SYS FISH HOUSE

ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEM NEEDS

1. Identify the business processes you see at Sys

2. For each process, write a detailed description of the steps in the process or feel free to

flow chart the process if you would prefer.

3. Detail where the processes must share data and what that data consists of

4. What needs to happen for Sys to be ready to automate its accounting information

system? Please fully explain.

5. How could Sys use Data Mining to expand their business? What would you

recommend?

6. What other enhancements would you recommend so that Sys operating and tracking

processes are improved?

SY'S FISH HOUSE ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEM NEEDS 1. Identify the business processes you see at Sy's 2. For each process, write a detailed description of the steps in the process or feel free to flow chart the process if you would prefer. 3. Detail where the processes must share data and what that data consists of 4. What needs to happen for Sy's to be ready to automate its' accounting information system? Please fully explain. 5. How could Sy's use Data Mining to expand their business? What would you recommend? 6. What other enhancements would you recommend so that Sy's operating and tracking processes are improved? Page 170 PROJECT BACKGROUND PROJECT BACKGROUND Sy's Fish Company owns a chain of wholesale fish stores. The company has grown rapidly over the past few years and now includes eight different stores. The company is poised to expand further but first needs to develop a better accounting information system (AIS). This project involves a thorough analysis of Sy's Fish Company business processes to assess opportunities for improvement and implementation of a prototype integrated database to provide financial and management information Client Company Overview Sy hired your accounting and consulting firm to design a database accounting system for his business (Sy's Fish Company), construct a prototype system in Microsoft Access, and provide some related accounting business/systems advice. He recognizes that his current accounting process will not be able to support his rapidly growing business. He also understands the importance of an accounting system that can provide timely management information as well as standard accounting functions. In particular, you are to analyze five processes for Sy's Fish Company. Those processes are selling fish, purchasing fish, paying employees, purchasing miscellaneous supplies and services, and providing refunds to customers. The following interviews with Sy and some key employees describe Sy's Fish Company's business processes. Where information is incomplete, you are to make appropriate assumptions. Your instructor will provide an Excel spreadsheet with all necessary data and any additional instructions. Sy uses accrual accounting and a calendar fiscal year. Initial Interviews with Sy's Fish Company Employees Summary of Interview with Sy Sy spent most of his adult life fishing. He worked as a deckhand and master on a number of commercial fishing boats. While this work satisfied his quest for adventure, it did not pay well. A few years ago, Sy bought a small wholesale fish store to seek his fortune in a less dangerous but more lucrative occupation. Through hard work, his business, Sy's Fish Company, expanded to other cities on the East Coast. Sy's Fish built a reputation for high-quality fresh fish. Sy guarantees satisfaction or his customers get their money back-no questions asked. Sy's Fish serves only wholesale customers, such as restaurants and retail stores. Sy's Fish offers its customers more than 20 types of fresh fish, such as sea bass, halibut, salmon, and perch. Each store can carry all types of fish. The stores are basically small warehouses and not retail fish stores. So, Sy's owns a fleet of trucks, with a distinctive logo on the side, used to pick up and deliver fish. Until recently, all of Sy's recordkeeping was primarily done manually. Each store keeps track of its purchases, inventories, sales, and so forth. Then, they send all the hard-copy documents to Sy, via the accounts payable or payroll clerks when appropriate. Sy prepares his accounting reports from those documents as well as the deposit information he receives from the banks and the cash disbursement information he receives from the accounts payable and payroll clerks. Recently, Sy's computer crashed and he lost all his records. He has been rebuilding those records from the manual documents using Excel. So far, he has been able to put together his records for carly 2013. He wants to move his data from Excel into an Access-based accounting system and prepare financial reports for the first quarter of 2013. Sy's Fish Co. Sy's personal Sy's Fish Company hat. Page 171 Sy plans to expand his business to multiple cities along the Gulf and West Coasts. So, in addition to providing financial information about his current performance, he wants advice on the risks his business faces and how he can mitigate those risks with cost-effective internal controls. To facilitate recordkeeping and management after the expansion, Sy is considering the installation of computers at each store, as well as the use of iPads to record transactions at the source. He believes that eventually he should use an online accounting system (cloud computing) and have each store submit transactions daily via the Internet. Thus, he also wants an evaluation of the benefits of using of information technology and how that would affect his internal control system. Summary of Interview with Natalie Merchant, AP Clerk, Boston Store Natalie prepares checks for payments to fishers and miscellaneous vendors. The stores mail purchase documents for fish to her almost