Solutions Manual For Accounting Information Systems 15th Edition, Global Edition

Solutions Manual For Accounting Information Systems 15th Edition, Global Edition-1.1 Discuss the concept of a system and the issues of goal conflict and goal congruence. A system is a set of two or more components that ...

Solutions Manual For Accounting Information Systems 15th Edition, Global Edition-1.1 Discuss the concept of a system and the issues of goal conflict and goal congruence. A system is a set of two or more components that are somehow interrelated and interact together to achieve a specific goal. A system usually consists of smaller components called subsystems. These subsystems have specific and defined functions, which interact with and support the larger system. The concept of systems is key to information technology and AIS. All systems, including the AIS, must work to achieve one or more organizational goals. Goal conflict results when a decision or action of a subsystem is inconsistent with another subsystem or the system (organization) as a whole. Goal congruence results when a subsystem achieves its goals while contributing to the organization's overall goal. Subsystems should maximize organizational goals. 1.2 Give an example of how an AIS can improve decision making and describe the multistep activities involved in the process. Decision making is a complex, multistep activity: identify the problem, collect and interpret information, evaluate ways to solve the problem, select a solution methodology, and implement the solution. An AIS can provide assistance in all phases of decision making. Reports can help to identify potential problems. Decision models and analytical tools can be provided to users. Query languages can gather relevant data to help make the decision. Various tools, such as graphical interfaces, can help the decision maker interpret decision model results, evaluate them, and choose among alternative courses of action. In addition, the AIS can provide feedback on the results of actions. An AIS can help improve decision making in several ways:  It can identify situations requiring management action. For example, a cost report with a large variance might stimulate management to investigate and, if necessary, take corrective action.  It can reduce uncertainty and thereby provide a basis for choosing among alternative actions.  It can store information about the results of previous decisions, which provides valuable feedback that can be used to improve future decisions. For example, if a company tries a particular marketing strategy and the information gathered indicates that it did not succeed, the company can use that information to select a different marketing strategy.  It can provide accurate information in a timely manner. For example, Walmart has an enormous database that contains detailed information about sales transactions at each of its stores. It uses this information to optimize the amount of each product carried at each store.  It can analyze sales data to discover items that are purchased together and can use such information to improve the layout of merchandise or to encourage additional sales of related items. For example, Amazon uses its sales database to suggest additional books for customers to purchase. 1-2 . Ch. 1: Accounting Information Systems: An Overview 1.3 A software company in Munich is organizing a competition, inviting business ideas that promote the use of smartphone technology to conduct business. You enter your business plan, an initiative to involve unemployed teenagers and young adults from local communities to generate business and employment, and it was so well received that you were awarded a special prize of €5,000. You plan on using your prize money to implement your idea. a. Identify key decisions you need to make, the information you require to make these key decisions, and the five major business processes you need to engage in. b. Identify the external parties with whom you would need to exchange information and specify the information you will receive from these parties and the information that you will send to these parties. The author uses this as a class discussion: the typical process the author follows is that students work through the content of a chapter before it is covered in class. Students are required to answer questions (such as this one) and submit it before the lecture. The author then assesses the answers, and, based on problems identified within the answers, the lecture content would be determined. Students are thus required to complete the questions before coming to the class. In class, the students are divided into small groups (about 4 – 5 students per group). Each small group has to come to some consensus about the answers that they will present to the class. The groups could be randomly allocated, or the groups could be based on similarity in initial ideas. A group is then selected (or a group can volunteer) to present their answers to the class. Since all students have had the opportunity to engage with the content prior to the presentation in class, there should be meaningful contributions and discussions about how the presented solutions could be improved. Answers will vary, but the main aim is to get students to understand (for part a) how the business processes, key decisions, and information needs are all intertwined (as shown in Table 1-2). This then links to the external parties (part b) in Figure 1-1. Since the scenario indicated the use of mobile phones to conduct business, students should ideally relate their answers to some form of retail (buying / selling of goods / services).