Accounting Software Analysis and Comparison

This assignment requires a comprehensive analysis and comparison of popular accounting software solutions. Students need to examine leading products such as QuickBooks, Xero, and MYOB, evaluating their core features, benefits, and limitations. The focus should be on identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each software in relation to various business types and sizes. The assignment also encourages students to consider industry trends, competitive advantages, and the impact of accounting software adoption on businesses.

Strategic Information System
Accounting Software Packages
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Part-1................................................................................................................................................2
Current Organizational Structure................................................................................................2
Operational Problems of Organizational Structure....................................................................3
Most Possible System Gaining Method........................................................................................4
Intuit’s System Flow Chart of Sales Procedures.........................................................................4
Control Problems and Sorts of Potential Frauds........................................................................5
Part-B...............................................................................................................................................6
Development and Acceptance of Accounting Software Packages...............................................6
Recent Market Size.......................................................................................................................7
Market Leaders and their Competitive Advantages.....................................................................7
Challenges of using Accounting Software Packages by Users....................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
Accounting software solutions are commonly used by business organizations to perform
different business related activities that are specifically concerned with calculations of payments
and assessment of financial records. The usage of accounting software in enterprises has made
easier to maintain financial records in a secure form into computers and it is also convenient to
access data from remote locations. Due to these essential reasons, accounting packages have high
demand in business sector. In countries like USA, India, Canada and Australia, business
enterprises are using accounts software to do their regular tasks in quick and effective ways. The
purpose of making this report is to provide literature reviews about an Australian Company that
is using accounting software packages in Australia. The key concepts that I will cover in this
report are organizational structure of company, operations issues, most possible system
attainment method, system flowchart of company and potential control problems in the system.
Moreover, I will also emphasize on development and adoption of these account software
packages and another important points regarding company. The selected Australian Company is
Intuit which is currently working on a well-known accounting software solution QuickBooks.
Intuit is using this software solution for last many years and getting satisfactory service from this
(Intuit.com.au, 2017).
Part-1
To know more about overall functionalities about Intuit Company, here I have discussed in detail
about this organization.
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Current Organizational Structure
The organizational structure of Intuit is very impressive and it is really helpful to manage each
and every department and its activities in an effective way (eBay, 2017). The structure of the
company includes Chief Executive Officer (CEO), technical experts, managers, architects, low
and medium level employees. Here is the holistic structure of Intuit Company.
Figure: Intuit Organizational Structure
The above given structure of company clarifies the way in which CEO and Chairman control
activities of project management, marketing chief and CIO. In addition to this, structure also
depicts that how senior employees of company provide help to low level employees by providing
them appropriate guidance.
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Brand Smith
(CEO)
Scott Cook
Founder and Chairman
of Executive Committee
Bill Campbell
Chairman of Board
Chief
Marketing
and Sales
Officer
Project
Management
Client CIO
IT Technology
Director
IT Solution
Architecture
IT Project Managers
Project Team
IT Support Manager
IT Consultant
Help Desk Services

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Operational Problems of Organizational Structure
It is possible that a company’s organizational structure can have some problems that are essential
to identify, otherwise they can put bad influence on business activities. But in case of Intuit
Company, its organizational structure is assessed appropriately and not a big problem is found
yet. However, the problem of taxes in Intuit Company cannot be ignored. This issue is necessary
to resolve by using system availability tools. It is mandatory for Intuit Company to keep focus on
this problem and must do required efforts to get rid of this issue. Furthermore, application
monitoring should also be used by company to determine that error-free performance is
providing by Intuit to its customers (Spaces.internet2.edu, 2017). This objective can be achieved
easily with the help of above discussed organizational structure.
Most Possible System Gaining Method
The system gaining method is commonly used to assess that security is integrated into different
phases of system development lifecycle and maintenance of system can be monitored. Different
methods of system acquisition can be used such as custom software, commercial software and
ERP. But among all these methods ERP is considered most prominent method. Enterprise
Resource Planning method works as software that handles business process management in a
secure as well as reliable way. Due to these reasons, most of the business organizations use ERP
as system acquisition method (QuickBooks, 2017).