every day. She knows that the fishers need to be paid promptly, so they can pay their crew. buy fuel, and so forth. So, she tries to pay them a week after she receives the documents. If she receives multiple purchases from the same fisher during that time, she will combine payments. For the miscellaneous purchases such as phone bills, truck repairs, and gasoline the stores assign purchase order numbers to the vendor's invoice and mail them to her. She holds the documents for payment at the end of the month. If she receives a bill after she has already prepared checks, she will often hold it until the end of the following month before sending payment. Again, she will combine payments if she receives multiple bills from the same vendor Natalie stamps each document with the check number, the check amount, and the date paid. After writing the checks and sending out the payments, Natalie packages all the documents (fish purchase documents and miscellaneous invoices) and delivers them to Sy's office. Summary of Interview with Rascal Flatts, Supervisor, Portland Store Rascal is the supervisor for the Portland store, and his duties are similar to supervisor duties at all the stores. Being supervisor is only a part-time responsibility. Most of the time, Rascal is just another employee at the Portland store, buying fish, preparing fish for delivery to customers, and making deliveries. Customers call to place orders for future fish deliveries. Usually, they order about one week in advance. The store employees know most of the customers by name and also know what types of fish they prefer. They also know what types of fish are likely available, so they try to steer the orders to those fish. They record customer orders in the order log. Then, every morning they look at the log to estimate the types of fish and quantities that they need to buy for the day. They don't buy fish for specific orders, instead, they try to get enough fish of each type to meet all the orders for that day. Each morning, one employee hops in a truck and drives to the local pier to buy the freshest available fish from fishers to fulfill customers' orders. The employee carefully selects the best fish and loads the fish into the truck Sometimes, it is not possible to get the specific types and quantities that the customers ordered, but other high- quality fish are available. In that case, the employee will buy the other fish and contact the customers to modify their orders. The purchase document identifies the purchase number (sequential), the fisher number, the purchasing employee, the truck VIN (to track mileage), the type of fish, the quantity purchased (in pounds), and the purchase price. The fish are purchased at the prevailing market price that day. On occasion, one purchase can involve multiple types of fish, although typically one purchase is for one type of fish. Page 172 When the truck returns to the store with the purchased fish, all employees unload the truck, clean the fish, and place the fish on ice for delivery to the customers in the aftemoon. The employees then prepare the delivery documents. Those documents list the customers' original order number, the order date, the delivery (sale) date. the truck VIN used to deliver the fish (to track mileage), the types and quantities of fish both ordered and sold. and the sale price. Sy sets the sales prices for all stores, and those prices can change every couple of months. One order can (and typically does) involve several types of fish. Each afternoon, the employees load the truck for the deliveries to customers. One employee then delivers the fish. Each customer receives the fish and the delivery document. They then pay for all their deliveries by the end of the month. Customers send the payment to the address listed on the delivery document (currently the address of the New York store). When the employee retums to the store, all the delivery documents are put in an envelope and mailed to Sy. Summary of Interview with Bruce Springsteen, Payroll Clerk, Baltimore Store Bruce maintains the payroll records. Each employee fills out his or her time card cach day. At the end of each month, each store supervisor collects employee time cards, checks them for accuracy, and sends them by overnight delivery to Bruce at the Baltimore store. If a time card looks to be incorrect, the supervisor asks the employee to correct it. Bruce then prepares the payroll checks and sends them to the addresses designated for each employee. Once the checks are mailed, Bruce mails the time cards and copies of the checks to Sy. Summary of Interview with Elton John, Accounts Receivable Clerk, New York Store Elton receives payments from customers at the end of each month. He assigns sequential cash receipt numbers to each incoming payment, recording the customer number, the receipt date, and the receipt amount. Each day, Elton deposits all checks received in the bank and then mails the list of cash receipts along with a copy of the deposit slip to Sy. Elton says that he is really not an accounts receivable clerk, because he never knows how much the customer owes; he just knows how much he received and deposited. Summary of Interview with Taylor Swift, Employee, Myrtle Beach Store Taylor described the customer refund process. Sy's Fish guarantees satisfaction and provides complete refunds if the customer is unhappy with any fish received on an order. The customer calls the local store and reports a problem with the fish. The employee who answers the phone immediately prepares a refund authorization. If the customer hasn't yet paid for that order, the employee instructs the customer to take that amount off his or her bill. In that case, the employee then sends the refund authorization directly to Sy for information. If the customer has paid for that order, the employee notifies the customer that he or she will receive a check within about a week. The employee sends the refund authorization form to the accounts payable clerk in Boston, who sends the customer a check. Then, the refund authorization and the payment information are forwarded to Sy. SY'S FISH HOUSE ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEM NEEDS 1. Identify the business processes you see at Sy's 2. For each process, write a detailed description of the steps in the process or feel free to flow chart the process if you would prefer. 