State University of New York at Albany
ACC 681. Accounting Information
Systems (Fall, 2003)
Class Time: M: 5:45-8:35 PM; Room:
BA223
|
Professor: Kinsun Tam
(PhD) Phone: (518) 442-4950 Office: BA 334 |
Email:
tam@csc.albany.edu Office Hours: MW
20:35-22:05 or by appointment Class Page: http://www.albany.edu/faculty/tam/fall02/681 |
1. WELCOME
AICPA's General IT Education Requirements No. 12:
"All professional accountants,
irrespective of their primary work domain or role, must acquire both relevant
theoretical knowledge and practical IT skills. The essential body of knowledge
of the accounting IT is represented by the following basic content categories:
(1) Information technology concepts for business systems, (2) Internal control
in computer based business systems, (3) Development standards and practices for
business systems, (4) Management of information technology adoption,
implementation, and use, and (5) Evaluation of computer based business systems." (http://www.aicpa.org/members/div/infotech/itc/cap12.htm)
In this course, we will study the analysis, design, development and implementation of accounting systems. Principles of object-oriented systems will be introduced. The course will be a healthy mix of theoretical, applied, and hands-on materials. We will study the subject matter through the use of UNIX operating system with programming in the Java programming language, which is very popular especially in the context of web-based systems.
To help you understand fundamental systems concepts, this course will in general use a command line approach. We will learn using the emacs/vi editors, using the javac compiler, and developing simple java applications.
This course is rigorous, but your efforts will be rewarded. Knowledge of the materials covered in this course should amply increase your competitiveness in future professional careers in accounting, auditing, and information systems.
This course has a strong systems and information assurance flavor. Weekly programming exercises will be used to reinforce systems concepts. Programming skills will be tested in the exams. To do well in the AIS concentration, you should take the programming assignments in this class VERY seriously, since writing programs is the only way to learn programming. You are strongly encouraged to try out additional programming exercises and select a project that requires intense programming. Remember that I am here to help you learn.
2.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At
the end of this course, you should be able to:
· Integrate technological perspectives into
decision-making processes;
·
Manage assigned
tasks to meet deadlines in developing and maintaining business systems;
·
Understand the
functions of accounting information systems, and the interrelationship among
hardware and software components of such systems (NSTISSI 4011 Awareness
Requirement (b), (d.f.), (e), and (f.c.));
· Solve business problems by writing programs to
manage and analyze quantitative data;
·
Develop
specifications for accounting information systems, and implement them in Java
and UNIX scripts;
· Understanding in-depth Object-Oriented methods for
systems development;
· Communicate intelligently with systems
professionals.
· Basic principles of software security (NSTISSI
4011 Awareness Requirement (g.c.)).
3.
REQUIRED TEXT BOOK
Deitel, H. and P.
Deitel. 2003. Java How to Program, 5ed.
Prentice Hall. ISBN:
0-13-101621-0
Check
Web site accompanying the textbook at http://www.prenhall.com/deitel/
Old required textbook:
John Lewis & William Loftus, Java Software Solutions : Foundations of
Program Design , Third Edition Update (2002) Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.
http://duke.csc.villanova.edu/jss/
4a.
RECOMMENDED REFERENCES
Ellie Quigley,
UNIX Shells by Example
2nd
ed (1999) Prentice-Hall. ISBN:
0130212229
Roberts, Tuck, Heller, Complete
Java 2 Certification Study Guide
2nd
Bk&CD ed (September 2000) Sybex.
ISBN: 0782128254
A.A. Arens & D.D.
Ward, Systems Understanding Aid
5th
ed. (2001) Armond Dalton Publishers, Inc.
ISBN: 0912503165
4b. OTHER
USEFUL REFERENCES
David Flanagan & Paula
Ferguson (Editor), Java in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference
3rd
ed. (November 1999) O'Reilly &
Associates, Incorporated. ISBN:
1565924878
Harvey Deitel, Paul
Deitel, Java How to Program
4th
ed (2002) Prentice Hall. ISBN:
013.341517
Bruce Exkel, Thinking
in Java
5. ONLINE
RESOURCES
|
Official Java sites |
The above is the
official java site linking to resources such as java products and tutorials. http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/docs/api/ This site is the most
important to Java learners. It
contains the full, constantly undated Application Programming Interfaces
(APIs) that describe all standard java packages, classes, and methods. |
|
Java Tutorial |
|
|
UNIX Tutorials |
http://www.albany.edu/academic_computing/documentation/index.html http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~ccweb/Onlinedoc/rosselet/tools.html |
|
Sun's Java
Certification |
|
|
HTML Tutorial |
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html |
|
Program Flowchart |
http://www.wiley.com/college/busin/icmis/oakman/outline/chap05/slides/symbols.htm |
|
Algorithms and data
structures |
|
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AICPA's toptentechs |
6.
