Accounting Information Systems, 15e (Romney)

Chapter 6 Transforming Data

1 Describe the principles of data structuring related to aggregating data, data joining, and data
pivoting.

1) The presentation of data in a summarized form is called what?

A) Data standardization.
B) Data aggregation.
C) Data joining.
D) Data pivoting.
Answer: B
Concept: Principles of data structuring
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

2) Which of the following is true about data aggregation?

A) Data aggregation merges data from multiple tables into a single table.
B) Data aggregation rotates data, so the rows become columns and vice versa.
C) Data is typically stored in databases in fully aggregated form.
D) When data is aggregated, information is lost.
Answer: D
Concept: Principles of data structuring
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

3) Which of the following principles is not related to data structuring?

A) Data aggregation.
B) Data parsing.
C) Data pivoting.
D) Data joining.
Answer: B
Concept: Principles of data structuring, data joining, and data pivoting
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

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4) Select all attributes below that are related to high quality data.
A) Accuracy.
B) Completeness.
C) Consistent.
D) Valid.
Answer: A, B, C, D
Concept: Principles of data structuring
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty: Moderate
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

5) ________ is the process of changing the organization and relationships among data fields to
prepare the data for analysis.
A) Data structuring.
B) Data standardization
C) Data cleaning
D) Data validation
Answer: A
Concept: Principles of data structuring
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

6) Select all activities below that are related to data structuring.

A) Aggregating data at different levels.
B) Pivoting data.
C) Joining different data together.
D) Parsing data into multiple columns.
Answer: A, B, C
Concept: Principles of data structuring
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty: Moderate
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

7) ________ is a technique that rotates data from rows to columns.

A) Data standardization.
B) Data aggregation.
C) Data joining.
D) Data pivoting.
Answer: D
Concept: Principles of data structuring
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

2
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8) Data transformation occurs when data is
A) gathered.
B) stored.
C) analyzed.
D) All of the above.
Answer: D
Concept: Principles of data structuring
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

3
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The data below represents a snippet of data from a company. Imagine much larger datasets as
you consider the questions below. Use this data to answer the questions.

Data A
SalesOrder ProdID QSold SPrice
1255 A5467 23 86.95
1255 A8433 8 133.98
1255 A5691 27 15.99
1256 A5582 15 76.90
1256 A5467 14 86.95
1258 A5691 50 14.99

Data B
SalesOrder QUnitsOrdered
1255 58
1256 29
1258 50

Data C
ProdID QUnitsOrdered
A5467 37
A8433 8
A5691 77
A5582 15

Data D
ProdID AvgSPrice
A5467 86.95
A8433 133.98
A5691 15.34
A5582 76.9

Data E
Month Sales
January 5874.22
February 749.5

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9) Which dataset represents the most disaggregated data?
A) Data A.
B) Data B.
C) Data C.
D) Data D.
E) Data E.
Answer: A
Concept: Principles of data structuring
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

10) Which dataset represents the most aggregated data?

A) Data A.
B) Data B.
C) Data C.
D) Data D.
E) Data E.
Answer: E
Concept: Principles of data structuring
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

11) For which aggregation has the most data been lost?
A) Data A.
B) Data B.
C) Data C.
D) Data D.
E) Data E.
Answer: E
Concept: Principles of data structuring
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

12) Which dataset is most valid for analyzing shipment sizes?

A) Data A.
B) Data B.
C) Data C.
D) Data D.
E) Data E.
Answer: B
Concept: Principles of data structuring
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
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13) Which dataset is most valid for analyzing quantity of products to reorder?
A) Data A.
B) Data B.
C) Data C.
D) Data D.
E) Data E.
Answer: C
Concept: Principles of data structuring
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

14) Which dataset is most valid for analyzing trends over time?
A) Data A.
B) Data B.
C) Data C.
D) Data D.
E) Data E.
Answer: E
Concept: Principles of data structuring
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

15) Which dataset could only be produced by joining to an additional dataset not represented
above?
A) Data A.
B) Data B.
C) Data C.
D) Data D.
E) Data E.
Answer: E
Concept: Principles of data structuring
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

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16) Which dataset is the source for the following pivot?

