Application of Accounting Software Packages in Macquarie Group Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and accounting software packages within the Macquarie Group. The report begins with an overview of the organization's structure and potential operational problems, including issues related to intra-group coordination, leadership roles, and the corrupting effects of power. It then explores the ERP acquisition method, emphasizing data acquisition and cloud storage benefits, along with a sales procedure flowchart, and potential fraud risks. Part 2 focuses on the adoption of accounting software packages, discussing current market size, competitive advantages such as anytime, anywhere access and greater input speed, and challenges faced by users like data security concerns and the need for training. The report concludes with recommendations for software implementation, specifically highlighting the benefits of MYOB, and its suitability for Macquarie Group's organizational structure. The report offers valuable insights into the practical application of accounting software, its impact on organizational efficiency, and the importance of addressing potential challenges.

Running head: APPLICATION OF ACOOUNTING SOFTWARE PACKAGES IN AN ORGANIZATION
Application of Accounting Software Packages
(Macquarie Group)
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

APPLICATION OF ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE PACKAGES
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Part 1................................................................................................................................................2
Organizational Structure of Macquarie Group............................................................................2
Operational Problems..................................................................................................................3
ERP Acquisition Method.............................................................................................................4
Flow Chart of the Sales Procedures.............................................................................................5
Possible Frauds............................................................................................................................6
Part 2................................................................................................................................................6
Adoption of the Accounting Software Packages (ASPs)............................................................6
Current Market size.....................................................................................................................7
Competitive Advantage...............................................................................................................8
Challenges Faced by Users..........................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
Recommendations............................................................................................................................9
References:....................................................................................................................................10

APPLICATION OF ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE PACKAGES
Introduction
The aim of this report is to provide concise and evidence proof report on the
implementation of ERP and Accounting Software application packages within the organization
by the means of this literature review. Macquarie group has been considered for this case study
as it will provide better and practical situations for this implementation. This report also
emphasize on the beneficial aspects and disadvantages of these implementation into the system
and their effect on the employees and the organization.
Part 1
Organizational Structure of Macquarie Group
It has a non-hierarchical organizational structure among which there are five sub-
divisions of the management team, which can be listed as: a central group of managing director,
global chief operation officers, The Executive Committee, Heads of important operating groups
of Macquarie including the Head of Risk Management (Macquarie.com, 2017). It can also be
said that the Macquarie group has been restructured into a NOHC (non-operating holding
company) structure, which is being approved by the Federal Court and security holders.
Following is a better picture for the organizational structure of Macquarie:

APPLICATION OF ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE PACKAGES
Figure 1: Macquarie’s Organizational Structure
(Source: Macquarie 2017)
Operational Problems
There are certain disadvantages of this organizational structure which can result in
deficiency of expected outputs. Following is the list of problems that might occur in this
organizational structure:
 Intra-group coordination
 Leadership roles
 Motivation among group members
 Role and responsibilities of the members
 Corrupting effect of the power
 Proper training
 Technology problems
Proper scheduling management is not introduced in the organizational structure of the
Macquarie group (Macquarie.com, 2017). Schedule management could help the manager or the

APPLICATION OF ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE PACKAGES
leader to predict the next situations and behavior of the employees towards the projected goal of
the organization. Leadership role within the organization is the first step towards achieving the
projected goals, this implies in better leadership by the team leader or the manager in order to
accomplish the aims and goals of the organization. The decision making and the leadership role
direct affects the operations of the organization and if any leader or manager lacks in either of
the qualities might stop the enhancement of the organization and the milestones will not be
achieved (Macquarie.com, 2017). Another problem stated above was the corrupting effect of
power, which emphasis on the misuse of the authority and power provided to a manager or the
leader within an organization.
ERP Acquisition Method
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is the most advanced and technologically advance
approach that could help in gaining the competitive advantage among the competitors. This
includes Data acquisition implication, cloud storage of the information and data, and
computerizing the whole operational activities within the organization. Cwikla (2014) stated that
data acquisition implication can be complicated for the production system, which is a not
automated as compared to the organizations those have automated systems, which includes
almost every sector within the organization such as accounting, making bills, tracking shipments,
deliveries and many more. Computerizing all the operational activities will need various changes
in the infrastructure of the organization but this change could lead the organization towards
efficient and effective outputs (Cwikla et al. 2015). Automated activities could help in easy and
quick processing for the employees in better and efficient manner, as it is much more accurate
and will not produce wrong results without human errors. ERP provides cloud storage for the

