The Verhovek Company: A Financial Statement Introduction To The Systems Understanding Aid

Abstract

This paper describes an original AIS project and relates several of its features to ongoing discussion of curricular issues in accounting education.  The Verhovek Company is a spreadsheet-based AIS exercise that prepares students for the Arens-Ward Systems Understanding Aid.  It introduces systems concepts and competencies such as documentation and structured design in the context of procedures and software that are relatively familiar to accounting students.  The exercise uses several topics from Intermediate Financial Accounting to illustrate specialized spreadsheet functions and to provide students with an opportunity to build a carefully structured set of worksheets that control the flow of information from data and assumptions through calculations, adjusting entries and then into the financial statements.  Upon successful completion of the project students have a financial statement template readily adaptable to the preparation of financial statements for the SUA.