SalesOrder A5467 A8433 A5691 A5582

1255 23 8 27
1256 14 15
1258 50

A) Data A.
B) Data B.
C) Data C.
D) Data B and Data C.
E) Data A and Data D.
Answer: A
Concept: Principles of data structuring
Objective: Learning Objective 1
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

2 Describe data parsing, data concatenation, cryptic data values, misfielded data values, data
formatting, and data consistency and how they relate to data standardization.

1) An accounting clerk receives a data set like the one shown below. If the clerk wants to
separate first and last name into separate fields, what technique will the accounting clerk need to
use?

LName, FName Credit Limit

Bingham, Jeag $ 1,300
Burton, Linda $ 5,000
Beck, Julie $ 7,800
Parkin, Bonnie $ 2,800

A) Data concatenation.
B) Data parsing.
C) Delimiting data.
D) Correctly fielding misfielded data values.
Answer: B
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

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2) A company's database stores information about customer's locations using a coding scheme.
For example, the western region is stored as "1", the eastern region as "2", the northern region as
"3", and the southern region as "4". When this data is exported and shared with someone, these
numbers are likely to be considered which of the following?
A) Dummy variables.
B) Misfielded data values.
C) Cryptic data values.
D) Dirty data.
Answer: C
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

3) A field labeled "RecentCust" in a database has the value of "1" if a customer made a purchase
in the last 12 months or "0" if the customer has not. The field "RecentCust" is best described as
which of the following?
A) Dummy variables.
B) Misfielded data values.
C) Cryptic data values.
D) Dirty data.
Answer: A
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty: Moderate
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

4) ________ refers to every value in a field being stored in the same way.
A) Data standardization
B) Data consistency
C) Data relevance
D) Data structuring
Answer: B
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

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5) Standardizing data involves all of the following except what?
A) Changing data into a common format.
B) Ensuring information is contained in the correct field.
C) Making sure the fields are organized in a useful manner.
D) All the above are examples of standardizing data.
Answer: D
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Reflective Thinking

6) ________ is separating data in contained in one field into two different fields and ________ is
combining data in two different fields into one field.
A) Data concatenation, data parsing.
B) Data parsing, data concatenation.
C) Data standardizing, data merging.
D) Data merging, data standardizing.
Answer: B
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

7) Examine the data table below. For each column, identify what, if any, data standardization
errors exist. If a column does not have a data standardization error, then list the column name
and "no errors."

Answer:
• Column A: No errors
• Column B: Data consistency (various decimal places and not all use the $ sign)
• Column C and Column D: Misfielded data values (the values are correct they are
just in the wrong columns as the country code 36 for Hungary and 353 for Ireland
should all be in Column C)
• Column E: Cryptic data values (the data does not say what the codes mean)
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty: Challenging
AACSB: Reflective Thinking

9
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8) Separating a mnemonic code from a sequence code that are presented in the same column is
A) data concatenation.
B) data parsing.
C) data extrapolation.
D) data disaggregation.
Answer: B
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

9) When only two states (such as presence or absence) are to be represented in a column of data,
it is common to use
A) pneumonic coding.
B) dummy variable.
C) group coding.
D) data parsing.
Answer: B
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

10) When importing data from two sources you notice in the customer name column the entry of
"Camille Börg". In another location you notice the entry "Camille Börg". Analysis of
supporting data indicate that the two entries represent the same customer. What type of error do
you suspect?
A) Data structuring.
B) Data parsing.
C) Data encoding.
D) Data formatting.
Answer: C
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

10
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11) While evaluating data in several log files you notice that timestamp data is represented
differently in some data sources. The timestamp for one log file represented time as "Fri, 21 Jan
2022 00:02:09 UTC", while another represented the same time as "Friday, January 21, 2022
07:02:09 AM". Your concern with these two time formats is related to
A) data input controls.
B) data integrity.
C) date errors.
D) data consistency.
Answer: D
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

12) An update log file contains the following information:

