Features Of Accounting Information Systems

Discuss About The Features Of Accounting Information Systems?

The main objective of this report is to get knowledge and understanding of the application of accounting software packages in the companies situated in Australia. In this report, literature review will be done on the H&R Block Company which is using Xero accounting software package in Australia. With the help of this report organization structure, operating challenges, flow chart of the sales processes, problem in the control process and possible fraud in the system of H&R Block will be determined. This report is helpful in determining the competitive advantages and challenges faced by the users of accounting software. At the end of this report, appropriate recommendations will also be explained to make efficient use of software. 

H&R Block is an American multinational company headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, United States having more than 25 million customers in whole world. Main products and services offered by company are tax preparation, business consulting services, banking and payroll services having branches in Australia, Canada, India and North America. The company was founded by Richard Bloch and Henry W. Bloch in 1955 and presently having more than 14,000 retail tax offices all over the world. The main softwares used by company are Xero accounting software and TaxCut as its own consumer tax software and electronic tax preparation. The organization structure of H&R Block is as follows:

Figure 1 Organization structure of H&R Block

The organization structure of any company based on the communication methods between departments and various functions it performs such as  sales, procuring,  finance, marketing, HR, accounting, customer service, CEO, R&D, operations, legal, engineering and administrations (Cummings and Worley, 2014). On the basis of above organization structure, H&R Block can have conflicts related to different departments and lack of coordination between the functions of various retail stores situated worldwide. Company can have lack of efficiency and lack of effectiveness in the accounting processes and tax preparation system because different department cannot have consistency in the accounting policies and software used for tax preparations (Foss, et al., 2013). If company want to change any existing policy or software related to accounting and taxation methods then it could have errors in system and more problems to change it worldwide.

There are various methods available to companies for system acquisition such as custom software, commercial software and ERP. First of all, companies have to evaluate the requirement of information system according to the nature of business then analysis of the different software alternatives available to companies. Custom software developed by the companies specifically for performing particular function which best suited to the operations of the organization. It is also known as Tailor-made Software. Major disadvantages of custom software are it covers high cost in implementation and sometimes software defects can occur. It is used by the companies for minimizing the modifications in business procedures and meeting constrains of existing system (Daneshgar, et al., 2013). Commercial software packages are readily available in the market and helpful in minimising cost and time for implementation. It requires less technical expert staff then custom software and future upgrade is also available. Better documentation process and less software defects available in commercial software in comparison with custom software. Major disadvantages of commercial software are it is less efficient and cannot meet all the requirements of the companies.

Operational Problems in the Organization Structure

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software generally integrates the internal and external operational system of the organization. It is only software which is helpful in integration and management of all the functions such as purchasing, Human Resource, sales, accounting, CRM customer support, and inventory management. Custom software cannot be upgraded according to changes whereas ERP can be customized and upgraded according to market demand (Lin, et al., 2016). ERP software can be installed and effectively implemented in 2 to 5 months but there is no specific time period for custom software. On the basis of overall discussion it can be determined that EPR is the most likely method for system acquisition.  

Figure 2 Flow chart for payroll services (ConceptDraw, 2017)

In the system flow chart of payroll services of the H&R Block Company mainly problem can be faced in the monitoring and control process. There can be lack of effectiveness in hiring process for client and hiring of less talented employees. Fraud can be occurred in the process of contract management and contract delivery such as improper fee structure charged from the client for ineffective service delivery. Lack of quality and lack of responsibility can be faced by clients or customers (McCormack and Johnson, 2016). Payroll services mainly performed for the large organizations which are fully engaged in the other services and don’t have time to recruit the employees. These big organizations mainly outsourced their hiring process to the consultancy companies like H&R Block. But different departments located at different places cannot adopt the same process of their service delivery. So, various retail offices of H&R Block Company can offer unsatisfactory services to their clients which can make great impact on the brand image of the company. Company cannot be able to control the whole process of all the retail offices located at different places worldwide. So, there can be chances of fraud and problems in the control system of the overall sales procedure of the H&R Block Company.

Accounting software is a class of computer software that helps to the accounting professionals for managing the accounts and also helps to perform the accounting operation in the organization. There are various accounting software’s that offer most comprehensive accounting feature that is used in Australia. According to the Ismailand King (2014), accounting software gives a clear picture of the company financial health by tracking the money flow so the accounting software is an effective tool in the every small business organization. On the other hand, there are various software’s available in Australia that has been used by the Australian organization such as-QuickBooks, Xero, Zoho Books, and many more.

