Calculating The Value of Information: Will More Information Improve the Expected Value of a Decision (Video) (Course Id 2561)

• Who is this course for?
  This course is intended for anyone needing Continuing Professional Education (CPE), especially CPAs and accounting professionals seeking to improve decision-making through financial analysis.

• What is this course about or what problem does this course solve?
  The course addresses how to quantify the economic value of information, helping professionals decide whether gathering more data will improve decision-making and avoid unnecessary analysis.

• How can the knowledge from this course be used?
  Learners can apply decision-making tools like expected value analysis, Bayesian logic, decision trees, and influence diagrams to evaluate whether new information justifies its cost in real business scenarios.

• Why is this course important to a CPA, Accountant, or IRS Enrolled Agent?
  Understanding the value of information allows CPAs and accountants to reduce uncertainty, optimize decision-making, and provide more strategic financial advice to clients or stakeholders.

• When is this course relevant or timely?
  This course is especially timely for professionals making complex or high-stakes decisions in uncertain environments, where the cost and benefit of obtaining additional information must be carefully evaluated.

• How is a course like this consumed or used?
  The course is delivered through a QAS Self Study video format and includes review and final exam questions, requiring a passing score of 70% to earn 1.0 CPE credit.

Navigating business decisions in an uncertain world requires knowing when and how much to invest in gathering information. This course provides you with the essential tools to quantify the economic worth of data, ensuring you invest wisely and avoid costly analysis paralysis.

You will learn foundational concepts like expected value (EV) analysis, a powerful method for distilling complex outcomes into a single comparable number. Explore how Bayesian logic allows you to update your probabilities based on new information, moving from prior beliefs to more informed posterior probabilities. Master the use of decision-making tools such as decision trees and influence diagrams to structure problems, visualize potential scenarios, and calculate the expected value of different strategic paths.

Beyond the theoretical, this course delves into calculating the value of both perfect and imperfect information, helping you determine the maximum you should pay for data sources like market tests or expert opinions. Understand the difference between the value of information (reducing uncertainty) and the value of control (increasing probabilities of favorable outcomes). By the end, you will be equipped to identify which uncertainties are most valuable to reduce and make more profitable, data-driven decisions.

Learn to make informed choices by understanding what information is truly worth.

Video - NASBA QAS - Text - NASBA Registry - 2561

Course Learning Objectives

Chapter 1 - Calculating The Value of Information: Will More Information Improve the Expected Value of a Decision

Chapter 1 Review Questions

Glossary