LogID [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] UpdateTimeStamp

Steve 212 834- Steven 212 834- 01/21/22 07:02:09
15 Gleason 2345 Brooklyn Gleason 2345 NJ UTC
Mabel 315 332 315 332- 01/21/22 07:02:29
16 Zurich 3833 MorristownMabel Lee 3833 Camden UTC
Juan 646 257- Juan 646 257- Long Jan. 21 2022
17 Moroni 7455 Bronx Moroni 7455 Island 07:03:02 UTC

For LogID 15 which of the following data structure issues are present?
A) Data parsing.
B) Cryptic data values.
C) Misfielded values.
D) Data consistency.
E) Data concatenation.
Answer: C
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

11
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13) An update log file contains the following information:

LogID [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] UpdateTimeStamp

Steve 212 834- Steven 212 834- 01/21/22 07:02:09
15 Gleason 2345 Brooklyn Gleason 2345 NJ UTC
Mabel 315 332 315 332- 01/21/22 07:02:29
16 Zurich 3833 MorristownMabel Lee 3833 Camden UTC
Juan 646 257- Juan 646 257- Long Jan. 21 2022
17 Moroni 7455 Bronx Moroni 7455 Island 07:03:02 UTC

For LogID 16 which of the following data structure issues are present?
A) Data parsing.
B) Cryptic data values.
C) Misfielded values.
D) Data consistency.
E) Data concatenation.
Answer: D
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

14) An update log file contains the following information:

LogID [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] UpdateTimeStamp

Steve 212 834- Steven 212 834- 01/21/22 07:02:09
15 Gleason 2345 Brooklyn Gleason 2345 NJ UTC
Mabel 315 332 315 332- 01/21/22 07:02:29
16 Zurich 3833 MorristownMabel Lee 833 Camden UTC
Juan 646 257- Juan 646 257- Long Jan. 21 2022
17 Moroni 7455 Bronx Moroni 7455 Island 07:03:02 UTC

For LogID 17 which of the following data structure issues are present?
A) Data parsing.
B) Cryptic data values.
C) Misfielded values.
D) Data consistency.
E) Data concatenation.
Answer: D
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

12
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15) An update log file contains the following information:

LogID [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] UpdateTimeStamp

Steve 212 834- Steven 212 834-2 01/21/22 07:02:09
15 Gleason 2345 Brooklyn Gleason 345 NJ UTC
Mabel 315 332 315 332- 01/21/22 07:02:29
16 Zurich 3833 MorristownMabel Lee 3833 Camden UTC
Juan 646 257- Juan 646 257- Long Jan. 21 2022
17 Moroni 7455 Bronx Moroni 7455 Island 07:03:02 UTC

From this information you are to produce a report comparing Old and New First Names. Which
data structure tool will you use to find the first names?
A) Data parsing.
B) Cryptic data values.
C) Misfielded values.
D) Data consistency.
E) Data concatenation.
Answer: A
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 2
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

3 Describe how to diagnose and fix the data cleaning errors related to data duplication, data
filtering, data contradiction errors, data threshold violations, violated attribute dependencies, and
data entry errors.

1) Which of the following are most likely to be caused by data entry errors?
A) Data de-duplication errors.
B) Data imputation errors.
C) Data threshold violations.
D) All of the above.
Answer: C
Concept: Diagnosing and fixing data errors
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Reflective Thinking

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2) In entering data, two clerks separately entered the exact same invoice information into the
system. What needs to happen to the data to fix this error?
A) Data de-duplication.
B) Data standardization.
C) Data filtering.
D) Data threshold violations.
Answer: A
Concept: Diagnosing and fixing data errors
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Reflective Thinking

3) Data standardization usually focuses on fixing ________ of data while data cleaning usually
focuses on fixing ________ of data.
A) Data dictionary, the entry.
B) The entry, data dictionary.
C) Columns, rows.
D) Rows, columns.
Answer: C
Concept: Diagnosing and fixing data errors
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty: Moderate
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

4) In visually inspecting data, a controller sees that a customer is offered "200/10 n30" terms for
paying off their purchase. What error is most likely in this data set?
A) A data contradiction error.
B) A data imputation error.
C) A violated attribute dependency.
D) A data threshold violation.
Answer: D
Concept: Diagnosing and fixing data errors
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty: Moderate
AACSB: Reflective Thinking

