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*Assignment* This week is the final part to your course project. Using the information that you have gathered throughout the quarter: Prepare a report that will be delivered to the CEO and CIO. Your report should include your suggestions for implementing a new accounting information system. Your suggestions should be backed up by the research that you have completed. Assume that you would actually be providing this report to these managers. Remember you are solving complicated issues by determining best methods to solve the issues. Rely on your research and experience to solve the issues that you presented earlier in the quarter. Your report should be a minimum of 5 full pages. Include a minimum of 5 reference sources with 2 being credible. For your credible sources, use two journal articles from Academic Journals. Use APA formatting to write your paper and to document your sources. It will be important to cite your sources both in-text and on your reference page. Include an APA formatted title page. ****Leave references and citations or I won't Accept!!!**** They need to be websites that I can open and locate information!!!! *Information gathered from quarter: *Team Selection* Accounting Information Systems collect, process, and manage financial data in such a way that it can be used by accountants, managers, chief financial officers, auditors, and other interested groups. In order to make the financial data easily accessible and to ensure the security of the data then a high level of expertise and experience is required. As a result, implementing an accounting information system with an expert team should be assigned for specific departments. For us to properly recommend an accounting information system for an organization's fundamentals which are necessary for the system then we should properly conduct research on what is best for us to meet our goals as a team. Accounting information systems generally consist of six main components including system users, methods established for collaborating and processing data, the data involved in the AIS (i.e. purchase orders & sales orders), the software component utilized to store and process data, hardware utilized to install AIS, and security measures to secure all data (Fontinelle, A., 2016). Adjustments brought fourth within an organization will generally affect each individual department. With implementation of accounting information systems alterations will arise throughout these different departments. It is important to note the significance of the system users when arranging the AIS, while this will pertain to financial data. With a properly established accounting information system this will help organize information for specific individuals throughout the organization. As a result, the following team from alternate departments will be afflicted due to the implementation of the AIS. A team that I have developed to further assist me in constructing a pertinent accounting information system would include human resources, administration, accounting, production, and sales departments. Certain employee levels should also be established for each department, such as a manager. It would be in the best interest of the organization to choose the Human Resources Director to be the most qualified applicant for the Human Resources Department. This director should have proper knowledge of the daily routines in their department as well as the procedures to fulfill these priorities (Fontinelle, A., 2016). Also, the accounting department should be provided with an accounting manager as an essential element to the team. As the highest authority in the accounting department, they will assume various duties. The accounting manager oversees all accounting functions from preparing reports and entering data, to collaborating with other departments and organizing special projects (Workable, 2015). Overall, they will need to establish a financial status by establishing and implementing systems for collecting, analyzing, verifying and reporting financial information (Workable, 2015). Next, for the Production Department, the Production line manager would probably be the best candidate for the situation. The Production Line Manager is responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating the production activities required to produce the vast array of goods manufactured (Conjecture Corporation, 2016). They are responsible for the production output and quality goals while remaining within budget (Conjecture Corporation, 2016). Generally, a product line manager plays a key role in the success of a company's products and overall sales (Conjecture Corporation, 2016). The Chief Sales Officer would be included on the team for the Sales Department as well. I would choose this individual given that the CSO is responsible for all sales & revenue within the organization. Finally, the head of the Administration Department would be on the team to top it off. As of the topmost leaders in the organization, they will be held responsible for everything that happens whether failure is occurring within the organization as well as its success. Altogether, the departments mentioned will be involved with the team established and will have data created throughout an accounting information system to help them maintain any information within the company. Each department will be able to locate records through this system. For instance, the Human Resources Department will need these AIS to store records of employees as well as other individuals that have worked with the organization and recruit new employees for that matter. If the accounting information system is properly established and utilized, then the organization should be able to run efficiently as well as satisfactory by all means. Conjecture Corporation. (2016). What does a product line manager do? Retrieved from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-a-product-line-manager-do.htm. Fontinelle, A. (2016). Introduction to accounting information systems. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/articles/professionaleducation/11/accounting-information-systems.asp. Workable. (2015). Accounting manager job description. Retrieved from https://resources.workable.com/accounting-manager-job-description. *Internal Control Weaknesses* Throughout departments of any organization they should analyze weaknesses to better control them as a whole. To help out with this situation, then it is best to determine controls that need to be implemented for each individual department. Last week we established five main departments that have were compiled to the needs of this particular organization. These five departments are human resources, accounting, production, sales, and administration. To begin with, there are a few internal control weaknesses that are critical to the human resources department. An absence of an effective HR policy as well as implementation could possibly lead to a lawsuit in the future. Also, if there isn't any appropriate verification process of credentials or background checks on employees made during the enrollment trial then this would fall under the category of an internal control weakness. The last weakness that could apply to this department is that individuals have the ability to access all personal information regarding employees, while corruption is highly plausible (Romney & Marshall, 2014). Control systems can be utilized to resolve these types of situations for the organization. A relevant human resources management IT system should be authorized to monitor the policies and procedures the department operated within as well as recognizing the errors and actions takin to effectively implement all required policies (Romney & Marshall, 2014). This should empower the evaluation of performance as well as replacement of the human resources manager if performance isn't met. Also, it should be mandatory for enrollee's to forward a copy of certificates as well as experience for verification, while third party verification would suit this circumstance (Romney & Marshall, 2014). We then have to consider the accounting department, while one specific internal control weakness includes preparing incorrect entries regarding sales, receivables, accounts payable, etc. in relation to personal profits. Then, there is the fact that when an individual employee manages customer payments as well as reconciliation of bank accounts, in this condition they are surely capable of committing fraud that is hard to identify (Romney & Marshall, 2014). Lastly, maintenance of accounts receivables and customer payments allows fraudulent activity through adjustment of the accounts. To better control these weaknesses in this department the entire organization must make it essential to computerize all transactions and enter the appropriately with no fraudulent behavior (Romney & Marshall, 2014). Basically, an invoice should be created by computer, the payment established toward the supplier should be registered in the system, while all activity involved with the business is essentially registered as a result. This will remove any further activity in an enormous magnitude, as it facilitates management with identifying this quickly. Alternate employees should essentially be appointed for handling cash as well as reconciling bank accounts or issuing credit memos (Romney & Marshall, 2014). We must then consider the weaknesses involved with the sales department, while it should be noted that providing excessive discounts to the customer as they have full authority to do so. They also much consider the possibility of inflating the amount of sales to earn higher commission by preparing a fraudulent invoice (Romney and Marshall, 2014). Lastly, credit terms are decided through this department, so therefore they are able alter them according to the customer requirement to boost sales (Romney & Marshall, 2014). This is again why we will need to set up controls to prevent these types of situations. With this in mind, all sales performed through the department should be recorded in the computer that will be integrated with the accounts and production department to indicate the amount of sales. By utilizing this integrated system it will eliminate the fraud of inflating sales (Romney & Marshall, 2014). A sales department must not have any authority to make decisions regarding the terms of credit and the discount, while all these are considered management decisions (Romney & Marshall, 2014). Intentional disclosure regarding the discount and credit terms to the existing as well as prospective customers so that company will not incur any issues for the collection and suffer a loss due to the higher discount is a must for the organization Another department that we must examine would be the administration department. This department should be mandated to work close with the accounting department as well as handling cash