Accounting Information System for Woolworths Group Limited

This report analyzes the various accounting software options for Woolworths Group Limited, a major Australian retail organization. The report evaluates the key business processes and outcomes of the company and recommends the implementation of either Xero or MYOB accounting software.

Running head:ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEM
Accounting Information System
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:

1ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEM
Executive summary
As a consultant in the firm, the appropriate software is to be analyzed for the business to take it
to the next level. The report is all about the various processes and objectives of a firm who have
planned to implement the various accounting software to fulfill their business requirements and
enhance the performance. The chosen company of Woolworths Group Limited is a
major Australian company that deals with extensive retail operation in both New Zealand and
Australia.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
The background of the chosen Australian company....................................................................3
Key business processes of the company and its outcomes..........................................................4
The type of software that is needed by the company of Woolworths.........................................5
The evolution of the business software that can be implemented in the organization................6
The accounting software of QuickBooks....................................................................................7
The accounting software of Xero................................................................................................8
The accounting software of MYOB............................................................................................9
Comparison and Suitability of the two software in the organisation of Woolworths...............11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
Reference List................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
The Discussion deals with the evaluation of the accounting system andCFO for a
business. As a consultant in the firm, the appropriate software is to be analyzed for the business
to take it to the next level. The report is all about the various processes and objectives of a firm
who have planned to implement the various accounting software to fulfill their business
requirements and enhance the performance. The chosen company of Woolworths Group
Limited is a major Australian company that deals with extensive retail operation in both New
Zealand and Australia. However, as per recent research, it has been highlighted that the firmhas
not been performing the operations efficiently and effectively (Sampaio and Bernardino 2016).
The primary reason behind this is the workers who have taken the performance standard for
granted. Therefore, it is vital to examine carefully and analyze the present situation and re-
establish and improve the process, capacity design and customer satisfaction of the company
with the application of the various accounting software.
Discussion
The background of the chosen Australian company
The chosen company of Woolworths Group Limited is a major Australian organisation
that deals with extensive retail operation in both New Zealand and Australia. Woolworths is the
second largest organisation located in Australian terms of revenue, after Wesfarmers which is a
similar retail organization in Perth. In addition to that, the company of Woolworths Group is the
biggest take away liquor retailer in Australia; it is also the largest gaming poker machine
operator and hotel in Australia, on a whole it was recorded as the 19th largest retailer in the

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world in 2008.However, The Woolworths organisation has announced a loss of $1.235 billion for
the 2016 financial year on 25 August 2016. For the reason the manager consultant has planned to
implement the various accounting software to overcome the loss. The operations of Woolworth
have set standards that can impact the various stakeholders like the share holders, supply chain
and the clients. The operations of Woolworths are known for its quality services and the goods
around the various different locations (Fitriati and Mulyani2015). The company Woolworths has
been at the top as always. However, as per recent research, it has been highlighted that the firm
has not been performing the operations efficiently and effectively. The primary reason behind
this is the workers who have taken the performance standard for granted. Therefore, it is vital to
examine carefully and analyze the present situation and re-establish and improve the process,
capacity design and customer satisfaction of the company with the implementation of the various
accounting software.
Key business processes of the company and its outcomes
In the present market of global competition the chosen companies of Woolworths have
set high operation standards and services of quality to its clients (Mageto 2017). In the company
of Woolworths they are aware of their responsibilities to serve the millions of the clients in all
the community in New Zealand and Australia. Woolworths not only has the responsibility to
manage and understand the retail market and also think about the long lasting benefits in the
retail sector.
A Business process is a range of tasks that are completed in order to obtain a goal. A
business process is focused on the achievement of the goal for a business. In the company of
Woolworths the business processes are the things that the businesses have to face regularly for
obtaining their missions. In case the processes are good, the business becomes more effective.

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The company of Woolworth businesses sees their processes as a strategy for achievement of the
competitive advantage (Teittinen and Granlund 2017). The process attains its objectives in a
special way to set the company apart. The business process excludes the costs and can allow the
organistion to reduce the prices.
In case of the company of Woolworth, the key business processes that are involved in
the organization are sales and marketing, accounting and technology, Quality and service with
delivery, management- HR- finance and product development. All the business processes refers
to the operations that help in obtaining the business goals (Hossack 2015). Woolworths being an
retail organization emphasizes more on selling and marketing along with optimization of the
customer satisfaction. The business processes are backed by the various accounting information
systems for its smooth functioning. Incase if the chosen companythe business processes are
automated (Nagel, and Otterbein, QVINCI SOFTWARE2016). The goals of the business are
achieved through the implementation of the technological software that makes it more
standardized, accurate and optimized.
The type of software that is needed by the company of Woolworths
Commercial software: The commercial software refers to the technological software that is
developed to be used by the organization for its regular operations. In general, they are sold in
the market for a price declared by the various software developers (Prasad and Green 2015).
This software are mainly open source or licensed software (Svobodova and Cerna 2016). They
include games, OS and other software, which are used in day-to-day life performance.
ERP: The software of ERP or enterprise resource planning is a different category of software that
is targeted to be used by the primary operating department of the business organization. It

