Discuss about the Accounting for Information System of Functions Enterprise.
In the age of information technology, all the functions of the enterprises are handled electronically. As such the traditional accounting systems have also been taken over by accounting information systems or enterprise resource planning systems. This report describes the uses and features of reliable accounting software which are essential to manage the financial accounts in context of B Bakery. For this, an account of all the critical processes of the bakery is provided and different features of ERP/AIS are compared and contrasted to identify the appropriate AIS for the firm that can help the firm in handling the financial aspect of all its processes.
A baker is a professional person who makes breads, pastries, and other baked goods. Normally a baker checks the ingredients which are used in recipes and ensures that the qualities of ingredients such as breads, pies, cakes, and cupcakes are fresh (Davis, 2011). There are two types of bakers’ namely commercial bakers and retail bakers. Commercial bakers produce large volume of pastries and breads in manufacturing facilities. The retail bakers primarily produce smaller quantities of baked products for sale and for people in a retail store or shop.
A bakery business includes different business activities or process, starting from procurement of baking products to sale of the product. These activities include purchasing of raw material, payments to suppliers, payroll generation for employees, working capital management and many more (Day, 2014). The process of baking starts form the purchasing of raw material. At this stage a baker budgets for the purchasing of required raw materials and equipments such as ovens, mixers, and other basic necessary things for baking. For this, the organization requires use data of information for the purchasing of standard quality of raw material and equipments. In this business, the production rate is monitored by the calculation of cost of raw material and the payment to suppliers. A baker investigates the pertaining problem in running business by analyzing system issues, product shortage, and missing products. Additionally, many direct and indirect expenses are incurred while running this business. The direct expenses incur from the primary business activities and the indirect expenses conduct to administrative costs, and advertising costs (Russell, 2010). Just like in every business the need of budget for employee’s payroll is an important activity in bakery business. The employees are paid from the revenues generated by selling the baked products.
Furthermore, at the corporation level a bakery business produces a large volume of standardized bakery products which requires big mixers or commercial mixers, oven, and other automated equipments. Thus, the firm has to look after its machinery and prepare budgets for their replacement and depreciation. Moreover, in bakery industry different procurement systems are used by the company for different products which is long and critical to manage in a systematic way. The consumers of these products are in large number. Hence, it can be said that a bakery has to enter into large number of transactions with its customers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders which are difficult to manage in a traditional manner. Therefore, the financial management these type of firms require IT software like AIS (Accounting Information System) or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) for quick and effective financial management of its business (Okungbowa, 2015). The accounting software works as a structure that is used in business to collect, manage, report, retrieve, and process its financial data which is used by an accountant, business analysts, auditors, and chief financial officers. The trained accountants work with AIS which ensures the highest accuracy and security in company’s financial records and make data availability easy. It provides the visibility to make faster and better decisions for improvement. The data contained in these systems are pertinent for the financial information of organizations. The data included in AIS provides the information about sales order, payroll information, purchase requisitions, inventory data, time keeping and general ledger of the company (Gelinas et al, 2014).
Indispensible processes in the business
In order to deliver value to its customers a business needs to fulfill all its requirements. For this, proper market offerings, system, structures and operations need to be in place. The process of procurement and selling are indispensable in context of the bakery business. This is because all the business activities depend on the quality and standard of purchased raw material and equipment used in the production. If the procurement system of the organization is excellent then the organization acquires a good external source for the purchasing of raw material which affects the quality of production (Garlough, 2010). A good quality raw material can give better quality products which affects the profitability of the organization. As well as, the quality of equipments used by the firm also affects the productivity of the organization. In other words, for a better productivity the procurement system of the organization should be efficient and visible for the organization. Moreover, the supply chain system of the organization should be effective and efficient and take lesser time in moving the goods from the producer to the ultimate consumer. The selling process of the organization is an immense process for the success of the organization. It provides a base to an organization for long term success. If the selling process of an organization with promotional activities in competitive market is good then the sales of its products will increase the revenue of the firm (Lvanko, and Kivirist, 2015). The increased sales will increase the profitability of the organization and will create a strong financial position for the organization.
