Report: Accounting Software Implementation at Macquarie Group Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of accounting software implementation at Macquarie Group, a prominent financial institution in Australia. It delves into the company's organizational structure, operational challenges stemming from its structure, and system acquisition methods, including the use of Intralinks, Manage Engine, and Synopsys, as well as the development of a custom data layer. The report examines the sales procedures through a system flowchart and identifies control problems and potential frauds within the system. Furthermore, it explores the development and adoption of accounting software packages, specifically Xero, and analyzes Macquarie Group's current market size and competitive strategies compared to other market leaders. The report also addresses existing challenges faced by users of accounting software and offers recommendations for improvement, concluding with a summary of the key findings and insights. The report highlights the importance of efficient accounting software for financial management.

Running head: ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION AT MACQUARIE GRP
Accounting Software Implementation at Macquarie Group
Name of the Student:
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Executive Summary
The report is made in the light of Macquarie Group, a finance-providing firm based in Sydney,
Australia. The purpose of the report is to conduct research on the bank mentioned above and
analyse the pros and cons of implementing accounting software to the same. It discusses about
the organisation and its structure. The operational issues of the company due to its structure are
discussed in detail. The system acquisition methods of the bank are assessed and a sales
procedure flowchart of the same is provided. It discusses the control problems in the system and
the possible frauds that occur due to the mentioned flaws. It consist details on development and
adoption process of the accounting software service aboard the company. The current market
size of the company is analysed and compared with other competitors. The leaders in the
Australian market of financial competency are determined and their competitive strategies are
researched. Finally, a comprehensive study is done on the challenges faced by the users of
accounting software and possible recommendations are provided based on the mentioned
problems that will help to avoid the same.

2ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION AT MACQUARIE GRP
Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
2. About the Company and its Organisational Structure.................................................................3
3. Operational Issues of the Company due to its Structure..............................................................4
4. System Acquisition methods of Macquarie.................................................................................5
5. System Flowchart for the Sales Procedures of Macquarie Group...............................................7
6. Control Problems in the System and Possible Frauds.................................................................9
7. Development and Adoption of the Accounting Software Packages............................................9
8. Current Market Size.....................................................................................................................9
9. Leaders in the Market................................................................................................................10
10. Existing Challenges Encountered by Users of Accounting Software.....................................11
11. Some Recommendations.........................................................................................................11
12. Conclusion...............................................................................................................................12
13. References................................................................................................................................13

3ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION AT MACQUARIE GRP
1. Introduction
The report is made in the light of Macquarie Group, a reputed company based in Sydney,
Australia. The purpose of the report is to focus on the importance of implementation of
accounting software packages by small to large-scale businesses for furthering the development
of the same. Accounting Software packages help a company of any scale to manage all financial
aspects and issues by keeping electronic records of the same and providing solutions related to
any accounting issues (Hall 2012). Therefore, it is better to implement software that can help in
efficient handling of accounts related matters.
2. About the Company and its Organisational Structure
Macquarie Group is a financial institution that provides financial aid to its clients in any
manner. It provides its clients with solutions to manage assets, gives guidance related to banking,
investment and such. The company was listed in the year 1996 whose current managing director
(MD) and CEO is Nicholas Moore (Macquarie.com 2017).
The non-hierarchical organisational structure of Macquarie is divided into five functional
divisions. The executive committee is a centralised group that is formed with the MD, Deputy
MD, Risk Management Head, Global Chief Operations officer and Chiefs of Macquarie’s main
operating departments. There are separate departments within the organisation that is managed
and handled by these operating groups. These departments are inter-related depending on their
specialisation in specific market. Apart from the operational divisions, there are four service
divisions that provide the support, infrastructure and framework required by the operational
divisions for the management of the business. The four service groups are Financial

4ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION AT MACQUARIE GRP
Management, Risk Management, Corporate Operations, Legal and Governance Group
(Macquarie.com 2017).
Figure 1: Organisational Structure of Macquarie Group
(Source: Macquarie.com 2017)
3. Operational Issues of the Company due to its Structure
The organisational structure of the company has led to certain operational problems
related to its services to its clients. Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC)
ordered the company to compensate 160,000 clients including the past and existing ones. The

5ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION AT MACQUARIE GRP
company is accused of misconduct and wrong financial advice provided by its financial advisers
that had caused huge financial loss to the clients (Mossa and Silvapulle 2012). The advisors used
a cheat file known as the Penske File that contains answers to important questions required in
professional development exams. The financial advisors of the company are also accused of
intentionally labelling people as sophisticated-wholesale investors so that their money can be
utilised in risky investments ignoring the security provided to retail investors (Li, Allan and
Evans 2015). Apart from this massive scandal, the company have faced problem due to poor
quality of record keeping and lacking proper information about its clients. The organisational
structure is non-hierarchical that is the top management of the company must depend on the
reports of the service departments and do not examine the feasibility of the reports. This type of
organisational structure has hindered the company to get information about the activities
performed by the financial advisors, which has led to such operational scandals (Li, Allan and
Evans 2015).
4. System Acquisition methods of Macquarie
Macquarie Group uses three vendor software providers as a method of system
acquisition.
Intralinks is collaboration and project management software that supports strategic
collaboration solutions for various industries including financial services (Www2.intralinks.com
2017). It helps the company in providing financial solutions and management guidance in the
organisation.
Manage Engine is another software used by the company that provides real-time
management tools for IT sector of an organisation (Manageengine.com 2017). The software

