Analytics Exam #1

Which tool in Microsoft Excel will reorganize spreadsheet data into custom summaries of key information? a. Filter b. PivotTable c. Developer d. Sort

B. PivotTable

Assume you plan to perform descriptive analysis of your entity's maintenance expenses. Which one of the following analyses would help understand categories of maintenance expenses? a. create a frequency distribution table based on maintenance expense categories b. calculate the mean and median maintenance expense for the whole period c. build a regression model using labor hours as a predictor of maintenance expenses d. calculate the percentage change in maintenance expenses since prior year e. None of these are considered descriptive analysis used to understand categories of maintenance expenses.

a. create a frequency distribution table based on maintenance expense categories

Which activities are performed during the reporting stage of data analysis? a. data interpretation and communication b. data analysis and interpretation c. data preparation and communication d. data cleaning and analysis

a. data interpretation and communication

In the optimization model, what is being determined? a. decision variables b. objective function c. constraints d. how much to produce

a. decision variables

Tax accountants would most likely plan a data analysis strategy that can: a. describe cash outflows for business expenses during the last year b. evaluate changes to the financial statement footnote disclosure rules c. compare advertising expenses to sales revenue increases d. compare organizational strategy options to predicted operational performance e. None of these would motivate data analyses by tax accountants

a. describe cash outflows for business expenses during the last year

Critically considering the purpose for performing data analyses: a. keeps us focused on the reason why something is done or created b. provides free data for analyses c. reveals the stakeholders' perspectives d. helps avoid biases and assumptions e. None of these list the critical thinking benefits of considering the purpose of data analyses.

a. keeps us focused on the reason why something is done or created

which of the following is not a data measure scale that can be used in designing your data analysis strategy? a. optimal data b. ordinal data c. interval data d. ratio data e. all of these are data measure scales

a. optimal data

Professional critical thinking elements in data analysis include: a. understanding stakeholders, identifying the purpose, considering alternatives, assessing risks, identifying knowledge needed and self-reflecting. b. understanding stakeholders, considering alternatives, and understanding the desired results of analysis and actively pursuing that outcome. c. understanding stakeholders, assessing risks, identifying knowledge needed, and following instructions without questioning them. d. understanding stakeholders, identifying the purpose, and following data analysis best practices to achieve the desired result.

a. understanding stakeholders, identifying the purpose, considering alternatives, assessing risks, identifying knowledge needed and self-reflecting.

What type of question is "What is driving the increase in labor expenses?" a. Prescriptive b. Diagnostic c. Predictive d. Descriptive

b. Diagnostic

What type of question is "How many units of product should we buy each month to minimize inventory holding costs but still meet demand?" a. Diagnostic b. Prescriptive c. Descriptive d. Predictive

b. Prescriptive

This function adds the cells specified by a condition or criteria: a. SUMPRODUCT b. SUMIF c. SUMIFS d. SUM

b. SUMIF

Who is an internal stakeholder for a manufacturing company? a. The company's bank b. The company's CFO c. The SEC d. The company's customers

b. The company's CFO (chief financial officer)

Which of these analysis strategies involve categorical and ratio data measurement scales? a. Depreciation schedules for all real estate assets b. Which types of capital sourcing have the highest cost of capital c. Reconciliations of subsidiary ledger balances to the general ledger balance d. Changes to the tax rates applicable to their organization

b. Which types of capital sourcing have the highest cost of capital

The data analysis process stage in which information models are built is the: a. extraction stage b. analyze stage c. report stage d. plan stage

b. analyze stage

A visualization used to represent changes in volume over time is a/an: a. pie chart b. area chart c. bar chart d. line graph

b. area chart

If the coefficient of skewness is -1.5, the data distribution will have a: a. high degree of skewness and tail to the right b. high degree of skewness and tail to the left c. moderate degree of skewness and tail to the right d. moderate degree of skewness and tail to the left

b. high degree of skewness and tail to the left

Diagnosing objectives in data analysis strategies involve which of the following? a. looking for causality in regression variables b. looking for association between data variables c. looking for where to place the blame for bad operational results d. predicting what future outcomes will be in the data e. looking for complete independence of variables

b. looking for association between data variables

A visualization used to illustrate simple part-to-whole relationships is a/an: a. bar chart b. pie chart c. line graph d. area chart

b. pie chart

Which of the following objective questions reflects a diagnostic purpose for data analysis of the accounts receivable year-end balance? a. what is the value of the year-end A/R balance? b. what is the median value for outstanding invoices in the year-end A/R balance? c. Are new customers causing the increase in outstanding invoices in the year-end A/R balance compared to last year? d. How many outstanding invoices are there in the year-end A/R balance? e. What is the invoice that has been outstanding the longest period of time in the year-end A/R balance?

c. Are new customers causing the increase in outstanding invoices in the year-end accounts receivable balance compared to last year?

