Tag: Financial Accounting

Want to include AI in your accounting course? 24 step-by-step tutorials and more…

Dr. Wendy Tietz, CPA, CMA, CSCA, CGMA5 Comments

AI is transforming how we work—and our students need to be ready to use AI in their future careers. As educators, we have a responsibility to help them understand how to use tools like ChatGPT responsibly and effectively. That means helping them see AI not as a shortcut or cheating aid, but as a tool that improves efficiency and enhances analysis.

Tracie Miller and I chose Excel as the foundation for teaching AI because most students already have a basic comfort level with it, which makes learning AI concepts more accessible. That familiarity makes it easier to focus on how AI can enhance what they’re doing—whether that’s generating complex formulas, cleaning data, or analyzing trends.

To help faculty integrate AI into their classes, we have created a set of free resources that includes:

  • 24 step-by-step tutorial videos showing how to use Excel’s built-in AI features or how to use ChatGPT to leverage use of Excel
  • Assignments for each tutorial, including both hands-on exercises and conceptual essay questions
  • Multiple-choice questions
  • Teaching tips, suggested solutions, and classroom activities like a Kahoot! quiz, crossword, and word search

For example, one of the tutorials included in the free resource package focuses on Excel’s built-in dynamic array formulas. Students are guided step by step through functions like SEQUENCE, UNIQUE, TEXTSPLIT, and TRANSPOSE—all of which allow a single formula to return multiple results that “spill” across rows or columns. The tutorial helps students understand how these formulas work, when to use them, and how AI features in Excel can make data tasks faster and smarter. It’s hands-on and gives students immediate opportunities to apply what they’ve learned in related Excel exercises.

All these materials are designed to make it easy to bring AI into your accounting course in a practical, structured way—whether you’re teaching Excel, accounting, analytics, or any business-related course.

Want access to all the tutorials, assignments, and the full instructor guide?
Click here to request the full AI+Excel resource instructor guide

The request form is quick – please use your school email address. Also – check your spam folder. We send out the instructor guide about once a week and a lot of times it goes to spam – so check your spam folder.

We hope you find the tutorials and related resources helpful.

Have a great day!

Wendy Tietz

30-minute webinar on Google Sheets transaction analysis project this Tuesday, November 8, 1 pm ET

Dr. Wendy Tietz, CPA, CMA, CSCA, CGMALeave a comment

Are you interested in data analytics? Do your students use Google Sheets? Want a ready-made project for your class that uses Google Sheets for data analytics? We have developed a case that is suitable for introductory accounting that uses just Google Sheets – and we provide step-by-step tutorial videos, making it easy to use in your classes.

Join us on Tuesday, November 8, from 1 – 1:30 pm Eastern, for a webinar on “City of Magicville: Transaction Analysis Project using Google Sheets.” We will be covering how to request the instructor materials, what the project covers, how you can use it in your own classes, and more!

We will also answer any questions you have. The webinar is from 1 – 1:30 pm Eastern – you can register for this webinar at this link.

This will be our last webinar in 2022. We will be scheduling webinars for 2023 beginning in January. See our website webinar page at this link.

30-minute webinar on Excel advanced data cleaning project on Monday, October 3, 1 – 1:30 pm ET

Dr. Wendy Tietz, CPA, CMA, CSCA, CGMA2 Comments

Are you interested in data cleaning and visualization? Want a ready-made project for your class that uses Excel for data cleaning and visualization? We have developed a case that is suitable for intermediate accounting, data analytics, cost accounting, or other accounting major classes that uses Excel – and we provide step-by-step tutorial videos, making it easy to use in your classes.

Join us on Monday, October 3, 1 – 1:30 pm Eastern, for a webinar on “ETL project using advanced Excel featuring KAT Concession Supply.” We will be covering how to request the instructor materials, what the project covers, how you can use it in your own classes, and more!

We will also answer any questions you have. The webinar is from 1 – 1:30 pm Eastern – you can register for this webinar at this link.

To see all the webinars we have scheduled, see our website webinar page at this link.

New! Intermediate Data Cleaning (ETL) & Analytics Project for Excel: KAT Concession Supply

Dr. Wendy Tietz, CPA, CMA, CSCA, CGMALeave a comment

This project is one of ten projects in a set that focus on data cleaning and analytics. Read on for how to request this intermediate level project for introductory accounting that uses Excel for data cleaning and analytics.