In context of B bakery firm, the sales revenue increased to more than $ 13.5 million which represents that the profitability of the firm is good. It is a medium size enterprise so the procurement, supply chain and sales directly impact its reputation and the bottom line. If the wastage in supply chain is high then it will affect the profitability of the firm. The firm should manage its procurement system efficiently and effectively at competitive level which may result in a better productivity.
Even though all activities are required to achieve the firm’s business objectives, the outcomes of procurement activities and selling activities are of critical importance. The required outcomes for B bakery in order to achieve its business objectives are attainment of an efficient procurement system, and supply chain for the supply of product to customers. Therefore, it is required that the firm’s wastage in supply chain should be reduced which will increase the profitability of the firm and will be helpful in achieving of its business objectives. In this way, the network of supply chain should be collaborated in operational activities. In bakery business different raw material are required for the production of different products. A better procurement system will provide the raw materials at competitive price and will take less time for the supply of materials.
In supply chain process, the firm should use modern technologies, which will protect the material from environmental uncertainties and will give the pace to the supply of material from source to consumption in less time (Atkin, and Brooks, 2014). It will increase the visibility of the firm in a better way and increase profitable of the organization. The efficiency of a firm for sales should be increased which will affect the profitability of the firm. In other words, to achieve the business objectives the revenue is required to be increased which depends on the sales of the company. A firm may increase the sales by satisfying the needs of customers by selling quality products at reasonable price. If the firm is acquiring its required outcomes such as reduced cost of raw material, increased sales and increased revenue then the firm will achieve its objectives. So, it is required to manage its procurement system at competitive level that will be helpful in achieving the business objectives (Samson and Bevington, 2012). This is because the systematic procurement system will provide a way for purchasing raw materials at competitive price which will be effective to increase the profitability and will create a stable supply chain in terms of strong transportation management system.
Features of accounting software to achieve the objectives of their IT investment
In order to achieve IT investment objectives, the AIS/ERP systems used by B bakery should include information accountability, automation, security and many more features in its functions. These features will create a smooth way for the firm to achieve its objectives. In present time, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is known as life blood of data for every company. It is a vital part of the firm which is used to ensure the precise financial report of a specified time period. The ERP system entirely integrates with different functional areas of the firm like human resources, production, finance, logistics, and sales (Simkin et al, 2014). It organizes the information flow to use maximum of resources such as machine, material, money and men. The ERP system is helpful in enhancing the ability of a manufacturer to reduce wastage and maintain appropriate inventory to achieve the agenda of production.
Furthermore, in these financial systems different graphs, tables, and diagrams should be included in ERP software, that are helpful in forecasting the business decisions and streamlining the business process or work flow for the firm. With the help of graphs, diagrams, and tables the manufacturer may estimate or prepare a strong financial report for the forecasting of appropriate financial decisions. It is essential because a business not only considers the current requirements but also looks ahead. So, the business forecasting is an essential feature of these systems to reduce the short-sightedness risks of the firm. ERP system works as a technological partner and supports firm’s investment. The ERP/AIS system should be in a proper accountability motion to preserve the records and orders of all business activities in a systematic mode (Lewis, 2014). There should be an option regarding when and who made the entries as well as modified it last time. Moreover, the accounting software should include whole financial information related to product life cycle management, human resources, purchasing of raw materials, manufacturing, warehouse management, and customer relationship management. In this way, the ERP system provides the financial analysis report to the different department of the firm. It comprises the features of ledger account, account receivable, account payable, journal entries, and firm’s assets management (Turner, and Weickgenannt, 2012). The ERP system should also include the automation feature, which may analyze the changeable service tax and TDS in a better way. This feature will automatically change the accounting calculations with the change in different taxes. In addition to this, the financial accounting software should provide features to the firms that are essential in making strategic decisions. The financial system gives the ability to track the financial data in a single framework of multiple accounts to the firm. In ERP financial accounting system, the financial data are gathered from various departments to create important financial reports such as general ledger, balance sheet, quarterly financial reports, and trial balance. Also they help in cost analysis, gross profit analysis, branch wise analysis, tax management, and many more accounting analyses. Additionally, the security feature is an essential part of the ERP system for an organization. Therefore, it should provide different security features such as strong passwords, traceability and security options, and use of antivirus software to protect important data. So, the ERP software should be capable to protect the business secrets such as data related to sales and profit. The whole world is connecting to internet. So, the ERP accounting software should also have the connectivity with internet to receive and send the documents in digital way in less time. With the help of internet connectivity the accounting software can collect and make payments faster and reduce the uncollected payments by automated payment option (Pelphrey, 2015). It saves the time and efforts of the firm. Therefore, the software used by B baker in its accounting system should consider the above features to significantly achieve its IT investment objectives.
