with wonderment and a new hope.
 BOOK III—On a Lee Shore.

CHAPTER XI.

MISS MARBLE’S WATERLOO!—A LOST LAMB!—HER VACANT CHAIR.—

SENATOR GARSTON’S DISCLOSURE.—SARA CONYERS’ MISSION.—MISS
GARLAND’S DISHONORABLE DISCHARGE.—A DEFIANCE TO THE
DEATH.—“ROBBED!”

In the two weeks after the successful affixing of those snake-like

coils of wire which led the private messages of Mme. Elaine
Willoughby into janitor Helms’ guarded private apartment, Mr. Harold
Vreeland had effected a thorough understanding with that worthy.
The trapping devices worked to a charm. All was now ready for a
final betrayal.
Secure in his autocratic rule, August Helms buried his shock head in
the beer seidl and tyrannized with a good-humored roughness over
the cringing tradesmen visiting the Circassia, and, a greedy gossip,
he made his “coign of vantage” a warm nook for letter-carrier and
policeman and the high class “upper servants” of the families who
lived above him, in a royal Americanized luxury in that great social
fortress, the Circassia. Helms was a modern tyrant.
His round, gray-blue eye twinkled as Justine Duprez would slyly slip
in and read off the printed tape of the Wheatstone instrument, a
duplicate sender and receiver of the same pattern being neatly
encased in a pretty cabinet in the pearl boudoir above. And
Mrs. Willoughby doubted, feared, suspected—nothing.
But all in vain did Helms record the telephoned messages which
were trapped on the instrument which was his especial care. There
was nothing to record of moment. A lull seemed to hover over every
speculative interest of the convalescent woman.
The stillness of death now marked Mr. Harold Vreeland’s “business
department” at the Elmleaf. The illness of Mary Kelly had cut off all
special communication with Mrs. Willoughby at the Circassia, and he
had been forced to give Miss Romaine Garland a furlough “under full
pay” until Mrs. Willoughby’s trusted operator could resume her desk.
The young girl shunned any tête-à-tête labors. It was in virtue of a
warning from the acute Joanna Marble that Vreeland gravely bade
his mysterious beauty rest herself and “await further orders.”
“She is of the finer clay,” warningly remarked Miss Joanna. “One toss
of that proud head and she would be off like a startled fawn. You
must trust to a woman—only a woman—to lead a woman on.
Beware of rashness. You would lose her.”
There was an innocuous desuetude now clinging to all Vreeland’s
crippled plans.
For, soberly attentive in his duty calls, he had left daily cards at the
Circassia, supplemented with flowers whose dreaming beauty might
have touched a heart less wrung than Elaine’s.
Admitted but once to her presence, he marveled at the serious
change in her appearance.
After receiving her orders, he now knew that he was free for a month
to follow on his social pleasures and to watch, down in Wall Street,
the executive matters of the firm and note the gradual liquidation,
dollar for dollar, of all proved claims against the defunct firm of
Hathorn & Wolfe.
He recognized the cool-headed sifting of Mr. James Potter’s lawyers,
under the mandates of that young Crœsus in Paris.
“A fair, square settlement, dollar for dollar,” was Potter’s openly
avowed business plan.
The last flurries of the sudden Sugar speculations had all died away,
and Vreeland at last believed Mrs. Willoughby’s description of the
market.
“There is nothing in sight. I shall let all speculation alone until
Dr. Alberg pronounces me able to stand business excitement. Your
time is your own till I call you back to your post and send Miss Kelly
down to her work again. She will act as my private secretary until I
am thoroughly well.”
And Vreeland, now fearful that he might be as suddenly dropped as
Frederick Hathorn had been, forbore to press on the confidence of
the woman whose thinned cheeks and hollow eyes told of some
internal fires eating away her vitality. He was unable to extract any
information of value from Dr. Hugo Alberg. And the thieving nurse
was now safe over the sea—the robbery of the envelope still
undiscovered.