5) ________ is the term to describe replacing or substituting null values with a substituted value.
A) Data filtering
B) Data de-duplication
C) Data imputation
D) Data validation
Answer: C
Concept: Diagnosing and fixing data errors
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

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6) There are many different ways of dealing with null values in a dataset. Which of the following
is not a method for dealing with null values in a dataset?
A) Data imputation.
B) Data filtering.
C) Deleting data threshold violations.
D) All of the above are ways of dealing with null values in a dataset.
Answer: C
Concept: Diagnosing and fixing data errors
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

7) Examine the data table below. For each row, identify what, if any, data cleaning errors exist. If
a row does not have a data cleaning error, then list the row name and "no errors." For this data,
each company is uniquely named and only operates in a single city.

Answer:
• Row 1: Is the headers row, there are no problems.
• Row 2: There is a violated attribute dependency error (New York City is a legitimate location,
but it is not in Germany).
• Row 3 and Row 4: There is duplicate data (the entries are exact duplicates, one needs to be
deleted).
• Row 5: No errors.
• Row 6 and Row 7: One of these has a data contradiction error (since the problem states each
company is only located in one city in a country, one of these entries is an error).
• Row 8: Data threshold violation (the profit margin exceeds any reasonable amount).
Concept: Diagnosing and fixing data errors
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty: Challenging
AACSB: Reflective Thinking

15
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8) An update log file contains the following information:

LogID [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link]

Steve 212 834- Steven 212 834-
15 Gleason 2345 Brooklyn NY Gleason 2345 Camden
Mabel 315 332- 315 332-
16 Zurich 3833 MorristownNJ Mabel Lee 38333 Camden NJ
Mabel 315 332- 315 332-
17 Zurich 3833 MorristownNJ Mabel Lee 38333 Camden NJ
Juan 646 257- Juan 646 257- New
18 Moroni 7455 Bronx NY Moroni 7455 York NJ

Which data cleaning method is best suited to replace the missing value in LogID 15?
A) Data filtering.
B) Data imputation.
C) Data threshold values.
D) Data de-duplication.
E) Violated attribute dependency.
Answer: B
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

9) An update log file contains the following information:

LogID [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link]

Steve 212 834- Steven 212 834-
15 Gleason 2345 Brooklyn NY Gleason 2345 Camden
Mabel 315 332- 315 332-
16 Zurich 3833 MorristownNJ Mabel Lee 38333 Camden NJ
Mabel 315 332- 315 332-
17 Zurich 3833 MorristownNJ Mabel Lee 38333 Camden NJ
Juan 646 257- Juan 646 257-
18 Moroni 7455 Bronx NY Moroni 7455 New YorkNJ

Which data cleaning concept could help identify errors in [Link]?

A) Data filtering.
B) Data imputation.
C) Data threshold values.
D) Data de-duplication.
E) Violated attribute dependency.
Answer: C
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
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10) An update log file contains the following information:

LogID [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link]

Steve 212 834- Steven 212 834-
15 Gleason 2345 Brooklyn NY Gleason 2345 Camden
Mabel 315 332- 315 332-
16 Zurich 3833 MorristownNJ Mabel Lee 38333 Camden NJ
Mabel 315 332- 315 332-
17 Zurich 3833 MorristownNJ Mabel Lee 38333 Camden NJ
Juan 646 257- Juan 646 257- New
18 Moroni 7455 Bronx NY Moroni 7455 York NJ

Which data cleaning concept could help identify errors in rows 16 and 17?
A) Data filtering.
B) Data imputation.
C) Data threshold values.
D) Data de-duplication.
E) Violated attribute dependency.
Answer: D
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

17
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11) An update log file contains the following information:

LogID [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link]

Steve 212 834- Steven 212 834-
15 Gleason 2345 Brooklyn NY Gleason 2345 Camden
Mabel 315 332- 315 332-
16 Zurich 3833 MorristownNJ Mabel Lee 38333 Camden NJ
Mabel 315 332- 315 332-
17 Zurich 3833 MorristownNJ Mabel Lee 38333 Camden NJ
Juan 646 257- Juan 646 257- New
18 Moroni 7455 Bronx NY Moroni 7455 York NJ

