Accounting Information Systems

Obtain a copy of the article "How to Debug Excel Spreadsheets" by Rayman Meservy and Marshall Romney published in the Journal of Accountancy (November 2015, pp. 46-52) from either your school library or from the website www.aicpa.org. The spreadsheet referenced in the article is available for download from the course website. Download the spreadsheet and follow along with the steps in the article. Write a report that answers the following questions (these are not completely answered in the article). Include screenshots to support your answers. Hint: The questions below are listed in the sequence in which you will encounter them when working through the steps described in the article.

1. How do you know when the "Trace Precedents" rule has located the cell that contains the source of a chain of errors?

2. Which cells are affected by the error in cell AL4?

3. Explain the nature of the circular reference in the original formula in cell AB6.