| Course | AC550 Accounting Information Systems |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 2 |
| Paper type | Process narrative |
| Length | About 630 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MS in Accounting |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for AC550 Unit 2
Five Workarounds Not in the Binder: A Unit 2 Process Narrative of a Cylinder Exchange Cycle
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
AC550: Accounting Information Systems
Unit 2 Process Narrative
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Halvorsen Welding Supply, its staff and every detail are composite; the textbooks and framework cited are real.
Sources
The narrative was built from interviews with a dispatcher, two route drivers, the counter lead at the main branch and the billing clerk, plus a full-day ride-along on the Eastside route. The procedure binder, last revised four years ago, was read for comparison, since narratives built only from written procedures describe a process nobody follows (Hall, 2019). Where practice differed from the binder, practice is described and the difference is flagged as a workaround.
Customer Service
1. A customer calls or emails an order for filled cylinders. The customer service representative enters a sales order in the billing system with gas type and quantity, not serial numbers, and the order prints at dispatch.
2. Workaround 1: regular customers often text their driver directly. The driver adds the delivery to his route without an order, and customer service learns of it only when the scan arrives.
Dispatch
3. Each morning the dispatcher assigns orders to routes and loads them to the drivers' handhelds.
4. Filled cylinders are pulled from the dock and loaded by gas type. Serial numbers are not recorded at loading.
Route Driver and Handheld
5. At each stop the driver scans the barcode on every full cylinder delivered and every empty collected. The handheld records serial, gas type, time and stop.
6. The handheld syncs to the scan database when the truck returns to Wi-Fi range at the branch.
7. Workaround 2: when a barcode is damaged, the driver keys the serial by hand from the stamped collar. If the collar is unreadable, he scans a spare barcode label from his clipboard, which assigns a different serial to the cylinder.
8. Workaround 3: if a customer disputes a count at the dock, the driver can void the stop's scans on the handheld and rescan before the sync, leaving no record of the first count.
Counter
9. Walk-in customers swap empties for fulls at the branch counter. Staff note each swap on a paper swap sheet by gas type and quantity.
10. Workaround 4: on busy days swap sheets pile up and are keyed into billing a week or more later, in one batch.
Billing
11. At 2 a.m. a nightly job totals the day's scans per customer and gas type and writes them to the billing system's holdings field, replacing the previous count.
12. Workaround 5: when keyed swap sheets and the nightly job conflict, the later write wins. The billing clerk sometimes re-enters the counter count by hand the next morning, and the next night's job overwrites it again.
13. On the first of each month, rent is billed at the account's holdings count times the rent rate.
Controller
14. The controller reviews an exceptions report of accounts whose holdings changed by more than ten cylinders, but has no report of serial-level differences. Payments are posted against invoices in the billing system.
The five workarounds are not misconduct; each solves a real problem for the person who uses it, but together they mean that the holdings count that drives rent can be changed by three people and one job, with no record of which change was last.
What the Narrative Shows
The cycle has strong evidence at the handheld and weak evidence everywhere else. Control activities depend on reliable information flowing through the process (Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, 2013), and the flowchart in Unit 3 will map where that flow breaks (Romney et al., 2021).
References
Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. (2013). Internal control: Integrated framework. COSO.
Hall, J. A. (2019). Accounting information systems (10th ed.). Cengage.
Romney, M. B., Steinbart, P. J., Summers, S. L., & Wood, D. A. (2021). Accounting information systems (15th ed.). Pearson.
Reading the AC 550 Unit 2 instructions
Unit 2 of AC550 asks you to write a narrative of a business process. Begin by listing your sources, such as interviews, observation and existing procedures, because a narrative built only from written procedures tends to describe a process nobody follows. Organize the narrative by role, and number each paragraph so later flowcharts can refer to it. Each paragraph should describe one action: who performs it, what document or screen is used, what is recorded and where the output goes. Where practice differs from written procedure, describe what actually happens and flag it, without yet judging it as a control failure. Note where records are kept by total and where by item. End with a short statement of what the narrative shows. Support the method with accounting information systems texts and the internal control framework in APA 7.
How this AC550 Unit 2 example is built
The sample lists its sources: interviews with a dispatcher, two drivers, the counter lead and the billing clerk, a full-day ride-along and the four-year-old binder. Fourteen numbered paragraphs follow by role. Customer service enters orders by gas type; workaround one records texted orders that skip it. Drivers scan serials; workarounds two and three cover spare barcode labels and voiding before sync. Counter swaps go on paper sheets keyed later in batches, workaround four. The nightly job overwrites holdings, and workaround five records the clerk's corrections being undone. The highlighted sentence explains why the workarounds matter together. A closing paragraph hands the evidence gaps to the Unit 3 flowchart.
AC550 Unit 2 rubric: what earns full points
Process narratives in AC550 earn points for completeness, clarity and fidelity to actual practice. Graders check that every role in the cycle appears, that each numbered paragraph names an actor, a document or screen, and an output, and that the narrative can be followed without the author present. The rubric rewards narratives built from observation and interviews that reveal how practice departs from policy, with workarounds flagged rather than hidden. Noting where data is recorded by item and where by total shows systems awareness. Evaluation should be light at this stage. Narratives that copy the procedure manual or skip exception paths score lower. Numbered paragraphs that later documents can cite, and APA 7 references, complete the work.
AC550 Unit 2 help: mistakes that cost points
Common Unit 2 problems include narratives copied from the procedure binder, describing an ideal process nobody follows. Others are written as continuous prose without numbered paragraphs, which makes cross-referencing to a flowchart impossible. Actors are left vague, such as saying the order is entered without saying by whom. Exceptions and workarounds are omitted because they look bad. Students judge every workaround as fraud rather than describing it. Sources are not listed, so the reader cannot tell how the narrative was built. If your section's case supplies a narrative to improve, a writer can number it, fill its gaps and mark where practice departs from policy.
Get an AC550 Unit 2 example written to your instructions
Paste the case, or outline the cycle your Unit 2 prompt covers, add the rubric, and the narrative is built paragraph by paragraph with actors, documents and any workarounds your facts reveal. A first custom sample is free of charge and comes back in 24-48h, following your own instructions on length and format. 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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AC550 Unit 2 questions, answered
How is a process narrative different from a procedure manual?
A procedure manual says what should happen; a narrative records what does. The two often agree on the main path and part company at the exceptions, which is where workarounds live. The sample quotes the binder only where practice departs from it, so a reader sees both versions side by side instead of assuming the manual describes the route.
Should workarounds be called control failures in this unit?
Usually not yet. The narrative describes and cites, while evaluation tends to arrive later in the term, often in the control gap work. Stating a workaround's effect on the record counts as description; declaring that it breaks a control is a judgment. The sample keeps to the first, which leaves the later assessment something to build on.
What if my case already supplies a narrative?
Then the prompt generally asks for something done to it: numbering, identifying documents, filling missing steps or marking where practice departs from policy. The sample shows the finished form those tasks produce. Send the supplied text with your instructions, and the completed narrative keeps its original facts while adding the structure your section expects.
Where can I find a free AC550 Unit 2 sample paper?
This page holds a full AC550 Unit 2 process narrative of the cylinder exchange cycle at Halvorsen Welding Supply with sources, fourteen numbered paragraphs by role, five flagged workarounds and APA 7 references.
Why number every paragraph?
So that the Unit 3 flowchart, the control assessment and anyone reviewing the documentation can point to an exact step. Numbered paragraphs turn the narrative into a reference rather than a story.