Which data cleaning concept could help identify errors in rows 18?
A) Data filtering.
B) Data imputation.
C) Data threshold values.
D) Data de-duplication.
E) Violated attribute dependency.
Answer: E
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

18
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12) An update log file contains the following information:

LogID [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link]

Steve 212 834- Steven 212 834-
15 Gleason 2345 Brooklyn NY Gleason 2345 Camden
Mabel 315 332- 315 332-
16 Zurich 3833 MorristownNJ Mabel Lee 38333 Camden NJ
Mabel 315 332- 315 332-
17 Zurich 3833 MorristownNJ Mabel Lee 38333 Camden NJ
Juan 646 257- Juan 646 257- New
18 Moroni 7455 Bronx NY Moroni 7455 York NJ

Which data cleaning concept could help reduce the dataset to data from customers who were in
NY?
A) Data filtering.
B) Data imputation.
C) Data threshold values.
D) Data de-duplication.
E) Violated attribute dependency.
Answer: A
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

13) Incentive programs were introduced to sales staff to decrease the amount of time spent on
each order. This incentive program is likely to increase which type of error?
A) Data input.
B) Data imputation.
C) Data threshold values.
D) Data de-duplication.
E) Violated attribute dependency.
Answer: A
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

19
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14) A manufacturing entity did a system upgrade which required the old system and the new
system to run in parallel for two months. Which cleaning concept will most likely be needed in
data from the parallel systems?
A) Data input.
B) Data imputation.
C) Data threshold values.
D) Data de-duplication.
E) Violated attribute dependency.
Answer: D
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

15) Robert Husayn noticed that $506 was taken from his paycheck due to a court order to garnish
his wages. However, there was no court judgement again him. Upon investigation, it was learned
that the court order was against Robert Hussein and that a court clerk had mistyped the name
when he heard it pronounced. Which type of data cleansing concept does this represent?
A) Data input.
B) Data imputation.
C) Data threshold values.
D) Data de-duplication.
E) Violated attribute dependency.
Answer: A
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

16) A custom automotive license plate of "NULL" was issued for a car. Shortly afterward, the
owner of the car started receiving citation notifications that were not his. The citations totaled
thousands of dollars. Which data cleansing concept likely created this problem?
A) Data input.
B) Data imputation.
C) Data threshold values.
D) Data de-duplication.
E) Violated attribute dependency.
Answer: B
Concept: Data standardization
Objective: Learning Objective 3
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

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4 List and describe four different techniques to perform data validation.

1) ________ is the process of analyzing data to make sure it has the properties of high quality
data.
A) Data aggregation
B) Data structuring
C) Data validation
D) Data imputation
Answer: C
Concept: Performing data validation
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

2) Order the following four data validation principles from which is the easiest to perform and
will likely catch the fewest errors to which is the hardest to perform and will likely catch the
most errors.
A) Basic statistical tests, visual inspection, audit a sample, advanced testing techniques.
B) Visual inspection, basic statistical tests, audit a sample, advanced testing techniques.
C) Audit a sample, basic statistical tests, visual inspection, advanced testing techniques.
D) Advanced testing techniques, audit a sample, basic statistical tests, visual inspection.
Answer: B
Concept: Performing data validation
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty: Moderate
AACSB: Reflective Thinking

3) A company has 30,000 transactions related to purchasing raw materials. The internal auditor
selects a random sample of 1% for testing. In the sample, the internal auditor finds 2 errors
where employees did not get purchases approved before buying raw materials. What is the best
estimate for how many errors are in the 30,000 transactions of the company?
A) 2
B) 200
C) 300
D) None of the above
Answer: B
Concept: Performing data validation
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty: Moderate
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

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4) A company has 50,000 order transactions. Each of those transactions should have had the
credit approved by a credit manager before being sold. The company believes there are 750
transactions that were not approved. If the company’s internal auditors took a sample of 250
transactions. How many errors would the internal auditors likely find in the sample of 250
transactions (round any partial errors up to the next whole number)?
A) 0
B) 2
C) 10
D) None of the above
Answer: D
Concept: Performing data validation
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty: Moderate
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

