Accounting Information System for Abacus Property Group

This report analyzes different types of software that could be used to support the business activities of Abacus Property Group, a real estate investment trust in Australia. It discusses the features and functionalities of ERP software packages offered by vendors such as SAP, Infor, and Netsuite, and recommends the most suitable vendor and software package for the client.

Accounting
information system

Table of Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
BACK GROUND............................................................................................................................1
Description of the client and its business activities.....................................................................1
Discussion of the key business process for the client..................................................................2
SYSTEM REQUIRMENTS............................................................................................................3
Outlining of the software features and functionalities that the client should consider to support
its business activities....................................................................................................................3
SOFTWARE SELECTION.............................................................................................................3
Brief description of the vendors of ERP software and their products.........................................3
Comparison and contrasting of the features or functionalities of three ERP software packages
offered by the vendors.................................................................................................................4
Identification of the most suitable vendor and software package for the client and reason for it
.....................................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Accounting information system can be defined as the software which is used by
companies to record accounting information of the business. With the help of it, the difficulty to
maintain records could be reduced. For all the organisations it is very important to make sure that
they are able to maintain the reports properly so that the performance could be measured.
Nowadays various types of software are used for the purpose of reducing the workload of
accounting professionals. With the help of them all the reports that are required to be generated
to analyse performance of business could be created properly (Alewine, Allport and Shen, 2016).
This report is mainly based upon the analysis of different types of software which could be used
to support the business activities. The organisation which is selected for this report is Abacus
Property Group. It is listed on Australian stock exchange. It is operating business under real
estate industry. It was founded in year 1996 and since then it is performing business
systematically. This assignment covers various information such as description of the
organisation, its business activities, its process, outlining of the software features and
functionalities etc. Apart form this, three different vendors of accounting information systems,
comparison and contrasting of their software and recommendation regarding selection of one are
also covered in this project.
BACK GROUND
Description of the client and its business activities
Abacus Property Group is one of the largest real estate investment trust which is
operating business in Australia. It was founded in year 1996 and its headquarter is in New South
Wales, Australia. The subsidiary of it is Abacus Funds Management Limited. The entity is
involved in the investment activities in which it invests in reals estate opportunities to maximise
the security holder value and deliver the long-term returns. The organisation is highly focused
with its growth and willing to use ERP software so that the work pressure of accounting could be
reduced. The key activities of the organisation are as follows:
Investments in real estate opportunities: The entity is mainly involved in the
commercial, retail and industrial opportunities so that it can provide higher returns to all the
stakeholders and enhance their value. The main locations which are focused by it are
Metropolitan eastern seaboard locations. The organisation invests in different real estate
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properties and multiply the investments so that the funds that are provide by the clients could be
increased (Binti Puasa, Smith and Milda Amirul, 2019).
Financing: It is another activity of the organisation in which the entity provides finance
to the real estate property owners so that they can make buildings and perform all their activities.
It is focused by the entity as with the help of it, all the operations are performed by it
successfully because it charges interest on the funding which is provided by it to the real estate
owners.
The main activities of the organisation are described above and the management is highly
focused with execution of them properly as it helps to meet the long-term goals that are required
to be accomplished successfully.
Discussion of the key business process for the client
Abacus Funds Management Limited is highly focused with various types of business
processes which are discussed below:
Customer strategy and relationships: It is one of the main process of the entity which
is focused by the managers as they formulate effective customer strategy and make sure that they
establish good relationship with all of them. Abacus Funds Management Limited tries to
formulate strategic decisions which can help to analyse the changes that are required to be
complied so that satisfaction level of all the customers could be enhanced (Ghorbel, 2019).
Employee development and satisfaction: It is also a key process which is focused by
Abacus Funds Management Limited as for the managers it is not possible to perform operational
activities without support of the staff members. For this purpose, the management keep record of
performance of all the employees and reward them accordingly so that they can stay engaged in
the operations.
Change management: For all the organisations it is very important to adapt changes
with the modifications in the technology or external environment. If the companies are not able
to bring changes in the operations then it will be very difficult for them to sustain in the market
and attain competitive advantage. In order to manage all the changes that are carried out in the
business activities, Abacus Funds Management Limited makes sure that it focuses upon change
management. With the help of it, all the operational activities are performed systematically
(Handoko, Sabrina and Hendra, 2017).
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Financial analysis: For all the organisations it is very important to make sure that they
are conducting financial analysis on yearly basis so that performance of business could be
analysed. in Abacus Funds Management Limited managers conducting financial reporting every
year as it guides to analyse that the organsiation will be able to meet the long-term goals or not.
This process is also focused with capital management which is used to fund all the operational
activities and meet the long-term business goals and objectives.
