Accounting: Final Exam Essay

For each of the following family objectives, explain in 200-400 words what you l take a craped in this course and how you could get into your learning of this course objective to your personal life or c atomic number 18er. uphold to the syllabus to assist you in lowstanding what material was covered under each objective.4pts each1) CHANGING DYNAMICS OF ACCOUNTINGThe steps of score cycles are revenues, expenditures, conversion/ production, financing, frigid assets, and pecuniary coverage. Revenues approximately very much go through as the result of the selling of a service or product. These proceedings are recorded in the form of cash receipts and gross sales orders. Expenditures are a result of the materials and labor need to generate revenues. For object lesson a dry cleaning business would need certain chemicals, bags and hangers for cleaned clothes, and employees to hunt down the business. Conversion represents the production or the good or service exchange by the phoner. In other harm the time/ cost to enkindle and market the good or service. Financing is in like manner k right awayn as and outstanding debt, such as stocks or any outstanding bonds. The fixed asset details the purchase, disposition, and depreciation of telephoner assets.See more  know of Satire John Dryden and Jonathan Swift Essay at once all ledger entries sport been posted and all accounts closed a trial ratio is prepared and is used to identify errors and eventually prepare the financial notifying for the company. Accounting corpses have become more automated and the need for kind-hearted intervention is becoming more square uped. Automation of these systems does dispense with for increased energy and accuracy and has allowed manual accounting task to be performed more quickly. benignant intervention is necessary though to go over the info existence entered is patch up. tender-hearted intervention can besides help to identify errors that may have b een made in the initial inputting of information. As technology evolves it is near  unaccep remand to not have somewhat interaction with the mesh. Companies often have eightfold locations as the internet opens the company to customers they could not otherwise reach.While the internet opens companies for increased commerce, there is also increased risk to the companys info. We have recently heard in the upstarts how the State of randomness Carolinas Department of Revenues systems were hacked and thousands of tax payers personal information such as social security amount were stolen. (http//www.postandcourier.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=pc160442). To ensure company security, many it department limit users ability to overture certain websites and download programs, games, and even pictures.2) INFORMATION SYSTEMS infrastructure(to earn full credence attain word count of at least 200 words) Accounting Information Systems (AIS) is what business use to collect, manage , and report financial information. AIS is a mix of people, procedures, raw data, software, and control. Internal controls are specifically vital as they work to maintain the integrity of data being entered and reported as well as protocol to protect polished data. A companys inbred controls must also meet or exceed SOX in order to be in compliance. Companies employee a mix of general and application controls to meet these requirements. Application controls include financial application controls to detect errors such as in refine keying of raw data. This could also include pre-coding bank transactions so that deposits are accidently recorded as withdrawals and vise versa.General controls include items such as segregation or duties, documenting and processing data, reconciliation of accounts, and even restricting access to certain systems to the employee who unavoidably the system to perform their job. AIS can include not only the inside controls one thinks of (such as segregatio n of duties) but also systems restrictions and requiring key bankers bill access for entry to various sites and departments. These items protect stored data and also allow for tracking of exclusives needing this type of access. As accounting systems become increasingly automated, firms are seeking individuals who have not only the understanding of GAAP and SOX, but also solid understanding of IT controls and process.3) DATA MANAGEMENT AND INTEGRATION(to earn full credit meet word count of at least 200 words) I found week three to be the most challenging for me. While I regularly use excel, learning correct terminology and how to build a database was especially difficult. While some terms were easy to grasp (such as field, record, and queries) truly understanding how tables and data strike to each other was difficult to grasp. When I realized that a immemorial key is unique and is defined in one table and that primitive key would be the foreign key on another table and is w hat is used to join the tables, building a database became clearer. Because the internet has changed the face of business, some companies find integrating reports from various divisions challenging. software system often has to be actual or modified so all inform divisions have access to properly report expenditures and revenue. The data must also be form and maintained in a logical way. Maintenance of the data is as important as the reporting. Without proper maintenance, future queries will not suppose the true numbers. Good maintenance and relation within a database also allows for companies to easily query the wealth of information within their own records to score additional insight into buying trends, possible room for more expeditious production, and quick review of possible errors.4) BUSINESS MODELING PROCESSES AND SYSTEM forge(to earn full credit meet word count of at least 200 words) SDLC is the process which should ensure a quality product. SDLC stands for Software Development Life Cycle. The SDLC includes think, system analysis and design, development, testing, implementation, and maintenance. In planning the company would identify the need, set a timeline for completion and outline the recourses needed for completion. The planning phase would also include what the company hopes to accomplish with new software. after the need is identified, analysis of reliable procedures and software is performed. This would include documentation of current procedures and identifying gaps in the system and best practices. This is most often accomplished by reviewing requirements of each job, speaking with managers and employees.Once these needs and shortfalls are identified, then the development process begins. The software should then been tailored/ purchased with the identified need and the companys current shortfalls in mind. Once this is completed companies will often test the new software either in theory or in a small division of the company. Fo r instance due to system and accounting needs my company recently developed a new ordering system. Rather than deploying the new system nationwide, one smaller district is being used to test and improve. After this is completed my company will move onto the implantation process. Implementation includes not only actually root to use new software but also transferring of old data to the new system, training employees on new procedures and how to use the new software. Once a system is implemented it should be maintained. Companies should continually review for issues and correct and adjust the system as needed. AIS should cover all levels of the companys financial reporting needs5) INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND AUDITING(to earn full credit meet word count of at least 200 words) The auditing of a companys information system is vital to ensuring the companys records are accurate and well protected. Also, it is imperative that the information systems are submissive with GAAP and SOX. SOX was enacted to address possible weakness on companys internal controls and as a result of the scandal at companies Enron and Worldcom. Upon test of why these companies failed, it was determined that the internal controls that should have been in place to ensure proper and truthful reporting were lacking. The internal controls govern the integrity of the data collected, processed, and disclosed on financial reports. SOX requires external/ independent auditors to test whether a companys internal controls and procedures are sufficient and report this on the companys financial report.To prevent CFOs and CEOs from claiming no knowledge of misreporting, SOX now requires that these individuals identify their knowledge of the companys finances, how it was reported, documentation of their own affair and the internal controls used to govern this. SOX also provides providing criminal and financial penalties for individual non-compliance. . In order to complaint with GAAP a companys policies sho uld include organizational structure outline, descriptions of transaction types, summaries of revenue, as well as a list of unacceptable practices. While SOX was enacted to prevent fraudulent reporting some smaller companies do struggle with ensuring they are compliant with the internal controls outlined.