5) Having specialized accounting knowledge is most important for performing which data
validation technique?
A) Visual inspection.
B) Basic statistical tests.
C) Auditing a sample.
D) Advanced testing techniques.
Answer: D
Concept: Performing data validation
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty: Moderate
AACSB: Reflective Thinking

6) An external auditor examines means, standard deviations, maximum values, and minimum
values. What data validation technique is the external auditor most likely using?
A) Visual inspection.
B) Basic statistical tests.
C) Auditing a sample.
D) Advanced testing techniques.
Answer: B
Concept: Performing data validation
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

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7) Statistical data for four plants is presented below. The data in the first two lines has been
audited and is correct. The basic statistics were each computed correctly (i.e., the math was done
correctly). For each plant, indicate what concerns you have with the data based on the basic
statistics presented. If you have no concerns, record "no concerns" for that plant.

Description Plant 1 Plant 2 Plant 3 Plant 4

Total Units Produced 23,868 33,450 14,444 16,564
Production Lines in Operation 3 5 2 2

Basic Statistics
Average Time to Produce a Unit (min) 0.12 0.18 0.07 0.08
Median Time to Produce a Unit (min) 1.23 0.17 0.08 0.08
Maximum Time to Produce a Unit 7.43 0.31 0.27 0.13
Minimum Time to Produce a Unit 0.04 0.05 -0.02 0.03

Answer:
• Plant 1: The maximum time is very high and the median time is much higher than the average
time. Examine Plant 1 data for outliers.
• Plant 2: No concerns.
• Plant 3: Plan 3 shows a negative minimum time to produce a unit, which is impossible.
Examine all production time values that were negative.
• Plant 4: No concerns.
Concept: Performing data validation
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty: Moderate
AACSB: Application of Knowledge

8) Which technique is likely to discover a "FirstName" field that contains both the customer's
first name and last name in a dataset of 1000 records?
A) Visual inspection.
B) Basic statistical tests.
C) Auditing a sample.
D) Advanced testing techniques.
Answer: A
Concept: Performing data validation
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

23
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9) Which technique is likely to discover a value that is 10x larger than the next highest value in a
dataset of 500,000 records?
A) Visual inspection.
B) Basic statistical tests.
C) Auditing a sample.
D) Advanced testing techniques.
Answer: B
Concept: Performing data validation
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

10) Which technique would assist in estimating the number of violated attribute dependency
issues in a dataset of 4 million records?
A) Visual inspection.
B) Basic statistical tests.
C) Auditing a sample.
D) Advanced testing techniques.
Answer: C
Concept: Performing data validation
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

11) Which technique utilizes the user's understanding of defined relationships among data tables
to reveal data inconsistencies?
A) Visual inspection.
B) Basic statistical tests.
C) Auditing a sample.
D) Advanced testing techniques.
Answer: D
Concept: Performing data validation
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

24
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education, Inc.
12) An analyst decides to compute the total of each invoice by adding the sum of quantity times
price of each product on the invoice. This total is compared with the total that was stored when
the invoice was created. This is an example of
A) visual inspection.
B) basic statistical tests.
C) auditing a sample.
D) advanced testing techniques.
Answer: D
Concept: Performing data validation
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

13) An analyst sorts data by customer name first in ascending order then descending order
reading the names at the top of the list. This is an example of
A) visual inspection.
B) basic statistical tests.
C) auditing a sample.
D) advanced testing techniques.
Answer: A
Concept: Performing data validation
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

14) An analyst chooses to examine transactions who values that are three standard deviations
larger than the mean. This is an example of
A) visual inspection.
B) basic statistical tests.
C) auditing a sample.
D) advanced testing techniques.
Answer: B
Concept: Performing data validation
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

25
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education, Inc.
15) An analyst filters data to show only those transactions that have a null value in the shipping
address field. This is an example of
A) visual inspection.
B) basic statistical tests.
C) auditing a sample.
D) advanced testing techniques.
Answer: A
Concept: Performing data validation
Objective: Learning Objective 4
Difficulty: Easy
AACSB: Analytical Thinking

26
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education, Inc.