Accounting Information Systems

Accounting Information Systems

An accounting information system is defined as a system of data such as collection, storage and processing of financial accounting information that is used by the decision makers in a given company or business. Essentially, accounting information systems are computer-based methods for keeping track of accounting activities by means of information technology. The results brought forth by these efforts are then used internally by management and other staff to make decisions, or used by external parties such as interested investors. Accounting systems date back as early as 76,000 years ago when plaques were systematically engraved in South Africa with marks that were used to count and store information. Today, accounting efforts are heavily driven by modern technology, such as prebuilt software packages from countless different vendors like Microsoft and Oracle. The need for connectivity and consolidation is ever-changing, therefore accounting information systems have been merged with systems known as enterprise resource planning. Previously, there were separate systems and application used to manage business functions. Corporations came together and developed different interfaces so that different systems and forms of software could communicate among each other.

Today, accounting information systems follow multitier programs or systems that assist in presenting different applications to users. These presentations dictate how the information shown to users by means of mobile devices, web browsers and/or client applications. These systems are backed by centralized databases that store all of the data. This includes data generated by the business processes such as purchases, inventory, and master data that is referenced when processing the data. Employee and customer account records are configured and kept separate depending on who is viewing the information. Throughout this process, an accounts payable employee enters the...