This case not only familiarizes students with data analytics but also demonstrates its practical application. It presents a scenario of an electronic components company, equips students with budgetary and financial performance information, and challenges them to prepare a visual budgetary variance analysis for a board meeting. This hands-on exercise, conducted first in Excel and then in Tableau, enhances students' analytics skills. The learning tasks include creating formulas that depend on multiple worksheets in Excel, interpreting data results, and importing data into Tableau. Students will establish correct relations between imported tables; create formulas and new calculated fields; filter and format data; construct graphs; create workbooks, dashboards, and stories; publish graphical analyses on the Tableau cloud server; and distribute the presentation via a hyperlink. The case was tested with Master of Accountancy students in an Advanced Information Systems class and received high student evaluation scores. It is recommended for use in an undergraduate or graduate accounting or business program after students conceptualize the budgetary variance analysis.
{"title":"Budget Variance Analysis Case: Contrasting Excel with Tableau*","authors":"Alexey Nikitkov","doi":"10.1111/1911-3838.12383","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3838.12383","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This case not only familiarizes students with data analytics but also demonstrates its practical application. It presents a scenario of an electronic components company, equips students with budgetary and financial performance information, and challenges them to prepare a visual budgetary variance analysis for a board meeting. This hands-on exercise, conducted first in Excel and then in Tableau, enhances students' analytics skills. The learning tasks include creating formulas that depend on multiple worksheets in Excel, interpreting data results, and importing data into Tableau. Students will establish correct relations between imported tables; create formulas and new calculated fields; filter and format data; construct graphs; create workbooks, dashboards, and stories; publish graphical analyses on the Tableau cloud server; and distribute the presentation via a hyperlink. The case was tested with Master of Accountancy students in an Advanced Information Systems class and received high student evaluation scores. It is recommended for use in an undergraduate or graduate accounting or business program after students conceptualize the budgetary variance analysis.</p>","PeriodicalId":43435,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Perspectives","volume":"23 4","pages":"605-612"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1911-3838.12383","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142860621","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This case asks students to prepare a report addressing a number of strategic and operational issues at Pino's Pizza, a small chain of pizzerias in the Niagara Region of Ontario. Pino's son, Mario, is taking over the business and has several new ideas that he wants to explore. He has asked for help in assessing various expansion opportunities, introducing new products, changing the current delivery method, and developing a better information system. Students must obtain an understanding of Pino's current vision and mission, strategic position, and financial situation before analyzing the strategic fit and quantitative and qualitative implications of the alternatives under consideration. These strategic alternatives include franchising the Pino's Pizza name, opening a new sit-down restaurant, and entering into a new partnership with a local winery. Mario is also considering offering gluten-free pizza, outsourcing pizza delivery, and designing a new computer system to ensure adequate controls. The case will enable students to integrate a number of issues faced by a small business seeking growth through evaluating strategic and operational issues and providing supported recommendations.
{"title":"Pino's Pizza: An Instructional Case*","authors":"Staci A. Kenno, Barbara J. Sainty, Daniel Mancini","doi":"10.1111/1911-3838.12385","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3838.12385","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This case asks students to prepare a report addressing a number of strategic and operational issues at Pino's Pizza, a small chain of pizzerias in the Niagara Region of Ontario. Pino's son, Mario, is taking over the business and has several new ideas that he wants to explore. He has asked for help in assessing various expansion opportunities, introducing new products, changing the current delivery method, and developing a better information system. Students must obtain an understanding of Pino's current vision and mission, strategic position, and financial situation before analyzing the strategic fit and quantitative and qualitative implications of the alternatives under consideration. These strategic alternatives include franchising the Pino's Pizza name, opening a new sit-down restaurant, and entering into a new partnership with a local winery. Mario is also considering offering gluten-free pizza, outsourcing pizza delivery, and designing a new computer system to ensure adequate controls. The case will enable students to integrate a number of issues faced by a small business seeking growth through evaluating strategic and operational issues and providing supported recommendations.</p>","PeriodicalId":43435,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Perspectives","volume":"23 4","pages":"649-664"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1911-3838.12385","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142860625","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}