SYSTEM REQUIRMENTS
Outlining of the software features and functionalities that the client should consider to support its
business activities
There are various types of business activities such as investing, financing, financial
analysis etc. In order to support them the managers of Abacus Funds Management Limited can
pay attention towards different software features and functionalities. It could be understood with
the help of following discussion:
 Different types of software which are used to keep record of transactions are beneficial
for a real estate or investment company because with the help of them records could be
maintain easily.
 Software allow an entity to gather detailed information at one place so that the possibility
of failure could be ignored (Harash, 2017).
 If software for accounting, keeping record for employee details and for other tasks will be
used then it will reduce the workload of the managers and allow them to complete their
work in very less time limit.
 While recording information of financial resources that are invested in a project and
received from the same ERP systems could be used as with the help of it resource
planning could be performed systematically.
SOFTWARE SELECTION
Brief description of the vendors of ERP software and their products
There are various vendors of ERP software which is enterprise resource planning. With
the help of them all the organisations can keep detailed information of business manage the
activities in systematic manner. If the management will not be able to keep details of business
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then it will be very difficult to sustain in the market and achieve competitive advantage. Some
specific vendors of the ERP software are discussed below:
SAP: It is a multinational software corporation which is offering software to the business
entities to manage the operational activities and maintain good relations with the clients. The
organsiation is mainly known for its ERP systems which are sold by it around the world. There
are various types of products that are sold by it these are SAP Customer relationship
management, SAP enterprise resource planning, SAL Product lifecycle management, SAP
Supply chain management, SAP supplier relationship management and SAP S/4HANA. All of
them are offered by the organisation and sold to the clients according to their requirements and
choices (SAP, 2020).
INFOR: It is also a multinational enterprise which is selling different types of software
to the corporations so that they can manage the business activities. The organisation is highly
focused with the business applications for companies which are delivered with the help of cloud
computing. CEO of this ERP software vendor is Kevin Samuelson and the revenues that are
generated by it are around 280 crore dollars. There are various products that are offered by it to
the customers. These are Infor Birst, Cloud Suites, ERP systems, Data Lake, Infor F9, Cloverleaf
Integration Suite etc. These are bought by the clients according to their choices and
specifications (Infor, 2020).
Orcle and NetSuite: This vendor is operating business all around the world and selling
computer software to different users. It was founded in year 1998 and sold different types of
software programs to the organisations so that they can support all their operational activities.
This vendor sells different types of software in the market. Some of them are NetSuite Advanced
financials, NetSuite CRM, NetSuite Demand Planning, NetSuite Data centre, NetSuite ERP etc.
With the help of these products the enterprise tries to meet the expectations of all the clients that
are contacting it for different types of programs (Orcle or NetSuite, 2020).
Comparison and contrasting of the features or functionalities of three ERP software packages
offered by the vendors
There are various vendors which are selling different types of ERP software packages in
the market. Comparison of those packages on the basis of their suitability for Abacus Funds
Management Limited is as follows:
Basis SAP INFOR Netsuite
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Features All the ERP software that
are sold by SAP are highly
focused with
transformation of business.
With the help of them, the
organsiation which will use
them will be able to
manage the operations
properly and make changes
in the way in which
business is operated. The
main feature of its package
is live material requirement
planning which helps the
organisations to keep the
details information of
business (Kwarteng and
Aveh, 2018). Another
feature of it is automated
group wide processes
which allows the users to
make sure that they are get
the details of business
automatically so that
effective strategies for
future could be formulated.
All the services that are
offered by the vendor
for its ERP package are
delivered with the help
of cloud computing as it
is highly focused with
protection of data which
is stored by an
organsiation on the
cloud. With the help of
services of cloud
computing all the buyers
of the ERP systems
from the sellers will be
able to make sure that
their information is
highly secured and
protected from theft.
There are various
specific features of the
ERP package which is
offered by Infor. Some
of the ERP systems that
are provided it are Infor
M4, Infor CloudSuite
Financials etc. and with
the help of all of them
the corporations will be
able to manage the
operations properly.
NetSuite is also focused
with cloud computing
and it also delivers all
the services of the ERP
packages with the help
of clouds. On the other
hand, it is also focused
with innovation so that
all the clients of it could
be satisfied. The key
feature of its package is
that all the facilities
which are rendered to
the clients are based
upon latest technology
which help them to
remain competitive in
the market. Most of the
organisations are using
clouds to secure their
data and use ERP
systems therefore this
vendor is also offering
the ERP system with the
help of clouds so that
the information of
clients could be secured
and protected from the
external influences.
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Functionality The main functionality of it
is delivery delay prediction
and intelligent remediation.
With the help of it the
entities which are using it
will be able to forecast the
delays which could be
made by the clients in
payment or delivery
(Mandala and Astika,
2019). It can help to deal
with all the negative
situations which may take
place in future as it helps to
forecast them in advance so
that the managers can be
prepare to deal with them.
