A Literature Review On Accounting Software Packages Structure

Question: Discuss about the Literature Review On Accounting Software Packages Structure. Answer: Accounting software package is the type of software that processes and records business accounting transactions in modules such as ledgers, trial balances, payrolls, payable accounts and receivable accounts. In Australia, some of the common accounting system used include MYOB, QuickBooks, sage, xero, reckon, cash flow and Nominal (James, 2008). The Company which I will review in this literature review is Australia Wheat board (AWB) company incorporated in Australia. This company emerged as a public company but later transformed into a private company. It markets and sells Australian oil, grain, and wheat for both domestic and international customers in meat industries, animal feeds, and food processing (Vasconcellos, JA 2004). It manages its finances through the use of accounting software packages in its operations. Its Current Organizational Structure Organization structure is the way an institution or organization achieves its objectives and goals through arranging people and jobs so that its work can be more productive and high quality of services and goods produced. Organizations are formed according to the size of the work group (Yasuhiko, Mihajlo, 2012). Formal structures are appropriate in a situation where work group is small and face-to-face kind of communication is used. However, larger organizations have to assign individual duties, responsibilities and lay down procedures to follow in their daily routines (Yasmine, Huub, 2014). In any organization of complexity or simplicity, employees duties are delegated by their managers and responsibilities defined by what they do and managers who report to them. Job specialization is well administered in the organizational structures as individual interests are well addressed, a proper chain of command followed and discipline maintained through rules of the organization. The organization structure is divided into different classes depending on the employees professional qualifications, experiences and their levels of income. The organizational structure of this company follows criteria similar to manufacturing industry firm After operating manager, there are various positions including department managers, supervisors, suppliers and team leaders and common employees in the organizations. Operational Problems Associated with this Structure The Organization structures have challenges which hinder their production rates, quality, and standards of Goods and services (Abrar, 2014). In this organization structure, some of the challenges include lack of co-operation from different people who work independently, the diversity gap between the managers and employees and workforce wastage. Changes in technology can be a challenging factor enhancing organization complexity; this may consume time as new technology requires proper training on employees to capture new features of the systems to produce high standards of Goods and services. Australian wheat Board Company may face challenges of low productions and low distribution of Goods and services to both domestic and international markets as in this organization structure there is a minimum number of markers shares. The company has not emphasized so much on marketing skills which act as a crucial part in determining the market power. However, AWB company owning well strategicall y level of management, they are likely to come up with best solutions of changes and good decision making as every aspect of the structure is observed. Employees are well supervised and motivated to produce more services and goods to their customers. This good supervisory skill of employees signifies that the company will still run in an appropriate manner as each department is well supervised even if there is independence in departmental functionalities. Most Likely System Acquisition Method Aquinas, (2008) support that the type of goods, the size of the organization in terms of revenues, employees and market share power determines the kind of system a company can operate. The probable acquisition method suitable for this organization is commercial software. Commerce software is suitable for this medium-sized business as it is easier to implement into the existing systems without customization and lack of restrictions and limits to users maintain. This software is very reliable and a well-arranged feature makes it the best when managing Data off all the clients and members of staff. The successful company analysis accounting records then audit financial statement and advance to reliable technology that provides high accuracy of data. The statement indicates that a reliable and economical software will be the best suitable for the company. The data integrity and redundancy will be controlled if AWB Company acquires commercial software. This software is common to many professional and it will provide the accuracy required in the data processing. AWB will incur low cost when maintaining this type of system or when purchasing a relative system. Despite the software being efficient and convenient for use Australian wheat Board Company should also check on demerits of this software. If a demerit outweighs merits then Australian wheat board should look for alternatives (Ralph, 2013). Australian wheat Board Company will have to pay annual fees for this software for them to use it. Commercial software also may contribute to failure to meet a specification and goals for users and this will require the input from a professional firm which is costly. Despite this challenges, it is clear that small and medium based business should adopt this type of software as it will run the organization effectively and efficient to enable the o rganization to attain their set goals and targets (Ashutosh, 2006). System flowchart of the Company Sales Procedures A system flow chart defines how decisions are implemented in the organization to control events and display data flow. This means that data processes are monitored through several stages before organization emphasis on a certain policy and implement decisions (Takahara, Mesarovic, 2014). In sales procedures, completion of prospective stage signifies the engagement beginning