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provides efficient performance in critical IT infrastructure that includes desktops, applications,
networks, servers and such.
Synopsys is a software provider that provides testing and optimisation tools for the IT
sector of the company dealing with software that will allow secure financial transactions and
processes in between the organisation and its clients (Synopsys.com 2017).
Apart from the software that Macquarie Group utilises from the three software vendors
mentioned above, the company have also created custom software to improve the relationship of
the bank with the customer. The bank has developed a data layer between the existing legacy
systems and the bank’s clients. The data layer is developed using open source database tool
along with machine learning technologies and Big Data (ComputerWeekly 2017). Macquarie
Banking Group is a digital-only bank that does not have any physical branch apart from its
headquarter. In case of digitalised banks, a good customer experience is solely dependent on the
online websites or the applications that help to cater for all the needs of the customer. Therefore,
the primary objective of a digitalised bank is to improve the quality and service of the websites
or applications to provide customer a flawless experience (ComputerWeekly 2017).
In case of legacy systems, there is always an intermediate person involved between the
bank and its client who manage the communication between the business and client. However, in
case of digitalised banks like the Macquarie Group the customer approaches the bank directly
regarding any matter.Therefore, the services provided by the bank through the digital medium
are necessary to fulfil all the requirements of the customer. The data layer that is implemented on
top of the legacy system is known as the customer experience layer (CX), which removes the
complicated features of a legacy system. The open source software used by the company is

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provided by DataStax. The data stored in the legacy systems are initially migrated to the
implemented data layer that is made on the DataStax platform (ComputerWeekly 2017). The
second phase involves implementation of sophisticated artificial intelligence (A.I) to execute
functions like real-time data analysis and machine learning. The implementation of an A.I will
help to facilitate the customer with their requirements irrespective of time. The last phase
includes the decommissioning of the legacy systems completely from the back end after all the
user data have been migrated from the legacy systems to the new data layer. The maintenance of
legacy systems is very costly and it often exhausts the resource of the IT sector of a company and
eventually various issues arise due to it. Removal of the legacy systems will help the
organisation greatly in terms of finance and will allow the investment of the saved money in
improving other sectors of the same (ComputerWeekly 2017).
5. System Flowchart for the Sales Procedures of Macquarie Group
The figure provided below shows the system flowchart for the sales procedure of
Macquarie Banking Group. The chart shows that the operation in the sales process starts from the
customer who places an order request, say for a Credit Card. The order or disapproved by the
bank’s executive depending on the terms of the company. Once the order is confirmed, it is
delivered to the customer (Macquarie.com 2017).

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Customer Submits PO Rep Logs PO,
Enters Order
Order is
reviewed
Standard Terms
Order is
approved
Approval is
requested
Order is
cancelled
Order is not processedRep is notified
Attorney Marks it OK
and sends back
Attorney Marks it NO
and sends back
Changes Acceptable
Orders are
executed
Client receives order
NO
YES
YES
NO
Figure 2: System Flowchart for Sales Procedure of Macquarie Group
(Source: Macquarie.com 2017)
Approvals
Client Sales Contracts Legal Fulfilment

9ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION AT MACQUARIE GRP
6. Control Problems in the System and Possible Frauds
The non-hierarchical structure of the organisation has created a gap in various levels in
the organisation. The management of the organisation fail to monitor the activities of the service
team that has created control problem. The financial advisors are undertaking unfair and illegal
means for self-interest (Ting 2014).They are cheating the clients and using a specific file called
the Penske File that contains answers to important questions required in professional
development exams. These frauds have led the company to compensate for the damage caused to
160,000 customers as ordered by ASIC (Ting 2014).
7. Development and Adoption of the Accounting Software Packages
Macquarie Banking Group has adopted Xero as the accounting software package. Xero is
a third-party accounting software package provider that is based in Australia. It provides for all
the online financial helps that are required by the customer of Macquarie bank. The clients can
view their account details along with transaction history that took place in that account through
the Xero app (Dimitriu and Matei 2014). Xero provides a direct feed and online mini statement
to the customers on the existing status of their account. The accounting software is also
responsible for the bookkeeping of the entire banking activity log daily that allows the
organisation to keep records of its past activities and refer the same when required. The financial
records and the customer details are efficiently maintained by the software (Mageto 2017).

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8. Current Market Size
The figure provided below shows a graph where the market size of four leading banks of
Australia, including Macquarie Bank, are analysed and recorded from the month of March 2017
to August 2017.The grey coloured graph depicts the market size of Macquarie Banking Group.
The figure clearly proves that Macquarie Bank is at the top of the chart in the market and is
dominating the same in comparison to its other competitors (Macquarie.com 2017).
Figure 3: Current Market Size of Macquarie Group
(Source: Macquarie.com 2017)

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9. Leaders in the Market
The dominant leaders in the Australian market along with the Macquarie Group are the
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking Corp and the Scentre Group. Each bank
has adopted different competitive strategies to stay ahead from its rivals in the market.The
Commonwealth Bank of Australia has adopted the strategy to excel in customer service, while
the Westpac Banking Corp’s strategy is to achieve technological and operational excellence. The
Macquarie Group have given stress on the variety of services that can be provided to their
clients. The clients of Macquarie bank enjoy a large variety of services than other banks provide,
which has proved to give an edge to the bank in the competition in the market (Bhattacharya,
Romani and Stern 2012).
10. Existing Challenges Encountered by Users of Accounting Software
The users of accounting software packages frequently face problems related to the same.
The reason for most problem encounters are use of outdated software or the ones that are not
very user-friendly (Simkin, Norman and Rose 2014). Lack of proper protection is also a matter
of concern for the accounting software users as important company data are accessible to the
third-party service providers. There is some accounting software that have weak reporting
service and fail to help users who desire to fetch their stored business data. There are many more
challenges that is faced by an accounting software package user which requires detailed analysis
(Mutongi 2014).
11. Some Recommendations
To avoid the problems mentioned above while using accounting software packages, it is
better to use sophisticated firewall and network security software that will manage data