Today’s Global Market
By: Wendy • Essay • 1,133 Words • March 12, 2010 • 1,258 Views
Today’s Global Market
In today's global market the need for efficient and reliable tools is of great
importance. One such tool that has helped man is that of the computer. With advances in
technology occurring everyday, the computer is still at the forefront of today's economic
world. With the versatility to perform many different needs for different users, the
computers future looks pretty bright.
As an accounting major student, the accounting industry is one that is heavily
immersed in computers. The technological advances of the computer have made what
used to be long-drawn tasks into quick, simple calculations. Long gone are the days of
complicated handwritten calculations. One such example of the computers impact on the
accounting industry is that of the "Accounting Information Systems" or AIS area. AIS is
an area of accounting in which some type of framework or program is used to process
financial and non-financial transactions. The AIS area consists of three subsystems: the
transaction processing system, general/ledger reporting system, and the management
reporting system. In the second subsystem of financial reporting, is where traditional
financial statements, such as the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash
flows are generated. This subsystem is where this process has become automated with the
use of computers. Rather than traditionally calculating these financial statements by hand
the personal computer has taken over these responsibilities with a high percentage of
accuracy. Long gone are the days of long drawn out calculations and interpretations.
Tasks that use to take accountants hours to fulfill would now only take mere minutes.
With the elimination of human error a more accurate assessment of a client's financial
status may be interpreted. With less time calculating financial reports a more
productive and efficient business environment is created for the accountant.
An integral part of the AIS framework is data storage. An efficient information
system captures and stores data only once and makes it available to all users who need it.
To meet the private data of users who need it, organizations must find both multiple
collection and storage procedures. In the early days of the AIS field one approach to data
storage was called the flat file model. The flat file model referred to an environment in
which individual data files were not related to other data files. Users in this system owned
their data rather than sharing with each other. Data processing was thus performed on
stand alone applications rather than integrated systems. As one can see this proved
tiresome for users in the AIS field, in which an integrated