Class Overview
Why is this important?
With the increasing availability of structured financial data, visualization tools like Tableau and PowerBI provide auditors and analysts with a means to extract, analyze, and present key insights rapidly. This class emphasizes the importance of visual analytics in understanding complex datasets and conveying findings to stakeholders. By leveraging Tableau's interactive capabilities, students will gain a deeper understanding of financial reporting dynamics and develop essential skills for modern audit and financial analysis practices.
What will we do?
This is the first of four classes aimed at supporting the final project. We will focus on integrating financial data into the final project, discuss alternatives to eVal from a presentation standpoint, and highlight a few more potential analyses and data-driven forecasting opportunities. This class may also introduce approaches to visualizing financial data sourced from the SEC's EDGAR APIs. The goal is to outline how to transform raw financial filings (typically using Alteryx) into dynamic and insightful dashboards (using Tableau or PowerBI), allowing for the identification of trends, outliers, and relations/correlations within publicly reported financial data. The focus will be on creating visualizations that support evidence-based decision-making and enhance the ability to communicate financial insights effectively.
How this relates to other classes:
The skills developed in this class are directly applicable to the final project, where students are required to enhance their FSA project using data analytics. Specifically, the ability to create compelling and interactive dashboards will enable students to articulate findings effectively, bridging the technical analysis performed earlier in the course with a persuasive narrative for stakeholders. This serves as a capstone demonstration of their analytical and communication expertise.
Materials and Preparation
Class Materials
- Case:
- Link: Information on the MPAcc Fall Common Final Project.
- Slides: PowerPoint or PDF
- Analytics Tools: Tableau or PowerBI for data visualization., Alteryx for data transformation and analysis.
- Suggested in-class seating: assessment teams
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Suggested Pre-Class Preparation
- Assessment Teams should be making progress on their final project prior to this class.
- There is no specific preparation for this class, however, teams should be prepared to discuss their current progress and any challenges they are facing.
- By the end of this class, teams should have a clear plan for completing their final project, including the analyses they plan to perform and how they will present their findings.
- It is crucial that by the end of this class, any data requests and a list of expected analytics performed outside of eVal are finalized and cleared with the instructor.
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Class Plan
- We will begin with a brief overview of integrating financial data into the final project, discussing alternatives to eVal for presentation purposes.
- We will review the role of XBRL data and the workflows that we have used in prior classes to extract and transform this data using Alteryx.
- There will then be time for a teams based workshop, where teams can work on their final projects, with a focus on advanced analytics and data visualization techniques.
- The main focus of the class will be on advanced analytics techniques using Alteryx and data visualization strategies using Tableau or PowerBI.
- By the end of the class, teams should have a clear idea of any analysis they plan on performing outside of eVal and how they plan to present their findings.
Required Deliverables
| Deliverable | Due Date | Canvas Submission Portal |
|---|---|---|
| All Final Project Materials (zip file) | 12/3/2025 (11:59PM) | Upload to Canvas |
| Final Project Presentations | Thursday, Dec. 4th | No Canvas submission required |