Strategic Information Systems: Accounting Software and IGA Analysis

This report provides a literature review on strategic information systems (SIS) and the application of accounting software within Australian businesses. The study examines the competitive advantages delivered by SIS, especially in response to globalization and changing consumer behavior. It includes a detailed analysis of the IGA Supermarket, focusing on its organizational structure and operational challenges. The report explores the adoption and development of accounting software packages, including ERP systems, and their impact on retail operations. It investigates the importance of accounting software in supply chain management, addressing issues like errors, data reconciliation, and the implementation of mini-ERP solutions. The report highlights the benefits of ERP software, such as improved productivity, efficiency, and cost reduction, and concludes with recommendations for enhancing accounting software packages within Australian companies. The study also explores the historical evolution of accounting software, from bespoke systems to modern ERP tools like Oracle and SQL, and the emergence of Business Process Management (BPM) to integrate accounting processes across different departments.

STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
1

Introduction
A Strategic information system is developed in order to provide a response for the marketable
business procedures and ingenuities. Strategic information system helps in delivering
competitive benefit to the business enterprises. Due to globalisation and alterations in the
customers’ behaviour, these systems also have significant variances across the globe. It provides
a composition of the inclusive articles and readings written by professional experts who are
engaged with many strategic information systems. Strategic information systems also termed as
SIS are the systems that get engaged or merged with the business technology in order to create a
business structure with better plan and objectives for the company.
The study will demonstrate the literature review on the compliance of accounting system
software in an establishment of Australia. It will create an analysis on the discussion where the
accounting software will be examined on the ground of a business enterprise context. A focus
will be provided on the utilisation of the accounting software which will be on the reference of
the acknowledged Australian University. The study will demonstrate a deep research on the
examination of the organisational structure of IGA Supermarket which is currently the most
looked after the supermarket in Australia. After that, the study will outline the principal
operational issues that IGA Supermarket has to face due to its organisational structure. In
addition to this, a discussion will be made on the best likely accounting system and will also
recognise the possible control problem. Furthermore, the literature review conducted in the study
will also demonstrate the review of the development and adoption of the accounting software
packages. The literature review of the study will be undertaken according to the business
investigation procedures that will outline the recommendation for the enhancement of the
accounting software packages in the Australian companies.
2

Literature Review
A Strategic information system is developed in order to provide a response for the commercial
business operations and initiatives. Strategic information system helps in delivering competitive
advantage to the business enterprises(Ciftci, 2010). Due to globalisation and alterations in the
customers’ behaviour, these systems also have significant variances across the globe. It provides
a composition of the inclusive articles and readings written by professional experts who are
engaged with many strategic information systems. Strategic information systems also termed as
SIS are the systems that get engaged or merged with the business technology in order to create a
business structure with better plan and objectives for the company(Ciftci, 2010). In the retail
business, there is the utmost importance of information system as it is the most crucial element in
the supply chain of the retail companies. It is evident that retail business requires a lot of book
keepings and has to look at many other factors such as mail order, e-commerce, etc. The
accounting also depends on the type of production or type of business the company is
operating(Galliers et al., 2014). In the retail business, there is a continuous requirement of
accounting software as it has to enhance the audit continuously.
The IGA supermarket which stands for Independent Grocers of Australia is an Australian
chain of supermarkets. It is the Australian branch of the International American-based
Independent Grocers Association. The stated organisation has more than 5,000 stores around 30
nations and was bought by Davids Holdings in 1988. In Australia, there are over 1400 stores.
There is a mixture of both part-time and full-time employees and the company has a distinct
headachy approach. The stated firm follows a hierarchy system and each of the staged has its
own nature of operations. The head of the hierarchy is responsible for the overall performance of
the company. After the head of the hierarchy, there are senior managers who are accountable for
the general management and are also responsible for the daily operations of the company. Their
responsibilities include the stock control, and to examine the overall cash of the day. After senior
managers comes the full-time worker who completes the daily task stated by the supervisors or
the managers(Warren, Reeve and Fess, 2005). At last, there are part-time employees who come
to work during daytime or during weekends. The hierarchical structure of IGA supermarket is
very effective as the above stages are filled with individuals with more experience.
3

In the recent period, IGA’s disclosure regarding the huge accounting mistakes was
analysed over the agreement with the suppliers that completely shuttered the retail industry in
Australia as its executives have not assumed to get an error of this order. In its most recent
annual reports, the management of the firm has mentioned that it is facing material risks
regarding the reportage of the agilest rebates(Sebastian, 2006). The payments done in cash and
the offers given by the company and those disclosures given by the auditors have more than
growing importance about the supplier rebates that raise concerns regarding the organisation’s
administrators. IGA Supermarket is among the most reputed supermarket in Australia and for
maintaining this position, the stated organisation have adopted many accounting software to help
the management to meet the goals and objectives and to emit the previously done mistakes in the
accounting with the suppliers. The stated organisation is planning to reduce half of its carbon
emissions by implementing and executing EcoSoftware from the computer associates. The IGA
Supermarket is looking for the accounting software packages that could do the accounting for its
daily business operations and which could be improved in the segment for the supply chain
management.
According to Keziere 2009, it is crucial to continue the search all over the research
procedures mainly in the research and findings that could be generally examined on the grounds
of other similar researches(Nikidehaghani and Hui, 2016). There have been successive growth in
the field of information technology that has made an effort for acknowledging the reality of
Information technology. Australian retailing companies also have to face the same issues as there
was no exception to these movements(Lewis, 2014). The development of the accounting
software packages took place when the Bespoke accounting software was created. As the
accounting of retail business includes a lot of calculations regarding its business operations such
as calculations of daily to monthly sales, customer needs, most sold items, items in stock and
many other things, there is always a probability of getting an error(Nikidehaghani and Hui,
2016). Due to such high chance of getting the error in the calculations, retail enterprises took
numerous efforts to access the most advanced accounting software. After Bespoke, companies
started to use other more advanced accounting software packages like Peachtree and Tally.
One of the primary benefits that companies get after purchasing these accounting
software’s is that they could start using it after 5-6 days of purchasing. It has been observed and
4

