How big data will change accounting.

Information Technology Impact on Managerial Accounting Student Name Assignment Week #1: Article Research Paper BAOL 531: Managerial Accounting Professor: Dr. Thomas Seiler Date

Information Technology Impact on Managerial Accounting

Overview

Information technology has soared within the past couple decades. Today, individuals live in a technological era in which they are constantly connected, whether it be through cell-phones, laptops, IPads, etc. As one can imagine, this new technology has also brought about change and opportunity for the accounting industry. Think back to when financial statements and tax returns were prepared by hand, to now where just about everything is done electronically. Instead of sifting through paper documents, one can easily retrieve information with a few clicks of their computer mouse. Needless to say, information technology has had a tremendous impact on both financial and managerial accounting.

Purpose of Research

The general purpose of this research was to study how far information technology has advanced and how current information technology has impacted the managerial accounting profession.

Review of Literature

According to Warren Jr., Moffitt, and Byrnes (2015), in 2000 approximately 25% of accounting information was stored electronically, whereas today, roughly 98% of information is stored electronically (p. 397). That is a vast increase in 15 years and a perfect example of how technology has significantly impacted the accounting industry. The research conducted by Warren Jr. et al., focused on Big Data, which is various forms of datasets such as video, images, social media, websites, etc. and how all of this information can be collected, analyzed and used to improve financial and managerial accounting (pp. 400-401).

Warren Jr. et al. (2015) provided that managerial accounting is “the use of information generated from accounting records to help managers carry out their duties” (p. 400). Thus, information technology has increased the amount of data available for managers to analyze. However, Bredmar, Ask, Frisk and Magnusson (2014) believed that the key to information technology is that managers must develop accounting systems that measure and/or pull the data that is relevant and useful to the manager. In other words, the amount of information available is almost endless, thus, managers need to develop a plan or a goal and build the management system from there (p. 126). An idea suggested by Warren Jr. et al. is for managers to leverage the Balanced Scorecard management control system to identify behaviors in both a financial and nonfinancial measure; Big Data can identify the behaviors outlined in the Balanced Scorecard and provide important information to the manager (p. 400). For example, telephone usage can track productivity, email can be used to track internal processes, client service, etc. (pp. 400-401).

Organizations can also use information technology for budgeting (Warren Jr. et al., 2015). Managers can analyze historical data and look for trends or seasonal business activity to forecast financial information. Warren Jr. et al. believed Big Data and information technology will allow managers to use other useful information such as climate, performance evaluations and labor to produce budgets (p. 401). In other words, some companies are moving past the traditional budget in which only financial data is used, and are incorporating multiple datasets into the budget. Bredmar et al. (2014) also believed that organizations can utilize information technology to develop rules and calculations to create budgets and define specifically what those budgets are to be used for.

Conclusion

The research suggests that information technology has and will continue to significantly impact accounting. It is astounding how much information is available to individuals every single day. With information technology and advanced accounting systems, businesses can collect, analyze and produce financial information that is relevant, useful and likely more accurate than in the past. The research conducted by Warren Jr. et al. (2015) provided an excellent indication of how information technology will positively contribute to the managerial accounting profession. The research explained that information technology will help improve management control systems, budgeting and other nonfinancial reporting such as client satisfaction and employee productivity (p. 405). Bredmar et al. (2014) also indicated that as times change, and so too do performance measures and reporting requirements. Thus, it is both appropriate and important to utilize information technology to learn, grow and adapt in the accounting profession. For example, as performance metrics change, companies should adapt their systems in order to meet the needs of the new goals of the company (p. 135). In summary, information technology will assist managers in adapting to the constantly evolving accounting world.

Personal Thoughts

I am always in awe with the technology today. Especially when I speak with Partners at the firm I work for and they remind me that they used to prepare tax returns with a pen and paper, some of those tax returns were 200 pages long! All that to say, it is amazing how far technology has come throughout the years. I imagine companies are able to perform much more detailed analyses today versus in the past. Mainly because they probably did not have the information or resources available to perform such complex calculations. Thus, not only has information technology assisted companies in analyzing data more efficiently but it has also provided business leaders with more useful information; more informed business leaders would hopefully result in better business decisions and economic growth. In addition, information technology has been instrumental in delivering useful information to investors. Therefore, I’m sure investors and stakeholders are thrilled with the amount of information made available to them because they can use that information to try and invest their funds wisely.

One thing that I think is very important to keep in mind is “Garbage In – Garbage Out.” In other words, business entities first need to confirm and verify that the data going into their systems is good data. The company then needs to verify that their information systems and reports are collecting all the necessary information, because if one key element is left out, the results become useless. The point I am trying to make is because there is so much data available, it is important for managers to distinguish what is relevant data versus what is not relevant data and then build their analysis and reporting around that. Essentially, companies should not get lost in all the data or produce reports that are too complex, vast or difficult to understand. The goal should be to collect, analyze and report the most useful information in logical manner.

