| Course | AC314 Accounting Information Systems and Enterprise Risk Management |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 4 |
| Paper type | Revenue cycle analysis |
| Length | About 610 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Accounting |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for AC314 Unit 4
$760,000 of Plants Delivered and Never Scanned: A Unit 4 Revenue Cycle Analysis for a Wholesale Nursery
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
AC314: Accounting Information Systems and Enterprise Risk Management
Unit 4 Revenue Cycle Analysis
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Stillbrook Nursery, its customers and every figure are composite; the standard, framework and textbook cited are real.
Profile
Annual sales: $26,400,000. Independent garden centers and landscapers, about 300 accounts on 30-day terms: $16,520,000, 63 percent. The home-improvement chain: $9,880,000, 37 percent, paid weekly only for plants its registers scan. Because Stillbrook keeps ownership of chain plants until they are sold, revenue on that business is recognized at the scan, not at delivery (Financial Accounting Standards Board, 2014).
Trace 1: An Independent Garden Center's Order
1. Sales order entry. Data: order keyed from email or phone; credit check against the customer master. Threat: orders for customers over their limit. Weak joint: none found; the system holds over-limit orders for the credit manager.
2. Shipping. Data: pick list, field scans, three-part delivery ticket. Threat: plants shipped but not recorded. Weak joint: signed tickets are filed in the yard, and nothing marks them delivered in the system. A year's test found $41,300 of signed tickets never invoiced.
3. Billing. Data: nightly invoices for tickets marked delivered. Threat: unbilled shipments and unsupported credits. Weak joint: dead-plant credits are issued by sales staff on a customer's word. In May and June they ran $130,000 above the prior year, with no photographs or returned plants behind most of them.
4. Collection. Data: lockbox file applied to invoices. Threat: misapplied or diverted payments. Weak joint: the will-call counter takes cash and checks from landscapers, handled by a clerk who also posts receipts.
Trace 2: A Chain Store's Plants
1. Sales order entry. Data: the chain's weekly replenishment file by store. Threat: overshipping to stores that cannot sell the plants. Weak joint: Stillbrook ships whatever the file asks, with no check against each store's past sell-through.
2. Shipping. Data: delivery tickets signed by store receivers. Threat: deliveries disputed later. Weak joint: tickets are signed, but store and plant counts are not loaded into any file that can be matched to scans.
3. Billing. Data: nightly scan file, invoiced weekly. Threat: plants delivered and never scanned. Weak joint: Stillbrook learns of unscanned plants only when the season-end count arrives.
4. Collection. Data: weekly remittance netted against chain deductions. Threat: unexplained deductions. Weak joint: deductions for promotions and dead plants are accepted without line detail.
The independent trace fails at the edges of each step, a ticket not marked or a credit not supported, while the chain trace fails in the space between two companies' records, where no one at Stillbrook is responsible for matching what was delivered with what was sold.
The $760,000
Of the unscanned plants, the chain's season-end report attributes $310,000 to dead plants its staff discarded. The other $450,000 has no explanation: theft, plants scanned under the wrong item number, or deliveries never made. Without a store-level match of deliveries to scans, Stillbrook cannot tell which. Under the pay-by-scan agreement the loss is Stillbrook's.
Priorities
1. Load chain delivery counts by store and plant into a file and match them to scans weekly.
2. Report printed tickets not invoiced every week.
3. Require photographs or returned plants for credits over a set amount.
4. Separate the will-call cash role from receivables posting.
Each of these follows the internal control principle that information used in controls must be complete and accurate (Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, 2013). The revenue cycle threats themselves follow the textbook's activity-by-activity framework (Romney & Steinbart, 2018).
References
Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. (2013). Internal control: Integrated framework. https://www.coso.org
Financial Accounting Standards Board. (2014). Revenue from contracts with customers (Topic 606) (Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-09). https://www.fasb.org
Romney, M. B., & Steinbart, P. J. (2018). Accounting information systems (14th ed.). Pearson.
