Volume 13, 2013

 

Accounting Information Systems in an ERP Environment and Tunisian Firm Performance Hazar Daoud and Mohamed Triki Published February 2013
ERP system adoption has largely marked the evolution of accounting information systems (AISs). Modern AISs have great potential to influence business performance. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of the accounting information system in an ERP environment on firm performance. We investigate the direct effects of top management involvement and external expertise on the AIS. We also examine the interaction effect of accounting staff competency with the AIS and test its impact on firm performance improvement. We conduct an empirical study of 102 Tunisian firms adopting ERP systems. We use the partial least square (PLS) approach for hypothesis testing. The results indicate that top management involvement and external expertise have an impact on the AIS. Furthermore, they show that the accounting techniques used after ERP system adoption influence firm performance. The interaction effect of accounting staff competency with the AIS has a positive impact on firm performance improvement.
The Predictive Audit Framework Siripan Kuenkaikaew and Miklos A. Vasarhelyi Published April 2013
Assurance is an essential part of the business process of the modern enterprise. Auditing is a widely used assurance method made mandatory for public companies since 1934. The traditional (retroactive) audit provides after-the-fact audit reports, and is of limited value in the ever changing modern business environment because it is slow and backwards looking. Contemporary auditing and monitoring technologies could shorten the audit and assurance time frame. This paper proposes the predictive audit, a forward looking contemporary audit that will bring the assurance processes, financial and non-financial, closer to the corresponding events. Rather than merely looking backward to historical data and past errors or anomalies, a predictive audit will identify possible exceptions proactively by comparing each transaction to a normative model before that transaction is executed. The paper also discusses the possibility of performing a predictive audit in a preventive manner – a preventive audit where transactions are blocked prior to execution.
Digitizing Financial Reports – Issues and Insights: A Viewpoint Charles Hoffman and María Mora Rodríguez Published June 2013
The era of digital financial reporting has arrived. However, many questions persist relating to how digital financial reporting will actually work and what is necessary to make it work appropriately. Technologies such as XBRL must be well understood in order to harness their power. This paper is intended to provide a thought-provoking summary of the moving pieces that must be considered by accountants and other business professionals when evaluating how digital financial reporting will be best employed for financial reporting. The paper is intended to help these business professionals understand the issues related to digitizing financial reports and maximize the potential contribution the accounting profession can make to the achievement of successful and appropriate digital financial reporting. The end result will be well-thought-out digital financial reporting. Any expression of digital financial reports must be in a form that business people understand because they are the ones who create these reports and verify that they are a sensible, logical, faithful, true and fair representation of the reporting entity’s financial information. The XBRL taxonomies have been the most serious effort thus far to formalize the business rules in XBRL implementations. The XBRL technical syntax interoperability is very good, but the semantics is still a challenge. To face this, effective communication between accounting professionals and IT professionals is key.
Cloud Computing: How does it differ from IT outsourcing and what are the implications for practice and research? Ogan M. Yigitbasioglu, Kim Mackenzie and Rouhshi Low Published August 2013
The purpose of this paper is to provide an evolutionary perspective of cloud computing (CC) by integrating two previously disparate literatures: CC and information technology outsourcing (ITO). We review the literature and develop a framework that highlights the demand for the CC service, benefits, risks, as well as risk mitigation strategies that are likely to influence the success of the service. CC success in organisations and as a technology overall is a function of (i) the outsourcing decision and supplier selection, (ii) contractual and relational governance, and (iii) industry standards and legal framework. Whereas CC clients have little control over standards and/or the legal framework, they are able to influence other factors to maximize the benefits while limiting the risks. This paper provides guidelines for (potential) cloud computing users with respect to the outsourcing decision, vendor selection, service-level-agreements, and other issues that need to be addressed when opting for CC services. We contribute to the literature by providing an evolutionary and holistic view of CC that draws on the extensive literature and theory of ITO. We conclude the paper with a number of research paths that future researchers can follow to advance the knowledge in this field.
A Management Model for Integrating SOA and XBRL José Rogério Poggio Moreira and Paulo Caetano da Silva Published December 2013
The alignment and adaptation of business processes with the organization's strategies require high efforts affecting several businesses. This is caused due to the low flexibility of information systems to changes in business requirements. Another problem encountered in organizations is the diversity of data formats that are related to financial information, since these are stored in heterogeneous computer systems. An adaptive and structured IT environment can influence in improving the flexibility and adaptability of business processes, including information systems. Based on this context and with a view to solve these problems, we propose in this paper a model of SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture) deployment and integration with XBRL. It is expected to obtain contributions of this work as the ease of adaptation of information systems to business changes and improvements in the quality and reliability of financial reporting issue.