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AICPA selects Marietta professor's data analytics assignment for national award

by Tom Perry

Marietta, Ohio (01/13/2022) — Marietta College Professor Grace Johnson's Tableau-based data analytics assignment for junior accounting majors was awarded Honorable Mention in the short case category by the Association of International Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

In a nationwide competition open to accounting faculty teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, four prizes were awarded: first prize and honorable mention each in short-case and long-case categories.

Her "Superstore Memo" assignment uses the Sample-Superstore dataset available with Tableau academic licenses. Students communicate their observations from visualizations and formulate questions for Superstore's director of sales and marketing. Students role-play a member of the financial analysis team at the fictitious retailer Superstore, and communicate their observations and questions through a memo. Objectives of the assignment include identifying matters of interest, framing inquiries using language appropriate to a senior member of the Superstore leadership team, and writing professional memos.

"What a surprise and honor it is to be selected by the judges at the AICPA," Johnson said. "There are so many creative and talented faculty teaching accounting at colleges and universities around the nation. My assignment is but a small one developed to aid our accounting majors' fundamental understanding of data analytics."

Johnson, along with the other three award winners, will present their assignments at the AICPA's monthly "Faculty Hour" webinars in January and February. Johnson will present at the January 28th Faculty Hour.

Located in Marietta, Ohio, at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers, Marietta College is a four-year liberal arts college. Tracing its roots to the Muskingum Academy back in 1797, the College was officially chartered in 1835. Today Marietta College serves a body of 1,200 full-time students. The College offers more than 50 majors and is consistently ranked as one of the top regional comprehensive colleges by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, as well as one of the nation's best by Forbes.com. Marietta was selected seventh in the nation according to the Brookings Institution's rankings of colleges by their highest value added, regardless of major. Marietta College has also been named a Great College to Work For four consecutive years (2018-2021).

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