AF5203 – Contemporary Issues in Accounting Information Systems

Lecture 1

Homework 1.1

Businesses have conflicting responsibilities. Crises tend to magnify such conflicts. The
recent COVID-19 crisis has illuminated issues of business ethics in employers’
responsibilities towards employees and shareholders. The COVID-19 crisis has also
magnified potential ethical dilemmas facing employees. Read the attached articles and
answer one of the following questions:
https://www2.deloitte.com/ch/en/pages/risk/articles/COVID-19-19-cyber-crime-working-
from-home.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/roomykhan/2020/11/06/work-from-anywhere-trend-
intensifying-ethics-and-compliance-issues/?sh=7609b8eb2f38
1. What ethical dilemmas regarding privacy are facing businesses due to COVID-19?
How might a business respond to this dilemma?
a. Examples: Employees working from home may be at greater risk of data
privacy breaches since criminals are taking the opportunity of individuals
working from home to hack into home office computers. Companies also
must determine what to do with employees’ health data. Should other
employees know when a coworker contracts COVID-19? Should companies
inform employees and customers of personal information that may be shared
such as temperature checks, travel history, track and trace and other
technologies? Companies can train employees and require use of VPN, or set
up other protocols for handling propriety or sensitive data. Heavy reliance on
the internet for remote access and online communication has resulted in an
increase of data privacy risks among other issues, such as significant
reductions in Internet speed. Employers should ensure that the IT
infrastructure of the business is secure and aim to mitigate risks of data breach.
With regards to sharing employees’ and customers’ personal data collected at
the place of business, companies should provide updated or new employee
privacy notices describing collection of COVID-19 related data.
2. What ethical dilemmas regarding treatment of employees are businesses facing due to
COVID-19? How might a business respond to this dilemma?
a. Examples: Unemployment, displacement, fair treatment of women and
parents of young children, deciding who gets to work from home and stay safe
(upper management only while minimum wage workers are exposed to the
virus daily at the workplace)
3. What ethical questions are employees and employers facing with regards to equity of
access due to COVID-19? How might a business respond to this dilemma?
a. Examples: When employees cannot work from the office (which is an
equalizer), they face drastically different home environments which may make
it easier for some employees to work from home while others are forced to
quit their jobs or under-perform. Employers can arrange for flexible work
arrangements, provide time off as needed, and assist in paying for in-home
childcare (which has become more expensive as day cares have closed)
4. What ethical dilemmas regarding security, accuracy, and confidentiality are facing
businesses due to COVID-19? How might a business respond to this dilemma?

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 AF5203 – Contemporary Issues in Accounting Information Systems

a. Examples: Employees working from home may use company resources

inappropriately (insider trading, or use of laptop for personal reasons or
finding ways to sell trade secrets to competitors due to inadequate cyber
security controls in the work-from-home model). Employees working from
home may be under motivated, more distracted, and less intent on keeping
company protocols with respect to cyber security. Companies can train
employees and require use of VPN, or set up other protocols for handling
propriety or sensitive data.

Lecture 2

Homework 2.1

Zhijian Luo, the credit collections manager in the accounting department for HK Tours, is
extremely dis-satisfied with the new accounting information system that was installed two
months ago. He complains that the data flows from the billing and accounts receivable
departments are not happening as he originally requested. Further, the updates to the database
files are not occurring as frequently as he had thought they would under the new system. He
maintains that managements’ promise that the new system would provide more current and
timely information has not materialized. The systems analysts spent three days interviewing
him and other employees in the department. During that time, he thought they had clearly
conveyed their needs. He said, “Our needs were ignored and our time was wasted!”
Required:
What went wrong during the systems design process? What suggestions would you make for
future projects?

Answer

Some possible reasons the system is not meeting Mr Luo’s needs are of the following:
a. Mr Luo and his co-workers did not clearly convey their requirements.
b. The systems analysts did not clearly understand the requirements.
c. The processing details and output details were not specified in enough detail.
d. The specifications, once developed, were not reviewed by the end users, Mr. Luo
and his co-workers, for accuracy and completeness.
e. The system that was implemented does not meet all of the design specifications.

