Essay On Skills And Knowledge For Operating Integrated Computerised Accounting System.

For this assessment you will be assessed on your skills and knowledge required to modify and operate an integrated computerised accounting system, including processing transactions within the system, maintaining the system, producing reports and ensuring system integrity.

You will complete the following tasks. These tasks will need to be completed and submitted in a professional, word processed, format ensuring accuracy and detail.

1.For this task you are to write a procedure detailing how you would set up and operate a computerised accounting system. This procedure is to be written to an audience who have no previous knowledge of the subject and should be designed to instruct them on the exact procedure for setting up and operating a computerised accounting system. In line with organisational requirements, procedures and policies, industry legislation relating to computerised accounting systems

a)Setting up an integrated accounting system

b)Setting up customers, suppliers and inventory items

c)Processing transactions within the system

d)Ensuring integrity of the data

e)Generating, producing and printing reports

f)Maintaining the system

g)Ensuring system integrity

h)Identifying technical help

a)What are the key principles and practices of double-entry accounting?

b)What are the key principles and practices of accrual accounting?

c)What are the key features and characteristics of information included in source documents of financial data?

For this assessment you will be assessed on your skills and knowledge required to modify and operate an integrated computerised accounting system.

You will complete the following tasks. These tasks will need to be completed and submitted in a professional, word processed, format ensuring accuracy and detail.

a)You will do this by modifying an established integrated financial software system.

b)You will set the up the chart of accounts in accordance with organisational requirements, procedures and policy.

c)You will need access to a range of common office equipment, technology, software and consumables, an integrated commercial financial software system and associated data.

a)What is a chart of accounts?

b)What are subsidiary accounts?

c)How can you improve the chart of accounts for a company?

Task 1: Set Up and Operate a Computerised Accounting System

• Installation of the accounting software requires a lot of skills. And it also includes a lot of pre and post preparation before and after the installation of the system

There are few steps for the same that the management must follow before installing such system.

• The first step is effective planning. Planning helps in understanding what is the need of the company and what are the steps that they can take to make sure that the company is earning enough profit from the same.
• Once the product is selected, effective market research and analysis must be done to make sure that they get the software from the best vendor and at the most optimum cost. There are many vendors in the market that provide the company with the products, choosing the best one of the lot is what the management needs.
• After that the company must check whether they have the necessary hardware settings that are needed for the software and after that they must configure the software and check whether it is functioning properly or not by doing a test check. The hardware requirements of every software are different and it is important that the companies must take necessary steps to make sure to comply with the same.
• After that the functioning of the software must be monitored to check how the software is functioning and what changes are happening in the operations because of the same. Some companies need high end ERP Packages and some need medium ranged packages on the basis of their volume of transactions. The companies must keep that in time before taking such steps of choosing the right software for their company(Arnott, Lizama, & Song, 2017).
• Once the software is approved, the details of all the resources that include the list of customers, the raw materials and the other data must be entered into the system. The company must make sure that all the data that is entered is valid and there is no bugs in the same. This will help in maintaining the system.
• The integrity of the system must be maintained and the company must see to it that proper training is provided to the employees to use the system effectively and they must be asked if they are facing any problems in the same. Proper employee feedback is very important for the company.
• Another important step includes maintenance of the overall system that includes installing proper safety measures in the same. The management must make sure that the vendor is providing proper safety measures and in case they feel certain danger, steps must be taken accordingly. This is another important step in case of software maintenance.

2)  The key principles of the following topics include-

a) The double entry system of accounting deals with basic aspect of accounting that includes that for every transaction there are two accounts involved. It helps in keeping the equation balanced. Another aspect of double entry system is that the amounts that are entered in the debit side of the general ledgers must be equal to the total amount of credit. It is one of the oldest concepts of accounting(Kohtamäki, 2017). For example, if the company is taking some loan from the bank. The entry will  involve two accounts, the accounts payable account and the cash account. With the loan, the cash amount will be debited by the amount taken and the accounts payable account is credited with that amount. Both the amount in the ledger in that two account must match with each other. This is the essence of double accounting system it helps in showing the true picture of the financials of the business. The AASB 101 deals with presentation of the financial statements and the same must be followed by the company.

b) Accrual accounting is the method of accounting in which the overall performances of the business is judged not on the basis of the cash transactions that take place but on the period to which they relate(Visinescu, Jones, & Sidorova, 2017). For example, if the company receives prepaid income for the month of April and the books closes on March, than same shall not be included in the financial statements. This helps in showing the true position of the company and does not include such income that is related to the future period of the company. The ASSB 107 deals with management of the cash flow of the company, hence these transactions are affected by the same.

c) The basic qualities of the information that is included in the financial statements have the following characteristics.

• It must be accurate and show case the correct data that is derived from the respective transactions.
• It must be based on accrual basis that means that the data must be related to the period for which the financial statements are being prepared.
• It is important that the presentation must be effective and people must be able to understand the same and it must be relevant
• This information must be properly scrutinized and checked before finalization of the accounts.It must be comparable, such that it helps in comparing the present position of the company with the other companies and also over the same period of operations
• It must be clear and compact so that people who are dealing with such information finds it very easy to do so.
• The data that the companies use must be clear, comprise and compact and easily readable as per the contents of the general ledger of the company.(Laursen & Thorlund, 2016)

1) For setting up the company’s chart of account, the company will first needs to consider its accounting system. Every company requires different type of accounting system that is based on their needs and their chart of account is framed on the basis of the same. In order to modify the system the management needs to consider the loopholes in the present system and than makes changes on the basis of the same. The charts should be based on the needs of the management and necessary steps should be taken on the basis of the same. The various hardware and software system that are related to the accounting software that includes common office equipment, technology, software and consumables, an integrated commercial financial software system and associated data must be checked (Mayntz, 2017). This will help in understanding where the problems lies and then given the solution on the basis of the same. There are little legislation and rules that the company needs to follow in respect of the same and the same must be taken care while making the necessary changes. Accounting standards 134 interim financial reporting lays down guidelines that can be followed while preparation of these charts.

a) A chart of account of the company is a tool that provides a complete list of all the accounts in the financial system. It is an unique record of all the different types of assets, liabilities, revenue and expense of any company(Trieu, 2017).

b)Subsidiary accounts are those accounts that prepared in ancillary to the main account and that helps in providing extra information to the main account. It helps in better understanding of the main account of the company.

c)The charts of the company can be improved by applying various methods like management of the accounts by taking expert helps, by reconciling the accounts from time to time. This will help in betterment of the accounts.

References

Arnott, D., Lizama, F., & Song, Y. (2017). Patterns of business intelligence systems use in organizations. Decision Support Systems, 97, 58-68.

Kohtamäki, M. (2017). Real-time Strategy and Business Intelligence: Digitizing Practices and Systems. Finland: Palgrave Macmillan.

Laursen, G., & Thorlund, J. (2016). Business Analytics for Managers: Taking Business Intelligence Beyond Reporting (Second ed.). CANADA: Wiley Publisher.

Mayntz, R. (2017). Networked Governance. Springer.

Trieu, V. (2017). Getting value from Business Intelligence systems: A review and research agenda. Decision Support Systems, 93, 111-124.

Visinescu, L., Jones, M., & Sidorova, A. (2017). Improving Decision Quality: The Role of Business Intelligence. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 57(1), 58-66.