FAQs

Q: What is an Accounting Information System (AIS)?

A: “An AIS is a system that collects, records, stores and processes data to produce information for decision makers.” 

 

Q: What roles can accountants play in regards to AIS in organizations?

A:

  1. External Auditor
  2. Tax Accountant
  3. Internal Auditor/Risk Manager
  4. Consultant
  5. Implementation Team Member
  6. Business Analyst
  7. Budget Analyst
  8. Financial Analyst
  9. Systems Analyst
  10. Controller
  11. Accounting Clerk
  12. CFO, etc.
 
Q:  How should information be organized so that Scott and Susan, external entities, and other employees can be effective?  (What does effective mean to S&S?) 
  • Effective is defined by the business objectives. 
  • Start with decisions that stakeholders need to make. 
  • Tools to use are overview of business activities, key decisions and information needs
  • Tools to use are transaction cycles and interactions between entities

Q:  How can this information be collected and processed, while making sure this information is complete, reliable and accurate?
A:

  • Capture data at the source
  • Exception reporting
  • Plan vs. actual
  • Standard naming conventions
  • Standard coding structures
  • Summary reporting with drill-down
  • Audit trail
  • Normalized relational database
Q:  What tools and techniques are available to use to document existing information systems and why do I need to do this?
A:

  • Earlier tools referenced
  • Sample reports, source documents
  • As-Is business process models
  • As-Is Program flowcharts
  • As-Is Data Models
  • Policies
  • Hardware/Software standards
Q:  What tools are available to design the new AIS?
A:

  • Business objectives
  • AIS objectives
  • Same as 1 above (to-be)
  • Procedures
  • Hardware performance
  • Software performance