which enables them to commit at a higher rate than other departments. Also, the mismanagement of work created is harder to be identified due to lack of documentation (Romney & Marshall, 2014). One of the most important factors to include is that fact that there aren't any proper written policies to abide by. Once again, it is significant we set controls to properly resolve or hinder such situation. Developing an ERP system is an excellent strategy to resolve this fraud. By maintaining a system with appropriate user ID and password protection it will enable the understanding of the individual creating entries and committing fraud in such simple manner (Romney & Marshall, 2014). It will help in establishing a profound control over the entire operations of the organization, as well as control the fraud committed by the administrative department. Lastly, we have to deal with the production department as well. Through this department they utilize inventory management, order placement, and maintenance of records created only by the production department (Romney & Marshall, 2014). These individuals also have complete access to all the production materials and finished goods, which provides an opportunity for theft. The quality control performed by the manager who manages production and thus provides an opportunity to sell in the black market would be a huge weakness to consider, while the controls set forth should benefit the organization. This can be established with inventory control, production management, and order placement being organized by alternate departments with different employees. Also, a complete system should be computerized so that orders from the production department will be automatically elevated by the system into the inventory department, and then orders will be placed by the inventory department once the ability to meet minimum quantity occurs. This will create avoiding misuse of inventory, while the warehouse must have a computerized record system that removes the fraud as the employee who gets the inventory has to mention their employee ID and the purpose (Romney & Marshall, 2014). Quality control must be performed by alternate departments to prevent false production and damage record, as it must be computerized to prevent any fraud altogether. Overall, it we must have controls established to refrain from any doubtful behavior. With the controls that we have developed we should be able to maintain an economically moral as well as ethical organization all around. It isn't an easy task to prevent fraudulent activity from occurring in any type of organization. Internal controls are the best types of methods to maintain in order for any individual organization to stay safe in a technology filled world. *Flowcharting* Following are the cycles that you may elect to address: Revenue Cycle Expenditure Production Cycle Human Resources management and Payroll Cycle General Ledger Cycle *Software Selection* Accounting Information Systems collect, process, and manage financial data in such a way that it can be used by accountants, managers, chief financial officers, auditors, and other interested groups. In order to make the financial data easily accessible and to ensure the security of the data then a high level of expertise and experience is required. As a result, implementing proper software packages should to be utilized to assist with information regarding human resources, finances, and inventory. Accounting software is mainly designed for providing various services like recording, processing, storage, and handling and in accessing required information (Business-Software.com, 2009). For us to properly recommend software packages for an organization's fundamentals which are necessary for the system then we should properly conduct research on what is best for us to meet the organization's needs as a whole. The first package that I will be recommending for our organization is SAP's Business ONE. With SAP's Business ONE we should have the ability to gain better control over our SME or subsidiary, will this business management software is designed to evolve with the company (SAP, 2016). The starter package costs $1178/each, while they are limited to the maximum of 5 users. Professional user packages will cost about $2,975/per user and limited users about $1,488 per user (Cornerstone SAP, 2015). Maintenance charges are about 18% of the total cost of software, and it costs $195 per hour for installation and configuration (Cornerstone SAP, 2015). The cost of training, customizations, add-ons, and integration will vary based an individual's unique needs, but are an important consideration in your budget for SAP Business One (Cornerstone SAP, 2015). Key advantages of using SAP Business ONE: Improve efficiency for a better bottom line - Centralize and connect your entire business across sales, inventory, purchasing, operations, and financials in one end to end solution, eliminating redundant data entries, errors, and costs (Top10ERP.org). Get faster time to value - Be up and running within two to eight weeks with a single application. The intuitive user experience minimizes user training and reduces the cost of ongoing IT support (Top10ERP.org). Connect headquarters, subsidiaries, and business partners in one seamless network - Better serve your customers and gain operational efficiency with affordable, right-sized solutions to help manage information flow and harmonize business processes (Top10ERP.org). Key