Most Expected System Acquisition Method

Bernardos et al (2014) Support the views of Ismail and King (2014) that accounting is a lifeline of the business and the accounting software used by the organization can record and processes the accounting transaction of a business. In addition to this, Ramasubbu and Kemerer (2014) states that the accounting software provides a sophisticate report and tracking the financial results in the business for the calculation of profit. With the help of accounting software, a business can track the payable and receivables so it will save the time, money and frustration because there is no need spent time on the complex double entry accounting concepts.

Taiwo (2016) support the views of Ramasubbu and Kemerer (2014) that selection of the accounting software packages is often a difficult process for the business. In Australia, accounting software for the specific market segment is also available in the market such as for the retail industry. Moreover, the accounting and payroll application software are widely used in the business organization of Australia and they also used the computer accounting software to manage the accounts of business. All the accounting software used in Australia is compliance with the regulatory laws and guidelines that increase speed and the integrity of financial data in the organization. According to the Kanellou and Spathis (2013), Intuit’s QuickBooks is at popular software that is used by the Australian small business owners. The small business owners of the Australia used these software’s to track their commercial profit, income, and cost of the business. In addition to this, MYOB is also popular accounting software in Australia but it is used for the extra elements of business rather than the simple function of accounting.

Smith and Binti Puasa (2016) states that accounting software comes under the accounting information system that records the accounting transaction within the organizations for the function modules of the business such as accounting payable, accounts receivable, trail balance and payroll. The accounting software’s may be the combination of the application of the third party with the help of local modification. At the present context, the accounting software not only managed the accounting transaction in the organization but also they include the functions related to the decision-making aimed to gain the competitive advantage in the business.

Ramazami et al (2012) favor the words of Smith and Binti Puasa (2016) that the accounting software’s is used for the elimination of man-made errors to improve the accuracy and consistency of the financial data in the organization. In addition to this, the end of the crusades saw a boom in trade between Europe and the Middle East. In this way, the business cannot be managed by a single owner. Therefore, when the business is run by more than one person than a system is also needed that all the agents are making good spending decision in the organization. In supports of this, Askari et al (2012) state that MYOB accounting software eliminates productivity roadblocks when traveling with a client or at home, it can be content from anywhere by using a device. The uses of accounting software’s can provide a serious competitive advantage and provide freedom to work from anywhere at any time with their customer, suppliers, and partners.

According to the Alamin et al (2015) Accounting software that is used in Australia gives many problems to the users that are normally outdated and not so much user-friendly so that do not enable users to fully use their keyboard. In addition to this, sometimes the accounting software’s are powerless that help the users who wish to get their business data out. Moreover, the outdated accounting software is a very big challenge to the business organization because the organization the detail that has been collected from the software may be inaccurate, system slow down and errors happen into the system. Hence, data corruption is a serious matter for the business firm of Australia. Moreover, users are stressed out due to the lack of training and guidelines for using software and extra training may also a reason of extra cost to the customers of accounting software in Australia.

According to the words of Tijani and Mohammed (2013), accounting software offers a huge technical function that will help to manage the finance of business. It can be suggested that accounting software used in the organization can be based on the needs. The accounting software should consider the size of the business and also consider the industry of the business. In addition to this, it can be recommended that organization should make the list of all the points and use the software that will help to solve the issues. If there is any doubt related to the feature of accounting software’s than organization can consult with the software vendors.

Bishop (2016) supports the views of Tijani and Mohammed (2013) that the accounting software used in Australia is wide and fully-fledged accounting software for the organization. In addition to this, as per the size of accounting software, the supplier may offer a free trial to the organization and all the accounting software should be familiar with the functionality of software packages to set up the business. Moreover, it can be recommended that business organization should place more acquisition and developer should improve the user friendliness in the organization with the help of accounting software.

Conclusion

On the basis of above discussion it can be concluded that the accounting, taxation and payroll application software are extensively used in the companies of Australia. There are various software for accounting available in Australia that has been used by the Australian companies such as Xero, Zoho Books, QuickBooks and MYOB. The use of software provides competitive advantages to the companies and helps in increasing speed and integrity of financial and operational data in the organization. There are many system acquisition methods available for the companies but ERP is the most accepted method of system acquisition in the Australia.

Control Problems and Fraud in the System

References

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