Effective Learning Strategies Forum - Poster Sessions
Wednesday, August 6, 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

2. Using a Real Company as an Exemplar in Your Courses
Presenters: Bill Cummings, Northern Illinois University
Sally Webber, Northern Illinois University

Description: The Accountancy Department at Northern Illinois University in collaboration with Caterpillar Inc. worked together to use company materials as exemplars in our program. The purpose of the project is to use a real company to illustrate classroom concepts. Students are introduced to Caterpillar in our Managerial Accounting Principles course where a Caterpillar representative gives a one-hour presentation and students are asked to complete a Web assignment regarding Caterpillar's strategy and business. During the Intermediate Cost Management course, students tour Caterpillar so that they are familiar with a manufacturing environment. Caterpillar financial statements are used in the intermediate Financial Accounting courses to illustrate financial reporting concepts. In the Accounting Information Systems (AIS) class, we decided to incorporate materials based on Caterpillar to help students understand system documentation, controls, and business-resumption planning. The AIS project has two major purposes. The first was to develop materials to illustrate the accounts payable system cycle at Caterpillar, and the second was to document Caterpillar's business-resumption-planning process for disaster recovery. Our poster session will display the classroom materials that were developed to illustrate Caterpillar's Corporate Accounts Payable System (CAPS) and the materials that illustrate the business-resumption plan for Corporate Accounting Services.

Back to Strategic Learning