The German medical worthy was really puzzled. In the secrecy of
Vreeland’s rooms he confided that though all the depression of the
skillfully administered overdoses of chloral had worn away, his
patient was wearing herself to the verge of a collapse.
“Mental trouble! mental trouble!” he growled. “Neither Justine nor my
new nurse (whom I dare not fully trust) can gain the slightest clew to
her sorrows. The Madame has grown cat-like, too, in her secretive
ways. There is old Endicott always hovering around, and that
newspaper fellow, Hugh Conyers; and, besides, his raw-boned artist
sister, Miss Sara, is closeted with her nearly every evening. What
they are all up to is a devil’s wonder.
“Are they plucking her of her gold? There is such a thing as social
blackmail. Any lonely woman of fortune usually has a ring of hungry
sycophants around her.”
The German groaned helplessly. He wanted that same gold, and
wanted it badly.
“And you, of course, think that you should be the king-pin of the
whole machine,” sneered Vreeland. The half-angered German
snorted a warning.
“Look out for yourself,” growled Alberg. “She does not let the French
maid go out of her sight now, and her new nurse has not dared to
leave. Remember, I will hold you responsible about the stolen
envelope. I have covered up my own tracks.”
And then he proudly exhibited the newspaper clipping headed, “An
Ungrateful Protégé,” which described the heartless pillaging of
Dr. Alberg’s office and rooms by “Miss Martha Wilmot,” who had
“decamped for parts unknown.” The police detective opinions and
the portentous interviews were all set out in extenso.
“When Milady finds that she was been robbed, too, then look out for
squalls,” was the parting admonition of the Doctor. It brought grave
shadows to Vreeland’s face.
Harold Vreeland was startled when his dupe left him. For it now
flashed over him that his evening cartes de visite had lately only
elicited the same stereotyped answer: “Mrs. Willoughby is too unwell
to see anyone.”
He had, however, “improved the shining hours” by a flank movement
to the Hotel Savoy, where he had drifted far, very far, into the good
graces of that sparkling heiress, Miss Katharine Norreys. And his
daily welcome grew warmer with each visit. He was getting on
famously.
Senator James Garston’s absence “on Washington visits,” with the
usual trips of a busy money magnate from fever center to fever
center of the golden whirlpool, had left the young man to “exploit” the
many graces of the tall, willowy blonde. He had often mused over the
possibility of an advantageous alliance. “Here is a woman, young,
rich, and with a powerful Senatorial backing. I might even be able to
get inside the ring. For now I hold the secret of a combination which
no one dares avow. It would be my ruin, however, to use it until the
time comes to rule or crush Mrs. Willoughby. She must be my
‘golden goose’—she alone—and, I must not kill her too soon.”
A long introspection proved to him that his old “waiting game” was
the only safe plan.
“If Garston makes up to me, I can meet him half way. Perhaps he
might exchange the secret of my sly patroness’ early life for the
golden key to the Sugar situation. Together we could surely control
her. And acting alone, I might easily be crushed between this
secretly warring couple.
“But, when their dual secret is mine, then I can always act against
my weakest foe. They will never dare get rid of me then,” he craftily
premised, for he saw gold ahead—solid, easily earned gold. And the
busy devil in his cold heart laughed and made merry.
But one circumstance now disquieted him as to the resplendent Miss
Katharine VanDyke Norreys—the absence of a respectable, social
womanly background.
There was no doubt as to the tangible luxury of her daily life, and the
deep respect shown by the Hotel Savoy management spoke of that
regular payment of bills which endears “the guest” to the Boniface.
“A certain number of women friends are a sine qua non, however, to
a ‘professed beauty,’” mused Vreeland.
“Their absence is as remarkable as a bedizened general riding out
all alone into the enemy’s land with no following. I presume that
‘prominent Westerners’ will in due time furnish her with a golden
woman bodyguard. Garston being a widower, too, is another
awkward thing.”
In the whole embarrassing situation, all that Vreeland could do to
move on his plans was to make a stolen visit to the rooms of the
janitor of the Circassia.