disadvantages of using SAP Business One: Perception of being too complicated - Since SAP as an ERP solution has been traditionally associated with the large size or the Fortune 500 companies, the general perception is that the system is likely to be too complicated and would not make sense for a small business to go for it (Cygnet Infotech, 2016). No Payroll - Payroll is not a part of the SAP Business One solution and hence you need to purchase this from a third party. The worst thing being, you need to continually maintain the ongoing business process integration between the two products (Cygnet Infotech, 2016). Lack of Flexibility to Choose - Small and medium sized businesses are very particular about what they are spending. With SAP Business One, you do not have a choice of selectively picking the modules or functions you want, while leaving the rest. So you have to take it as it is. The only exception that you can opt is to drop the CRM function if you so desire (Cygnet Infotech, 2016). SAP supports mainly all operating system like Microsoft Windows Server, SUSE Linux, UNIX and Red Hat (InformIT, 2008). It also supports numerous languages such as English, German, French, Danish, Czech, Romanian, Japanese, Spanish, and more. The required disk space is 2 GB for English language and 4 GB for other languages (SAP, 2016). Operating systems involved include Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Vista SP2, Windows XP SP3, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 SP2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP2 (SAP, 2016). Therefore, these essential services are best fit for our company as they will provide significant solutions on all levels of accounting and financial systems. The second package I would recommend utilizing for our organization would be Intuit, which provides a variety of packages for their services. Simple start will cost about $10/month per employee. Essentials cost about $21/month per 3 employees while Plus costs $32/month per 5 employees (Intuit, Inc., 2016). The more appropriate selection for our organization would be Plus packages, while this benefits us in managing the unified accounting and financial system's requirements as a whole. Key advantages of using Intuit QuickBooks: With quick, easy access to all your figures, reports, invoices, customer details and more, it's easy to find the information you need - instantly (Inuit Limited, 2012). All your customer and supplier details. All your financials. All in one place - organized and searchable, so you can always find what you need (Intuit Limited, 2012). It's really easy to enter the details of sales and expenses as they happen. QuickBooks Online tracks everything, so you can see the latest cash flow figures (Intuit Limited, 2012). Key disadvantages of using Intuit QuickBooks: Missing industry & business-specific features, lack of key reports outside of accounting, instability / crashes, lack of direct professional support, file-size issues (Blue Link Associates Limited, 2015). Limited reporting and transparency of your business health. Double entry and keying errors. In order to properly operate this program it is required to utilize Windows 8,Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2012, Windows Small Business Server 2011, Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2003 (SP2) (Intuit, Inc., 2016). Hardware requirement is 2.4 GHz processor, and it requires 250 MB of Microsoft as well as Net 4.0 Runtime. Any third party applications can be easily supported, but currently are not supporting Internet Explorer 11.0. Various firewalls and other anti-virus they run with RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks), but this anti-virus and others must not slow down the software operations (Intuit, Inc., 2016). Blue Link Associates Limited. (2015). Pros and cons of QuickBooks | QuickBooks limitations. Retrieved from http://www.bluelinkerp.com/blog/2013/08/05/pros-and-cons-of-quickbooksquickbooks-limitations/. Business-Software.com. (2009). Top 10 accounting/financial management software for midsized businesses - 2009. Retrieved from http://www.otaccounting.com/top_10_accounting.pdf. Cornerstone SAP. (2015). How much does sap business one cost? Retrieved from http://ask.cornerstonesap.com/how-much-does-sap-business-one-cost/. Cygnet Infotech. (2016). Pros and cons of sap business one erp. Retrieved from http://www.cygnet-infotech.com/ blog/pros-and-cons-of-sap-business-one-erp.aspx. InformIT. (2008). Infrastructure technology basics for sap deployment. Retrieved from http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1235625&seqNum=3. Intuit, Inc. (2016). System requirements for QuickBooks 2016 and enterprise solutions 16.0. Retrieved from https://community.intuit.com/articles/1224559-system-requirements-for-quickbooks2016-and-enterprise-solutions-16-0. Intuit, Inc. (2016). QuickBooks online. Retrieved from http://quickbooks.intuit.com/online/compare/. Intuit Limited, (2012). Advantages of QuickBooks online. Retrieved from http://global.intuit.com/id-en/small-business/advantages-of-quickbooks.jsp. SAP. (2016). SAP business one. Retrieved from http://go.sap.com/india/product/enterprisemanagement/business-one.html. SAP. (2016). System requirements. Retrieved from http://www.sap.com/pc/tech/cloud/software/business-managementbydesign/implement/requirements.html. Top10ERP.org. (2016). SAP business one. Retrieved from https://www.top10erp.org/sapbusiness-one-products-advantages-11