CustomersSales Contracts Legal Fulfillment
APPLICATION OF ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE PACKAGES
data and information related to the organizational operation and other data (Rotham, Banon and
Alonso 2015).
Flow Chart of the Sales Procedures
Figure 1: sales procedure low chart (Macquarie group)
(Source: Created by Author)
Agent
request
Approval
Rep is
notified
Order is
not
shipped
Order is
shipped
Return to
Agent
Agent
Requests
Approval
Pick Order
Log shipment
Attorney
Marks it OK
Agent
Approves
Order
Changes
acceptable
Standard
terms
Contact
Agents
Review
Order
Enter Orders
Customer
Submits
PO

APPLICATION OF ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE PACKAGES
Possible Frauds
Implementation of ERP system into the existing system of Macquarie can help in gaining
positive outcomes but can also lead to certain frauds that can affect the proper functioning of the
organization. Marques, Santos and Santos (2014) discussed that these frauds can affect the
organization directly and can lead towards the loss of reputation among the costumers and in the
market. Frauds that could be possible due to the implementation of ERP into the system can be
stated as any individual performing more than one or two activities that includes sector of
purchased goods, goods received, invoice creation and transaction sector, purchase approval and
purchased order confirmation can be able to make following frauds (Haynes and Li 2016):
 Non-purchase Payment
 False Invoice Payment
 Anonymous Vendor Payment
 Misappropriation
 Anonymous Customer Payment
Above frauds can be made by the employees those are involved in more than one sector as
mentioned above and slow down the rate of growth of the organization for personal benefits.
ERP implementation could give access to these frauds and the footprints could be disclosed by
few attempts (Haynes and Li 2016).
Part 2
Adoption of the Accounting Software Packages (ASPs)
Accounting software packages provides the organization to make all the transactional
calculation in very easy and quick manner that can help in enhancing the efficiency of the
employees by producing more outputs with lesser efforts. According to Mas et al. (2014) there
are four types of ASPs, which are based on the characteristic of the management, characteristic

APPLICATION OF ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE PACKAGES
of the business environment, characteristics of the technological innovation, and characteristics
of the organization. IT (Information Technology) sectors are the most attractive and popular
subject for the research due to the advancement in technology and movement towards digital
world. Many researches and writings have been done related to the adoption of ASPs within the
organization and their motivational factors about how the implementation can change the face of
accounts within the organization (Kellner and Swihart 2014). This implementation does not need
much disturbance in the infrastructure of the organization as, the services are being offered by
third party, which in turn eliminates the cost of maintenance for this system. This system is
spreading rapidly among the organizations.
Current Market size
The transactional process between the organization, clients, and the contractors can be
supported and enhanced for the organization by the implementation of Accounting Software
Packages into the system. It is specifically designed to help the accountant to manage the
transactional activities in more accurate and efficient ways with no efforts. Kordecki and Bullen,
(2014) recommended in their paper to implement CAS into the small and medium sized
enterprises in manner to improve the accounting management system within the organization.
Authors have also explained how this implementation has the ability to influence the accounting
firms to be more accurate and efficient in their operational activities. Identification of the extra-
ordinary capabilities of the accountants can achieved through implementing ASPs into the
system. This completely justifies the statement: “until a problem does not arise, owner-manager
will not discuss with accountants” (Mageto 2017). MYOB is the most dominant ASP in the
market with maximum shares and is spreading in all over Australia including small, small-
medium and Big enterprises.