There Justine Duprez, in a few moments of stolen time, breathlessly
told him of the nightly conferences. “I think that she is soon going
abroad. They have maps and papers out every evening. So far she
has not examined her hidden paper. When she does, there will be a
wild storm.
“And then only at my room in South Fifth Avenue dare we meet. We
must be watchful. For the little green-eyed typewriter, Mary Kelly,
spies on me, and I find her blue-coated friend, too, that big
policeman, Daly the Roundsman, following me around. Look out for
yourself. You and I must stand or fall together. She may give us both
the slip. If she went over to Paris, and took me with her, you dare not
follow her; but I could write to you always, and give you a safe
address to write to me.”
Vreeland was vaguely disturbed at heart.
“Can we trust to August Helms?” muttered Vreeland, with a sudden
shiver of underlying cowardice.
“Yes,” grimly said Justine, “as long as you pay him, and, besides, he
faces state’s prison in—you know—his own part of the business. We
must stand together firmly, and you lead us on.”
As Vreeland regained his deserted rooms in the Elmleaf he strangely
recalled the last bitter denunciation of the Lady of the Red Rose: “I
leave it to the future to punish you.”
But on his table, two letters awaited him which brought a glow of
secret delight to his heart.
A note from Senator James Garston bidding him name a day for a
tête-à-tête dinner at the Plaza closed with these words of hope:
“I wish to enlist you in some matters of moment which may turn out
to our mutual advantage. You are just the kind of a man that I feel I
can work with. Please telegraph the date to me at the Arlington
Hotel, Washington, and I will meet you—the sooner the better.
“It is unnecessary to say that this is a matter leading to a strictly
confidential business association, and so, not a word of my coming,
even to Miss Norreys.
“I wish to see you alone, and if you will act with me we shall both
soon be busy.
“Just the leading card to draw him into my hands. If he will only
unbosom himself ever so little, then I can soon tie Mrs. Willoughby
down, for this is the man she fears. Else why that stolen interview at
Lakemere? And from all knowledge of that, even Justine was
excluded. Let him but come forward, and they are both mine.”
The second letter with its inclosure was the result of a long struggle
between Miss Joanna Marble and the social reluctance of that “shy
bird,” the stately Miss Romaine Garland. Joanna had gained ground
at last.
Vreeland smiled grimly as he read the corrupt agent’s letter. It was
an evening invitation couched in his interest and skillfully arranged.
“You are to come at 10:30, sir—fashionable hours. You will find me
ready to greet you.
“The musicale and supper, with a little informal dancing, will enable
me to see that you escort Miss Garland home. I shall be ‘suddenly
indisposed,’ and then you are easily the Prince Charming of the
occasion.
“The hostess is a trusted friend of mine.
“But how ‘shy’ your beautiful bird is. Romaine has called several
times on me, and yet she will not give me her personal address. She
always receives her letters at Station Q, General Delivery.
“And when I offered to come for her she said, quietly: ‘I will call for
you, dear Miss Marble, with a carriage, and we can go together.’ I
wonder is she one of us after all—a sly bird, not a shy bird?”
The address given was that of a respectably situated residence in
the West Eighties, a region blessed with slightly stiffening social
aspirations toward “elitedom,” as the journals deftly put it.
Senator James Garston in Washington was triumphant as he read
Vreeland’s dispatch fixing a date for the private dinner. “I can easily
tole this vain young fellow on with Katharine,” he gleefully cried. “And
if I can only reach Margaret Cranstoun’s child, I will soon bring her
proud head back to my bosom.”
The stern soldier of fortune mused long over olden days, his days of
youth and promise, when his girl-wife was only a plighted bride, a
woman of awakened heart, “whose head, like an o’er-wearied dove,
came fluttering down to rest.”
“I will have them both,” the Senator swore. “Why should my life’s
harvest be but chaff?
“For, the child is mine. The mother was once mine, and through fire
and flood I’ll go on and prove my title against the whole world.
“If this young favorite can only find me the hidden girl, he shall not
want for fortune, and a marriage with Katharine Norreys will tie him
forever to me.”
It all promised fair enough.