Financial accountants would most likely plan data analyses strategies for which of the following? a. Changes to the management team b. new competitors in the marketplace c. changes to their assumptions and estimates for end of period adjusting entries d. changes to the tax rates applicable to their organization e. none of these would motivate data analyses by financial accountants.

c. Changes to their assumptions and estimates for end of period adjusting entries

One source of motivation for data analyses in accounting relates to opportunity. Which of the following is an example of the motivation source of opportunity? a. considering why the company's sales volume decreased over a period of time b. desiring future success in your career path c. considering whether to expand production of a newly launched product d. ensuring compliance with the newest FASB pronouncement.

c. Considering whether to expand production of a newly launched product

What type of question is "How much will revenue be next year if we increase sales by 10%?" a. prescriptive b. diagnostic c. predictive d. descriptive

c. Predictive

This function adds the cells specified by a given set of conditions or criteria: a. SUM b. SUMPRODUCT c. SUMIFS d. SUMIF

c. SUMIFS

Once you have articulated a descriptive question, what type of analysis is necessary to understand the dispersion of the data? a. percent change b. frequency c. standard deviation d. median

c. Standard deviation

A PivotTable displays sales by product type, year of sale, and the total dollar amount of sale. You would like to only see three of the 15 product types. The best way to focus only on the specific product types you are interested in is to use: a. the SORT function b. the SUMIG function c. a filter d. cut and paste

c. a filter

Bar chart visualizations are appropriate for data with which measurement scale? a. ratio b. categorical c. all measurement scales are appropriate for bar charts d. ordinal e. nominal

c. all measurement scales are appropriate for bar charts

Managerial accountants would most likely plan data analyses when which of the following occur? a. Changes to SEC website b. Elimination of the financial statement footnote disclosure requirements c. changes to their organization's performance d. changes to the tax rates

c. changes to their organization's performance

Disciplined reasoning used to investigate, understand and evaluate an event, opportunity, or an issue is considered: a. process thinking b. data literacy c. critical thinking d. data analysis

c. critical thinking

diagnostic analyses that include data dispersion measures such as variance and standard deviation are appropriate for which data measurement scale? a. categorical b. ratio c. nominal d. ordinal e. all measurement scales are appropriate for variance analysis

c. nominal

Understanding why we are performing data analysis, what the goal is, and which data to use is part of which stage of data analysis? a. report stage b. analyze stage c. plan stage d. extraction stage

c. plan stage

Which of the following refers to the content of a data set's row? a. data field b. attribute c. single occurrence of the data record. d. all these define a row of data in a dataset

c. single occurrence of the data record

Which of the following is an example of knowledge you might need to acquire for data analysis strategy planning? a. an understanding of your biases b. compensation correlation with results c. the analysis is appropriate for your data measurement scales d. identifying the key stakeholders e. analysis resources that are available for your compensation

c. the analysis is appropriate for your data measurement scales

which of the following is an appropriate response to the data risk that the sample selected for analysis is inappropriate? a. test a sample distribution form fro statistical test assumptions b. explain the rule used for outlier removal c. verify the representativeness of your sample d. know your outlier data point e. add missing variables to see explanatory power changes

c. verify the representativeness of your sample

Which of the following Microsoft Excel functions returns the arithmetic mean for a range or array of numbers? a. MEAN b. SUM c. AVERAGEIF d. AVERAGE

d. AVERAGE

Which of the following are benefits of data visualization? a. visualizing helps to quickly understand large data sets b. data visualization can be used to explore data c. Data visualization can be used to explain data analysis d. All of these are benefits of data visualization.

d. All of these are benefits of data visualization: -visualizing helps to quickly understand large data sets -Data visualization can be used to explore data. -Data visualization can be used to explain data analysis.

Managerial accountants would most likely be motivated to perform data analyses for which of the following? a. changes to the tax code b. changes to the financial statement footnote disclosure rules c. changes to reporting rules by the SEC d. changes to their organization's strategies, performance, and resource costs. e. None of these would motivate data analyses by managerial accountants.

d. Changes to their organization's strategies, performance, and resource costs.