One more functionality of
this package is machine
learning enables business
processes which can help to
make sure that all the
activities will be performed
systematically.
The key functionality of
ERP system package of
Infor is that it provides
best solution for the last
mile so that the issues
which may take place in
the recovery of
payments could be
resolved. As the main
requirement of service
industry is managing
human capital, business
resources and maintain
funds so with the help of
ERP systems of Infor
the organsiation will be
able to manage all their
activities properly and
meet the long-term
business goals that are
required to be
accomplished
successfully (Shagari,
Abdullah and Saat,
2017).
With the help fo ERP
system packages of
NetSuite the buyers or
the corporations which
are using it will be able
to get the information
which is required to
make the business case.
As it is highly focused
with cloud computing
so the corporation
which will buy it will be
able to keep its
information up to date
and access it easily as it
will be stored on the
cloud which could be
accessed anytime. No
hard disks will be
required to keep the
data safe so it will also
reduce the workload of
all the managers.
Contrasting: There are various types of ERP systems which are offered by different
sellers or vendors around the world. There are various similarities among them which could eb
understood with the help of following discussion:
 All the ERP packages that are sold by SAP, Netsuite and Infor are highly focused with
managing the resources and formulating effective plans for the entity.
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 These packages are designed to keep the organisation’s information safe from the
external forces (Shen and Han, 2019).
Identification of the most suitable vendor and software package for the client and reason for it
By analysing different types of packages of software of various vedors which are SAP,
Infor and Netsuite it has been determined that Abacus Funds Management Limited should use
SAP. The product which should be bought by the organsiation is S/4HANA as it is the best
suitable option for ERP. It can help to transform the business process with the software which is
a very intelligent software designed to manage the resources properly (Taiwo, 2016). There are
various features and functionalities which will help the enterprise to manage all its operations.
These are machine learning enables business processes, automated group wide processes, real
time embedded analytics, industry specific capabilities and best practices etc. By adopting all
these features the managers of the enterprise will be able to manage the operational activities
systematically.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report, it has been concluded that for all the organisations it is
very important to use accounting information systems as with the help of all of them the
information of business transactions could be managed properly. ERP systems are the main
examples of them which can help the enterprises in resource planning. There are various sellers
of this software which are SAP, Infor, Netsuite etc. While selecting any one of them it is very
important for the corporations to analyse their packages, functionality and features. It will help to
select the best suitable option for business.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Alewine, H.C., Allport, C.D. and Shen, W.C.M., 2016. How measurement framing and
accounting information system evaluation mode influence environmental performance
judgments. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 23, pp.28-44.
Binti Puasa, S., Smith, J. and Milda Amirul, S., 2019, July. Accounting information system
effectiveness: multiple methods. In Seminar Penyelidikan Perakaunan 2019.
Ghorbel, J., 2019. A Study of Contingency Factors of Accounting Information System Design in
Tunisian SMIs. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 10(1), pp.74-103.
Handoko, B.L., Sabrina, S. and Hendra, E., 2017, October. The influence of leadership styles on
accounting information systems quality and its impact on information quality survey on
state-owned enterprises. In 2017 IEEE 17th International Conference on
Communication Technology (ICCT) (pp. 1989-1993). IEEE.
Harash, E., 2017. Accounting performance of SMEs and effect of accounting information
system: a conceptual model. Global Journal of Management and Business Research.
Kwarteng, A. and Aveh, F., 2018. Empirical examination of organizational culture on accounting
information system and corporate performance. Meditari Accountancy Research.
Mandala, I.G.N.A.K. and Astika, I.B.P., 2019. Effect of work environment, quality of system
and work culture on satisfaction of accounting information system user. International
research journal of management, IT and social sciences, 6(4), pp.37-43.
Shagari, S.L., Abdullah, A. and Saat, R.M., 2017. Accounting information systems effectiveness:
Evidence from the Nigerian banking sector. Interdisciplinary Journal of Information,
Knowledge, and Management, 12, pp.309-335.
Shen, J. and Han, L., 2019. Design process optimization and profit calculation module
development simulation analysis of financial accounting information system based on
particle swarm optimization (PSO). Information Systems and e-Business Management,
pp.1-14.
Taiwo, J.N., 2016. Effect of ICT on accounting information system and organisational
performance: The application of Information and Communication Technology on
Accounting Information System. European Journal of Business and Social
Sciences, 5(2), pp.1-15.
Online
SAP. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
< https://www.sap.com/uk/products/erp-financial-management.html >
Infor. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
< https://www.infor.com/en-gb/products/erp >
Orcle or NetSuite. 2020. [Online]. Available through
< https://www.oracle.com/applications/erp/cloud.html >
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