But, plot and counterplot was forgotten as Harold Vreeland, superbly
poised in his habitual adamantine calm, edged his way into the
listening circle of the “select few” who had been gathered at
Mrs. Ollie Manson’s ambitious musicale. It was a gala evening in the
West End.
A furtive conference with Miss Marble had caused him to slip into the
hushed rooms during the period when the convives were hanging
breathlessly upon Miss Bettina Goldvogel’s rendering of “Beauty’s
Eyes.” The Prince Charming’s advent was unobserved.
When the music ceased, Vreeland, who had been gazing upon
Romaine Garland, a sweet and lonely figure, seated there with her
hands clasped and her stately head bent, was alarmed as he
pressed forward through the unfamiliar throng.
There was a flush of sudden crimson on the tall girl’s cheek, and
then, a swift Diana, she passed on, a vision of stately beauty in her
unfamiliar evening dress. The excited trickster was swift in her
pursuit.
Vreeland’s step was on the stair, but a warning touch at once
recalled him. With serpentine swing, Miss Joanna Marble sought the
secret precincts of the robing rooms. “Let me handle this matter,”
was the whispered comment. “Wait below in the drawing-room.”
The effusive welcome of Mrs. Ollie Manson was lost upon the man
who had caught one glance of aversion from those truthful eyes into
which his veiled blandishments had never brought one gleam of
tenderness in those long hours at the Elmleaf. “Had she taken the
alarm?”
When he was released from the little circle with its sotto voce
comments, “Clubman,” “Rich young banker, my dear,” and other
social incense, he saw the thin, bewhiskered Mr. Solon Manson, with
a startled expression, handing Miss Romaine Garland down the front
steps to her waiting carriage.
It was a five minutes of agony, and the last strains of “Non è Ver” had
reverberated from Sig. Trombonini’s swelling bosom before Miss
Joanna Marble, her face ashen with the pallor of rage, drew
Vreeland into the library.
“You’ll never see that young tragedy queen again,” wrathfully
whispered the angered woman. “She only told her driver to take her
to the elevated railroad station at Ninetieth Street. I had posted the
little Manson to get her address.
“There must be someone nearer to her than you ever will be. She is
as deep as the sea, and she dared to lash me with her icy tongue. ‘I
see it all, Miss Marble,’ she snapped out. ‘Your friendly invitation was
a lure to put me on a false basis with my elegant employer.
“‘You know the girl breadwinner has no protection against such a
man but the honest independence of her daily labor. Should he bend
to woo the woman who stands mute before him daily, pencil in hand?
I can not meet my employer socially.’”
“And you?” breathlessly cried Vreeland.
“I stood mute; for I dared go no further. But I have her picture, at any
rate. I will have her secretly shadowed.
“I will wager my head there is some one nearer and dearer to the shy
bird than Miss Majestic would have me believe. You can’t blame me;
I did my best. But it has been a Waterloo.”
The listener swore a mighty oath in his sudden jealous rage.
Vreeland’s face hardened.
“See here, just lock her picture up in your private safe. Do nothing—
wait for me. I’ll follow up the quest alone.”
“And there is five hundred dollars for your obedience, and now,
silence. I’ll stay here an hour and jolly these people.”
“To-morrow at ten at your office. And if you should meet her, simply
ignore the matter.
“I shall tell her, of course, that Manson, an old friend, asked me
informally, and that our meeting was brought about by pure chance.”
Miss Joanna Marble’s hard laugh rattled in her “bony frame.” “I think
our ingenue, young as she is, has already a little commencement of
a ‘past,’ a little ‘jardin secret,’ where flowers of other days still bloom.
“But I am in your hands. I will obey you. You are the paymaster, and
you know I am not ‘in business for my health.’”
On his homeward way, Vreeland studied the stars with an anxious
brow.
“She shall not get away from me,” he swore. “I wonder if Mary Kelly
and she are now only duplicate spies of the woman who once had a
use for me, and now fears the poor tools she has used. Did I get at
the whole Hathorn secret?
“That is forever sealed in poor Fred’s grave.”