Category of Accounting Software
In context of B Bakery, medium category of accounting software will be suitable as the firm itself is a medium enterprise.
Medium size accounting software supports the multiple users. Low level accounting software offers the module of standard accounting like order entry, general financials ledger, and payroll. It generally supports the few users and the data is embedded in the software. The cost of low size accounting software is near to the ground. In case of ERP at high package is extremely expensive. This software is helpful in training, reengineering of workflows and restructuring the cost of the organization. This software requires armies of consultants and multiple years for the installation for the high package ERP software (Moghadam, et al., 2013). B Bakery firm is wanted to make an investment for accounting software to take their business to the next level. In this situation, medium size market accounting software will choose by this firm, because the sales revenue of this firm is $13.5 million in the past year. The accounting software that serves medium size business can provide full financial suite and offer different e-commerce solutions.
The accounting software supports the multiple users, and come with the embedded database or work with and existing data base product. B Bakery firm wants a truly unique requirement to take their business in high end enterprises, so they can addressed with a software customization. Medium size of accounting software can be selected on the basis of industries or types of businesses. The accounting software can be segmented by the countries, revenue of the businesses and different type of law and accounting practices that require specialized accounting software (Prasad and Green, 2015). B Bakery can select the medium size accounting software on the basis of their revenue.
Compare and contrast
There are many accounting softwares which offer different accounting facilities to medium size business. Microsoft’s Microsoft dynamics GP and Intuit’s QuickBooks Pro are the most popular accounting software in Australia. Microsoft dynamics GP is accounting and financial management software developed by Microsoft. QuickBooks Pro, developed by Intuit is accounting software that is mainly used for the small and medium size businesses. It offers accounting applications and cloud based versions (Soudani, 2012). It provides a facility of scalable solution that allows a business to add location, users, entities and modules, whenever the business decides that it is essential.
Intuit’s QuickBooks Pro and Microsoft’s Dynamics GP, both have ability to develop with the business. In case of QuickBooks Pro, the number of users that can use the system is limited to 30, while there are no user limits for the Microsoft Dynamics GP. In contrast to this, Microsoft Dynamics GP provides licenses to the different user like business users, project managers and employees. QuickBooks Pro can be used by both small-medium business and large enterprise and Microsoft dynamics GP provides different services to small, medium, and large size of business.
In additional to this, Intuit’s QuickBooks Pro provides different integrations like Microsoft Excel 2002, 2003, or 2001, bin location tracing, FIFO inventory costing, quantity discount, price change by class, multi location inventory and serial number tracing (Hall, 2012). In contrast to this, Microsoft Dynamics GP provides some extra integration like global business management, integration with salesforce.com, integration with Clarizen, Intacct Accounting Edition and Development Sandbox.
QuickBooks Pro provides some accounting feature related to inventory, sales and customers, purchasing and vendors, reporting and finances, and payroll. Microsoft Dynamics GP provides some extra features apart from the QuickBooks Pro features such as accounts payable, multi currency support, depreciation tracking, bank reconciliation, auto-tax calculator, business activities statement and trail balance.
