Exam 15: Decision-Making Models and Knowledge Management

Russell had been asked by his supervisor to document the purchasing process in his company, but did not specify any particular technique for doing so. If Russell uses Steps for Better Thinking to choose a documentation technique, which of the following statements is most true?

Consider the following short case as you respond to the next question: Amanda is a partner in a CPA firm; she supervises a staff of ten professionals, some of whom are already licensed CPAs and some of whom are still working toward licensure. She is responsible for audits of independent bookstores in California, Nevada and Arizona. Amanda is concerned that the less experienced professionals she supervises are repeating the mistakes she and the more experienced professionals on her team made when they began auditing. She therefore wants to create a knowledge management system.The less experienced accountants on Amanda's team are suffering from:

Divide the following examples of information overload causes into five groups based on the categories suggested by Eppler and Mengis. Specify the name of each group.1) Anxiety about job performance 2) Attempting a task for the first time 3) Disagreements about who should be a group leader 4) E-mail forwarded to a smart phone 5) Health conditions 6) Highly technical information 7) Information conveyed via symbols 8) Internet searches with very broad terms 9) Significant time pressure 10) Working with too large a group

After attending a seminar on the importance of knowledge management, the managers of TCH Corporation developed a set of objectives their knowledge management system should address. As their next step, the managers should:

Robert and Claudia are partners in Retail Consulting Associates (RCA), a firm specializing in enterprise risk management for small retail businesses. As their client base expands, they want to develop a knowledge management system that will benefit themselves, their employees and their clients. They have established three key knowledge areas for RCA: costs of enterprise risk management, role of information technology in enterprise risk management and communication with clients. Use those three areas to complete the following knowledge map for RCA.

Consider the following independent situations as you answer the next seven questions: A. Irene, a freshman accounting major, thought she would benefit from reading an intermediate accounting text while taking introductory financial accounting. B. Bradley developed a plan to study for all four parts of the CPA exam during his last semester at college, thus making himself ready to take the exam immediately after graduation. C. Jorge met weekly with a group of five students, all of whom were preparing their resume for the very first time. D. Maria planned to use the same strategies in advanced accounting courses that she had used in introductory accounting courses.Which decision makers share at least one common cause of information overload?

The systems development life cycle would be most useful in the ___ step to create a knowledge management system.

Consider the following short case as you respond to the next question: Amanda is a partner in a CPA firm; she supervises a staff of ten professionals, some of whom are already licensed CPAs and some of whom are still working toward licensure. She is responsible for audits of independent bookstores in California, Nevada and Arizona. Amanda is concerned that the less experienced professionals she supervises are repeating the mistakes she and the more experienced professionals on her team made when they began auditing. She therefore wants to create a knowledge management system.In assigning personnel to a specific audit team, Amanda normally has one licensed CPA working with a professional who is not yet licensed. Rather than considering alternative approaches to the audit that might achieve the same goals more efficiently, the licensed CPAs in Amanda's firm rely on their past practice in conducting audits. The licensed CPAs are therefore demonstrating:

Brown's taxonomy of risk includes "systems risk" as a form of operational risk. An organization creating a knowledge management system has the greatest exposure to systems risk in which of the seven steps for creating the knowledge management system?

Steps for Better Thinking involves all of the following stages except:

Which of the following statements about information overload and accounting information systems is most true?

Consider the following independent situations as you answer the next seven questions: A.Irene, a freshman accounting major, thought she would benefit from reading an intermediate accounting text while taking introductory financial accounting. B.Bradley developed a plan to study for all four parts of the CPA exam during his last semester at college, thus making himself ready to take the exam immediately after graduation. C. Jorge met weekly with a group of five students, all of whom were preparing their resume for the very first time. D. Maria planned to use the same strategies in advanced accounting courses that she had used in introductory accounting courses.Jorge and his group would benefit from which of the following countermeasures for information overload?

Consider the following independent situations as you answer the next seven questions: A. Irene, a freshman accounting major, thought she would benefit from reading an intermediate accounting text while taking introductory financial accounting. B. Bradley developed a plan to study for all four parts of the CPA exam during his last semester at college, thus making himself ready to take the exam immediately after graduation. C. Jorge met weekly with a group of five students, all of whom were preparing their resume for the very first time. D. Maria planned to use the same strategies in advanced accounting courses that she had used in introductory accounting courses.Which decision makers are experiencing different causes of information overload?

Bumble Beasley was attempting to improve internal controls over his firm's sales / collection process. He completed the following tasks in the order listed, but made several errors. Revise each statement based on Steps for Better Thinking. A. Read one general article about the importance of internal control. B. Focus on the costs of physical and technical controls in the sales / collection process. C. Make a list of three cost categories common to physical and technical controls in the sales / collection process. D. Implement the two least expensive physical and two least expensive technical controls. E. Write a report summarizing his work; store it in a three-ring binder on his office bookshelf.

Causes of information overload include:

Samantha and Josephine were preparing to start their own clothing business; they contacted their friend David, a recent graduate from Big State University's accounting program, to learn about setting up their accounting information system. After some discussion, they decided to use Quickbooks as their basic AIS software. Editing the standard chart of accounts to fit their clothing business would be part of ___ in Steps for Better Thinking.

Call recommended a seven-step process for creating a knowledge management system. The first step could be completed by:

When a decision maker reaches the point where the amount of information actually integrated into a decision begins to decline, the decision maker is experiencing:

Accounting information systems work often involves documenting business processes through flowcharts, data flow diagrams and REA models. Briefly explain the importance of managing knowledge about documentation techniques; also explain, in your own words, how you would manage that knowledge.

After developing a set of objectives their knowledge management system should address, the managers of TCH Corporation distributed a survey to employees, followed by a series of focus groups designed to identify issues such as duplication, gaps and overlaps in knowledge. To complete the next step in creating TCH's knowledge management system, the managers could use a: