University Accounting Information System Report and Analysis

This report delves into the intricacies of Accounting Information Systems (AIS), addressing key aspects such as business intelligence, ethical conduct, and practical applications. The report begins by examining the growth of business intelligence over recent years, highlighting the increasing use of tools like CRM and Big Data for enhanced decision-making and improved consumer experiences. It then explores two critical features of business intelligence tools: executive dashboards and interactive reports, emphasizing their role in data analysis and strategic decision-making. The report further examines the importance of ethics in business, using the Enron scandal as a case study to illustrate the consequences of unethical accounting practices and the subsequent implementation of regulations like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The analysis incorporates visual aids such as graphs and charts to illustrate trends and findings, providing a comprehensive overview of AIS principles and their practical implications within the business environment. This report is a valuable resource for students studying accounting, providing insights into the practical application of AIS concepts and the importance of ethical considerations in financial reporting.

Running head: ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEM
Accounting Information System
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Requirement to Question 2..............................................................................................................2
Business Intelligence Growth in the Past Few Years..................................................................2
Two Features which are used for Decision Making Process in Business Intelligence Tools......5
Requirement to Question 3..............................................................................................................6
Role of Ethics and Examples of Breach of Ethical code of Conduct..........................................6
Regulations Implemented............................................................................................................7
Reference.........................................................................................................................................8

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Requirement to Question 2
Business Intelligence Growth in the Past Few Years
The past few decades has seen significant increase in the trend for business intelligence
and it is further expected that the same would continue to increase as the technological level is
increasing. In today’s era new performance indicators are being identified which is mainly due to
the development of the business intelligence systems (Lim, Chen and Chen 2013). In the graph
which is presented below, the growth of customer relationship management which has
significantly increased over the past few years:
Figure 1: (Increase in CRM and Customer engagement in 2018)
Source: (Datapine.com. 2018)

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The above figure shows the rising trend in the usage of CRM in a business for effectively
managing relations with the customers of the business. Therefore, one of the function which is
performed by businesses intelligence tools is to enhance the experience of the consumers
considering the trends of 2019. The service industry has greatly benefitted with the application of
tools which can help such businesses to effectively manage the needs of the needs of the
consumers of the business (Channels.theinnovationenterprise.com 2019). It is anticipated that by
2021, 15% of all the customers service interactions would be handled by Artificial Intelligence
which is another exciting development in the field of business intelligence analytics (Sridhar and
Dharmaji 2013). The graph shows that the consumer experiences are rising and therefore in order
to maintain the rising demands of the customers appropriate information needs to be collected for
which businesses intelligence tools would be a requirement. The business intelligence tools
allow the management of companies to effectively analyze data collected and thereby also helps
in decision making process of the business (Rajnoha et al. 2016).
In a similar manner, the application of Big data has also increased significantly and the
reason for the same is the significant increase in the business environment. In order words,
businesses are experience growth in their operations and therefore in order to keep a track of the
performance of the business and also take major decisions on the basis of the data which is
available (Sun, Zou and Strang 2015). In order to express the growth and revenue generation of
Big data a graph is presented below:

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Figure 1: Trend of big trend
(Source: Statista.com 2019)
The graph shows that there has been significant increase in the revenue of Big data and
business analytics. It can be estimated that considering the current growth rate of Big Data, it can
be anticipated that the revenue of Big Data would reach 220 billion by 2022 in comparison to the
revenue which is generated in 2018 which is 122 billion. The application of Big data is also done
for the purpose of taking major decisions in relation to the business so that the performance of
the business can be enhanced in the long run (Fan, Lau and Zhao 2015). Therefore, it can be said
that the major decisions which are taken by the business are based on the results which are
provided by business intelligence tools (Wixom et al. 2014). Therefore, it can be said that growth
of business intelligence is essential for corporate house as the information which is provided can
help the management to enhance the performance of the business. In the arguments which is
provided by Sharda, Delen and Turban (2016), an appropriate business intelligence system is
necessary for assessing big data considering the operational needs of the business.

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In the bar chart which is provided above, growth rate is shown for different business
intelligence tools which are quite popular in a business organization. The chart above shows that
Microsoft are leaders in providing business intelligence solutions and the growth rate for the
same is shown to be the highest in comparison to other business intelligence tools. The chart
shows that on second position which shows that the tool is also used by most of the businesses
after Microsoft.
Two Features which are used for Decision Making Process in Business Intelligence Tools
The application of business intelligence tools is used by senior executives for taking
important decisions regarding the operational process of the business. There are certain features
which is common in a business intelligence system which are executive dashboards and reports
which can be generated by such systems. These features are explained below in details:
Executive Dashboard
The executive dashboard provides the users with access to real time data which are useful
to the users for taking important decisions regarding the operational process of the business. The

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dashboard can effectively collect information which are relevant to the operations of the business
and also businesses to appropriately identify the key performance indicators of the business
which are the basis on which decisions are taken by the management. The dashboard can also
help to identify relevant information from the information which are not so much relevant for
taking important decisions relating to the business.
Interactive Reports
The business intelligence systems are used for generation of reports which contains
results which can be analyzed for taking major decisions regarding the operations. The reports
also show the information which are relevant for the operations of the business. In addition to
this, the business intelligence tools are also capable of performing statistical analysis such as
regression analysis and moving average functions for getting appropriate results which can be
used for taking important decisions relating to the business.
Requirement to Question 3
Role of Ethics and Examples of Breach of Ethical code of Conduct
Ethics in a business refers to the way an employee or a senior executive conducts himself
while conducting the duties of the business. In most of the businesses, there is an established
code of conduct which all employees are required to follow. The codes are basically ethical
guidelines which the employees are expected to follow in a business organization. The ethical
code of conduct ensures that there is no unethical practice in the operations of the business. One
of the scandals which can be cited from the past which had significant impact on the business
environment is the Enron Scandal.

