Transaction Analysis 2

The second of two classes providing 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.

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.

Materials:

Case: Analytics mindset: P-card.
Slides: will be available for download by the beginning of class in either powerpoint or pdf formats.
Data: A data update may be required for this class. To ensure your files are the most up-to-date, navigate to ACCTG521_Labs folder and run the command git pull.
Analytics Tools: Alteryx
Analytics Tools: Git and GitHub

Review and Extension:

This class is a continuation of Transaction Analytics 1. This class continues this class takes a more focused approach by applying data analytics techniques to a specific audit scenario: auditing P-card transactions at Oklahoma State University. While the F-score helped students understand how to quantify misstatement risk using financial data, this class extends those analytical skills to the operational side, where students will evaluate internal controls and identify potential fraudulent or non-compliant transactions. Both classes emphasize the importance of using structured data and analytics to inform auditing decisions, but here students gain practical experience in transforming raw transaction data and applying forensic techniques to real-world cases.

Preparation:

1. Part IV of the case is the primary set of 24 analytics tasks we will undertake on the P-card transactions. Read through them for familiarity, and have the case on hand as a reference as we work through this section of the case.
2. Part V of the case is an assessment of internal controls, and we will discuss this briefly in discussion teams.
3. Parts VI and VII of the case are more exploratory analyses which involve more advanced analytics procedures. Please read these sections, but note that we may not get to them in this class.

Class Plan:

Teams: during this class, please sit in your discussion teams.

1. The goal of the class will be to finish as much of the P-card case as possible, working in your discussion groups.
2. The bulk of our time will be spent in the labs, so please have your remote labs open, update using git pull to get a version of the file we worked on as a class.
3. The discussion parts, especially V, will be facilitated by small group discussions and the warm call approach.