3. Detail where the processes must share data and what that data consists of 4. What needs to happen for Sy's to be ready to automate its' accounting information system? Please fully explain. 5. How could Sy's use Data Mining to expand their business? What would you recommend? 6. What other enhancements would you recommend so that Sy's operating and tracking processes are improved? Page 170 PROJECT BACKGROUND PROJECT BACKGROUND Sy's Fish Company owns a chain of wholesale fish stores. The company has grown rapidly over the past few years and now includes eight different stores. The company is poised to expand further but first needs to develop a better accounting information system (AIS). This project involves a thorough analysis of Sy's Fish Company business processes to assess opportunities for improvement and implementation of a prototype integrated database to provide financial and management information Client Company Overview Sy hired your accounting and consulting firm to design a database accounting system for his business (Sy's Fish Company), construct a prototype system in Microsoft Access, and provide some related accounting business/systems advice. He recognizes that his current accounting process will not be able to support his rapidly growing business. He also understands the importance of an accounting system that can provide timely management information as well as standard accounting functions. In particular, you are to analyze five processes for Sy's Fish Company. Those processes are selling fish, purchasing fish, paying employees, purchasing miscellaneous supplies and services, and providing refunds to customers. The following interviews with Sy and some key employees describe Sy's Fish Company's business processes. Where information is incomplete, you are to make appropriate assumptions. Your instructor will provide an Excel spreadsheet with all necessary data and any additional instructions. Sy uses accrual accounting and a calendar fiscal year. Initial Interviews with Sy's Fish Company Employees Summary of Interview with Sy Sy spent most of his adult life fishing. He worked as a deckhand and master on a number of commercial fishing boats. While this work satisfied his quest for adventure, it did not pay well. A few years ago, Sy bought a small wholesale fish store to seek his fortune in a less dangerous but more lucrative occupation. Through hard work, his business, Sy's Fish Company, expanded to other cities on the East Coast. Sy's Fish built a reputation for high-quality fresh fish. Sy guarantees satisfaction or his customers get their money back-no questions asked. Sy's Fish serves only wholesale customers, such as restaurants and retail stores. Sy's Fish offers its customers more than 20 types of fresh fish, such as sea bass, halibut, salmon, and perch. Each store can carry all types of fish. The stores are basically small warehouses and not retail fish stores. So, Sy's owns a fleet of trucks, with a distinctive logo on the side, used to pick up and deliver fish. Until recently, all of Sy's recordkeeping was primarily done manually. Each store keeps track of its purchases, inventories, sales, and so forth. Then, they send all the hard-copy documents to Sy, via the accounts payable or payroll clerks when appropriate. Sy prepares his accounting reports from those documents as well as the deposit information he receives from the banks and the cash disbursement information he receives from the accounts payable and payroll clerks. Recently, Sy's computer crashed and he lost all his records. He has been rebuilding those records from the manual documents using Excel. So far, he has been able to put together his records for carly 2013. He wants to move his data from Excel into an Access-based accounting system and prepare financial reports for the first quarter of 2013. Sy's Fish Co. Sy's personal Sy's Fish Company hat. Page 171 Sy plans to expand his business to multiple cities along the Gulf and West Coasts. So, in addition to providing financial information about his current performance, he wants advice on the risks his business faces and how he can mitigate those risks with cost-effective internal controls. To facilitate recordkeeping and management after the expansion, Sy is considering the installation of computers at each store, as well as the use of iPads to record transactions at the source. He believes that eventually he should use an online accounting system (cloud computing) and have each store submit transactions daily via the Internet. Thus, he also wants an evaluation of the benefits of using of information technology and how that would affect his internal control system. Summary of Interview with Natalie Merchant, AP Clerk, Boston Store Natalie prepares checks for payments to fishers and miscellaneous vendors. The stores mail purchase documents for fish to her almost every day. She knows that the fishers need to be paid promptly, so they can pay their crew. buy fuel, and so forth. So, she tries to pay them a week after she receives the documents. If she receives multiple purchases from the same fisher during that time, she will combine payments. For the miscellaneous purchases such as