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Accounting Information Systems: Traditions and Future Directions

This document discusses the current state and future directions of accounting information systems. It analyzes the main responsibilities of accountants and financial professionals and identifies technologies like web services, mobile devices, cloud computing, and big data that can help address challenges in areas like external reporting and compliance. The document also surveys accountants about their responsibilities and finds a shift towards more strategic guidance. It concludes that while accounting faces many challenges, new technologies can help improve alignment between accounting and management.

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sumiya mashadi
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73 views22 pages

Accounting Information Systems: Traditions and Future Directions

This document discusses the current state and future directions of accounting information systems. It analyzes the main responsibilities of accountants and financial professionals and identifies technologies like web services, mobile devices, cloud computing, and big data that can help address challenges in areas like external reporting and compliance. The document also surveys accountants about their responsibilities and finds a shift towards more strategic guidance. It concludes that while accounting faces many challenges, new technologies can help improve alignment between accounting and management.

Uploaded by

sumiya mashadi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ACCOUNTING INFORMATION

SYSTEMS: TRADITIONS AND


FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Authors:
Fernando Belfo,
António Trigoa
Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra ISCAC, Quinta Agrícola, Bencanta, 3040-316 Coimbra,
Portugal
Algoritmi Research Centre, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
ABSTRACT:

• Current and future role of Accounting Information


system by analyzing the main responsibility of
Accountant and Financial Professionals
• This work foresees future technological answers to
Accounting Domain challenges like external and
compliance reporting.
• The identified technologies include web services,
mobile devices, cloud computing, environmental
scanning, business intelligence, enterprise application
integration, business process management, computer
assisted auditing tools, and techniques and big data.
INTRODUCTION:

• An Accounting Information System (AIS)


is computer based method for tracking
accounting activity in conjunction with
information technology resources.
• AIS is composed of three major
subsystems;
1) Transaction process system
3) The management reporting system
2) General ledger system and financial
reporting system
TRANSACTION PROCESSING
SYSTEM:

• Daily Business Transactions


• Three Transaction cycles;
1) The revenue cycle
2) The expenditure cycle
3) The conversion cycle
• Very first to use its information system
to support activities
• IBM 702 became available for
accounting use in 1953
GENERAL LEDGER SYSTEM
AND FINANCIAL REPORTING
SYSTEM:
• Two closely related systems
• GLS relates to summarization of
transaction cycle activity
• Financial Reporting System dedicated to
reporting of financial resources
(financial statements or tax returns)
MANAGEMENT REPORTING
SYSTEM:

• It offers internal management special


purpose financial reports needed for
decision making such as budgets,
variance reports and responsibility
reports.
MODULAR APPROACH TO AIS:

• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)


• Business intelligence (BI)
• Balanced scorecard system (BSC)
• New technologies can complement current
AIS
• Challenges and answer to those challenges
ACCOUNTANCY TENDENCIES
AND CHALLENGES:
• In June 2010, a large online survey was
conducted by the Chartered Institute of
Management Accountants (CIMA) and by
UK University of Bath to 5426 senior
finance and senior non-finance
professionals around the world.
• Their responsibilities were slit into six
categories;
• Accounting Operations
• External Reporting
• Management Accounting Information
• Management Support
• Management Information System
• Miscellaneous activities like staff
management, training, administration
• Shift of accountants’ responsibilities
from traditional accounting
operations to strategic management
guidance and support.
• Increase in value and contribution of
accountants in any organization.
• Challenges that don’t have
appropriate technologies so needed
to be focused in future researches.
WEB SERVICES AND
INTERNET OF SERVICES:

• Allows integration between AIS, Operational


systems and Web applications.
• Enhances External Reporting and Real Time
Reporting
• Increases information availability and accessibility
for stake holders
• Web sites to place Financial Statements and
Reports
• Web enabled accounting software services
• For example, PayPal, Public Traded Organizations
MOBILE DEVICES:

• Significant data in real time


• Communication between business and
investors, creditors, fiscal and regulatory
authority.
• Information available to wide range of
stakeholders
• Mobile Business Intelligence (Mobile-BI)
Product from Microstrategy
CLOUD COMPUTING

• Means an architecture based on Software-as-a-


Service (SaaS)
• Online Accounting Software with a solution
• Stakeholders access to Accounting and Finance
Management functionalities with Real Time
Reporting
• For Instance: NetSuite Financials, Intacct Financials
and Accounting System
ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING:

• Acquisition and use of information about


events, trends, and relationships in an
organization’s external environment
• Helps management planning
organization future course of action
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE (BI):

• New opportunities
• Helps management at strategic, tactical and
operational level
• Supports management accounting concerns
like Forecasting
• Accounting Intelligence AI (extract
information from accounting and ERP)
ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE
AND ENTERPRISE
APPLICATION INTEGRATION
• Buzzword Enterprise Application Integration EAI
• Interoperability characteristic
• Enables accounting challenges like strategic
analysis, benchmarking, forecasting, internal
auditing, internal controls, risk management,
real time reporting
• The Extensible Business Reporting Language
(EBRL)
BUSINESS PROCESS
MANAGEMENT

• Non-financial data to Accounting Information


System
• At all management levels
• Analytic Accounting and Real Time Reporting
• Direct allocation of costs and revenues to
specific cost and revenue centre
COMPUTER ASSISTED
AUDITING TOOLS AND
TECHNIQUES (CAATTS)
• Enhance capabilities and productivity
• Audit Command Language
• Interactive Data Extraction And
Analysis(IDEA)
BIG DATA:

• Internal Auditing, Internal control and


Risk Management in big companies
• Big companies need Big Data
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE
WORK:
• Identifies many challenges to which
accounting domain is still deficient.
• Technology answers identified here can
be used as corner stone for future
directions of research in domain of
Accounting Information System AIS.
• Improve alignment between Accounting
and Management using state-of-the-art
Technology.

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