Intuit’s System Flow Chart of Sales Procedures
In a business, marketing and sales factors are considered so important. The success of marketing
and sales operations for different products basically depends on effective sales procedures. If I
talk about Intuit Company then it has some operative sales procedures that contribute in
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enhancement of competitive market. With the help of following flow chart, it will be easier to
understand about efficiency of sales procedures of Intuit.
Figure: Sales Procedures Flow Chart of Intuit
The above flow chart illustrates that without making a good relationship with customers it is
difficult to run a successful business. To achieve this, manufacturing of different products and
services that are required by all potential customers of company, is necessary. If an organization
is able to satisfying needs of customers then it can make its better place in competitive market.
Customers are considered important mean of earn maximum business revenue and profit and that
is why management of customers must be the priority of Intuit and other companies. The
development of customers’ services and products should be according to latest market trends and
desires of customers. Over the time, the pace of changing market trends has increased, so in this
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Sales Procedures
Customer Relationship
Management (CRM)
Market Analysis or
Campaigns
Maximum Profit and
Revenue

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case market awareness is must at company’s end. To lure maximum customers towards
company, attractive promotional activities should be executed such as advertisements and
marketing campaigns (Businessnewsdaily, 2017). This is all about working of sales procedures
of Intuit Company.
Control Problems and Sorts of Potential Frauds
The discussion about control problems is an important topic to discuss that may lead to different
kinds of possible frauds. The crucial control problems of Intuit Company are found especially in
execution of its sales procedures. It is commonly known by every business organization that if
implementation of sales procedures will not be effective then there will be no gains for company.
Moreover, this thing can badly effect sales of services and products of company. On flip side, if I
talk about potential frauds that can cause by control problems then it is assessed that these are
related to lack of security and privacy in sales procedures. It means that the information
regarding business sales can be used by unauthorized persons and can be misused further. These
frauds are necessary to control as soon as possible by Intuit Company. It is matter of trust of
customers (Business.vic.gov.au, 2017).
Part-B
After discussing about overall structure of Intuit Company and its sales procedures, now in this
segment we will emphasize on development and adoption of accounting software solutions,
market leaders and market size and another essential factors.
Development and Acceptance of Accounting Software Packages
With high adaption of accounting packages, the development of it is increasing day by day. For
managing accounts related activities in different business organizations, account software
solutions are considered as modern technique. The development process of accounting software
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solutions is conventional. In the mid of 20th century, the first accounting software was made by
IBM Company that is renowned IT Company worldwide. That software had potential to evaluate
and store information in an organized form. The users of this solution got very good results and
due to this further demand of this software solution occurred. However, various new software
solutions were also made by doing advanced modifications in fundamental idea of IBM’s
accounting software package (TopTenReviews, 2017). SAP is a latest software solution that is
used by enterprises to perform accounts related tasks. The key features of this program are its
reliability, flexibility and security. After SAP, next important accounting software solution was
MYOB, Xero, Saasu and QuickBooks. These are all latest accounting software solutions that
have become common among business organizations for managing account books. For future
more improvement will be done in accounting solutions (Essmart Global, 2017)..
On another side, adaption of accounting software solutions is already high and in future it will be
same. The main reasons for enhancing usage of accounting software packages are its cost
effectiveness, time saving solution, rapidness and easiness and less complex way to manage
account problems. That is why small and middle levels organizations prefer to use advanced
accounting software solutions. Besides this, to get rid of monotonous paper work for maintaining
ledgers, balance sheets and other financial statements, accounting software packages are required
(Myob.com, 2017).
Recent Market Size
In modern era, competition among business organizations has increased. Every company wants
to increase its overall size in market. If I focus on market size of accounting software packages
then it is found 121 M small level companies in Australia, New Zealand and various other
counties want to utilize their money by purchasing latest accounting software solution. All those
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companies that are manufacturing accounting software solutions have good market shares and
these companies are MYOB, Xero and others. According to survey, Intuit Company has 89% of
total market shares. In similar way, other companies are also coming forward in this competitive
market of software solutions (Uce.canterbury.ac.nz, 2017).
