Assessment Details and Submission Guidelines
Trimester T1 2020
Unit Code HI5019
Unit Title Strategic Information Systems for Business and Enterprise
Assessment Type Individual assignment
Assessment Title Case Study – Paradise Industries
Purpose of the assessment (with ULO Mapping) Students are required to:
• Critically evaluate the purpose and role of accounting information systems in today’s business environment (ULO 1).
• Articulate the various transaction cycles, financial reporting, management reporting systems and e-commerce systems to technical and non-technical stakeholders (ULO 2).
• Appraise the risks inherent in computer-based systems/ERP, including the role of ethics and the various internal control processes that need to be in place (ULO 4).
Weight 20% of the total assessments
Total Marks 20
Word limit Not more than 2,500 words
Due Date 13 may wednesday
Submission Guidelines • All work must be submitted on Blackboard by the due date along with a completed Assignment Cover Page.
• The assignment must be in MS Word format, no spacing, 12-pt Arial font and 2 cm margins on all four sides of your page with appropriate section headings and page numbers.
• Reference sources must be cited in the text of the report, and listed appropriately at the end in a reference list using Harvard referencing style.
Background
Assignment Specifications
After working at several accounting and consultancy firms for more than a decade, you have recently decided to start your own consultancy business. A friend of your wife introduces you to Paradise Industries, a manufacturer of high-precision machine tools based at Adelaide. Paradise Industries employs a centralised computer system with distributed terminals in the departments. The company recently have a number of operational problems and the managing director of the company has engaged you to assess its systems and processes.
Expenditure Cycle
When an inventory item falls to the recorder point, a purchase requisition is automatically generated and printed on the terminal in the purchasing department. The purchasing clerk select suppliers and prepare a purchase order. One copy of the purchase order is sent to the supplier and another copy is sent to the receiving department. The purchasing clerk then adds a record to the open/closed purchase order file through an update program in the data processing department.
When the receiving clerk receives the delivery from the supplier, the clerk reconciles the items with the packing slip and the purchasing order. After the reconciliation, the receiving clerk prepares a hard-copy receiving report recording the quantity and quality of the goods received. One copy of the receiving report accompanies the items to the warehouse and another copy is filed in the receiving department. Using the department terminal, the receiving clerk adds a record to the digital receiving report file. The system then automatically closes the purchase order. Upon receiving the items, the warehouse clerk updates the inventory subsidiary ledger through the terminal in the warehouse.
When the supplier’s invoice arrives, the accounts payable clerk adds a record to the supplier invoice file, which in turn triggers the system to automatically set up a liability in the accounts payable subsidiary ledger based on the financial information contained in the invoice. The system then automatically updates all affected general ledger accounts.
The computer system scans the accounts payable subsidiary ledger every day for items due to be paid and print the cheque. The cheque is sent to the supplier and a copy is sent to cash disbursements where it is filed. The system then adds a record to the cheque register file and removes the liability in the accounts payable subsidiary ledger. Finally, the system automatically updates the general ledger accounts.
Conversion Cycle
The production process is triggered by a quarterly forecast of expected sales, which goes to the production planning and control clerk. From the clerk’s terminal, the production planning and control clerk updates the digital production schedule to include the batches of products to be produced during the next quarter. Drawing upon the bill of materials and routing sheet files, the system automatically prepares the digital work orders move tickets and material requisitions and sends them to the work centre supervisor’s terminal on a weekly basis.
The work centre supervisor accesses the digital documents and print hard-copy work orders, move tickets and material requisitions. The supervisor distributes the move tickets and two copies of the material requisitions to each work centre in the production process.
Staff members submit the two copies of material requisitions to the warehouse in exchange for the materials. If additional materials are needed beyond the standard quantity, the supervisor issues additional material requisitions. As the production is completed in each work centre, the staff members send the move ticket to cost accounting to the mark the completion of that phase of the production batch. Staff members also record labour time spent on each batch on hard-copy job cards, which they send to cost accounting. Finally, upon completion of the batch, the work centre supervisor closes the open work order file.
The warehouse clerk files one copy of the material requisition and updates the materials inventory file from the terminal in the warehouse office. The clerk then sends a second copy of the material requisition to cost accounting. At the end of the day, the clerk prepares a digital journal voucher and posts it to the general ledger control accounts.