For the future, the end users should review and sign-off the design documents to ensure that
the design specifications accurately incorporate their needs. If not, some reworking of the
specifications needs to occur

Homework 2.2

Bases on a survey report by Panorama Consulting, 64% of ERP implementation exceeds

budget. Below are the reasons cited by the respondents.

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 AF5203 – Contemporary Issues in Accounting Information Systems

Explain one of the reasons in greater depth, give examples and propose ways to address it.
Answer

In addition to explaining the nature of the budget overrun, below are the proposed ways to
address them:

1. Strong project management discipline to ensure there is no scope creep and that any
additional requirements are properly evaluated and approved.
2. Involve all relevant stakeholders during the budget and estimation process to ensure
that all requirements are duly considered and to avoid surprises.
3. Involve IT consultants in preparing the budgets as they are most knowledgeable on
what items to budget for and can provide an independent view of what is missing.
4. A proper evaluation of potential systems prior to selecting an ERP solution will help
in establishing a more accurate scope for the project. This will account for potential
customizations and integration costs, as well as any additional hardware upgrades or
third party bolt-on products.
5. Along a contingency budget of 10% to 20% to the total cost to account for any
unexpected requests or omissions.
6. Larger, more complex organizations require larger and more complex ERP systems
but not every organization needs all the bells and whistles the Tier I packages can
provide. Manage the expectations of the users on how much customisations will be
provided. Do not over promise.

Lectures 3 and 4

Power BI hands on activities

Lecture 5

Homework 5.1

a. We are now seeing an increase in the implementation of ERP systems using the SaaS
or cloud model, especially for small to medium size companies. Provide possible

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 AF5203 – Contemporary Issues in Accounting Information Systems

reasons for this new trend and comment on whether this trend is likely to continue in
the future.
b. Because the upfront investment in selecting cloud solution is very small, many
companies do not pay much attention in the selection of cloud ERP system because
they believe that they can always change to another solution if the selected solution
does not fit its needs or if the vendor goes bankrupt. What is the problem with this
kind of thinking?

Answer

This is an open ended question and any valid arguments are acceptable. Example of
arguments below:

a. Possible reasons for the new trend of ERP using the SaaS model and why this trend is
likely to continue are as follows:
 Less upfront investment and quick set up for companies vs on-premise version
 More time and cost effective than in-house development as most companies
do not have the expertise or resources to build ERP systems from scratch
 Easier implementation as the solution includes the best practices and
companies do not have to re-invent the wheel, the decision to be made would
be limited to which solution provides the best fit for the company
 No need for in-house IT support as support for infrastructure, systems,
applications and data storage are all done by the SaaS provider
 Higher scalability when the company grows – more functionality, more
system storage, more support as needs arise.
 The service provider may provide better IT security as it is their core business
to ensure reliability and security of systems and data. Small or medium size
companies have less resources and expertise in this area.
 The cloud nature of SaaS allows companies to work from anywhere as long as
internet connection is available.

b. Although the upfront investment to implement a cloud solution is not as significant as

an on-premise solution, the company should make careful selection because:
 The SaaS provider maintains the systems and data of the company. Once the
company starts to put reliance on the service provider, it will be highly
dependent on the vendor to keep the integrity of critical and legally required
data of the company.
 Migrating data, process and systems from one provider to another involves
significant risks and resources. Including change management and retraining
of employees.
 Having historical data residing in multiple vendors may create complexities
and potential loss of data for the company.
 Contract terms with the selected ERP system may not allow the company to
easily move away without losing some rights and obligations. It would also be
hard for the company to impose security measures on data stored in the
previous provider once a contract no longer exists.
 If the selected ERP system does not meet the company’s needs, it will restrict
the growth and operations of the company while it is looking for alternative
solutions, which takes time and energy.

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