Reference no: EM132393213

Part A - Case Studies

Case Study 1 -

Snuuze is a furniture company which was established 20 years ago as a single store operating in Sydney. It now has outlets in all states of Australia.

Sales have increased steadily at 30% over the last 2 years. The original sales and receivables system has been unable to keep pace with high volume of sales invoices and increased customer accounts. This has led to slow processing. Snuuze realises its inefficiencies and can foresee that customers will turn to other efficient competitors if they do not take some corrective action.

Snuuze has a range of different systems which they use currently to support its operations. This in turn leads the data captured by these different systems to be held in a number of different databases. Snuuze uses various software to transfer the date between the systems as there is no direct system integration between these systems. For instance, system A is used in the warehouse to record inventory arrival, system B is used in the purchasing department and a System C is used for customer product matching. A special software is used to transfer date between system A and C and so on. Snuuze uses in-house IT specialists as well as external IT help providers to transfer and maintain these various systems. Whiles these systems are not off the shelf products they do let Snuuze to do transactions online utilising e-commerce services with suppliers and customers.

a) You are required to identify any two control weaknesses in the system, explain the problems these may be causing relating to the revenue cycle

b) Recommend 2 ways in which Snuuze can make their systems more efficient.

Case Study 2 -

Insofo Realty Ltd is contemplating whether to develop a new accounting system or make modifications to its existing in house accounting information system to accommodate for an increase in sales and expansion of operations into new territories. It is currently experiencing high levels of sales due to major legislative changes in the real estate industry which have led to government subsidies being available to its customers for the next five years.

a) You have been chosen as a member of the development team because of your strong accounting and finance background. You are to conduct a detailed feasibility study for Insofo Ltd and describe the role played by the feasibility study in the above scenario. Please list and describe the structure and content of the feasibility study conducted. You are to clearly state all assumptions which you make in the above scenario.

b) The initial cost outlay of the new accounting system installation is $ 1.5 million. It will give Insofo Realty a saving of $0.5 million each year over 5 years (after tax plus depreciation tax savings). Infsofo's required rate of return is 10%. Determine the economic feasibility of the new system using both the payback period and the NPV (Net present value). Clearly show all workings of values/ cash flows in a table format.

Case Study 3 -

Leo's Basics has successfully launched a new financial system but are now hesitant in conducting a post implementation review due to time and cost constraints.

As Leo's accountant, you are to advise Leo's management of the benefits/ reasons for a post implementation review. You are also required to list and describe (with examples) the factors that a post implementation review considers.

Case Study 4 -

Your company is currently using Xero as their accounting information system. The company's Managing director has asked you the accountant to evaluate moving to NetSuite- an all-rounder ERP (Enterprise resource planning system). You have to conduct some research on this product and recommend whether the company should make the move or not.

Some factors to consider in evaluating the new system would be as following:

Legislative requirements like reporting and auditing requirements

Accounting and bookkeeping policies relevant for financial control

Stakeholders' needs analysis

Financial and budgeting needs of the company

Relevant security, fraud and internal control mechanisms

Cost benefit analysis

Conversion issues/ legacy systems

Students are encouraged to analyse other factors in addition to the above as well. You are to respond in the form of an evaluative essay of approximately 500+/- words.

Case Study 5 -

During the Physical design phase of the SDLC- System development lifecycle for the new purchasing system for Tot's Bags, one of the system considerations was the hardware selection criteria which had to be reviewed. The consideration was whether to use system terminals or hand held bar code readers.

a) What is involved in the physical design stage of the SDLC? Describe the system activities involved in this stage.

b) What factors would you consider in the selection of hardware for the system

Part B - Practical Exercises

Question 1 - Read the article Boom in cloud services: there's a dark side for business and combine their understanding of the article and the course learnings on cloud computing to answer the following questions:

1. What is cloud computing and what are the benefits of moving your business to the cloud?

2. What the drawbacks are as discussed in the article?

Attachment:- Assignment File.rar