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enables the business to acquire order details, manage sales, manufacturing materials and invoice
orders.
Custom software: Software is the soft ware that is specifically created for the use of the firm and
is known as custom software. They are developed considering the terms of the organization who
has requested the software to be developed (Richardson, Chang and Smith 2014). This type of
software can be a combination of the various types of smaller market software. The custom
software helps in implementing the complex operations of various types of work into single
software.
In case of the selected organization of Woolworths the operational environment would
make them to use the software of ERP for the logistics and the invoices of the management of
warehouse (Libby 2017). However, the ideal option for the business is to produce custom
software that will focus the various vital softwares that is used in the organization to be applied
into one. The software can be made to do all kinds of operation of the company.
The evolution of the business software that can be implemented in the organization
The demand for the use of the various types of cloud based accounting software was not
high in the last decade. However at present, there are several advantages of the cloud based, that
makes the all types of businesses adopt such software in the regular operations of the firm. Since,
it has the ability of the cloud applied into software; it would enable in efficient storage of the
information of the cloud. The workers of the organization to using this benefit can get the access
to all the information that is required for smooth functioning (Langfield-Smith et al. 2017). The
accounting information makes the work on the software to be more speedy and efficient. The
Introduction of MYOB, Xero and Quick Book in specifically Australia has brought around a

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business revolution in the grounds of software of accounting (Lyons2015). These software
makes the cloud based accounting help in becoming the best available software for the
management of business. The issues, that have been prevailing was that the employees had to
work on the various software to get their job done. Now they are able to work on single software
that are integrated and allows using the cloud based integration. In the present case, the
organizational structure of Woolworths has changed and they have been adopting the new
software for the firms benefit (Schaltegger and Burritt 2017). The Automated software enables
the different packages of accounting software enables to provide the business report faster and
easily. The characteristics include activity of fast banking, smart reports and easy invoicing of
the orders of the business (Ismail and King 2014).The availability of the mobile version of the
software also enables the employees to easily perform their function. In the current topic
considering the business requirements of two software prevailing in Australia namely XERO and
MYOB has been analyzed and suitable one is to be implemented in the accordingly.
The accounting software of QuickBooks
The trending accounting software of QuickBooks is a package that was developed and
advertised by intuit. The products of QuickBooks are focused mainly on the small and medium
scales enterprise (Adams2016). The small businesses obtains accounting applications and the
cloud based version as well with the help of this software. The QuickBooks manages the pay
bills, payroll functions ad business payments. The software was founded in the year of 1983 by
Scott Cook and Tom Proulx. The software has additional features like the Excel spreadsheets,
pre-authorization of electronic funds, additional employee time tracking options and new Help
functions.
Critical analysis

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The accounting software of QuickBooks has a specially designed software package that
has been offered by intuit. It has become the most popular software market in eth year 2010. It
offers a large supporting network with low cost. However to that the online software has a risk of
exposing important financial information to the various hackers (Sanders2016). The basic
version of the QuickBooks although if compared with MYOB as Xero offers much less
accounting a financial needs satisfaction to the various organizations. Therefore, in larger
companies the professional accountants does not approve this software for implementation
(Kelly, M., 2017). Therefore in the chosen company of Woolworths, the QuickBooks software
cannot be implemented hence it is being excluded from the analysis. Therefore the Xero and
MYOB is to be analyzed for the implementation in the retail organization.
The accounting software of Xero
The Xero was established in the year 2006 in New Zealand, the Xero primarily started
with the motive of innovating the small business environment. The cloud based software for the
accounting relates to link the various people with right numbers at any location, at anytime and
in any specific device. When it comes to the accountants and book keepers, the Xero assists to
create reliable relations with customers of the business through the online collaboration. Xero is
one of the fastest growing software for the global service firm. They give services on cloud
accounting to the business of New Zealand, Australia and UK.
Critical analysis
The businesses that are working with the software of Xero enjoys huge experience and
they offer the chance for interfering with each part of the dealing and also assist in working with
very talented teammates around the globe(Cleary 2017). Moreover they help the workers to keep

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the balance between life, family and work. They offer their workers several benefits, payments
that are far better than their competitor. Incredible opportunities for growth of career are also
offered by them. All the workers working at Xero are satisfied with their working culture and
environment. In case of Xero, the accountant does much more than just tax calculation and
reconciliations for their customers (Simkin, Norman and Rose 2014). In Xero, the primary
motive of the accountant is to help their customers to get their objectives. Next to this, one more
crucial aspect of the accountant is to maintain the financial well-being throughout the journey of
their life. At Xero, the accountants are allowed to be an educator as well a mentor. Further, they
can assist the present as well as the next generation in accounting in growing their skills and
practices for the cloud accounting.
One key strategy that can improve the skills to meet the objectives of Xero in better way
is to improve the communication with the customers. While communicating with the customers,
genuinely positive language must be used and the communicator must behave cheerfully and the
conversation shall not be ended without confirming the fact that the customer is satisfied
The accounting software of MYOB
The soft ware MYOB was founded in the 1980s as a developed accounting software. The
MYOB Limited and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in 1999. In subsequent
corporate development, MYOB Limited merged with Solution 6 Holdings in 2004. Although the
company was founded in the US, it operations spread out over Australia and New Zealand in the
year 2008.The cloud offering of MYOB’s is currently used by over one million small businesses
in Australia and New Zealand. This accounting software helps organisations efficiently manage
payroll, cash flow, and regular bookwork.

