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Syllabus
26:010:653
Accounting Information Systems
Fall 2000
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MEMORANDUM
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Auditing Students
September 15, 2000
The syllabus for this course is attached to this memorandum.
It contains information about grading, assignments,
examinations, and my course philosophy and policies. A separate
document contains the detailed timetable for the semester.
You
may, of course, contact me by e-mail or by
telephone either to discuss problems and issues
arising from the course, or to fix a mutually
convenient time for us to meet outside office
hours.
This is a course offering
primarily designed for Accounting and Accounting Information
System majors in the Ph. D. in Management program. This course
is a research-level course
The various policies and
procedures for the course will be followed strictly and without
exception. Every effort will be made to grade participation,
projects and examinations promptly and accurately. Grades will
be posted anonymously on my Web Site.
My goal is that if you make the
effort required to succeed in this class, you will develop a
good understanding of classic and contemporary auditing
research. This will require hard work on all sides. I am sure
you will expect me to be prepared for every class, and I intend
to be. In return, I expect you to be both present and prepared.
In addition, I expect you to participate in classroom activities
to the fullest extent possible given the number of people
present. Remembering and understanding the material are both
necessary; they will take time, and will require regular study.
It is most unlikely that pre-examination cramming will be
successful as a study technique.
I will be giving this course my
best effort throughout the semester, and I need you to do the
same if I am to achieve my goal. I am looking forward to working
with you. You will see that I take a serious view of the
commitment we will all need to make if the course is to be a
success. However, nothing in this memorandum is meant to suggest
that we should not enjoy our semester together. Studying can be
both rewarding and fun in itself, but if you see opportunities
for adding fun to our class that I have missed, please do not
hesitate to draw them to my attention. I wish you every success
in studying Auditing this semester.
Yours sincerely
Peter R Gillett
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| Room: |
Englehard 303
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| Time: |
Friday 1.00 - 4.00
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| Instructor: |
Professor Peter R. Gillett
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| Office: |
Levin 231
Ackerson 302C
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| Telephone: |
(732) 445 4765
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| Fax: |
(732) 445 3201
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| E-mail: |
gillett@everest.rutgers.edu
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| Office Hours: |
Friday 4.00 - 5.00 or at other times
by appointment
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| Texts: |
There is no required textbook. However,
students may find it convenient to have access to an
undergraduate text such as:
Arens and Loebbecke. 2000. "Auditing: An Integrated
Approach". 8th Edition: Prentice-Hall. Upper Saddle
River, NJ.
In practice, any other undergraduate text may also be
useful.
Additionally, students should have access to the Statements
on Auditing Standards published in various forms by the AICPA.
For additional readings, see the References
appended to the Timetable.
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OBJECTIVES
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At the conclusion of
this course, students should have gained:
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an enhanced awareness of auditing research as a
social science and of the philosophy of auditing
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exposure to various research methodologies and
paradigms prevalent in the auditing research literature
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familiarity with a number of classic auditing
research papers
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a historical perspective of the inter-play
between auditing research, practice and education
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a survey of auditing research over the last
five years
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exposure to some current auditing research in
progress
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skills to be a successful consumer of auditing
research in the future
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experience of presenting and discussing
auditing research papers
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practice in developing proposals for auditing
research.
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BACKGROUND
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The course is designed assuming
that students have previously taken at least an undergraduate course in
auditing. Students should expect
classes to be a mixture of some lecture, and much class
discussion, and should anticipate
the need to make in-class presentations and to
write a research proposal.
Prior preparation for class is expected.
Attendance and active participation are strongly
encouraged.
Students
are required to participate in the Rutgers Accounting Research
Forum on Friday mornings, and are expected to ask questions of
the presenter. If relevant to auditing, papers presented in
these forums may also be discussed in class that day.
Any students who
consider themselves disabled should communicate
directly with the Dean's Office early in the
semester so that the nature of their disability
and any necessary accommodations can be
determined.
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GRADING
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Total
Possible Points:
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Classroom
Participation |
750
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Mid-Term Examination |
150
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Class Project (Literature Review) |
200
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Research Proposal |
200
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Final Examination |
200
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TOTAL |
1500
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ASSIGNMENTS, ETC.
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Most classes will be based on discussion of a
number of published research papers. A presenter and a
discussant will be assigned for each paper, and participants
will be required to discuss the papers both with the
presenter/discussant team, and among themselves. The model for
this will be a simulation of a traditional research
conference, and is intended to prepare students to present or
discuss papers during their academic careers.
Although
individuals must perform their own preparation, which
should be the result of their own efforts,
students are encouraged to seek assistance from
each other and from the instructor if necessary
prior to class. These
assignments are primarily designed as learning
opportunities rather than evaluation tools.
Collaboration and co-operative learning are here
regarded as positive aspects of scholarly
endeavor.
There will be a class project
to conduct a literature review for a five-year period;
students may agree among themselves how the work is to be
divided up. A collective grade will be assigned
The final paper
should be a research proposal for a paper intended to be of a publishable nature
and quality. However, co-authored papers will be
accepted (with advance approval by the
instructor) provided that students can show that
the topic addressed is commensurately more
complex, broader, or more time-consuming than an
individual paper would otherwise be. The paper
will be due immediately prior to the commencement
of the final examination, although it may be
turned in earlier. You should plan on developing
the paper as part of normal course work as the
semester progresses, although a week has been
allowed to finish the paper after classes are
over. It is not my practice to allow incompletes
for coursework not finished, except in the case
of medical or other serious problems.
