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Data & Analytics / Introductory

Account Mapping Case Study

KPMG MADA Program Team

July 2025

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Summary

This case study is designed to demonstrate how data analytics and automation platforms (i.e., Alteryx and Microsoft Power BI) can bring efficiencies to the account mapping process, as well as visual financial analyses. These materials are intended for use by undergraduate or graduate accounting faculty who are looking to demonstrate how these technologies can be used to replace historically manual audit procedures. Some prior knowledge of Alteryx and/or Power BI would be helpful to complete this case but is not required. Datasets included.
 

Content

Students will put themselves in the shoes of an audit associate to create an account mapping file in Alteryx by organizing trial balance data by account category. From there, they will create Microsoft Power BI dashboards to visualize the consolidated trial balance and perform specified data analyses. 

The learning objectives of this assignment are as follows: 

  1. Identify opportunities for process improvements, such as replacing historically manual procedures with automation. 
  2. Demonstrate how to use Alteryx functionality to create an account mapping file for a client.
  3. Identify the benefit of creating an Alteryx workflow to gain efficiencies period over period. 
  4. Exercise appropriate professional judgment in evaluating the Alteryx output for completeness and accuracy. 
  5. Create data visualizations of the company’s financial information in a digestible format.  
  6. Perform data and trend analyses in Microsoft Power BI and identify/evaluate potential outliers. 
  7. Identify the benefit of creating a Power BI dashboard to effectively tell a data story to deliver client insights, as well as investigate outliers.