The cost accounting clerk accesses the digital work orders and set up a work-in-process account for the production batch. The clerk also receives move tickets, job tickets, and material requisitions throughout the production process and use the documents to post in work-in-process subsidiary ledger. At the end of each day, the cost accounting clerk prepares a digital journal voucher and posts to general ledger control accounts to reflect the status of work-in-process and to record transfers of work-in-process to finished good inventory.
Required
Prepare a report to the managing director of Paradise Industries to evaluate the processes, risks and internal controls for Paradise Industries’ expenditure and conversion cycle. In your report, you need to include the following items:
• System flow chart of expenditure cycle
• System flow chart of conversion cycle
• Analysis of physical internal control weaknesses in the expenditure cycle
• Analysis of the risks exist in the conversion cycle and the changes needed to reduce the risks
Assignment Structure
The report should include the following components:
• Assignment cover page clearly stating your name and student number
• A brief introduction of what the report is about
• Body of the report with appropriate section headings
• Conclusion
• List of references
The report should be grounded on relevant literature and all references must be properly cited and included in the reference list.
Marking criteria
Marking criteria Weighting
System flow chart of expenditure cycle 2%
System flow chart of conversion cycle 2%
Analysis of physical internal control weaknesses in the expenditure cycle 3%
Analysis of the risks exist in the conversion cycle and the changes needed to reduce the risks 9%
Presentation 2%
Research quality 2%
TOTAL Weight 20%
Marking Rubric
Excellent Very Good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory
System flow chart of expenditure cycle
/2 Present a system flow chart that correctly depict the whole expenditure cycle. Present a system flow chart that correctly depict the whole expenditure cycle with minor errors. Present a system flow chart that depict the expenditure cycle with some errors and/or omissions. Present a system flow chart that depict the expenditure cycle with errors and/or omissions throughout the
diagram. Present a system flow chart that does not properly represent the expenditure cycle.
System flow chart of conversion cycle
/2 Present a system flow chart that correctly depict the whole conversion cycle. Present a system flow chart that correctly depict the whole conversion cycle with minor errors. Present a system flow chart that depict the conversion cycle with some errors and/or omissions. Present a system flow chart that depict the conversion cycle with errors and/or omissions throughout the
diagram. Present a system flow chart that does not properly represent the conversion cycle.
Analysis of physical internal control weaknesses in the expenditure cycle
/3 Present an excellent analysis of physical internal control weakness in the expenditure cycle. Present a very good analysis of physical internal control weakness in the expenditure cycle. Present a good analysis of physical internal control weakness in the expenditure cycle. Present a reasonable analysis of physical internal control weakness in the expenditure cycle. Present a weak or inadequate analysis of physical internal control weakness in the expenditure cycle.
Analysis of the risks exist in the conversion cycle and the changes needed to reduce the risks
/9 Present an excellent discussion the risks exist in the conversion cycle and the changes needed to reduce the risks. Present a very good discussion of the risks exist in the conversion cycle and the changes needed to reduce the risks. Present a good discussion of the risks exist in the conversion cycle and the changes needed to reduce the risks Present a reasonable discussion of the risks exist in the conversion cycle and/or the changes needed to reduce the
risks. Present a weak or inadequate discussion of the risks exist in the conversion cycle or the changes needed to reduce the risks.
Presentation
/2 Report included all elements and was very well presented.
Writing flowed clearly and sections were linked very effectively.
Referencing was exemplary.
English was used very effectively and was error- free. Report included all elements and was well presented.
Writing flowed clearly and sections were linked effectively.
Referencing was of a high standard.
English was used effectively with very few errors present. Report included all elements and was generally presented appropriately.
Writing mostly flowed well and sections were linked.
Referencing was in accordance with guidelines. English was used effectively with few errors present. Report included most elements and was adequately presented.
Writing sometimes did not flow clearly leaving the paper to seem disjointed in areas.
Referencing was somewhat in accordance with guidelines. Basic English was used with some
errors present. Report lacked some elements and was poorly presented.
Writing often did not flow clearly leaving the paper to seem somewhat disjointed.
Referencing was not entirely in accordance with relevant guidelines. Basic English was used with errors present.
Research Quality
/2 An extensive amount of high- quality evidence from peer- reviewed journal articles and other sources was included and used effectively to support
discussion. A broad range of quality peer- reviewed journal references and other sources was included and used effectively to support discussion. An adequate range of peer- reviewed journal references was included and used to support discussion. An adequate range of peer- reviewed journal references was included and used to a basic extent to support discussion. Little or no peer- reviewed journal references were included and these were rarely used to support discussion effectively.
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