General Ledger and Reporting System

Instructor Outline

CHAPTER 14

GENERAL LEDGER AND REPORTING SYSTEM

As a result of your study of this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Describe the information processing operations required to update the general ledger and to produce other reports for internal and external users.

2. Understand the implications of new IT developments, such as XBRL, for internal and external reporting.

3. Identify the major threats in general ledger and reporting activities, and evaluate the adequacy of various control procedures for dealing with them.

4. Discuss and design a balanced scorecard for an organization.

5. Explain the relationship between online transaction processing systems and data warehouses used to support business intelligence.

6. Design graphs that accurately portray the data in a manner that supports decision making.

This chapter discusses the information processing operations involved in updating the general ledger and preparing reports that summarize the results of an organization’s activities. Figure 14-1 on page 530 provides a context diagram of the general ledger and reporting system.

One of the primary functions of the general ledger and reporting system is to collect and organize data from the following sources:

▪ Each of the accounting cycle subsystems described in chapters 10 through 13 provides information about regular transactions.

▪ The treasurer provides information about financing and investing activities, such as the issuance or retirement of debt and equity instruments and the purchase or sale of investment securities

▪ The budget department provides budget numbers.

▪ The controller provides adjusting entries.

The general ledger and reporting system must be designed to produce regular periodic reports and to support real-time inquiry needs.

General Ledger and Reporting System Activities

Figure 14-2 on page 531 is a level 0 data flow diagram depicting the four...