Question

Identify and discuss 6 potential users who are compulsory to participate in the development of an Accounting Information Systems. In your discussion, you must include their relevance, importance and contribution to the project.

Answer 1

Five potential users of an organizational accounting information system are:-

Management: Management is required for analyzing the organization's performance and taking appropriate measures to improve the company results. Also to ensure that company's accounting is correct and shall not attract any audit comment.

Relevance requires quality of the information to provide answers in a given situation;

Importance -Management represents the total of all activities, disciplines, methods, techniques incorporating management tasks, management, administration and organization of the company and aims at stimulating the entire team to work at the maximum profit, through taking the optimal decisions in the design and adjusting of the business processes.

Employees: for performing their day to day activities. Also to explain the intricasies of their job.

Relevance :It is the role of employees to ensure that the accounting system designed is implemented actually.

Importance :So it is just not that the procedures are in place whether the implementation and enforcement has been done properly.The accountants while being involved in the implemtation process may discover an implementation problem that non accountants may find difficult communicating back to the system designers.

Owners: for analyzing the viability and profitability of their investment and determining any future course of action.

Relevance :As accountants gets more involved in the overall decision making from business angle they are classified as users of accounting information system.

Importance :The owners need to have a good knowledge of the overall decision making .So they need to have the knowledge to make quality financial analysis from the financial information.

Support Staff: Because they are the ones that are required to help improving the system and support with the system glitches.

Relevance:The support staff are key to the making to the development of the new system as it is required for the financial working of the business

Importance :These staff play a vital role as to the implementation and support in times of implementation and relevant information gathering for the higher management.

Subject Matter Expert: SME's are important as they have to check that the programing is done according to the concept and principles of accounting.

Relevance :An SME can act as trainer, peer-reviewer, approver, or knowledge sharer. He can even help design the architecture of a system. The SME's role can be easily obfuscated, muddled, or diminished if the project does not take appropriate steps to ensure that the SME understands her responsibilities.

Importance : SME have well-defined tasks, deliverables, and due dates. In order to maximize her productivity, before arriving to an event, the SME should have had the opportunity to ask questions about her role to ensure that she understands it clearly.