A key step in data analytics is getting the data ready for use – in fact, this step can take more time and effort than the analysis of the data. This brand-new Excel project focuses on the data cleaning aspect of data analytics and is appropriate for introductory accounting – but could be adapted to any accounting class.

KAT Concession Supply is a fictitious company that supplies food, paper products, and other items to fairs, amusement parks, and other organizations. Information in the KAT Concession Supply data sets includes information about its sales over a three-year period. The data from KAT Concession Supply has errors and irregularities in it and it must be cleaned so that an interactive dashboard about its operations can be prepared. This Excel project is classified as intermediate because it takes about an hour to complete the entire project – the Excel is still doable for the introductory accounting student.

Complete step-by-step tutorial videos and an instructor guide are available to make project adoption easy and painless in accounting courses. The project is available at no cost for instructors to use in their classes.

Intermediate project for Excel

The data cleaning and other tasks in the Intermediate version of the Excel data cleaning project are:

  • Widen all columns to automatically fit the contents.
  • Find and remove duplicate records.
  • Remove spaces and nonprinting characters.
  • Convert dates stored as text to date format.
  • Find and replace text.
  • Split one column into two.
  • Change the case of cells.
  • Combine cells.
  • Convert text into numbers or currency.
  • Format numbers.
  • Correct spelling.
  • Create a three-visualization dashboard.

Tutorial videos/PDFs

Complete step-by-step instructions are provided for this project. Students have the choice of viewing the tutorial videos or downloading a pdf file of the annotated slides. The tutorials for this project have been split into several shorter parts. The project can be completed in shorter steps, rather than the entire project in one sitting.

***You can obtain the Instructor Guide for the KAT Concession Supply intermediate data cleaning project for Excel by requesting it at this link.***

The instructor guide contains the data set, solutions, and other information. The instructor guide also contains all the KATCS data cleaning projects released to date.

Give us about 5 – 8 days to respond – but check your Spam folder for the email if you do not see our email within that approximate time frame. (You may want to add drwendytietz@gmail.com to your Safe Senders list. Please don’t email to that email address – that is an email address used solely for distributing the project resources we have developed. Thank you!)

30-minute webinar on Tableau and Tableau Prep beginning data cleaning project this Monday, August 9, 2 pm Eastern

Dr. Wendy Tietz, CPA, CMA, CSCA, CGMALeave a comment

Are you interested in data cleaning and visualization? Have you heard about Tableau and/or Tableau Prep and want to learn more? Want a ready-made project for your class that uses Tableau and Tableau Prep for data cleaning and visualization? We have developed a case that is suitable for introductory accounting that uses Tableau and Tableau Prep – and we provide step-by-step tutorial videos, making it easy to use in your classes.

Join us on Monday, August 9, from 2 – 2:30 pm Eastern, for a webinar on “ETL for introductory accounting: Tableau/Tableau Prep beginner project (KAT Concession Supply).” We will be covering how to request the instructor materials, what the project covers, how you can use it in your own classes, and more!

We will also answer any questions you have. The webinar is from 2 – 2:30 pm Eastern – you can register for this webinar at this link.

To see all the webinars we have scheduled, see our website webinar page at this link.

30-minute webinar on Google Sheets data cleaning project this Tuesday, July 19, 1 pm Eastern

Dr. Wendy Tietz, CPA, CMA, CSCA, CGMALeave a comment

Are you interested in data cleaning and visualization? Do your students use Google Sheets? Want a ready-made project for your class that uses Google Sheets for data cleaning and visualization? We have developed a case that is suitable for introductory accounting that uses just Google Sheets – and we provide step-by-step tutorial videos, making it easy to use in your classes.

Join us on Tuesday, July 19, from 1 – 1:30 pm Eastern, for a webinar on “ETL for introductory accounting: Google Sheets beginner project (KAT Concession Supply).” We will be covering how to request the instructor materials, what the project covers, how you can use it in your own classes, and more!

We will also answer any questions you have. The webinar is from 1 – 1:30 pm Eastern – you can register for this webinar at this link.

To see all the webinars we have scheduled, see our website webinar page at this link.

