Strategic Information Systems Report: Macquarie University Analysis

This report examines the strategic information systems used by Macquarie University, focusing on the application of accounting software packages to enhance operational activities. The report begins with an overview of Macquarie's organizational structure and identifies potential operational problems. It then explores the most likely system acquisition method, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and provides a flowchart of sales procedures. The report also addresses potential fraud scenarios within the system. Part 2 delves into the development and adoption of accounting software packages, analyzing the current market size, competitive advantages, and challenges encountered by users. The report recommends MYOB as a suitable accounting software package and emphasizes the benefits of cloud computing for improved organizational performance. The report concludes that the implementation of new technologies can significantly enhance organizational performance and provides recommendations for future improvements.

Running head: STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (MACQUARIE)
Strategic Information Systems
(Macquarie)
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Part 1................................................................................................................................................2
Macquarie’s Organizational Structure.........................................................................................2
Operational Problems..................................................................................................................3
Most Likely System acquisition method.....................................................................................4
ERP..............................................................................................................................................4
Flow Chart of the Sales Procedures.............................................................................................5
Possible Frauds............................................................................................................................6
Part 2................................................................................................................................................6
Development and Adoption of the accounting Software Packages.............................................6
Current Market size.....................................................................................................................7
Competitive Advantages..............................................................................................................8
Challenges Encountered by Users...............................................................................................9
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
Recommendations............................................................................................................................9
References:....................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The aim of this report is to explain the role of Accounting Software Packages used by the
Australian companies nowadays, which can be helpful in enhancing the operational activities and
performance of the organization. There are almost sixty tools or more that are being used in
Australia, Choosing one among them can be difficult for an organization and to determine which
product or tool will be beneficial for the organization (Jebreen 2014). The objectives that need to
be considered in this implication is that whether the organization is doing an outgrowing
business, or merging new system into the pre-existing Information Technology (IT) system.
Another considerable aspect is that whether there is need of new accounting software in order to
seek the workload. This system could be complex for new consumers so recommendation from
expert and experienced IT team or individual is necessary for this implication. Macquarie has
been chosen organization for this report which is explained below.
Part 1
Macquarie’s Organizational Structure
The organizational structure of Macquarie has been divided into five groups in its non-
hierarchical organizational structure, which are 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 who are contributing in managing the “organization as a
whole” (Macquarie 2017). These groups make their contribution on improving the relationship
between the client and Macquarie. Organizational structure of Macquarie can be expressed by
the following chart:

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Figure 1: Macquarie’s Organizational Structure
(Source: Macquarie 2017)
Operational Problems
Sessa and London (2015) have argued on this topic that “groups strive to place
individuals in charge who are competent and committed to the goals of the group”. There are
possibilities of different operational problems that might occur in an organization which can
moderate the efficiency and increase human errors in an organization. This can be listed as:
motivation by group member, type of the task that members have to accomplish, proper selection
of the leader, corrupting effect of the power, intra-group coordination, technology problems, and
proper training to the employees. All tasks need to be completed in routine within the
organization but it should be well predictable and simple for the leaders, motivating the other
employees. This led to the possibility of selection of improper leader, which can lead to human
errors and diminish the efficiency of the organization performance (Clegg 2015). The matters
that need more concern for an organization are commitment of the group towards the goal, style

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of the leadership, and decision making both by the management and the individuals involved in
the organizational operation. Bies et al. (2016) Proposed that corrupting effect of the power can
be a demerit in order to achieve the goal of the organization in which they argues that “power
tips the balance of activation between the inhibition systems and behavior approach and the
behavioral systems associated with respect to the awards and threats”. “Whether providing
individual with high rank uniformly makes them more selfless”, means how a leader can misuse
the power given to him and manipulate other employees (Allison and Goethals 2013).
Most Likely System acquisition method
ERP
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) has become a trend for the modern and developing
organization (with respect to the technology) due to its beneficial aspect in supporting the
operational activities in the management of the organization (Heizer 2016). Lee, Kao and Yang
(2014) focuses on the data acquisition method for the production systems in globalized and
competitive economy of the organizations in which Data acquisition methods had been classified
to explain the benefits that can be achieved by the implication of ERP into the organizational
pre-existed system. Data acquisition implication in the production system (not automated) of an
organization is more difficult than the automated production systems. (Wamba et al. 2015) also
emphasis on this topic and explained that automated identification system are the data source
(parallel to primary source of data) or the control systems of the respective organization. Various
types of automatic identification systems which playing a vital role in an organization can help in
gaining access to the data acquisition that is not collected within the elements of Control System
and Industrial Automation (Sardroud 2015).