Needless to say,
examinations must be the result of unaided
individual efforts.
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PARTICIPATION
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Participation grades will be assigned based
on my assessment of how consistently and how
effectively you contribute to the learning
experiences of the class by your active participation, whether
as presenter, discussant, or class participant. Factors assessed will include, but
will not necessarily be limited to, demonstrated
preparation of assigned discussion papers,
chapters or questions, posing or answering
questions during class, and student-lead
discussions and presentations. A pre-condition of
your participation, of course, will be your
physical presence in class.
Although late
arrival for class cannot always be avoided,
persistent lateness is a discourtesy to me and to
your fellow students, and will be penalized as
part of the class participation grade along with
absence. It is my policy to teach with the
classroom doors closed; if you arrive late please
close the door again quietly and avoid disturbing
those of us who are already at work. You are
expected to behave in class in a manner
appropriate for professional accounting students.
Quality of
participation is more important than quantity;
too much is no better than too little; the
ability or intention to participate is not a
substitute for actually doing so. Be adventurous:
wrong answers will gain you nothing - but they
will not lose you points you have already gained!
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EXAMINATIONS
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There will be a take-home
mid-term examination due on the day shown on the
timetable. The form of this examination will be
specified in advance, and the examination itself
will be made available one week in advance of the
due date. You may spend up to, but no more than, three hours working on this examination, without
reference to notes, books, or other study aids.
The examination must not be shown to or discussed
with other students, or anyone else, until after
class is over on the due date. Graded
examinations will not be returned, but may be
reviewed in my office.
You must take
the Final Examination in order to pass the
course. The Final Examination will be
comprehensive, but greater emphasis will be
placed on new material covered since the
mid-term.
A single make-up
examination will be given if necessary for
students unable to take the Final Examination
during its scheduled period due to documented
medical problems, participation in other
university-sanctioned activities, or required
religious observances.
Examinations
will be closed book. Examination questions will
be a mixture of essay questions and problems, and
may cover any material in assigned
materials (whether or
not they surfaced in class discussions), any
matters discussed in class (assigned materials), and matters
arising from assignments and projects.
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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
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University policy on academic
integrity will be strictly enforced; penalties
for cheating are severe. All suspected violations
will be pursued and maximum penalties may be
expected to be imposed. Academic dishonesty is
always unacceptable, and never more so than in a
professional school.
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WITHDRAWAL POLICY
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A student may withdraw from a course through
the eleventh week of classes. Courses dropped during the first
two weeks of class are deleted from the student's record;
courses dropped from the third to eleventh week result in a W
grade and a $5 late fee charge.
Withdrawal forms may be
obtained from the Program Office. The form requires the
adviser's signature. If the course is required for the
qualifying examination for the major, the doctoral coordinator
must also approve the withdrawal. If dropping the course
implies a delay in the
student's qualifying examination beyond the date required by
program rules, the permission of the Program Director is also
required.
Late withdrawals will be given the appropriate
letter grade based on the actual number of points
accumulated at the time of withdrawal.
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INCLEMENT WEATHER
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The class will meet as scheduled
if the University is open. Should the University
close for any reason, any assignments due that
day will be accepted at the next class meeting,
but subsequent assignments will not be postponed.
If the University is closed on a day that an
examination is scheduled, then the examination
will be deferred until the next class meeting.
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ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
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Peter R. Gillett is an Associate Professor in
the Department of Accounting and Information Systems of the
Faculty of Management at Rutgers. He holds B.A. and M.A.
degrees in Mathematics and Philosophy from the University of
Oxford, and a Ph. D. in Business from the University of
Kansas, where he was the Ronald G. Harper Doctoral Fellow in
the School of Business, and held the Ernst & Young
Doctoral Fellowship in the Ernst & Young Center for
Auditing Research and Advanced Technology.
Prior
to joining Kansas, he spent from 1975 to 1992 in professional
practice as an auditor, EDP auditor, and management
consultant. After nine years with Price Waterhouse in London,
he joined Grant Thornton's National office as National
Computer Audit Partner, and subsequently assumed roles as
Partner in charge of Advanced Audit Techniques, and European
Director of Audit Methods.
Dr.
Gillett has taught courses on Managerial Information Systems,
Accounting Information Systems, Auditing and Advanced
Auditing. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Auditing:
A Journal of Practice and Theory, in which he has also
published. In addition to numerous articles in professional
journals in the UK, he has recently contributed a chapter on
audit judgment to a monograph on Auditing Practice, Research
and Education published by the AICPA. He is a Fellow of the
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and
of the Institute of Management; in addition, he is a Member of
the British Computer Society and of the Institute for the
Management of Information Systems.
Dr.
Gillett's dissertation "A Comparative Study of Audit
Evidence and Audit Planning Models Using Uncertain
Reasoning" won the 1997 Outstanding Dissertation Award at
the University of Kansas. His current research is studying the
use of uncertain reasoning techniques in audit planning
models, and the representation of causality in auditing using
event spaces.
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