Chart Fundamentals
Before investigating the Midwest Machining case, you must understand your tools. Observe the visual structure of each chart below, read its core concept, and deduce its most powerful application in a real-world forensic audit.
Master the Visuals
Apply your fundamental knowledge. Read the Midwest Machining scenario, select the most powerful visual structure to prove the anomaly, and submit your evidence to reveal the chart.
The Midwest Machining Case File
You have been assigned to investigate Midwest Machining LLC, a heavy industrial manufacturing firm. We have extracted their raw system data into a single, multi-sheet Excel file. It contains seeded anomalies hidden among thousands of normal transactions.
- 3 Worksheets
- 2,500+ Rows
- 4 Critical Anomalies
Power BI Build Lab
Once you have downloaded the Excel file, open Power BI Desktop. Click Get Data -> Excel Workbook, select your downloaded file, and check all three sheets to load them. Complete the missions below to uncover the truth.
Useful Life Manipulation
Your Objective
Visualize the relationship between the Acquisition Date of heavy machinery and its assigned Useful Life. Your goal is to construct a visual that highlights any sudden, unnatural changes in corporate accounting policies over time.
Target Data: Fixed Assets Sheet
Acquisition_Date to the X-axis field. Remove Quarter and Day so it only shows Year and Month.Asset_ID to the Column Y-axis field. (Ensure it aggregates as 'Count').Useful_Life_Months to the Line Y-axis field. Click the drop-down on the field and change the aggregation from 'Sum' to 'Average'."Watch the line. The average useful life of heavy shop floor machinery suddenly spikes from 60 to 120 months in 2024. They are stretching depreciation to artificially boost their bottom line."
Interpretation Check
What does the sudden spike in the useful life trend line likely indicate?
Threshold Abuse (Invoice Splitting)
Your Objective
Midwest's capitalization policy dictates that purchases strictly OVER $5,000 require corporate approval. Using the capitalized amounts, create a visualization that proves plant managers are deliberately splitting invoices to stay under the radar.
Target Data: Fixed Assets Sheet
Capitalized_Amount column and select New Group.Capitalized_Amount (bins) to the X-axis.Asset_ID to the Y-axis (Set to 'Count')."Notice the massive, unnatural spike in invoice counts right at the $4,900 bin. Statistical averages would show a smooth bell curve, but human behavior overrides statistics. Plant managers are splitting invoices to avoid corporate oversight."
Interpretation Check
Why is there a massive spike in transactions just below the $5,000 mark?
Ghost Margins
Your Objective
You need to analyze thousands of inventory items at once. Find a way to visually isolate specific parts that are both highly obsolete (very old) AND suspiciously held at a very high total value.
Target Data: Inventory Sheet
Total_Value = SUMX('Inventory', 'Inventory'[Quantity_On_Hand] * 'Inventory'[Unit_Cost])Days_In_Inventory to the X-Axis. Drag your new Total_Value measure to the Y-Axis.SKU to Values to plot individual parts as distinct dots."Look at the data points isolated far into the top-right quadrant. You have heavy machinery parts sitting there for over 800 days, yet valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars. They are obsolete 'Ghost Inventory', but Midwest is refusing to write them off to protect asset values."
Interpretation Check
In this specific scatter plot, what do the data points isolated in the top-right quadrant represent?
Rogue Entries
Your Objective
Map over 10,000 journal entries across the days of the week and hours of the day. Identify a way to instantly filter the data and highlight unusual, high-dollar posting behaviors by executives.
Target Data: Journal Entries Sheet
Day_of_Week to Rows.Hour_of_Day to Columns.Entry_Amount to Values.User_Role into it. Click the "CFO" role to filter the matrix."When you filter the matrix by the CFO, the table goes entirely grey—except for a massive bright red cluster late on Saturday nights at the exact end of every quarter. This is a textbook management override of internal controls to manipulate financial reporting."
Interpretation Check
What does the bright red cluster of massive journal entries posted by the CFO on a Saturday at 11:00 PM strongly suggest?