Applied Accounting and Financial Analytics

Catalog description

ACCTG 805 impounds knowledge gained from prior coursework and serves as the culminating experience for students enrolled in the Master of Accounting in Accounting Analytics (MAA) program. This course provides an advanced application of the Python programming language to the analysis of large-scale datasets which lie at the intersection of accounting and finance. Students will build upon prior work with the Python programming language and acquire more advanced syntax and building blocks for use in Python. They will also build upon prior work with the Extract-Transform-Load process and learn how to acquire, import, modify, join, summarize, visualize, and analyze datasets in order to better understand the relationships between accounting information and capital markets such as how stock prices respond to earnings information, what financial statement information best predicts accounting irregularities, and how eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) can be harnessed to make more uniform comparisons across companies. Prior work with designing and using relational databases will be enhanced in this course, with a continued emphasis on using data in an ethical manner. The course will be structured around hands-on programming sessions and accompanied by individual assignments to gauge students¿ mastery of the Python language and multiple projects built around using data to gain insights about the real-world relationships between accounting information and capital market outcomes. Specific topics will vary based on current issues and instructor interest.