References

Bredmar, K., Ask, U., Frisk, E., & Magnusson, J. (2014). Accounting information systems implementation and management accounting change. Business Systems Research, 5(2), 125-138. doi:10.2478/bsrj-2014-0015

Warren, J. D., Moffitt, K. C., & Byrnes, P. (2015). How big data will change accounting. Accounting Horizons, 29(2), 397-407. Retrieved from http://aaajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.2308/isys-51580

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Human Computer Interface

Assignment 3: Human Computer Interface (HCI)

Everything we touch that is electronic has a Human to Computer Interface (HCI). Some companies put a lot of effort into the user experience; some, not so much. Some are very complex with enormous functionality (computer operating systems and smartphones) and some are much simpler (ATMs, gas station pumps, lottery ticket machines, movie dispensing machines).

For this assignment, choose either a simple interface (one with a few options) or a singular function of a more complex item (like a singular function of your smartphone, such as to create and send an email). Remember that there are several options for many of these. Visit the interface that you chose.

NOTE: Keep your selection to something simple, as you will find there are many options even in a simple task.

Write a paper in which you address the following:

Research history and background of the HCI (just a few of paragraphs).

From your chosen HCI, describe all the steps and options that are available to use and complete the task.

Build an Activity Diagram such as those on pages 138 Figure 5-5 and 139 Figure 5-6 of the textbook. Use Visio, MS Word or your choice of program that can create an activity diagram. YOU NEED TO CREATE THE DIAGRAM, NOT TAKE ONE FROM THE INTERNET.

Reflect on the experience. Do you feel the process you chose was well designed? Do you think it can be improved?

Use at least 2 quality resources. NOTE: Wikipedia and similar websites do not qualify as quality resources.

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Business Plan For A Company Using Multi-Stakeholder Cooperatives Model Focus On LifeSciences & Healthcare

Outline Tasks:

1) Study the Multi-Stakeholder Cooperatives manual (attached) & similar

MSC documents,

2) Create a business plan for a Multi-Stakeholder Cooperative

which focuses on LifeSciences & Healthcare,

3) Using the Cooperative structure, create a virtual company. This

virtual company will include all departments & positions. Each

department may be a university, a department in a university, or an

external company. The individual may be a Research Fellow or an

independent consultant.

4) Exit strategy & plan for individual stakeholders.

Using a disruptive Multi-Stakeholder Cooperative structure, will reduce

costs, make the development process more efficient, reward all

stakeholders fairly, whilst promoting local job creation at junior and

senior company levels.

Aim:

This business model will enhance the region’s status as an

internationally recognised hub for clinical excellence, creating the

first Unicorn Innovations Cooperative consortium.

To be self-funding. To be trusted by Funders to invest seed capital in

Cooperative. To make varying levels of profit for each stakeholder.

Pilot Products:

The first products to be developed within the MSC are

1)Topical pharmaceutical pain relief foot spray (medicine)

Business plan:

• Summary: a quick overview of company.

• Aims and objectives of the company: what does your business want to achieve?

• The proposed company members: their relevant skills and experience, contacts etc., anything which shows that you have the necessary qualifications to make the co-op work.

3 Membership Classes, to incliude:

• User – Individual or Company (Entrepreneur or SME)
• Worker – Salaried employee, non-salaried employee
• Supporter Member Classes – Investor, University

• The ownership and management of company: details about company structure, how the company will be managed, how decisions will be made and by whom, a breakdown of all the job areas and job descriptions for all the roles.

Board Members, chairman, execs as per the Solidarity Italian &

Canadian business models

• Long term plans.

• Exit strategy: how you will deal with things going wrong.

As per the Solidarity Italian & Canadian business models, How will a shareholder dispose of their shares. Ability for shareholders to transfer share equity not voting shares to other membership groups (ie investor)

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Using the Database design attached,

complete the following tasks:

Build the tables for at least two stores of the Fine Diamonds Company and populate them with at least ten records for each table.

Develop and execute queries to provide the required analytics and reporting to include the following:

A 1-page inventory list displaying all the attributes for each diamond in inventory (both in- and out-of-stock)

The total customer sales price and store costs for all in-stock inventory items

A 1-page list of all in-stock diamonds with a carat weight of over 1.0 carats

A 1-page list of customers who have placed an order within the last 12 months, along with their names and order numbers

A 1-page list of all orders placed within the past 12 months, along with the customer’s name and actual items included in the order

Compress the output of the queries, including all of the scripts, to create the database tables, establish keys and constraints, populate data within the database, and queries into a single ZIP folder.

Prepare a summary for the IT technical team that describes the following:

An explanation of the process used to determine the data types within each table

An explanation of the most difficult process in designing and building the data

How organizations can overcome the difficulties associated with the process

Use MySQL Version 5.6 for database and query development.

Create your summary Using:

A 2-page Microsoft® Word document

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