Moreover, QuickBooks Pro allows the user to amend the report based on pre-defined alternatives. Microsoft Dynamics GP permits businesses to slice and dice the data according to the best significant way to the business (Crosson and Yacht, 2015). Intuit’s QuickBooks Pro software is available in a mobile app for the user but Microsoft dynamics GP accounting software is not available in mobile app for users.
There are some integration problems in the program presents by QuickBooks Pro software, but it can be effortlessly integrated with the third party applications. In contrast, Microsoft Dynamics GP has powerful programs, which may contain extra attributes that are more multifaceted and needed by medium-size businesses. QuickBooks’s Pro software provides precise financial management alternatives and proposes considerable support for book keeping and accounting functions like batch entries, that can save the time of the businesses. In difference to this, Microsoft dynamics GP offer numerous features for broad variety of small, medium and large size businesses.
QuickBooks pro enterprises has a limits on the number of master record and data base size, but in contract to this, Microsoft Dynamics GP has been tested on a large datasheet with millions of records and thousands of transaction processed at the same by different users (Gelinas et al., 2014). QuickBooks pro works for the small to mid size business. But in contrast to this, Microsoft Dynamics Pro work not only for the small and mid size business but also for the larger business enterprises. QuickBooks pro and Microsoft Dynamics GP both provide multi-currency and multi-lingual competencies.
Introduction of accounting software in Bakery business provide key advantage like accuracy of function and ability to see the real-time financial position of the business. From the above discussion, it can be recommended that Microsoft is the most suitable vendor of accounting software for Bakery business. It provides Microsoft Dynamics GP accounting software that is helpful in Bakery business. In this context, Microsoft Dynamics GP is helpful for small to major businesses as they expand their business. Microsoft Dynamics GP accounting software manages the same information of business in different palaces even when employees are very far away from each other (Vail, 2012). Microsoft vendor provides an interactive demo and webinar introduction to the business. With the implementation of this, businesses can be provided 30 days online demo to see whether the software is suitable for business needs or not. Before purchasing Microsoft software, businesses can check the software according to the business needs.
Moreover, Microsoft dynamics GP is helpful for driving growth in bakery business. It mechanizes the full accounting processes that can increase the output, and provide compliance in business. Microsoft allows the users to modify the dashboard to make graphics, accountability, automation, security and many more features that will allow smooth operations in Bakery business to achieve the objectives of business. Microsoft Dynamics GP provides accounting feature related to the accounts payable, general ledger, sales tax, business activity statements, depreciation tracking, trail balance, and inventory management in Bakery business that is helpful to analysis the financial position (Polino and Allen, 2015). It also includes the automation feature that analyzes the changeable service tax.
Microsoft provides a security feature and guarantee to businesses that it will provide a disaster recovery of data. Microsoft dynamics GP is helpful to provide reports of payroll analysis, stock valuation, budget analysis, and GST/VAT returns to the management (Grieve, 2013). Along with this, there are no user limits. It provides positive opportunity to Bakery business by handling their systems in an efficient manner when they expand their customers and users.
Furthermore, Microsoft dynamics GP presents a powerful integration, which helps in the strategic decision making of the business. This software is be capable to protect the business secret and all the data related to business activities. It offers industry-leading functionality across service, distribution, human resources, and many more factors that help to ensure customer solutions. Thus, Dynamic GP is helpful for small and medium size organization to achieve a positive return on investment in the average payback of 21 month. Dynamics GP can easily be integrated with the Excel and SQL reporting to pull information from multiple sources and present a real time report on the most vital data. Apart from this, licenses schemes of the Microsoft dynamics GP is flexible that can provide saving on one-size fits approach. It can be set-up to account for different types of customers/users and implemented it as a Starter Pack or Extended pack.