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The business of Enron was one of the growing companies in US and had a proper market
valuation. The company was involved in one of the biggest scandals which send shocks through
the US financial markets when the company had to be closed down due to the losses and debts.
The reason for the downfall of the company was the unethical practices in accounting which was
followed by the senior executives of the business (Azibi, Azibi and Tondeur 2017). It was
revealed that the management of the company had cooked profits and covered all losses and
debts from failed projects of the business (Carnegie and Napier 2013). The senior executives had
taken advantage of accounting loopholes so that they would be able to show a favorable financial
statement. It was further revealed that the auditor of the business Anderson was also involved in
concealing the actual financial position of the business (da Silveira 2013). Once the scandal was
in light, the share price of the company continuously declined which resulted in bankruptcy of
the business. The consequences of the fraud were faced by the CEO of the business and the
auditing firm Anderson as criminal charges were pressed against them.
Regulations Implemented
The bankruptcy of Enron put more pressure on Financial boards such as Australian
Accounting Standard Board, International Accounting Standard Board to bring about strict
regulations so that such scandals do not take place in future (Chell et al. 2016). Some of the
regulations or changes which were brought about are listed below in point form:
 The accounting boards were provided more responsibility to tighten the regulations and
conduct checks so that the accounting policies are appropriately followed by businesses.
 Sarbanes-Oxley Act was introduced so that severe consequences can be imposed on
guilty individuals who have been responsible for tampering with accounting policies and

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any unethical practices related to reporting financial statements which involves altering
or fabricating the financial statements.
 The audit committee were given an independent status and more power was allocated to
such committee so that it can be guaranteed that the business and the auditor
appropriately performed their duties (Tayşir and Pazarcık 2013). The policy also
encourages whistleblowing practices so that any unethical practice in a business can be
reported.
 Independent examination for the auditor was implemented and APES 110 was introduced
so that the accounting and auditing professionals effectively followed code of conduct in
executing their duties. The introduction of APES 110 was to ensure that integrity of the
profession was maintained.
Therefore, the discussion above shows that strict regulations were brought about by the
government and accounting boards so that such a scandal did not affected the market again. In
addition to this, it was an important step for detecting frauds in a business. Furthermore, the
emphasis was provided more on proper disclosures and notes so that every treatment which was
complex in nature had proper explanation associated with the same. These practices aimed to
achieve operational efficiency in the business.

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Reference
Azibi, J., Azibi, H. and Tondeur, H., 2017. Institutional Activism, Auditor’s Choice and Earning
Management after the Enron Collapse: Evidence from France. International Business
Research, 10(2), pp.154-168.
BI Blog | Data Visualization & Analytics Blog | datapine. (2018). Top 10 Analytics & Business
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Carnegie, G.D. and Napier, C.J., 2013. Popular accounting history: Evidence from post-Enron
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Chell, E., Spence, L.J., Perrini, F. and Harris, J.D., 2016. Social entrepreneurship and business
ethics: Does social equal ethical?. Journal of business ethics, 133(4), pp.619-625.
da Silveira, A.D.M., 2013. The Enron scandal a decade later: Lessons learned.
Fan, S., Lau, R.Y. and Zhao, J.L., 2015. Demystifying big data analytics for business intelligence
through the lens of marketing mix. Big Data Research, 2(1), pp.28-32.
Lim, E.P., Chen, H. and Chen, G., 2013. Business intelligence and analytics: Research
directions. ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems (TMIS), 3(4), p.17.

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Rajnoha, R., Štefko, R., Merková, M. and Dobrovič, J., 2016. Business intelligence as a key
information and knowledge tool for strategic business performance management. E+ M
Ekonomie a Management.
Sridhar, P. and Dharmaji, N., 2013. A comparative study on how big data is scaling business
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Sun, Z., Zou, H. and Strang, K., 2015, October. Big data analytics as a service for business
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Tayşir, E.A. and Pazarcık, Y., 2013. Business ethics, social responsibility and corporate
governance: Does the strategic management field really care about these concepts?. Procedia-
Social and Behavioral Sciences, 99, pp.294-303.
The Past, P. and Barton, D. (2019). The Past, Present & Future Of Business Intelligence |
Articles | Analytics. [online] Channels.theinnovationenterprise.com. Available at:
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Wixom, B., Ariyachandra, T., Douglas, D.E., Goul, M., Gupta, B., Iyer, L.S., Kulkarni, U.R.,
Mooney, J.G., Phillips-Wren, G.E. and Turetken, O., 2014. The current state of business
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