between customer and vendor. sales process consist of several steps depending on the type of products produced by a certain company, some of this steps includes initial contact, planning to sell, approach, assessment, presentations and follow-ups .flow chart provides easier presentations of the sales, analysis of sales reports and also enables future predictions of sales trends. Accounting information system communicates with the external environment through set standards which show the relationship in the existing system components and how components interact with system (Ashutosh, 2006). Australia wheat Board Company will follow the flow chart as illustrated below majority below. The system data flow summarizes the steps which the organization uses to maintain the competitive. Initial contact is approached, customers. Sales representative approaches customer face-to-face or through calls and introduces them to products produced by the firm through samples. They also persuade them on merits they will get including after sale services once they become customers of the firm (Martin, 2014). The selling stage follows whereby they sell their products to customers approached before or their existing customers. They also assess their products and presentations are done to proof customers that their products are of high quality and meet valuable standards. Follow-ups is the final stage whereby the firm follows up with customers to get the feedback about produces quality, taste and also got some ideas from them on where improvement is needed. The firm reviews all comments from the customers and corrects where the products might not meet needs of customers (Shahzad, Ma thew, 2010). Control Problems in the System The commerce system depends on system developers experts to troubleshoot the commands in case of system failure. This may encounter loss of data or manipulates data. This puts a company at risk of inaccuracy records in customer perception enabling users losing confidence in the system and also may result in some costs of compensation and maintenance Development and Adoption of the accounting software Packages Accounting information systems refer to computer software for processing and recording accounting transaction within different modules. The software may be acquired from software developer or in-house by the business. The adoption of accounting software in Australia is at a very high rate among the small business compared to other countries. The high rate of this adoption is to simplify the work and increase accuracy on computations involved in accounts (Eric, Yvonne, 2012). It is also flexible and generates an automatic report which maintains data integrity and confidence among the users. Through adoption of the system's data the firm gains competitive advantage as the flow of work is faster and data backups are done through cloud computing to ensure that in the case of system failures data will be well preserved (Masaaki, 2016). The Current Market Size The market share has effectively increased in size for both small size business and medium base business; this has been enhanced through the marking power of customers having confidence in accounting softwares systems. Popular companies using accounting system has paved a way for more employment opportune as system developer and designer are employed every day to debug these systems. Leaders in the market and their competitive advantage The global market has experienced a higher level of technology in accounting softwares system. MCBA Inc. is currently leading accounting software manufacturer for Digital Equipment (Martin 2014). The softwares with customized features and well debugged have gained favor in the market as leading companies are approaching them. In-house softwares developer has also been able to design attractive interfaces and design softwares on higher qualities. The huge competition is experienced when A Reckon Company designs advanced and personal financial software all in one. However, this company gains huge profits due to their limited competition in Australia. Current challenges for users of accounting software packages and the relevant recommendations Security threats and attack from malicious softwares had been one of the challenges the accounting softwares are facing in the modern world. Problems such as illiteracy among the system users, internet failures, and technology changes have been encountered (Steven, Tim, 2009). Despite all this problems strategies to curb these problems had been found with users being trained well on systems. Security measures such as authentications, predicate cryptography, and information-centric security have been implemented to secure this system. I would, therefore, recommend that in future effective firewalls to be used to control network traffics and cloud computing data backups to be used to maintain data integrity and restore data in case information is manipulated. Bibliography Abrar, H, 2014, Business Technologies in Contemporary Organizations:Adoption, Assimilation and Institutionalization, IGI Global. Aquinas, PG 2008, Organization Structure Design:Applications Challenges, EXCEL BOOKS, New Delhi, Inda. Ashutosh, D 2006, Digital Accounting:The Effects of the Internet ERP on Accounting, IGI Global. Takahara, Y., Mesarovic, M. (2014). Organization Structure. Boston, Ma, Springer Us. eBook: Bibliographic data : English. Eric, GF Yvonne, R 2012, Growing Pains:Transitioning from an Enterprenuership to a Professionally Managed Firm, 4th edn, Wiley. James, AH 2008, Accounting Information Systems, 6th edn, Rob Dewey. Martin, R 2014, Top Stocks 2015:A Stokebuyer`s Guide to Leading Australian Companies, 21st edn, Wiley. Masaaki, K 2016, Human- Computer Interaction:Theory, Design, Development Practice, Springer. Ralph, D 2013, Accounts for Solicitors, 2nd edn, Routledge. Shahzad, U Mathew, T, 2010, Research in Accounting in Emerging Economies, 10th edn, Emerald Group Publishing Ltd, Wagon Lane, UK. Steven, P Tim, R 2009, Custom Wooden Sign Company, Lulu.com. Vasconcellos, JA 2004, Ouality Assurance for the Food Industry:A Practical Approach, CRC Press, Florida. Yasmine, M Huub, L. 2014, Food Safety Management: A Practical Guide for the Food Industry, Elsevier. 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