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Critical analysis
The cloud accounting system of MYOB can reduce time dramatically with the help of the
manual processes that may cause inaccuracies and bottlenecking. The firms who use MYOB may
save a large amount of money and time, particularly since there is no need for upfront computing
resources capital expenditure. The advantage of MYOB gives the businesses the ability to work
on organisational content at any location, using any kind of device (Dandago and Rufai 2014).
This can reduce the roadblocks of productivity when travelling, or in case the client is at home.
In the chosen company of Woolworths, the software of MYOB is one of the most popular
reasons for adoption of the cloud computing were being able to access data from any location. It
can extend a productivity of workforce remarkably, thus reducing stress of employee and
strengthening an organisation (Stevenson, Helmond and Driscoll 2015). Secondly, the in some
businesses the Manual systems of accounting can be very slow, with the implementation of the
MYOB software, it automates the various accounting processes that are manual. This helps in
reducing the waste of the valuable money and time. In some cases, the manual systems of
accounting need various multiple entries of the same information. The software of MYOB syncs
the information processes by automating purchase orders, credit notes, payroll and others.
Additionally, the analysis of business becomes much easier. The reports that include the Cash
flows statement, statements of Profit and Loss and others are produced to assist the management,
supervision and control of the business. MYOB can help the different teams to collate and collect
information, and generate the extensive reports with a few clicks of the mouse (Nurhayati and
Mulyani 2015). This would make the organisations to predict events like cash flow problems or
periodic growth and help in the planning for the future with confidence. The accuracy can also
be obtained from MYOB, the accurate data is vital for effective management of money. MYOB

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automates these manual processes, reducing the possibility of human error and the likelihood of
working off outdated information. Moreover, there are built in controls designed to remove and
detect duplicate entries and redundancy errors.
However, a major concern for cloud accounting systems like MYOB is data security, as
online content may be vulnerable to fraud, threats, and other hackers (Collier 2015). However,
MYOB invests heavily in security architecture and design and in implementing industry best
practises. Not many firms can afford this security level, including secure user access controls and
approval processes. Moreover, MYOB is not novice-friendly.
Comparison and Suitability of the two software in the organisation of Woolworths
The company of Woolworths Group Limited is a major Australian company that deals
with extensive retail operation in both New Zealand and Australia. Since Woolworths is the
second largest company located in Australian terms of revenue, the cost of the software is not a
factor to be considered the Xero and MYOB are practically the same price but the differences
come as always to the features any individual business requires the most. Certainly
differentiating features would be inventory, jobs, multi-user access, payment gateways and non-
desktop use. It can be said that the software of MYOB has a richer feature set out of the box
(Mirzaey, Jamshidi and Hojatpour 2017). However, Xero allows better interaction between
clients, bookkeepers, accountants, staff and even customers. Xero also provides features that will
automate the business better, streamline processes and save a lot of time in the long run for
everyone.

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On the whole, MYOB provides a cost-effective solution for organisations wanting to
eliminate manual processes and streamline not only their accounting, but develop a strategic
approach to the future (Smith 2017). Organisations leveraging this technology are given the
opportunity to eliminate the inefficiencies holding them back from reaching their true potential.
However, the MYOB has a growing list of programs and has allowed client’s limited access to
their cloud accounts from mobile devices. MYOB is definitely still competing with Xero when it
comes to the cloud features of their accounting system.When organisations of Woolworths
would use cloud offering of MYOB instead Xero, this eliminates the ongoing costs of
maintenance, updates, and backups (Woodward band Tanb2015). Additionally, server failures,
hardware upgrades and other technical issues are no longer the company’s problem. MYOB
provides enterprise-grade tools to not only reduce expenditure on assets, but also operational
costs, giving organisations the opportunity to enhance their productivity.
Conclusion
Being the consultant in the firm, the appropriate software is to be analyzed for the
business to take it to the next level. The report has analyzed the various processes and objectives
of a firm who have planned to implement the various accounting software to fulfill their business
requirements and enhance the performance. The chosen company of Woolworths Group
Limited is a major Australian company that deals with extensive retail operation in both New
Zealand and Australia. When it comes to the software of MYOB, it provides a cost-effective
solution for organisations and eliminates the manual processes and streamlines not only the
accounting process. It also develops a strategic approach for the future. If the organisations of
Woolworths use this technology, it can give the opportunity to reduce the inefficiencies holding
them back from reaching their true potential. Therefore, analysing the both advantages and

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disadvantages for the both software of Xero and MYOB, it can be said considering the factors
that for the company of Woolworths the MYOB software can lead to a better function in its
operation and lead to more profitability with lower cost and high security.

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