Question

600 WORDS REQUIREMENT!!! What kind of accounting information system a healthcare company would create. You are to review how it would be implemented, the data that would be used, and how the internal controls associated with the accounting information system.

Answer 1

KIND OF ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEM:

A healthcare company would create a information system which would be able to provide the below mentioned benefits to the organisation.

• Storage of patient records and tracking inventories.
• The infrastructure is responsible for collecting, managing and integrating the tremendous volume of clinical, financial and operational information generated daily by the healthcare system, enhancing the safety, effectiveness and efficiency of that system.
• Adequate for decision making purposes related to accounting information captured by the information systems.
• Safeguard efficient and effective flow of information during the analysis, processes, and recording of financial data.
• Capability of health care sectors to reduce cost of the medical services by providing accurate and timely information.
• The information system should have the adequate reporting capabilities.
• A user friendly Accounting Information system would enable the organisation to save much time of its staff on training of its usage.

Creation of an accounting system with above mentioned benefits would ensure an essential Infrastructure that would provide a safe and efficient heathcare system. It provides a positive correlation between each component of accounting information systems (human resources, hardware and equipment, software, databases, and procedures) and the reduction of medical services costs at the hospital.

REVIEW:

The accounting information system created by the Healthcare company can be reviewed by checking the adequacy of the information that is being given to it. The Information system should be safe and secure and no unauthorized access should be allowed to any person. The system should be password protected so that only an authorized person who is allowed to feed the data can access the system.

DATA:

The appropriate data should be the following:

• The data should be reliable and should have been received from an authorized source.
• The data should be complete as incomplete data may impact the decision making process.
• Any information or data collected from an outside source should be accompanied with supporting documents.
• Separate checks should be made to ensure that the data is authenticated.
• The data should not be misleading for the management at any level.

INTERNAL CONTROL CHECK:

Internal Controls play an important role in the application of any Information System in an orgainisation. For a healthcare company, proper internal controls should be there in order to prevent the data from misuse like patient’s personal details, medical history and other relevant details of the patient. Also, a healthcare company may have some critical and sensitive information which may be prone to stealing with an unauthorized access to the system. Following are some of the ways to ensure Internal Controls over Accounting Information system in an organisation.

• Any critical data should be password protected.
• There should be proper logical access control which means the entry in the area of accounting information system should be restricted to person who has been granted access to the premises by way of allotment of batches or plastic cards or any other physical identification medium.
• The person should have an accounting background in order to make entries in the accounting information system.
• The system should be designed to ensure No errors which is a critical step for the decision making process.
• Any entry made by any person in the system should be reviewed by the super visionary level before it is approved in the system to avoid any errors.
• Proper checks and arrangements should be done to minimize the inherent risks of an Information System.
• Regular Physical inventory Audit by the management is a primary Internal Control to ensure no inventories are been stolen or misused or wasted.