Overview
As the economy moves towards more digital disruption, management and auditors are seeking innovative technologies for generating timely information for decision making. The unit is designed to provide you with an understanding of how financial data of an organisation can be analysed in a timely manner using data analytics. You are introduced to concepts, tools, software and methodologies of business intelligence and how they are applied to the analysis of financial data. You will gain experience in analysing accounting audit trails, using audit software, detecting potential fraud, visualising data, and generating dashboards for performance reporting. This unit is suitable for students with minimal information systems background.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Pre-requisite ACCT20072 Accounting Systems & Information Assurance
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2024
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Informal student feedback
Students find the support materials quite extensive and valuable preparation for workshops, assessments and future career opportunities.
Continue to improve support materials and assessment, particularly the focus on auditing applications.
- Describe and distinguish data concepts, decision support systems, data warehouses, and data analytics, and perform querying of data
- Apply data analytics and data visualisation software to provide information for management and auditors
- Analyse data structures and extract accounting audit trails from computerised accounting systems
- Design audit procedures and apply audit software in substantive testing and fraud detection
- Apply performance management principles and develop performance dashboards and other visual presentations for management.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment - 20% | |||||
| 2 - Project (applied) - 30% | |||||
| 3 - Take Home Exam - 50% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | |||||
| 2 - Communication | |||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | |||||
| 4 - Research | |||||
| 5 - Self-management | |||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | |||||
| 7 - Leadership | |||||
| 8 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Microsoft Excel
- SAS On Demand
- Tableau
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
p.best@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Introduction
Business case for data analytics
SAS Studio Demonstration
Chapter
Lecture notes and materials are available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
SAS Computer Workshop 1
Module/Topic
Data concepts, data quality, data warehouses
Introduction to SAS Programming
Chapter
Lecture notes and materials are available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
SAS Computer Workshop 2
Module/Topic
Big Data
SAS Programming 1
Chapter
Lecture notes and materials are available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
SAS Computer Workshop 3
Module/Topic
Structured Query Language (SQL)
Data matching
SAS Programming 2
Chapter
Lecture notes and materials are available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
SAS Computer Workshop 4
Module/Topic
Audit Trails
Data extraction and preparation
SAS Programming 3
Chapter
Lecture notes and materials are available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
SAS Computer Workshop 5
Module/Topic
No classes this week.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Developing audit procedures
Applying audit software in substantive testing
Chapter
Lecture notes and materials are available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
MS Excel Computer Workshop 1
Module/Topic
Fraud Detection
Benford’s Law
Chapter
Lecture notes and materials are available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
MS Excel Computer Workshop 2
Module/Topic
Future of Audit
Continuous auditing and controls monitoring
Introduction to Tableau
Chapter
Lecture notes and materials are available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tableau Computer Workshop 1
Practical Assessment Due: Week 8 Wednesday (1 May 2024) 5:00 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Data Visualization
Data analysis in Tableau
Chapter
Lecture notes and materials are available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tableau Computer Workshop 2
Module/Topic
Dashboards and performance reporting
Charts and Dashboards in Tableau
Chapter
Lecture notes and materials are available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tableau Computer Workshop 3
Module/Topic
Mapping Data
Maps in Tableau
Chapter
Lecture notes and materials are available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Tableau Computer Workshop 4
Module/Topic
Unit review
Chapter
Lecture notes and materials are available in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
No Computer Workshop this week
Project Due: Week 12 Wednesday (29 May 2024) 5:00 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Practical Assessment
Students perform a series of data analytics tasks to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills in using the SAS software platform.
Week 8 Wednesday (1 May 2024) 5:00 pm AEST
Week 8 Wednesday 1 May 2024 5:00 pm AEST
Week 9 Wednesday (8 May 2024)
Week 9 Wednesday 8 May 2024 5:00 pm AEST
This assessment item evaluates the student's ability to use SAS software to perform basic tasks covered in weeks 1 to 5.
- Describe and distinguish data concepts, decision support systems, data warehouses, and data analytics, and perform querying of data
- Apply data analytics and data visualisation software to provide information for management and auditors
2 Project (applied)
Students select and perform appropriate data analytics procedures using a combination of software tools and provided data. They apply principles learnt in the unit to analyse data and develop visual presentations to produce relevant reports. They report their findings in a professionally-documented report to management.
Week 12 Wednesday (29 May 2024) 5:00 pm AEST
Week 12 Wednesday 29 May 2024 5:00 pm AEST
Review/Exam Week Wednesday (5 June 2024)
Week 13 Wednesday 5 June 2024 5:00 pm AEST
This assessment will assess the student's ability to: identify analytics problems, select suitable procedures and software tools, solve problems and report findings that are supported by appropriate visualisations.
- Apply data analytics and data visualisation software to provide information for management and auditors
- Analyse data structures and extract accounting audit trails from computerised accounting systems
- Design audit procedures and apply audit software in substantive testing and fraud detection
- Apply performance management principles and develop performance dashboards and other visual presentations for management.
3 Take Home Exam
This is a written assessment consisting of theory and programming questions covering content from weeks 1 to 12.
Scheduled during Final Exam Week. Refer to exam timetable which will be made available in Moodle
All content covered in weeks 1 to 12 are examined.
- Describe and distinguish data concepts, decision support systems, data warehouses, and data analytics, and perform querying of data
- Analyse data structures and extract accounting audit trails from computerised accounting systems
- Design audit procedures and apply audit software in substantive testing and fraud detection
- Apply performance management principles and develop performance dashboards and other visual presentations for management.
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