phone bills, truck repairs, and gasoline the stores assign purchase order numbers to the vendor's invoice and mail them to her. She holds the documents for payment at the end of the month. If she receives a bill after she has already prepared checks, she will often hold it until the end of the following month before sending payment. Again, she will combine payments if she receives multiple bills from the same vendor Natalie stamps each document with the check number, the check amount, and the date paid. After writing the checks and sending out the payments, Natalie packages all the documents (fish purchase documents and miscellaneous invoices) and delivers them to Sy's office. Summary of Interview with Rascal Flatts, Supervisor, Portland Store Rascal is the supervisor for the Portland store, and his duties are similar to supervisor duties at all the stores. Being supervisor is only a part-time responsibility. Most of the time, Rascal is just another employee at the Portland store, buying fish, preparing fish for delivery to customers, and making deliveries. Customers call to place orders for future fish deliveries. Usually, they order about one week in advance. The store employees know most of the customers by name and also know what types of fish they prefer. They also know what types of fish are likely available, so they try to steer the orders to those fish. They record customer orders in the order log. Then, every morning they look at the log to estimate the types of fish and quantities that they need to buy for the day. They don't buy fish for specific orders, instead, they try to get enough fish of each type to meet all the orders for that day. Each morning, one employee hops in a truck and drives to the local pier to buy the freshest available fish from fishers to fulfill customers' orders. The employee carefully selects the best fish and loads the fish into the truck Sometimes, it is not possible to get the specific types and quantities that the customers ordered, but other high- quality fish are available. In that case, the employee will buy the other fish and contact the customers to modify their orders. The purchase document identifies the purchase number (sequential), the fisher number, the purchasing employee, the truck VIN (to track mileage), the type of fish, the quantity purchased (in pounds), and the purchase price. The fish are purchased at the prevailing market price that day. On occasion, one purchase can involve multiple types of fish, although typically one purchase is for one type of fish. Page 172 When the truck returns to the store with the purchased fish, all employees unload the truck, clean the fish, and place the fish on ice for delivery to the customers in the aftemoon. The employees then prepare the delivery documents. Those documents list the customers' original order number, the order date, the delivery (sale) date. the truck VIN used to deliver the fish (to track mileage), the types and quantities of fish both ordered and sold. and the sale price. Sy sets the sales prices for all stores, and those prices can change every couple of months. One order can (and typically does) involve several types of fish. Each afternoon, the employees load the truck for the deliveries to customers. One employee then delivers the fish. Each customer receives the fish and the delivery document. They then pay for all their deliveries by the end of the month. Customers send the payment to the address listed on the delivery document (currently the address of the New York store). When the employee retums to the store, all the delivery documents are put in an envelope and mailed to Sy. Summary of Interview with Bruce Springsteen, Payroll Clerk, Baltimore Store Bruce maintains the payroll records. Each employee fills out his or her time card cach day. At the end of each month, each store supervisor collects employee time cards, checks them for accuracy, and sends them by overnight delivery to Bruce at the Baltimore store. If a time card looks to be incorrect, the supervisor asks the employee to correct it. Bruce then prepares the payroll checks and sends them to the addresses designated for each employee. Once the checks are mailed, Bruce mails the time cards and copies of the checks to Sy. Summary of Interview with Elton John, Accounts Receivable Clerk, New York Store Elton receives payments from customers at the end of each month. He assigns sequential cash receipt numbers to each incoming payment, recording the customer number, the receipt date, and the receipt amount. Each day, Elton deposits all checks received in the bank and then mails the list of cash receipts along with a copy of the deposit slip to Sy. Elton says that he is really not an accounts receivable clerk, because he never knows how much the customer owes; he just knows how much he received and deposited. Summary of Interview with Taylor Swift, Employee, Myrtle Beach Store Taylor described the customer refund process. Sy's Fish guarantees satisfaction and provides complete refunds if the customer is unhappy with any fish received on an order. The customer calls the local store and reports a problem with the fish. The employee who answers the phone immediately prepares a refund authorization. If the customer hasn't yet paid for that order, the employee instructs the customer to take that amount off his or her bill. In that case, the employee then sends the refund authorization directly to Sy for information. If the customer has paid for that order, the employee notifies the customer that he or she will receive a check within about a week. The employee sends the refund authorization form to the accounts payable clerk in Boston, who sends the customer a check. Then, the refund authorization and the payment information are forwarded to Sy