Welcome to Acc 683, and to the world of modeling accounting information systems. In this course, we will study the modeling of accounting systems primarily from the perspective of Object-Oriented framework. The course, as usual in the programme, will be a healthy mix of theoretical, applied, and hands-on materials. We will study certain advanced features of the Java programming language (such as file/data streams, threads & synchronisation, Java Database Connectivity (JDBC), applets & the design of user interfaces, and basic awt as well as swing classes), building on the material we studied during the fall semester in Acc 681 and Acc 682. In conjunctions with Acc 680, we will also apply our knowledge in the area of servelets, the Document Object Model (DOM), and Enterprise Java Beans in order to develop software components for accounting systems. The underpinning for the entire course is provided by the Unified Modeling Language (UML) studied through the CASE tool Paradigm Plus.
In the fall semester, we had avoided all use of fancy Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) and Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) while programming in Java. Now that you have a good background in the Java programming language, this semester I strongly encourage you to use any IDE you wish to use. In the Arthur Andersen Lab, you will find a rich set of IDEs including Sun's Java Workshop & Java Studio, IBM's Visual Age Java, and InPrise JBuilder. I shall not be spending any time in the class on their use; I do not want to come in the way of your personal discovery of these tools. I expect you to develop competence in their use in the process of doing the group projects.
This course is quite fast paced, and it is important that you not fall behind. You must know my educational philosophy by now: I believe that I can NOT teach accounting systems. You will fully understand accounting systems only when you have designed a real one, how so ever trivial. I can only help you learn how to learn, and to build a toy system. In this context, the class time is to be viewed as a time for resolving doubts rather than passively enjoying a sermon.
This course is for self-learners and is therefore quite rigorous; but you should enjoy it unless, of course, you are averse to programming - particularly Java programming. If you do not enjoy such activities, I would strongly suggest you look for other courses to take instead. However, knowledge of the stuff covered in this course should be amply rewarding, considering the preponderance of computerised systems in accounting and the fossilisation of the concept of the auditing profession as traditionally understood. Try to enjoy the course as much as you can, and remember that I am here to help you learn, not to teach.
Semester: Fall, 1998
Time: Th: 5:45 - 8:35 PM
Room:TBA
Instructor: Jagdish S. Gangolly
Office: BA 365A
Phone: (518) 442-4949
Fax: (518) 442-3944
Office Hours: Th 4:45 - 5:45 PM. or by appointment
Instructor Homepage: https://www.albany.edu/acc/gangolly
Newsgroup:
sunya.class.acc683
Announcements Page:
https://www.albany.edu/faculty/gangolly/acc683/spring99/announce.html
This will be the only web handout you will get during the semester. All future handouts will be postscript. Therefore it is important that you learn to print postscript documents in the Lab, or, if you have computers at home, to download Ghostscript/Ghostview from ftp://ftp.cs.wisc.edu and install it so you can print them on non-postscript printers. You will need to download and install Ghostscript interpreter and the fonts from ftp://ftp.cs.wisc.edu/ghost/aladdin/gs510/, Ghostview browser from ftp://ftp.cs.wisc.edu/ghost/rjl, and the Ghostscript manual in .pdf form from ftp://ftp.cs.wisc.edu/ghost/.
Text materials for much of the subject matter covered in this course are freely available on the world wide web. Off and on during the semester I shall provide links to such material. Therefore, if you are resourceful, you should be able to manage with no textbook at all. I will use the textbooks only to provide some structure to the course.
Topics relating to emerging technologies that affect accounting and auditing practice, including topics such as expert systems in accounting & auditing, groupware systems for auditing, retrieval of audit data.
Modeling of accounting information systems. While traditional structured methods will be discussed, the emphasis is on Object-Oriented methods for specification and design of accounting systems. In-depth study of the development of middleware to interface back-end database processing with web/XML based user-interfaces to accounting systems.
Acc 681 and Acc 682
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By the end of the semester, you should be able to:
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The basic texts for this course are
You also will want to refer to the following redbooks from IBM, specially if you use VisualAge Java for the group projects.
In addition, you may like to refer to the abundant internet resources, such as the following, available for Java as well as UML, when necessary.
You are expected to have access to the Oracle Designer 2000, Developer 2000, and the Java texts from the fall semester.
The course will consist of lectures, solution of problems/cases, programming assignments and a group project where you will model part of an accounting system.
This syllabus, as well as all the handouts, homework assignments, group assignments (if any) and homework solutions in this course will be accessible through the web, mostly in postscript format. When homework is assigned, it will be announced in the class. The due dates will be announced in the appropriate homework file. Late submissions are not acceptable.
You will notice that the course is heavily web based. It will try to exploit the wealth of information available on the web throughout the world. As the semester proceeds, I will anchor a whole host of such resources to these course pages. You are urged to visit those sites. In fact, if you are resourceful enough, you can get by this course without buying any textbook.
You will find that this is a very fast paced course packed with rather quite difficult conceptual material. Besides, any programming based course, of necessity, is time-consuming and requires you to be well-organised. However, all tests/quizzes in this course are open book/notes. A thorough understanding of the material is an absolute necessity to do well in this course. It is therefore important that you keep with the class. Since the lectures are based on the assumption that you have read the reading materials assigned, you will find that attending the classes is a complete waste of time if you have not read them before the class. Should you feel lost, please seek help immediately. It is difficult to discover knowledge the day before a test. I am here to help you learn, and you are most welcome to discuss any difficulties with me any time you can find me in my office.
I will give a few pop quizzes during the semester just to make sure that you are with the class.Pop-quizzes can not be made up.
The test, which will be open books/notes, will be held, on a date to be announced, during the class time (80 minutes). This test will examine your understanding of the material covered in the class. It will not be a multiple choice test, but will involve solution of small cases and problems.
You should divide into groups of three
or four each. The group project is best accomplished if you carry it out as we
learn the various tools & techniques in the class. It can not be
accomplished by working round the clock in april. Besides, spreading the
project over the semester provides a much better learning environment.
The project will involve considerable programming in the Java language. I shall
be announcing the scope of the project early in the semester.
Each group must present the project before the class at the end of the semester. You will have 25 minutes to present the project. A written group project report is also due at the time of class presentation.
I shall give occasional pop quizzes to test your understanding of the material. Pop quizzes can not be made up. I also may assign home work from time to time. Such home work may be individual or group.Late submissions will not be evaluated. Missed homework also can not be made up.
I shall occasionally ask you individually questions in the class, and may ask you to do problems on the board. You are strongly encouraged to ask questions in the class.
I will add up the points you score on the four components in the course and arrange the class in descending order of total points scored. Gaps in that order will form the cut-off points for letter grades, including +/- grades, assigned in the course. The letter grading in the course is therefore strictly relative.
Jagdish S. Gangolly is currently an Associate Professor of Accounting and of Management Science & Information Systems in the School of Business, and a Senior Program Faculty member of the Ph. D Program in Information Science. He holds a Bachelor's degree with a major in Mathematical Statistics, a master's degree with a major in Operations Research, and a Ph. D degree in Accounting. He is also a Certified Internal Auditor. He has previously taught at the University of Pittsburgh, University of Kansas, Claremont McKenna College & the Claremont Graduate School, and California State University at Fullerton. He has worked in senior executive positions in management services in the pulp & paper industry as well as in soft-drink franchising. His articles have appeared in Journal of Accounting Research, Auditing: Journal of Practice & Theory, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Expert Systems with Applications: An International Journal, and Artificial Intelligence in Accounting & Auditing. In 1989, he was the guest editor of Advances in Accounting. Presently, he serves on the editorial board of the journal Issues in Accounting Education. His current research activities are primarily in the areas of conceptual information retrieval and formal specification of control in accounting information systems. He also has collateral research interest in the relationships between Accounting and Legal Philosophy.
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Updated by
Jagdish S. Gangolly on
January 5, 1999.