30-minute webinar on an Alteryx data cleaning project this Wednesday, July 13, 11 am Eastern

Dr. Wendy Tietz, CPA, CMA, CSCA, CGMALeave a comment

Are you interested in Alteryx but have not yet delved into it? Want a ready-made project for your class that uses Alteryx and Power BI for data cleaning and visualization? We have developed a case that is suitable for introductory accounting that uses Alteryx and Power BI – and we provide step-by-step tutorial videos, making it easy to use in your classes.

Join us on Wednesday, July 13, from 11 – 11:30 am Eastern, for a webinar on “ETL for introductory accounting: Alteryx beginner project (KAT Concession Supply).” We will show Alteryx and discuss how you and your students can get it for free. We will also be covering how to request the instructor materials, what the project covers, how you can use it in your own classes, and more!

We will also answer any questions you have. The webinar is from 11 – 11:30 am Eastern – you can register for this webinar at this link. We will also make a recording of the webinar available after it concludes.

To see all the webinars we have scheduled, see our website webinar page at this link.

New! Tableau Prep (ETL) Project: KAT Concession Supply

jcainasLeave a comment
Screenshot
Request project at this link

Today we are releasing the data cleaning project for Tableau Prep. This is the fourth of ten projects that focus on data cleaning and analytics. Tableau Prep is a nice option to have available for your students because it runs on both a Mac and Windows operating system.  Keep reading to learn how to request this first beginner level project that uses Tableau Prep for data cleaning and Tableau for data analytics.

A key step in data analytics is getting the data ready for use – in fact, this step can take more time and effort than the analysis of the data. This brand-new Tableau Prep project focuses on the data cleaning aspect of data analytics and is appropriate for introductory accounting – but could be adapted to any accounting class. This Google Sheets case is designed to guide students through data cleaning and data analysis with step-by-step tutorial videos.

KAT Concession Supply is a fictitious company that supplies food, paper products, and other items to fairs, amusement parks, and other organizations. Information in the KAT Concession Supply data sets includes information about its sales over a three-year period. The data from KAT Concession Supply has errors and irregularities in it and it must be cleaned so that an interactive dashboard about its operations can be prepared. This Tableau Prep project is classified as beginner because it takes less than an hour to complete the entire project and the steps are pretty basic.

Complete step-by-step tutorial videos and an instructor guide are available to make project adoption easy and painless in accounting courses. The project is available at no cost for instructors to use in their classes.

Beginner project for Tableau Prep

The ETL and other tasks in the beginner version of the Tableau Prep data cleaning project are:

  1. Input and view the data.
  2. Identify and remove duplicate records.
  3. Remove unwanted spaces and characters from fields.
  4. Convert dates stored as text to fields formatted as dates.
  5. Find and replace text.
  6. Split one field into two fields.
  7. Remove empty columns and rename columns
  8. Create and output file.
  9. Correct spelling errors in the saved output file.
  10. Create a two-visualization interactive dashboard.

Tutorial videos/PDFs

Complete step-by-step instructions are provided for this project. Students have the choice of viewing the tutorial videos or downloading a pdf file of the annotated slides. The tutorials for this project have been split into two parts:

  1. Part 1: Data cleaning tutorial (video | pdf)
  2. Part 2: Dashboard tutorial (video | pdf)

***You can obtain the Instructor Guide for the KAT Concession Supply beginning data cleaning project for Google Sheets by requesting it at this link.*** The instructor guide contains the data set, solutions, and other information.

Give us about 5 – 8 days to respond – but check your Spam folder for the email if you do not see our email within that approximate time frame. (You may want to add drwendytietz@gmail.com to your Safe Senders list. Please don’t email to that email address – that is an email address used solely for distributing the project resources we have developed. Thank you!)

News flash: This data cleaning project is the fourth project in a set of ten data cleaning and visualization projects developed by Tracie Miller-Nobles, Wendy Tietz, and me. We will be releasing new projects approximately twice a month for the remainder of 2022. These projects will be available in three levels: Beginner (five data cleaning techniques plus two-visualization dashboard); Intermediate (beginner steps with seven additional data cleaning techniques plus three-visualization dashboard); and Advanced (intermediate steps with additional data cleaning techniques plus four-visualization dashboard.) In addition, the projects will be available in four software tool combinations: Excel, Google Sheets, Tableau Prep combined with Tableau, and Alteryx combined with Power BI.

