Shippy Express: Introduction to Google Sheets Case

Shippy Express: Augmenting accounting education with Google Sheets
Journal of Accounting Education, Volume 56, 2021, 100740, ISSN 0748-5751, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaccedu.2021.100740. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0748575121000270

Authors:
Fernando Parra, PhD CISA
Aimee Jacobs, PhD
Laura L. Trevino, PhD

Creative Video Design:
Giovanni Parra

Abstract: The purpose of this teaching case is to provide you with an exercise that uses cloud-based Google Sheets as an alternative to Microsoft Excel to learn spreadsheet functions from a managerial accounting perspective. Specifically, you will use fictitious data from Shippy Express, a shipping company seeking advice from your accounting firm, to develop managerial summaries of their financial transactions to help them make training decisions. You will be supported with instructional YouTube videos intended to guide you at any level of expertise. The case is particularly useful for asynchronous learning as it provides you and your instructors with real-time access to your work-in-progress, versioning audit trails, and a dynamic set of feedback functionalities that augment student-instructor collaboration. It will operate well when integrated into an accounting information systems or managerial accounting course.
Keywords: Google Sheets; Accounting information systems education; Cloud-based learning; Spreadsheet functions; Accounting skills

Shippy Express, an express shipping service provider, wants to analyze the revenue and profit margin of a subset of transactions belonging to one of its Sales Representatives, Veronica, to better understand her contribution to the company. The shipping service company has contracted the services of Super Managerial Accountants (SMA), where brilliant students are doing internships, to help with the analysis. The information from Shippy Express, however, was extracted in a format that requires the connection of relational data contained in separate sheets. Shippy Express would like for SMA to generate a descriptive visualization and data summaries of the sales based on customers, industry, and regions. SMA is also tasked with analyzing each transaction’s operating margin and comparing it to its industry average. Shippy Express wants to be able to access SMA’s work at any time and has requested that SMA use a cloud-based solution to collaborate in real-time using spreadsheet functions to summarize this information. Student interns at SMA will use Google Sheets to allow the supervisor at SMA (instructor) to oversee the work and offer guidance if necessary.
The first sheet of the Shippy Express workbook contains general information, including the list of Shippy Express’s customers, the pricing and cost list for shipping services, and a data dictionary table with abbreviations used for classifying sales regions. You will use cell referencing from the General Information sheet to fill in the missing data (e.g., industry for a customer, cost of service) on the Transactions sheet.

Видео Shippy Express: Introduction to Google Sheets Case канала Fernando Parra