COMPUTER ACCOUNT & FACILITIES
For information on
obtaining a UNIX account, please visit:
http://www.albany.edu/its/new_students/accounts_email.html
The class newsgroup (sunya.class.acc681) will be extensively used for announcements regarding tests, homework, quizzes, added links to this course homepage, etc. The newsgroup is the primary means of communication outside of the class. You should communicate with me via e-mail only for personal questions. You should post to the newsgroup all other questions. You are strongly encouraged to answer queries posted by others, and such responses will count towards class participation points for grading. You will learn important teamwork skills from participating in this virtual classroom.
Subscribe to the newsgroup sunya.class.acc681 through pine. Choose FOLDER LIST and go to News-Collection section. Use the (a)dd command to subscribe for sunya.class.acc681. Read and respond to messages in newsgroup as if they were emails.
You can work on any
computer linked to the machine cayley.bus.albany.edu in the Accounting Lab at
Room 363. This machine can be accessed
via xwin-32 in the lab, or remotely through telnet.
7. COURSE
CONDUCT
The course will consist of lectures, programming assignments, an individual project (with project presentation at semester end) where you will design and implement part of an accounting system. Any programming based course, of necessity, is time-consuming and requires you to be well organized. Late homework submissions are not acceptable.
Grading
You will be arranged 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 grade for each student is therefore determined relative to the rest of the class.
50 points: assignments (20% bonus if time-stamped by Lisa at BA365 by Fri 15:00, with proper indentation, and without major error/omission)
20 points: Project and Presentation (proposal constituting 2 out of 20 points due Oct 20)
10 points: Class
Participation and Quizzes
15 points: Test I
15 points: Test II
110 points: Total (max
120 points)
Home Work Assignments
Homework
will be assigned every week. Such
homework must be done *individually*. While you are welcome to discuss with
anyone, the submitted homework must
faithfully represent your *own* work.
Homework is due and will be collected at the beginning of class. Late submissions will not be evaluated. Missed homework also cannot be made up. Homework submission must be in printed
hardcopies to facilitate grading. Graduate assistants are scheduled to serve as
user-consultants in the Accounting Lab.
You can seek advice from them if you have tried but cannot resolve a
homework problem.
Individual Project
& Presentation
The individual project will consist of designing & implementing a part of a small accounting system. You may optionally refer to the packet entitled Systems Understanding Aid. The programming part of the project must be undertaken using the Java programming language. You will be graded on the basis of the quality of specifications of the accounting system that you design, describe, and implement. A written project report (design, description, and codes) is due on the data of presentation. Presentation includes project description, code explanation, & program demonstration.
Tests
Two tests will be conducted during class time. These tests will examine your understanding of lecture materials and homework as regards systems design and implementation, object-oriented concepts, the Java language, and related concepts. Test materials include, among others, lectures, textbook, homework description, homework exercise, discussions on the class newsgroup, and course syllabus.
Class Participation
& Quizzes
I will ask you questions
in the class. You are strongly
encouraged to participate in class discussions. Quizzes, if and when given, will be pre-announced.
8.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
|
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Lecture |
Chapters |
Assignments |
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Sep 8 |
Number Systems Unicode Character Set HTML Java Class Library Program flowchart Internet, UNIX, emacs
and vi |
Appendix C online resources online resources online resources online resources Quigley |
number system &
program flow chart (due Sep 15) apply for UNIX account |
|
Sep 15 |
Internet, UNIX, emacs
and vi |
|
download & install
jdk1.4 http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/docs/api
UNIX shell scripts (due
Sep 22) |
|
Sep 22 |
Computer, the Internet,
and the Web Java applications java applets (Pay attention to Good
Programming Practice) |
1, 2 , 3, 12.1, 12.2,
12.3 |
USFlag.java showing the
US flag in vertical display with 50 stars in the northwest corner and 13 (7
red and 6 white) vertical stripes (due Sep 29) |
|
Sep 29 |
Program Statements and
Flow Control Classes & Objects Methods |
4, 5, 6 |
Intelligent
BalanceSheet (due Oct 6) |
|
Oct 6 |
CLASS SUSPENSION
deferred to Dec 8 Arrays and Vectors Object-oriented
programming |
7, 8 |
Array of Single
taxpayers (due Oct 13) |
|
Oct 13 |
Test I |
materials from Sep 8 to
Oct 13 |
Project proposal (due
Oct 20) |
|
Oct 20 |
Interfaces &
Polymorphism |
9, 10, 11 |
MultipleTaxStatus (due
Oct 27) |
|
Oct 27 |
Exceptions and I/O
Streams |
15, 17 |
AccountingDatabase (due
Nov 3) |
|
Nov 3 |
Graphical User
Interfaces |
12, 13, 14 |
AccountingDatabaseGUI.java
(due Nov 10) |
|
Nov 10 |
Software Engineering,
javascript & UML, Recursion |
10, 11 |
javascript & UML
(due Nov 17) |
|
Nov 17 |
Data Structures |
20 |
LinkedList (due Nov 24)
A/R |
|
Nov 24 |
Project Presentation |
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Written Project DUE |
|
Dec 1 |
Test II |
materials from Oct 20
to Nov 17 |
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Dec 8 |
NO CLASS |
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