Microsoft Dynamics GP is suitable software for Bakery business, because this software will be helpful to empower employees to share information across the organization. It will reduce the deployment time with tools that are helpful to start the system in minutes, quickly set up core service, and update the data from system (Yudin, 2010). It will help to increase the productivity, because of low support requirements. This software will also help to reduce the cost of doing Bakery business by removing unproductive tasks and cyclical busywork.
Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be concluded that in present time the requirement of accounting software has become mandatory for analyzing the financial accounting information. In this context, the ERP/AIS system is essential for businesses to manage their activities. It provides the security to data of the business and pace to different business activities. Further, it was found that B bakery is the medium category firm. Hence, Microsoft dynamic GP is the most suitable accounting software for this firm to support the financial aspect of business.
References
Atkin, B. and Brooks, A. (2014) Total Facility Management. USA: Total Facility Management.
Crosson, S., and Yacht, C. (2015) Computer Accounting Essentials Using QuickBooks 2015. US: McGraw-Hill Education.
Davis, D. D. (2011) How to Start a Home-Based Bakery Business. USA: Rowman & Littlefield.
Day, J. (2014) Meg Rivers Traditional Home Baking: Treats for family and friends. UK: Ryland Peters & Small.
Garlough, R. (2010) Modern Food Service Purchasing: Business Essentials to Procurement. USA: Cengage Learning.
Gelinas, U., Dull, R. and Wheeler, P. (2014) Accounting Information Systems. USA: Cengage Learning.
Gelinas, U.J., Dull, B.R., and Wheeler, P. (2014) Accounting Information Systems. US: Cengage Learning.
Grieve, I. (2013) Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 Financial Management. UK: Packt Publishing Ltd.
Hall, A.J. (2012) Accounting Information Systems. US: Cengage Learning.
Lewis, J. (2014) The Book You Need Before You Buy That Accounting Software: How Find, Buy and Implement the Best Accounting Software Solution For Your Business. UK: Evolve Systems Distribution Pty Ltd.
Lvanko, J. and Kivirist, L. (2015) Homemade for Sale: How to Set Up and Market a Food Business from Your Home Kitchen. UK: New Society Publishers.
Moghadam, H.M., Akhavansaffar, M., Bakhshaei, Z., and MirHosseini, S.Y. (2013). Effect of investment in information technology system on providing desired services of accounting information system. Elixir International Journal A, 55, pp. 13268-13273.
Okungbowa, A. (2015) SAP ERP Financial Accounting and Controlling: Configuration and Use Management. USA: Apress.
Pelphrey, M. (2015) Directing the ERP Implementation: A Best Practice Guide to Avoiding Program Failure Traps While Tuning System Performance. USA: CRC Press.
Polino, M., and Allen, B. (2015) Real-world Business Intelligence with Microsoft Dynamics GP
Prasad, A., and Green, P. (2015) Organizational competencies and dynamic accounting information system capability: impact on AIS processes and firm performance. Journal of Information Systems, 29(3), pp. 123-149.
Professional expertise distilled.UK: Packt Publishing Ltd.
Russell, L. (2010) Bristol Business and Industry. USA: Arcadia Publishing.
Samson, D. and Bevington, T. (2012) Implementing Strategic Change: Managing Processes and Interfaces to Develop a Highly Productive Organization. UK: Kogan Page Publishers.
Simkin, M., Norman, C. and Rose, J. (2014) Core Concepts of Accounting Information Systems. USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Soudani, S.N. (2012) The usefulness of an accounting information system for effective organizational performance. International Journal of Economics and Finance, 4(5), p. 136.
Turner, L. and Weickgenannt, A. (2012) Accounting Information Systems: The Processes and Controls. USA: John Wiley and Sons.
Vail, L. (2012) Developing Microsoft Dynamics GP Business Applications. UK: Packt Publishing Ltd.
Whitley, A. (2011) Bread Matters: The State of Modern Bread and a Definitive Guide to Baking Your Own. USA: Andrews McMeel Publishing.
Yudin, V. (2010) Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Implementation. UK: Packt Publishing Ltd.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download