noted by many researchers that many companies faced issues with this software ; mainly those
which do not work on isolation. On the other hand, these accounting software’s were trusted by
most of the accounting departments as maintain the computerised books of accounts is very
trustworthy(Lewis, 2014). There was also a possibility of getting duplicate information regarding
the retail business where the financial transactions have been already made. Accounts could be
tapped by duplicated invoices as there may be errors in the software of the accounting system.
All the issues lead to very difficult tasks of reconciling (Journal of Strategic Information
Systems, 2008). There was a total lack of centralised systems and many data errors were also
noticed which the main causes of accounting problems was.
It is evident that accounts departments have their own views and perception regarding
some specific process when it comes to information data among the different departments. There
were three successive processes in Information Technology(Froud, Tischer and Williams, 2017).
These are enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise application Integration (EAI) &
business process management (BPM). All these developments in the information technology try
to assimilate the vital accounting processes into the mainstream software of the companies
irrespective of its trade industry. Thus, accounting becomes the most important function of the
software installed in a company(Froud, Tischer and Williams, 2017). Many studies recommend
using mini ERP that only involves the accounting and finance system if the purchaser is not
interested in executing the full version of the systems. Accounting and finance departments are
very closely related to each other, and when a retail organisation like IGA Supermarket wants to
start the accounting function like the mini ERP software, the management can easily improve the
functions of the software like HR and Finance(Mohdzain and Ward, 2007). Many companies due
to the stiff presence of competition have realised the importance of accounting software and are
making attempt in enhancing the accounting software packages.
During the early 80s, there was a great advancement in the ERP tools operating system
that provides opportunity for the organisations. For providing abilities to the uniting the logic,
there were systems like Oracle and SQL(Morris, 2001). There were possibilities for achieving a
centralised database system for the companies like IGA Supermarket that could have
implemented the pre-packaged ERP’s which was available to use. In the current decade,
emergence of BPM has become a very useful tool in eradicating the gaps between the different
5

departments of the organisation. BPM advances the idea of continuous improvement with six
sigma approach and the process administration(Gunasekaran and Ngai, 2011). At the starting of
its launch, there were some errors in the BPM modelling but it soon was covered by the cross
functional and horizontal solutions.
For every business enterprise, it is always challenging to get the appropriate accounting
software that can handle or manage its daily numerical transactions. It is also very challenging
for companies to re-implement any software package against all odds. There will always a
concern for having huge costs and rate of success will also be very low. It is better that
organisations could have better options than the independent software. As for illustration, the
current business enterprises save a lot of time and resources by having a centralised and
consistent system that usually don’t identify the reconciliations(P., Mahajan and Bulakh, 2017).
Helo P., Anussornnitisarn P. & Phusavat have stated that Accounting and finance mini ERP
system have the most successful and trusted accounting software for the automation of any retail
business or any other form of business.
6

Conclusion
The study identified that implementing ERP software is the most precise and most trusted
software for the retail companies. With the implementation of the ERP software, IGA
Supermarkets could improve its productivity, increase its efficiencies, decrees the costs and
could also streamline the processes. The study stated that having ERP accounting software
installed in the business operations could help the managers in proper planning of the company’s
resources. Having ERP solution eradicates the repetitive processes and also diminishes the need
to manually enter the information. It helps in making the report easier and more customizable.
Having improved reporting capabilities can help a firm in responding to more complex data
requests more easily. It has been also found in the study that for every business enterprise, it is
always challenging to get the appropriate accounting software that can handle or manage its daily
numerical transactions. It is also very challenging for companies to re-implement any software
package against all odds. There will always a concern for having huge costs and rate of success
will also be very low. It is better that organisations could have better options than the
independent software.
7

References
Ciftci, M. (2010). Accounting Choice and Earnings Quality: The Case of Software Development.
European Accounting Review, 19(3), pp.429-459.
Froud, J., Tischer, D. and Williams, K. (2017). It is the business model… Reframing the
problems of UK retail banking. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 42, pp.1-19.
Galliers, R., Leidner, D., Leidner, D. and Galliers, R. (2014). Strategic information management.
London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis.
Gunasekaran, A. and Ngai, E. (2011). Strategic enterprise information systems for global supply
chain competitiveness. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 20(3), pp.215-216.
Journal of Strategic Information Systems. (2008). The Journal of Strategic Information Systems,
17(4), p.287.
Lewis, J. (2014). The Book You Need Before You Buy That Accounting Software. 1st ed. Cork:
BookBaby.
Mohdzain, M. and Ward, J. (2007). A study of subsidiaries’ views of information systems
strategic planning in multinational organisations. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems,
16(4), pp.324-352.
Morris, J. (2001). Software industry accounting. 1st ed. New York: John Wiley.
Nikidehaghani, M. and Hui, F. (2016). Accounting and accountability for disability benefits in
Australia (1909-1961). Accounting History.
P., D., Mahajan, N. and Bulakh, P. (2017). An Analytical Study of Knowledge Management
Softwares. International Journal of Computer Applications, 164(5), pp.7-14.
Sebastian, S. (2006). Management report. 1st ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Government
Accountability Office.
Warren, C., Reeve, J. and Fess, P. (2005). Financial & managerial accounting. 1st ed. Mason,
Ohio: Thomson/South-Western.
8