What the AC314 Unit 4 assignment asks for
The fourth AC314 unit asks for an analysis of the revenue cycle in a described business. Start with a short profile: sales, customer types and terms, and how revenue is recognized for each. Trace at least one order through each activity: sales order entry, shipping, billing and cash collection. For each step, name the document or data created, the threat that arises there and any weak joint the case shows. Use the case's own figures to size each weakness. Where the business has two channels, trace both and compare where each fails. Explain any unusual arrangement, such as consignment or pay-by-scan terms, and its revenue effect. Close with ranked priorities for the control matrix that follows. Keep controls brief here unless the prompt asks for them. Cite the textbook, the revenue standard and COSO in APA 7.
How the AC 314 Unit 4 example is put together
The sample's profile splits Stillbrook's sales between about 300 independent accounts and the chain, and explains that chain revenue is recognized at the scan under the 2014 revenue update. Trace 1 follows an independent order through four numbered steps, each with data, threat and weak joint, including the $41,300 of signed tickets never invoiced, $130,000 of extra dead-plant credits and a will-call counter clerk who also posts receipts. Trace 2 follows a chain store's plants through replenishment, delivery, scan billing and remittance deductions. The highlighted sentence contrasts the two kinds of failure. A section divides the $760,000 into $310,000 of dead plants reported by the chain and $450,000 unexplained. Four ranked priorities close the analysis, tied to COSO's principle on complete information.
Reading the AC314 Unit 4 grading rubric
Points in this AC314 analysis follow the four revenue cycle activities, so each must be covered with its documents, threats and weaknesses. Threats need to be specific to the business, not copied from the textbook's general list. Weak joints earn the most credit when the case's own figures size them. Tracing two channels and comparing their failures shows analytical depth. Explaining an unusual sales arrangement and its revenue recognition connects the system to financial reporting. A ranked set of priorities shows judgment about where controls matter most. Layout matters too: a consistent step-by-step structure lets the grader compare the traces. Each claim resting on the course text, the 2014 revenue update or COSO should carry an APA 7 citation, as Purdue Global's AC314 graders check.
AC314 Unit 4 help: mistakes that cost points
Revenue cycle analyses often list every threat in the textbook without asking which apply to the business. Students describe the process but never name a weak joint. Figures from the case go unused, so priorities are guessed. Two different channels are treated as one, hiding the place where one of them fails. Pay-by-scan or consignment terms are ignored, and revenue is assumed to arise at delivery. Controls are designed in detail when the prompt asks only for threats. Cash collection is left out. If your case is a manufacturer, a software firm or a service business, a writer can trace its orders through the four activities and size each weakness from your facts.
Get an AC314 Unit 4 example written to your instructions
Describe or attach the business your Unit 4 case sets out, with every sales channel it mentions, and include the rubric. Traces through all four activities come back within 24-48h, the joints ranked by what they could cost that business. A first custom sample carries no charge. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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AC314 Unit 4 questions, answered
What is pay-by-scan, and why does it matter here?
Under pay-by-scan, sometimes called scan-based trading, a retailer pays its supplier only for units sold through its registers, so the supplier keeps ownership of stock on the retailer's shelves. Revenue arrives at the scan rather than the delivery. In the AC314 sample this moves the cycle's biggest risk from collection to shrink, which is why the chain trace is written separately.
Should the analysis include controls?
Only if your prompt asks. Many AC314 sections split the work, identifying threats in the cycle unit and designing controls in a later matrix, and a control offered early can read as skipping the analysis. The sample marks weak joints and ranks them by dollars, and it notes in one line which ones the later control work would address first.
What if my assignment describes a different business?
Then both traces are rebuilt on that business's channels. A company with one channel gets one trace in more depth; one selling online and through distributors gets two, like the nursery. Send the case facts and the rubric, and the four activities stay as the spine while the threats, documents and figures come from your case.
Where can I find a free AC314 Unit 4 sample paper?
This page holds a complete AC314 Unit 4 revenue cycle analysis tracing two Stillbrook Nursery orders to cash, with sized weak joints, the unscanned plants explained and ranked priorities, plus APA 7 references.
Why is chain revenue recognized at the scan in AC314 Unit 4?
Stillbrook keeps ownership of plants on the chain's shelves until a register scans them, and the chain pays only for scanned plants. Control passes at the sale, so that is when revenue is recognized.