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Customer Submits PO Enter Orders
Contact
Agents
Review Order
Standard terms
Changes acceptable
Agent
Approves
Order Attorney
Marks it OK
Pick Order Log
shipment
Agent
Requests
Approval
Return to
Agent
Order is shippedOrder is not shippedRep is notified
Agent request
Approval
CustomersSales Contracts Legal Fulfillment
STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS MACQUARIE
Flow Chart of the Sales Procedures
Figure 1: Flowchart of sales procedure
(Source: created by author)

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Possible Frauds
Although, ERP is innovative, efficient and effective management system, but it could
lead to certain frauds which can hamper the reputation and performance of the organization for
personal use. According to Islam et al. (2012) following are the scenarios which are the frauds
that may occur in the organization by the implication of ERP into the system:
Firstly, False Invoice Payment: Any user performing two activities among invoices
creation, approval and payment may lead to fraud in the organization. Secondly,
Misappropriation: If a user do both purchase approval and purchase order can also fraud the
organization by manipulating the data. Thirdly, Non-purchase Payment If a same user do both or
any one of the activities among purchase good or good received can also make fraudulent
activities in the organization. Another scenario is that Anonymous Vendor Payment: A user
taking care of both creating (modifying vendor master card), and creating invoices to that vendor
can also make fraudulent activities (Islam et al. 2012). Last scenario stated by the authors is
Anonymous Customer Payment: create or modifying records of the customers and granting
credit to that customer by a single user can also lead to fraud cases in Macquarie.
Part 2
Development and Adoption of the accounting Software Packages
There are various factors and beneficial aspects of Accounting Software Packages for the
organization, which led to the increase in demand for the adoption of these packages for the
operational activities of the organization. The factors that can be responsible for the adoption of
Accounting Software Packages cab be subdivided in four groups, which are: the characteristic of
the business environment, characteristics of the organization, characteristic of the management,

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and characteristics of the technological innovation (Kanellu and Spathis 2013). Information
Technology is the most popular sector nowadays, which are attracting the attention of various
researchers to research on IT and IT related innovations. Many of the researches exposed various
motivational factors for the adoption of Accounting Software Packages system into the
organizational system. These packages can promote an organization to do several calculations in
milliseconds with complete accuracy and also provide Cloud storage services, which every
organization needs nowadays for its daily operation.
Current Market size
Accountants are exceptionally placed in the organization to provide accounting software
application in manner to support the transactional process between the clients and organization.
Accounting Software Packages application in the organization helps an accountant in managing
all the transactional activities more efficiently and effectively by making no efforts. Considering
this fact (Kordecki, Gregoy and Bullen 2014) proposed their recommendation of using CAS
adoption for the development of accounting system in SMEs business activities. They also stated
that CAS adoption can influence the accounting firms to be more precise in their operational
activities; besides this the organizations can also contribute in achieving latest and innovative
computerized accounting implementation. Accounting Software Packages can help the managers
in knowing the extra-ordinary capabilities of the accountants that could be achieved by this
innovative implementation. Adding more to the topic (Kordecki, Gregoy and Bullen 2014) stated
that “until a problem does not arise, owner-manager will not discuss with accountants”.
Targeting the market MYOB accounting software is the trending software that is being spreading
among all business including SMEs and big industries in Australia covering all the sectors that
could use its application. These sectors include banking, small business, factories, real estate and

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many more. Commonwealth Bank is also using the services offered by the Accounting Software
Packages.
Competitive Advantages
There are many competitive advantages of the application of Accounting Software
Packages in an organization. This could help in achieving the goals towards the competitive
market by increasing the production and providing accurate calculation in minimum time.
Greater input speed: Feeding data into the database is much easier and fast then doing on
paper, which saves much time and the individuals can concentrate on achieving their goals by
another means (Ruivo, Oliveira and Neto 2014).
Anytime, anywhere access: Accounting software packages provide users access to the
operational data that are being conducted on the applications that are provided by this service
package. This could help an employee to work at any place, even while travelling or on back
office operations.
Greater efficiency: This provides accurate estimation and calculation of all the
transactional processes between the contractors, clients, and partners.
Cost reduction: It is highly cost effective and no extra payment is made on the
maintenance as the service is provided and operated online. It can be said that it is a one-time
investment for the maintenance (Das and Dayal 2016).