A financial statement analysis mini-dashboard for a quick data analytics exercise

Dr. Wendy Tietz, CPA, CMA, CSCA, CGMALeave a comment
dashboard image
Open mini-dashboard at this link

Looking for a quick data analytics exercise for financial statement analysis in an introductory accounting class? You can give your students the link for this financial statement analysis dashboard and then ask a series of questions. There is no software for students to install; the dashboard is hosted on Tableau Public and can be accessed by anyone with the link to the mini-dashboard. There is also a quick video about using mini-dashboards in Tableau Public – that mini-dashboard intro video is available at this link.

To get you started on the kinds of questions you can ask with this financial statement analysis mini-dashboard, here are some ideas:

  1. What is the current ratio for <insert company name here> for <insert year here>?
  2. What is the quick ratio for <insert company name here> for <insert year here>?
  3. What is the debt ratio for <insert company name here> for <insert year here>?
  4. What is the times-interest-earned ratio for <insert company name here> for <insert year here>?
  5. What is your overall assessment of the financial condition of <insert company name here> based on the ratios given here?

We have made several of these mini-dashboards and have found that they are a quick and easy way to insert some data analysis into an introductory accounting course. More of these mini-dashboards are coming soon. We hope you find them useful.

Wendy

New! Google Sheets Data Cleaning project: KAT Concession Supply

Dr. Wendy Tietz, CPA, CMA, CSCA, CGMALeave a comment
Scheenshot
Request project at this link

The introductory accounting ETL projects continue…today we are releasing the data cleaning project for Google Sheets. Google Sheets is a nice option to have available in case your student(s) only have access to a Chromebook; this project will run entirely on a Chromebook.

A key step in data analytics is getting the data ready for use – in fact, this step can take more time and effort than the analysis of the data. This brand-new Google Sheets project focuses on the data cleaning aspect of data analytics and is appropriate for introductory accounting – but could be adapted to any accounting class. This Google Sheets case is designed to guide students through data cleaning and data analysis with step-by-step tutorial videos.

KAT Concession Supply is a fictitious company that supplies food, paper products, and other items to fairs, amusement parks, and other organizations. Information in the KAT Concession Supply data sets includes information about its sales over a three-year period. The data from KAT Concession Supply has errors and irregularities in it and it must be cleaned so that an interactive dashboard about its operations can be prepared. This Google Sheets project is classified as beginner because it takes less than an hour to complete the entire project and the steps are pretty basic.

Complete step-by-step tutorial videos and an instructor guide are available to make project adoption easy and painless in accounting courses. The project is available at no cost for instructors to use in their classes.

Beginner project for Google Sheets

The ETL and other tasks in the beginner version of the Google Sheets data cleaning project are:

  1. Widen all columns to automatically fit the contents
  2. Find and remove duplicate records
  3. Remove unwanted characters such as numbers, spaces, and nonprintable characters from fields
  4. Find and replace text with replacement text
  5. Change the case of a text field to uppercase or lowercase
  6. Format numbers
  7. Create a two-visualization interactive dashboard

Tutorial videos/PDFs

Complete step-by-step instructions are provided for this project. Students have the choice of viewing the tutorial videos or downloading a pdf file of the annotated slides. The tutorials for this project have been split into two parts:

  1. Part 1: Data cleaning tutorial (video | pdf)
  2. Part 2: Dashboard tutorial (video | pdf)

***You can obtain the Instructor Guide for the KAT Concession Supply beginning data cleaning project for Google Sheets by requesting it at this link.*** The instructor guide contains the data set, solutions, and other information.

Give us about 5 – 8 days to respond – but check your Spam folder for the email if you do not see our email within that approximate time frame. (You may want to add drwendytietz@gmail.com to your Safe Senders list. Please don’t email to that email address – that is an email address used solely for distributing the project resources we have developed. Thank you!)

News flash: This data cleaning project is the third project in a set of ten data cleaning and visualization projects developed by Tracie Miller-Nobles, Jennifer Cainas, and me. We will be releasing new projects approximately twice a month for the remainder of 2022. These projects will be available in three levels: Beginner (five data cleaning techniques plus two-visualization dashboard); Intermediate (beginner steps with seven additional data cleaning techniques plus three-visualization dashboard); and Advanced (intermediate steps with additional data cleaning techniques plus four-visualization dashboard.) In addition, the projects will be available in four software tool combinations: Excel, Google Sheets, Tableau Prep combined with Tableau, and Alteryx combined with Power BI.