Market Leaders and their Competitive Advantages
There are several large and small business organizations that are providing accounting software
solutions to its potential customers. But quality product is first demand of every business that
wants to use accounting software packages. In this case, it is better to get service from leaders of
market such as Xero, Intuit and Reckon One are in this list. There are some competitive
advantages that have made these companies market leaders. The crucial factors include in
competitive advantages of these companies are long time establishment of companies in market,
good customer relationship management, delivery of quality products and services and quick and
on time delivery of products. These all aspects satisfy basic needs of customers who want to buy
accounting software packages (Vkinfotek.com, 2017).
Challenges of using Accounting Software Packages by Users
There is no doubt to say that accounting software solutions are better options to fulfill needs of
business organizations regarding accounts related software solutions, but on contrary, some
challenges are also faced by users of these packages and those challenges are concerned with
cumbersome functionality of these software packages especially in case of non-IT users. Due to
this, some people feel uncomfortable to use this software solution. In addition to, this software
solution contains sensitive information that must be used carefully by users. It can be critical if
user have less knowledge about using this software and sustain its security (Harvard Business
Review, 2017).
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In a nutshell, these challenges are required to control and I would recommend that to every user
initial training should be provided to use an accounting software solution. Moreover, for security
purpose, users can concern with security experts and developers of software. It will be helpful
for them to maintain long term security of accounting system. These are some ways to resolve
challenging factors of accounts software packages. Every users should have knowledge about
these accounting solutions. As much as demand of accounting packages is increasing, security
standards should also be strict enough.
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References
Spaces.internet2.edu. (2017). System Acquisition, Development, and Maintenance - 2014
Information Security Guide - Internet2 Wiki. [online] Available at:
https://spaces.internet2.edu/display/2014infosecurityguide/System+Acquisition
%2C+Development%2C+and+Maintenance [Accessed 22 August. 2017].
QuickBooks. (2017). What Is the Sales Cycle?. [online] Available at:
http://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/sales/sales-cycle/ [Accessed 22 August. 2017].
Business.vic.gov.au. (2017). How to choose the best accounting software | Business Victoria.
[online] Available at: http://www.business.vic.gov.au/money-profit-and-accounting/financial-
management-set-up/How-to-choose-small-business-accounting-software [Accessed 22 August.
2017].
TopTenREVIEWS. (2017). The Best Accounting Software of 2017 | Top Ten Reviews. [online]
Available at: http://www.toptenreviews.com/business/accounting/best-accounting-software/
[Accessed 22 August. 2017].
Vkinfotek.com. (2017). highlights of the book database programming using c#. [online]
Available at: http://www.vkinfotek.com/database-programming.html [Accessed 22 August.
2017].
eBay. (2017). Top 7 Accounting Software Packages. [online] Available at:
http://www.ebay.com/gds/Top-7-Accounting-Software-Packages-/10000000177747439/g.html
[Accessed 22 August. 2017].
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Businessnewsdaily. (2017). Best Accounting Software for Small Business 2017. [online]
Business News Daily. Available at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7543-best-accounting-
software.html [Accessed 22 August. 2017].
Uce.canterbury.ac.nz. (2017). Competitions - MYOB IT Challenge | UC Centre for
Entrepreneurship. [online] Available at:
http://www.uce.canterbury.ac.nz/competitions/myob.shtml [Accessed 22 August. 2017].
Myob.com. (2017). MYOB gains competitive advantage with completion of BankLink purchase.
[online] Available at: https://www.myob.com/au/about/news/2013/myob-gains-competitive-
advantage-with-completion-of-banklink-purchase [Accessed 22 August. 2017].
Essmart Global. (2017). Adoption of accounting software. [online] Available at:
http://www.essmart-global.com/2013/04/16/adoption-of-accounting-software/ [Accessed 22
August. 2017].
Harvard Business Review. (2017). How Information Gives You Competitive Advantage. [online]
Available at: https://hbr.org/1985/07/how-information-gives-you-competitive-advantage
[Accessed 22 August. 2017].
Intuit.com.au. (2017). About Intuit Australia & Our Team | QuickBooks Australia. [online]
Available at: https://www.intuit.com.au/about-us/ [Accessed 22 August. 2017].
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