Which of these is NOT an objective of data analysis strategies? a. Diagnosing data b. Prescribing the impact of a particular strategy on the future value of the data c. Describing data d. Collecting data e. Predicting a future value of data

d. Collecting data

which of the following could refer to the name of a column in a sales invoices data set? a. BankStatementDate b. Customers in Orlando, Florida c. Invoice 3570 d. CustomerState

d. CustomerState

In an optimization model, what is being determined? a. constraints b. how much to produce c. objective function d. decision variables

d. Decision variables

If the objective of data analysis is to understand what is currently happening or has happened in the past, then what type of question are you asking? a. prescriptive b. predictive c. diagnostic d. descriptive

d. Descriptive

Which of the following is a question asked in predictive analysis? a. Are there any unusual changes in total revenue from 2021 to 2024? b. How much revenue is categorized as business-to-business sales? c. What is the average sales amount for online customers each year? d. How will revenue be affected if we have a 5% decrease in variable costs?

d. How will revenue be affected if we have a 5% decrease in variable costs?

Predictive and prescriptive analyses that include creating trend line visualizations are appropriate for which data measurement scale? a. Categorical b. Ordinal c. Nominal d. Interval e. All of these measurement scales support using trend line visualizations

d. Interval

AIS accountants are most likely to be motivated to perform data analyses for which of the following opportunities? a. changes to the footnote disclosures required by generally accepted accounting rules. b. turnover in the regulatory body leadership c. new customers in the marketplace d. new technologies that provide cost savings for operational processes e. changes in tax rules

d. New technologies that can provide cost savings for operational processes

The question "Based on current year sales, what can we expect for next year's sales?" would be answered using which type of data analysis method? a. Prescriptive b. Descriptive c. Diagnostic d. Predictive

d. Predictive

Performing the most appropriate data analyses is more likely if you critically think through issues by: a. using bar charts from last year's operational results b. starting with the results you want to achieve c. paying others to help you d. acquiring and applying new knowledge e. none of these help you perform better data analyses.

d. acquiring and applying new knowledge

The analyze stage of the data analytics process includes which of the following tasks? a. communicating the analysis results b. planning the data analysis strategy c. interpreting the analysis findings d. cleaning the data set to remove errors and omissions

d. cleaning the data set to remove errors and omissions

Descriptive analyses that include median central tendency measures are appropriate for which data measurement scale? a. categorical b. ordinal c. nominal d. interval e. all these measurement scales support the median central tendency measure

d. interval

Self-service business intelligence software: a. has limited but easy-to-use processing capabilities to analyze data. b. is used to write data analysis programming code. c. is software that makes it easy to write computer code for data analysis. d. provides easy-to-use extended data processing capabilities for preparing data, analyzing data, and reporting data analysis results.

d. provides easy-to-use extended data processing capabilities for preparing data, analyzing data, and reporting data analysis results.

a mindset of being aware of the newest technology and a willingness to try new things is referred to as: a. critical thinking b. analytical thinking c. data literacy d. technological agility

d. technological agility

Assume you are asked to estimate the amount of uncollectible receivables at year-end. Which of the following is not an analysis risk to consider when estimating accounts receivable bad debts at year-end? a. the company changed collection policies for certain customers b. there are new customers who are not included in the analysis of aged receivables c. the calculation of days outstanding is inaccurate d. the number of full-time sales employees is reported inaccurately e. there are mathematical errors in the summation of receivables

d. the number of full-time sales employees is reported inaccurately

motivation in data analytics in accounting is: a. the interpretation of results of analysis b. based-only on whether your career will benefit from performing the analysis c. based-only on factors outside analysis d. the reason why the analysis is being performed

d. the reason why the analysis is being performed

Measures of dispersion show: a. shape b. location c. central tendency d. variation

d. variation

A data analyses strategy is more likely to be successful if you critically think through: a. the analysis performed by your competitors b. the results you want to achieve c. the data that will best inform your questions d. your objectives for the analysis e. None of these help you perform better data analyses strategy planning

d. your objectives for the analysis

Auditors' motivation to perform data analyses would be high for which of the following situations? a. Evaluating the effectiveness of internal controls in their client's accounting system b. Evaluating the completeness of an account balance on their client's balance sheet or income statement c. Considering the risk of material misstatement in engagement planning d. Aggregating and analyzing key variables in a smart contract for evaluation regarding whether a client recorded their lease liabilities in accordance with GAAP. e. All these are examples of situations where auditors are motivated to perform data analysis

e. All these are examples of situations where auditors are motivated to perform data analysis

auditors plan data analyses strategies for which of the following situations? a. evaluating the effectiveness of internal controls in their client's accounting system b. evaluating the representativeness of an account balance on their client's balance sheet or income statement c. considering the risk involved in providing an audit opinion for a client. d. investigating whether a client's assumptions for recording their lease liabilities is consistent with other companies in their industry e. all of these are examples of situations where auditors plan their data analysis strategies.

e. all of these are examples of situations where auditors plan their data analysis strategies.