Paper 2: Accounting Information Systems Investigation

Learning Objectives:

1. Familiarize the student real world application of accounting information systems

2. Allow student to interact with business professionals (experiential learning)

3. Document accounting information systems

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Assignment:

Identify a service, manufacturing or retail company that interests you or where you have a connection. The size of the company or if it is private or publically traded. Contact a person in the leadership (CEO, president, partner, general manager, controller, etc.) of the company (does not have to be an accountant) and request a meeting to discuss the company’s accounting information system. Your objective similar to an auditor’s objective is to learn about the company’s accounting information system. Assure the company leader that you do not want them to share any confidential information about the company by completing the non-disclosure agreement available in D2L.

For example: the store manager at your local Lowes Home Improvement Center or the partner of a local CPA firm.

The following subheadings are required in your five page paper:

Leadership-
Name, titles and contact information (e-mail & phone number of the individual(s) you met with and a picture as appendix to your paper with the individual(s) person you met in front of a company logo (if possible).

Company Overview*-
A brief description of the company as well as the location details as follows:

1. Provide a brief overview of the company and their primary business- (e.g. Lowes is in the home improvement business, operates in XX states and XX countries worldwide and is headquartered in YY city established in 19XX.)

2. Discuss the overall company size (sales & employees), location (sales & employees), operating structure (decentralized or centralized) (e.g. Lowes has centralized administration and decentralized management control. The company is structured in 4 regions West, East, Midwest and Southwest with Vice Presidents of store management over each region).

*Depending on the company/firm, a tour prior to your discussion may be helpful.

Accounting Information Systems-
The focus of this section is the technical part of the company’s accounting information system.

1. What software does the company employ?

2. When was it installed (if known)?

3. What accounting system is the company using?

a. This could be an enterprise resource planning system (e.g. SAP, Oracle), quickbooks, peachtree, green ledger paper, a spiral notebook or any other system that the company uses to maintain their accounting records

4. Challenges with current system

5. What the controls for adding employees, items, general ledger accounts?

6. Where is their system maintained?

7. What are the threats to their system?

General Ledger Structure-
Discuss how the AIS systems categorizes sales (revenue) and expenses. In this section you should discuss the following:

1. the fiscal year of the company when and why does it end- is there logic for when the company has a yearend

2. structure of the general ledger accounts

3. is the location a profit center or cost center (e.g. For Lowes each store would be considered a profit center because they generate revenues & expenses and have a store P&L/income statement).

4. how does the company segment sales and expenses- in other words what departments do they use (e.g. Lowes uses millwork, garden center, lumber , plumbing, electrical, flooring etc.; a public accounting firm might use consulting, bookkeeping, audit & tax).

Key Performance Indicators-
A discussion of the key performance indicators (KPI’s) the company uses to manage their business. This section should include the following:

1. KPI’s used at the location level and the frequency

a. Revenues (internet vs. in-store), expenses, budget, comparisons (region/nation)

2. Industry specific KPI’s (e.g. Lowes sales by department or inventory shrink, public accounting billable hours or new clients)

Insight-
Please write one paragraph about your insight into how this experience enhanced your learning and understanding of accounting information systems.

Category

Comments

Points

Responsiveness-
Paper covers all required topics or subheadings.
20 points

Organization-
Paper is well organized, written in third person, and easy to read and understand. Contains appropriate wording (i.e. analyze, evaluate, review), does not contain prohibited words (like, looking, that being said), and professional, and is free from excessive spelling, grammatical errors.
10 points

Formatting-
File name convention is correct. See general paper guidelines. Rubric is copied to the end of the paper. Conforms to page number requirements. Uses a standard font, one-inch margins, and double spacing. Where applicable follows APA style including in-text citations and reference section.
15 points

Picture & Non-disclosure:

Paper submission includes signed non-disclosure agreement and picture of company visit.
5 points

Total Points

Overall Comments

General paper guidelines

Please find general paper guidelines. Failure to follow these instructions will result in a reduction of points for your paper. As accountants you are expected to pay attention to detail.

Timeliness of submission:

Papers submitted less than 12 hours late will receive a 20 percent reduction in points. For example, if the total possible points is 50, late papers will be graded on a 40 point basis, so long as it is submitted with 12 hours of the due date. Papers more than 12 hours late will not be accepted.

File naming convention:

Your file should be named last name followed by the instructor provided keyword. For example if your name is Mary Kay Jones and the key word is ANALYSIS your file name will be JONESANALYSIS.DOC.

Do not put anything at the top of your paper such as:

Jane Smith

Dr. Rankin

Analysis Paper

You should simply start your paper. Do not include a cover page, run headers, footer or page numbers.

File format:

Files are required to be in MS word. No PDF files.

Font, spacing and paper length:

1. Times New Roman 12 point

2. The body of your paper should be double spaced with standard one inch margins.

3. Reference list should be single spaced with the second line indented and a blank line between references.

4. Copy the appropriate rubric to the bottom of your submission. Failure to do so will result in a point reduction.

5. Papers not conforming to the page length requirement will be assessed a 20 percent point deduction of the total possible points (e.g. A 50 point paper that does not conform to requirements will receive a 10 point deduction equal to 20% of 50 points).

Grammar and spelling:

Use Grammarly to scan your paper for misspelled words and make suggestions for word choice. As a general rule any word with squiggly underlines is either misspelled or you have another issue.

General:

1. Paper should be written in third person. In other words we or I should not be used unless the paper requires an opinion.

2. Use of direct quotes is prohibited.

3. Paper should be written in active voice. For example: John did the painting. (active voice- correct) The painting was done by John. (passive voice- incorrect)

4. APA formatting should be used for all references. In a reference list you should indent the second line and all references should be single spaced.

5. Headers should be bold and centered.

6. Be careful of capitalization issues. Follow the appropriate grammar for capitalization.

7. Only scholarly references. Wikipedia, a dictionary, investopedia or textbooks should not be used for references. The university library should be used to identify scholarly publications. All references should be in alphabetical order.

8. Only the year should be used in the references in APA format. Be certain that the font of your reference page conforms to requirements.

9.

Anything reference included in your reference page, needs to be included in as an in text citation in your paper.

10. Do not put the name of the journal in your paper.

11. Your turnitin score (percent) should be no grader than 25 percent.

12. When doing an abbreviation, you start with the expression spelled out and then abbreviate after that. For example, Texas A&M University- Commerce (TAMUC). Each successive time you should use TAMUC.

13. Do not use colloquialisms such as “Bless his heart.” “Climbing the ladder.” “Boiled down.” “All in all.” “Right off the bat.” We all know what this means, but it should not be included in scholarly writing.

14. Prohibited words and phrases: look, like, view, see, saw, viewing, looking at, that being said, as previously stated, on the other hand, speaking, believe or not, walk away, telling

15. Good words: analysis, analyzing, evaluating

APA Website:

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_style_introduction.html