Sarah Stein Wins the Innovation in Auditing & Assurance Education Award
February 12, 2020
Sarah Stein and her coauthor Lauren Cunnignham of the The University of Tennessee are the 2020 recipients of the Innovation in Auditing and Assurance Education Award.
Drs. Stein and Cunningham developed a data visualization case to provide students with a hands-on opportunity to apply audit risk assessment visualization techniques using Tableau. Their award-winning case, known as the Souper Bowl Tableau case, was voted the 2019 Best Paper by Issues in Accounting Education.
Recent changes in the accounting profession require students to enter the workforce with technical and critical-thinking skills using large datasets. In an audit setting, an important skill is the ability to identify anomalies and risk factors in the client's data. The Souper Bowl Tableau case provides students with experience using visualization to identify anomalous transactions for further testing. Aside from gaining experience with Tableau visualization software, their case will improve students' problem-solving and analytical skillys by encouraging them to work independently and to break a complex problem into manageable pieces.
The case provides a convenient way to introduce data and analytics into auditing classes in a meaningful way, and "aligns directly with Pamplin's focus on being a leader in business analytics. It's an instructional resource that other faculty will benefit from, as we have more and more of a push to incorporate data and analytics into the accounting curriculum." Stein said. To that end, the authors recently shared their case with members of the American Accounting Association's Audit Section in a plenary session of the Midyear Meeting in Houston, Texas.
The Innovation in Auditing and Assurance Education Award is sponsored by the American Accounting Association to encourage innovation and improvement in auditing and assurance education. The award is based on innovation, educational benefits and the adaptability by other educational institutions or to other situations. Only one award is made each year.