APPLICATION OF ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE PACKAGES
Competitive Advantage
There are many competitive advantages of implementing ASPs into the system firstly,
anytime, anywhere access. This states that ASPs provides its clients access to the data and
information related to the operational and transactional activities of the organization from
anywhere connecting via internet (laudon and Laudon 2016). This enables the option for the
workers to be engaged with the inter-operational activities of the organization by staying
anywhere irrespective of the place. Secondly, it has greater input speed, which states that
because of the automation process feeding or saving data or information input speed increases in
much easy way with lesser efforts. This could help the individuals in focusing more towards the
goals and objectives of the organization irrespective of the time that was being consumed during
the calculation and data saving process (Ismail and King 2014). Third competitive advantage can
be stated as greater efficiency, which can be stated as beneficial approach for maintaining the
accuracy in estimation and calculation during the transactional process.
Challenges Faced by Users
Besides of the advantages and disadvantages of the ASPs implementation, there are
certain challenges that might oppose the system success. Security of the data and information is
in the top of the list of the implementation. This could be better explainable by the examples of
the data breaches that have become trend and most considerable subject of this new digital
world. Most of the researchers have proposed that security is the greatest concern for any
organization in context with the ASPs implementation into existing or pre-existing system.
Emphasizing on this topic recent data breaches could be the best example for this situation.
These are novice-friendly and proper training is needed in order to make the implementation
successful.

APPLICATION OF ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE PACKAGES
Conclusion
Based on the findings made in the above report it can be concluded that upgrading the
traditional method of business with ERP and ASPs can increase the productivity of an
organization by enhancing the performance of the organization. This implementation will
increase positivity among the employees as they will have to make less effort and integrating
them within the organization will become easier. There are certain disadvantages and challenges
that a user or client may face during or after the implementation of this system which have also
been proposed in the above report.
Recommendations
The recommended software is the MYOB because of its benefits and fitting ability with
all the organizations. Macquarie Group can enhance the performance by utilizing MYOB into its
existing hierarchical organizational structure. It can provide all the beneficial operations related
to the accounts in more efficient and less effort.

APPLICATION OF ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE PACKAGES
References:
Ćwikła, G., 2014. Methods of manufacturing data acquisition for production management-a
review. In Advanced Materials Research (Vol. 837, pp. 618-623). Trans Tech Publications.
Ćwikła, G., Krenczyk, D., Kampa, A. and Gołda, G., 2015. Application of the MIAS
methodology in design of the data acquisition system for wastewater treatment plant. In IOP
Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 95, No. 1, p. 012153). IOP
Publishing.
Haynes, R. and Li, C., 2016. Continuous audit and enterprise resource planning systems: A case
study of ERP rollouts in the Houston, TX oil and gas industries. Journal of Emerging
Technologies in Accounting, 13(1), pp.171-179.
http://www.macquarie.com/in/about/company#?tab:company-profile-our-business-our-global-
presence-tabs=1 [Accessed 14 Sep. 2017].
Ismail, N.A. and King, M., 2014. Factors influencing the alignment of accounting information
systems in small and medium sized Malaysian manufacturing firms. Journal of Information
Systems and Small Business, 1(1-2), pp.1-20.
Kellner, K.F. and Swihart, R.K., 2014. Accounting for imperfect detection in ecology: a
quantitative review. PLoS One, 9(10), p.e111436.
Kordecki, G.S. and Bullen, M.L., 2014. Evolutionary developments in accounting standard
setting for private entities and SMEs. Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies, 8,
p.1.

APPLICATION OF ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE PACKAGES
Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., 2016. Management information system. Pearson Education
India.
Mageto, J., 2017. Accounting Softwares in Australia. An Overview.
Marques, R.P., Santos, H. and Santos, C., 2014, June. Management of internal control
mechanisms in ERP for continuous monitoring purposes. In Information Systems and
Technologies (CISTI), 2014 9th Iberian Conference on (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Mas, J.F., Kolb, M., Paegelow, M., Olmedo, M.T.C. and Houet, T., 2014. Inductive pattern-
based land use/cover change models: A comparison of four software packages. Environmental
Modelling & Software, 51, pp.94-111.
Rothman, J., Bañón, J.A. and Alonso, J.G., 2015. Neurolinguistic measures of typological effects
in multilingual transfer: introducing an ERP methodology. Frontiers in psychology, 6.