TASK 1

Your very good friend Alana has decided to become a Certified Professional Accountant. As part of the course of studies, she is required to study a course in Accounting information systems; she is confused as to why this is necessary. Advise your friend why accounting information systems and an understanding of technology is important to accountants. Please explain by giving 4 distinct reasons.

TASK 2

Howard Roark, a professor at a large Canadian university, would often log on to the website of various publishers to review or order copies of textbooks he was considering for his courses or to obtain access to restricted instructor materials, such as test banks and sample exams. Registering with a publisher was usually a relatively simple process of completing an online request form on the website with information, such as name, university, and contact details. Once verified by the publisher, log in ID and password would then be emailed back to the professor. One day, as he was reading an email message from a publisher, Roark wondered whether existing process was adequate. The publisher had noticed that the email address used in a recent request for access did not match the email address on file for Roark, and so the publisher asked him to confirm that it was valid. Rather than the standard university email address, a new contact had been set up at a generic email service (yahoo or Hotmail) with the same name; all else was correct. Roark was alarmed - was someone trying to impersonate him? What could he do about it? Questions 1. Has anyone been harmed by this or is this a victimless situation? (5 marks) 2. Is the publisher registration process adequate? What changes, if any would you recommend? (5 marks) 3. Do you think this a case of identity theft? Why or why not. (4 marks) 4. Assuming that the individual who created the account is identified, explain what you think would be an appropriate penalty? (4 marks)