Class 7

Transaction Analysis 3 (PCard Case Conclusion)

Thursday, October 16, 2025

Class Overview

Why is this important?

Through practical exercises, students will gain hands-on experience in extracting, transforming, and analyzing P-card transaction data, applying forensic audit techniques, and interpreting the results to assess compliance with internal controls. The case study also emphasizes the importance of asking the right questions and applying appropriate data analytics techniques, which are crucial skills for internal auditors.

What will we do?

This class provides an in-depth exploration of auditing purchasing card (P-card) transactions at Oklahoma State University (OSU) with a focus on developing an analytical mindset. Students will work through a series of tasks that emphasize critical aspects of data analysis, including understanding P-card guidelines, preparing data for analysis, and using analytical tools to detect potential internal control violations or fraudulent transactions.

How this relates to other classes:

Building on the prior class's work on the PCard case, this class will have students review real time P-card transactions at Oklahoma State University or another organization of their choice.This class extends the technical work by having student think about what questions they should ask based on their analysis.

Materials and Preparation

Class Materials
  • Case: Analytics_mindset_case_studies_PCard
  • Link: A Template for the PCard Case with hints (Optional but helpful).
  • Slides: PowerPoint or PDF
  • Data:
  • Analytics Tools: Alteryx, Git and GitHub
  • Suggested Pre-Class Preparation
    1. In the last two classes, we discussed the PCard Case, so the case should be familiar, and be used as a reference in this class.
    2. In this class we will discuss the ETL, and undertake the first two analyses using Alteryx (Tasks 6 and 7).
    3. Task 6 (starting page 22) and Task 7 (starting page 25) are several additional tests which can be performed to identify various patterns patterns, isolate individuals, or identify transactions with specific keywords, they are all pre-configured in container 5.
    4. You are welcome to consider your own custom tests in the workflow, but this is not required.
  • Class Plan
    1. We will very briefly review the topic area and then review where we are up to in this case.
    2. We will complete the new ETL process for the new data.
    3. In discussion teams, we will undertake the analysis of the new data with our existing workflow.
    4. An individual submission is required for this case, it is based on the data used in this class, i.e., the current data.

Required Deliverables

Deliverable Due Date Canvas Submission Portal
Professionalism (individual): P-Card Analysis Memo Deliverable October 16th, 2025 Upload to Canvas