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Challenges Encountered by Users
Security is one of the major concerns of Accounting Software Package implementation
into the system. Based on the survey made by Stavseth (2015) 46% of the software advisors
stated about security concern on this implication of Accounting Software Packages in the new or
pre-existing system of the organization. Emphasizing on this topic recent data breaches could be
the best example for this situation. Accounting Software Packages are not novice-friendly, which
means proper training is needed for the employees in order to achieve advantage of all the
services that are being offered by the service provider (Taylor 2017). Many organizations are
addictive to the traditional methods of accounting.
Conclusion
The above report concludes that an organization can enhanced its performance by the
implication of these new technologies into the system of the organization whether it is a small or
SME or big enterprises. These services and technologies can help an organization an option to
work with complete efficiency and accurate, which can also be helpful in decision making for the
organization about future steps. MYOB is giving great competition to the organization providing
same services and escalating the competition by providing new and innovative services. Cloud
computing will be the all time best service for the organization in order o tackle the competitive
market by enhancing the performance.
Recommendations
MYOB can be recommended as the perfect Accounting Software Packages for the
organization in order to do all the operational activities more efficiently and enhance the
performance by achieving the goals and objectives. SaaS provides MYOB service.

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References:
Allison, S.T. and Goethals, G.R., 2013. Heroic leadership: An influence taxonomy of 100
exceptional individuals. Routledge.
Bies, R.J., Barclay, L.J., Tripp, T.M. and Aquino, K., 2016. A systems perspective on
forgiveness in organizations. Academy of Management Annals, 10(1), pp.245-318.
Clegg, S.R., Kornberger, M. and Pitsis, T., 2015. Managing and organizations: An introduction
to theory and practice. Sage.
Das, S. and Dayal, M., 2016. Exploring determinants of cloud-based enterprise resource planning
(ERP) selection and adoption: A qualitative study in the Indian education sector. Journal
of Information Technology Case and Application Research, 18(1), pp.11-36.
Heizer, J., 2016. Operations Management, 11/e. Pearson Education India.
Islam, A., Corney, M., Mohay, G., Clark, A., Bracher, S., Raub, T. and Flegel, U., 2012. Fraud
detection in ERP systems using scenario matching. Security and Privacy–Silver Linings
in the Cloud, pp.112-123.
Jebreen, I., 2014. Packaged software implementation requirements engineering by small
software enterprises: an ethnographic study (Doctoral dissertation, Auckland University
of Technology).
Kanellou, A. and Spathis, C., 2013. Accounting benefits and satisfaction in an ERP environment.
International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 14(3), pp.209-234.

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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.
Lee, J., Kao, H.A. and Yang, S., 2014. Service innovation and smart analytics for industry 4.0
and big data environment. Procedia Cirp, 16, pp.3-8.
Ruivo, P., Oliveira, T. and Neto, M., 2014. Examine ERP post-implementation stages of use and
value: Empirical evidence from Portuguese SMEs. International Journal of Accounting
Information Systems, 15(2), pp.166-184.
Sardroud, J.M., 2015. Perceptions of automated data collection technology use in the
construction industry. Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, 21(1), pp.54-66.
Sessa, V.I. and London, M., 2015. Continuous learning in organizations: Individual, group, and
organizational perspectives. Psychology Press.
Stavseth, D., 2015. Effects of cyber attacks on the United States financial sector (Doctoral
dissertation, Utica College).
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Wamba, S.F., Akter, S., Edwards, A., Chopin, G. and Gnanzou, D., 2015. How ‘big data’can
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study. International Journal of Production Economics, 165, pp.234-246.