Introduction to Accounting

Information Systems
Learning Objectives
At the end of the session, the student is expected to be able to:
 Describe the complex, dynamic environment in which
accounting is practiced.
 Describe the relationship between the AIS and the
organization’s business processes.
 List the attributes of information.
 Explain how information is used for different types of
decisions and at various levels in the organization.
 Explain how the information system supports the
management function.
 Describe the accountant’s role in relation to the current
environment for the AIS.

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Themes in AIS
1. Enterprise Systems —
integrates business process
functionality and information
from all of an organization’s
functional areas (marketing
and sales, cash receipts,
purchasing, cash
disbursements, human
resources, production and
logistics, and business and
financial reporting).
Themes in AIS (cont’d)
2. E-business — use of
electronic networks (including
the Internet) to undertake
business processes between
individuals and organizations.
3. Internal Control — a process
to provide reasonable
assurance that organizational
objectives will be achieved.
Principles of Effective Internal Control
Control Environment 1. Demonstrates commitment to integrity and ethical values
2. Exercises oversight responsibility
3. Establishes structure, authority and responsibility
4. Demonstrates commitment to competence
5. Enforces accountability

6. Specifies suitable objectives

Risk Assessment 7. Identifies and analyzes risk
8. Assesses fraud risk
9. Identifies and analyzes significant change

10.Selects and develops control activities

Control Activities 11. Selects and develops general controls over technology
12.Deploys through policies and procedures

Information & 13.Uses relevant information

Communication 14.Communicates internally
15.Communicates externally

16.Conducts ongoing and/or separate evaluations

Monitoring Activities 17.Evaluates and communicates deficiencies
Legal Aspects
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Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
Implications for both public and private
accountants:
Section 404 (as modified by PCAOB
Auditing Standard No. 5) –
 Management must identify, document, and
evaluate significant internal controls.
 Auditors must report on the effectiveness
of the organization’s system of internal
controls.
Legal Aspects
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (cont’d)
Implications for both public and private
accountants:
Section 409 –
 Requires disclosure to the public on a
“rapid and current” basis of material
changes in an organization’s financial
condition.

Legal Aspects
Elements in the Study of AIS
Systems and Subsystems
 System: a set of interdependent elements
that together accomplish specific
objectives. A system must have
organization, interrelationships,
integration, and central objectives.

 Subsystem: a part of a system. Within

limits, any system or subsystem can be
divided into its component parts.
Systems and Subsystems (cont’d)
Systems and Subsystems (cont’d)
The Information System (IS)
 An information system (IS) or
management information system
(MIS) is a manmade system that consists
of an integrated set of computer-based
and manual components established to
collect, store, and manage data and to
provide output information to users.
Functional Model of an Information
System
The Accounting Information System
(AIS)
 Accounting information system (AIS) is
a specialized subsystem of the IS.
 Collect, process and report information
related to the financial aspects of business
events.
 Often integrated and indistinguishable from
the overall information system.
 Like the IS, the AIS may be divided into
components based on the operational
functions supported. Components are called
business processes or AIS subsystems.
Three Business Process Components
 Information process: portion of the
overall IS related to a particular business
process.
 Operations process: man-made system
consisting of the people, equipment,
organization, policies, and procedures
whose objective is to accomplish the work
of the organization.
Three Business Process
Components (cont’d)
 Management process: man-made
system consisting of the people, authority,
organization, policies, and procedures
whose objective is to plan and control the
operations of the organization.
Logical Components of a Business Process
Transforming Data into Information
Transforming Data into Information
(cont’d)
Information Qualities
Key Information Qualities
 Validity: information about actual authorized
events and objects.
 Accuracy: correspondence or agreement
between the information and the actual
events or objects that the information
represents.
 Completeness: degree to which information
includes data about every relevant object or
event necessary to make a decision and
includes that information only once.
Information Qualities Matrix
Management Decision Making
1. Intelligence: Searching the environment
for conditions calling for a decision.

2. Design: Inventing, developing, and

analyzing possible courses of action.

3. Choice: Selecting a course of action.

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Steps in Decision Making
Management Problem Structure and
Information Requirements
Structure of Decisions
 Structured decisions: those for which all
three decision phases (intelligence, design,
and choice) are relatively routine or
repetitive.
 Unstructured decisions: those for which
none of the decision phases (intelligence,
design, or choice) are routine or repetitive.
Horizontal & Vertical Information Flows
 Horizontal information flows relate to
specific business events, such as one
shipment, or to individual inventory items.
The information moves through operational
units such as sales, the warehouse, and
accounting.
 Vertical information flows service a multi-
level management function from operations
and transaction processing through tactical,
operations, and strategic management.
 Accountant’s Role in Current
Business Environment
 Designer — application of accounting
principles, auditing principles, IS techniques,
and systems development methods to design
an AIS.
 User — participate in the AIS design
process.
 Auditor — provide audit and assurance
services.
References:

COSO. Internal Control — Integrated Framework

Principles. Retrieved from
https://www.coso.org/Documents/COSO-ICIF-
11x17-Cube-Graphic.pdf

Gelinas, U. J., Dull, R. B., Wheeler, P. R., & Hill, M. C.

(2018). Accounting Information Systems (11th
ed.). Boston, MA, USA: Cengage Learning.

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