Confirmation.com Brings Real World Audit Training Into The Classroom With A New Case Study And A Simulated Audit Technology

BRENTWOOD, Tenn., Jan. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- College and university accounting instructors now have a new set of teaching tools to better prepare future CPAs for the demands of tomorrow's audit environment, especially as it relates to detecting financial fraud.  Confirmation.com, the creator and the world's leading provider of secure audit confirmation services, worked with Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts and Fordham University in Bronx, New York to develop case study materials that bring real-world auditing applications into the classroom.

"In recent years, there has been a noticeable shift of incorporating more case study materials and simulated programs into college curriculum because it can increase the students' interest and motivation to actively learn a particular subject," said Chris Schellhorn, CEO of Confirmation.com.  "We are thrilled to bring this type of interactive learning activity into the auditing classroom, and the Simply Soups edu.Confirmation.com case study allows students to actually apply what they are learning in their audit classes." 

As part of the case study titled Simply Soups Inc.: A Teaching Case Designed to Integrate the Electronic Confirmation Process into the Auditing Curriculum, Confirmation.com also created edu.Confirmation.com which functions as a simulated audit for educational purposes to help accounting and auditing students understand the beneficial role technology has in today's audit practice. 

"We all know that technology innovation is the catalyst for continued improvements within the accounting profession and for the auditing standards as well," said Brian Fox, CPA and founder of Confirmation.com. "It only makes sense to bring these experiences into the classroom, so that accounting and auditing students are truly ready for the real world."

For professors and instructors, the edu.Confirmation.com case study provides:

• Flexible course levels:  The case study is flexible enough to be used in a 1 ^st year undergraduate Auditing course, a 1 ^st year graduate Auditing course, or even in an Advanced Auditing course.
• Two complete sets of in-class PowerPoint presentations with instructor notes: The first set introduces the case study to the students and the second set wraps up the assignment, presents the solutions and discusses the learning objectives.
• Instructor Guide:  Walks instructors through the case study, the intended learning points, and the solutions.

"With the Simply Soups case study, students get to actually confirm cash balances during a simulated audit using the latest electronic confirmation technology," said Jay Thibodeau, professor of accountancy at Bentley University.  "Not only does this class exercise challenge a student's critical thinking skills, it exposes them to the confirmation process, applicable auditing standards and audit risk as well."

Barbara Porco, accounting professor at Fordham University said, "What makes this case study so effective is instead of students just reading about or listening to a lecture on proper confirmation procedures, this hands-on experience essentially makes them put textbook theory into actual practice."

With the edu.Confirmation.com Simply Soups case study, students will learn:

• The risks and rewards of using an electronic confirmation platform;
• How an electronic confirmation service improves the ability to detect fraud;
• How to use Confirmation.com, the market leading technology that they will likely use in their first year as an auditing professional.

"It's been exciting to watch students embrace this new learning tool and how it really resonates with them," said Denise Hanes, assistant professor at Villanova University.  "In my opinion, the case study works best when done in small teams, that way they get to interact in a team-like environment as they would in real life." 

After completing the case study exercise, a survey of students that participated indicated that 98.5 percent agreed that they now have a better understanding of how technology is used in auditing. The survey also found that 100 percent of the instructors and students would recommend the Simply Soups case study for future auditing classes. 

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