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Subject : Information System for an Accounting Business
Bates (2012) stated that “An information system (IS) is commonly a computer-based system for providing information to an organisation to help guide its actions.” In most companies, the IS encompass employees working interactively with computers to execute a particular task. The human-computer interaction allows the workers and their machine extensions to gain useful insights via the system (Bates, 2012). Computer scientists have developed different types of IS that companies can explore to gain a competitive edge in the market. Both starting and developed enterprises could use the IS to improve their performance. IS could be used by all organisations, both small and large to support accounting, customer service, and supply chain activities among others. In this article, the author discusses three IS and the benefits they can offer an accounting firm with thirty employees.
Different ISs exist that could benefit a small accounting firm. One of such IS is the strategic business information systems (SBIS). The SBIS is an IS developed to respond to strategic plans of businesses. Gunasekaran (2010) stated that the SBIS enable corporations to gain a competitive advantage in the market. With this IS, companies can offer affordable products and services, differentiate themselves from competitors, focus on specific market segments as well as initiate innovative solutions. In this case, the accounting firm could use the SBIS to categorise, store, analyze, and share vital information that could give it a competitive edge. Besides, it could apply analytical tools on the information at its disposal thereby allowing it to identify opportunities for growth as well as establish ways of improving corporate performance.
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The accounting firm could also embrace the transaction processing system (TPS). The TPS would help the company to deal with day-to-day transactions. Businesses, both small and large, deal with two types of transactions namely financial transactions (payments) and sales transactions (purchases). In that regards, the TPS benefits firms by serving two primary purposes. Firstly, it tracks the routine activities in business and automates the day-to-day operations of an organization such as production, sales, and payments. Second, it facilitates the computerization of everyday transactions such as purchase orders, prepares daily reports, print sales vouchers and prepares summary reports among other functions. Ideally, the TPS reduces manual work and hastens operations within the company (Mishra, 2013). The TPS achieves this objective since its features allow real-time interaction between the user and the system when collecting, storing, retrieving, and modifying information. For instance, when a user enters transaction information, the system immediately stores the data and produces the required output such as a receipt or account balance.
Finally, the accounting company could use the management information system (MIS) to run its operations. Mishra (2013) defined an MIS as “a systematic organization and presentation of information that is generally required by the management of an organization for taking better decisions for the organization.” Often, managers of small businesses depend on industry-specific MIS to access both historical and current operational performance information such as inventories and sales. The MIS could develop prescheduled reports that a company could use during strategic and operational planning. For instance, the MIS could produce a report in the form of a pie chart that shows sales volume by segment or a graph showing the performance of sales activities over time.
When using IS, businesses need to ensure that their data is secure all the time. One of the ways that the accounting firm would achieve that goal is by hiring services of professional in charge of ensuring that the company’s business systems and IT are correctly managed, protected, and monitored. That refers to individuals issued with Certified Information Systems Auditor certificate (CISA). Such people can pinpoint vulnerabilities and institute technology controls (Isaca.org, 2018). They can also check on compliance to ensure that the organization operates ethically.
In conclusion, IS were designed to help businesses operate efficiently. In other words, if the IS are correctly implemented, organizations, both small and large could gain a competitive edge in the market. In this case, the accounting company could achieve such status by implementing the SBIS, TPS, and MIS. These IS would enable the company to run its routine activities both efficiently and effectively.
References
Bates, M. J. (2012). Information systems . In Understanding information retrieval systems: management, types, and standards . CRC Press.
Gunasekaran, A., & Sandhu, M. (2010). Part IV: Strategic business information systems. In Handbook on business information systems (537-651). Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company.
Isaca.org. (2018). Certified information system auditor (CISA). Isaca.org . Retrieved on 22 September 2018 from, http://www.isaca.org/certification/cisa-certified-information-systems-auditor/pages/default.aspx
Mishra, U. (2013). Introduction to management information system. Arxiv.org. Retrieved on 22 September 2018, from, http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1308/1308.1797.pdf
