Synthesize appropriate and effective use of technology for managing accounting and financial information flows and presentation.

Scenario Information

BeGood Baking Supply is a small bakery supply company formed as a closely held corporation. The company supplies raw baking materials, paper goods, and equipment to restaurants and bakeries in 3 states in the upper mid-west. Most of its business, however, is located in a large metropolitan area. BeGood wants to increase its presence in the region and serve 5 states. In fact, the owners of BeGood would like 75% of their business to come from throughout the region rather than the current metropolitan area. In order to do this, the owners understand they must diversify offerings and lines of business.

Currently, BeGood has a phone center where customer orders are taken; these orders are then sent to shipping where the order is filled in its large warehouse and shipped within 4 days. Be Good outsources its shipping to a local trucking company. Once the order ships, all paperwork goes to the accounting department where it is entered into the accounting system. BeGood still uses the same accounting system it has used since the inception of the company. All aging of receivables and other analysis is done using Excel spreadsheets. Purchasing and tracking of inventory are done solely by the warehouse manager. Invoices for inventory purchasing are sent to the accounting department when goods are received.

The owners at Be Good are wondering how they can utilize an online presence and further automate its systems in order to facilitate its growth and diversify its business. The owners may also like to expand into the retail business.

You have been hired as a full-time staff accountant at BeGood Baking Supply and have been given the task of evaluating and recommending a viable accounting information system for the accounting and financial data of BeGood in order to facilitate expansion and diversification. As you begin your research, you realize that many departments are involved in the information system, and communication is key.

Instructions

You are now ready to address the specifics of the new AIS at BeGood. As part of your research, document the following, which would become part of your final presentation to management, if you were carrying the project through to the end. Your documentation can be in the form of tables, SmartArt, PowerPoint, Word, or Excel. Use what best works for the documentation you are creating:

1. Identify the tables that you would need to create a working database for the company's receivables, payables, and inventory.
2. Create relationships for your various tables and databases. For instance, how does the A/P database interface with the Inventory Database?
3. Document your work providing a databases diagram (schema).
4. Documenting an organization's AIS would become part of a larger scale user manual for the accounting and information technology teams to use for reference and to assist the audit team with understanding how the organization's systems work together. Write the appropriate policies and procedures that arise from the tasks above that would be included in this type of user manual. Your information should also address the security of the systems involved.