Accounting Information Systems

Assume you are the owner of a small CPA practice in a major metropolitan area. You
have desires to expand the practice to recommend AIS products to your customers.
You have found your first new client who is interested in moving to a new AIS. The
client, uTopia Homeowner Association (UHA) is growing homeowners’ association
(HOA) consisting of 1,500 homeowners. They are in the process of acquiring with four
other homeowner associations within the next 120 days. This acquisition will increase
their number of homeowners to 2,500. uTopia is currently using an accounting
information system that will no longer be supported by the vendor; therefore, they must
find a new system. Currently two HOAs are using either Sage or QuickBooks, while the
others are using Microsoft Excel to perform its accounting functions. Per this, uTopia
wants to move to a single system. They have no preference regarding Sage or
QuickBooks, but they will defer to your judgement for the best option.
As the owner of the CPA firm, you are excited by this opportunity because it is a way to
expand your practice. As the result of this opportunity, you have asked your lead CPA to
develop a proposal for uTopia. You have given your resources four weeks to complete
this assignment. Listed below are the core requirements of the new AIS for uTopia (after
their acquisition):
• Billing (Invoicing): Each month, the system will generate an itemized bill for
each homeowner. The fees will vary from $100 to $200 per month, based upon
the location of each home, and the type of home (townhouse or single-family
homes). Late fees are 20 percent per month of the unpaid balance. The bills are
mailed the 25th of each month and payment is due by the 10th of the following
month.
• Collections (Receipts): Payments can be made in person (at the HOA main
office); via mail (via a PO Box); or electronically. Payments will be deposited to
the client’s account.
• Payments (Checks): It is expected that the system will generate a minimum of
300 / payments each month. These payments will cover a variety of services,
such as expenses for office supplies; rent; utilities; landscaping; and trash/snow
removal. The firm will rely on electronic payments
• Payroll (Payroll): It is expecting that the client will have roughly 40 full-time
employees and 60 part-time employees. Employees will be paid on a bi-weekly
basis. Payment will be made from the client’s payroll checking account, which is
separate from the client’s primary account.
Required: Using the methodology developed in this course, document and illustrate the
system from an automated function viewpoint. As part of your documentation, you will
need to identify the specific system requirements in the areas of inputs, outputs, and
controls for each of the service areas.

Paper Layout
• Section I – Introduction: In this section, you will provide narrative regarding the
current business problem and how automation may or may not address the problem
(2 pages double-spaced or 1 page single-spaced).
• Section II – System Requirements: In this section, you will document the specific
requirements (input, output, & control) as required for each of the respective
functions (billing, collections, payments, & payroll). In order to complete this, you will
need to identify the following:
• A general description of the process and the necessary data you would
need to collect in order to process transactions for the function in question
(INPUTS).
• A description of the information, including data that will need to generate
when processing transactions (OUTPUTS).
• A listing of key controls that needs to be implemented to support & secure
the function (CONTROLS).
This will be your longest section. You can expect to spend at least 2 – 3 pages for each
system requirement (e.g., billing, collections). Do not tread lightly in this area.
• Section III – Outsourcing Considerations: In this section, you will identify
functions that may be prime candidates for outsourcing. For those functions that are
selected for outsourcing, you will need to explain why they are; the possible benefits;
and potential concerns. (2 pages double-spaced or 1 page single-spaced).
• Section IV – System Selection: In this section, you will recommend a PC-based
accounting system to support your new system. In developing your
recommendation, you should discuss the system’s relative strengths & weaknesses,
and why you are recommending it. Also, you will recommend a migration plan
(parallel, phase, etc.) for implementing the solution.
This will be your second longest section. You can expect to exceed 2 pages doublespaced or 1 page single-spaced. Information from Assignment #2 will be helpful to you
as you complete this section.
• Part V (Impact of Technology): Discuss how advances in technology, such as
robotic processing automation (RPA), block chain, artificial intelligence (AI), or data
analytics may be used in conjunction with your recommended AIS. Be sure that
you clearly identify the technologies being recommended (2 pages double-spaced
or 1 page single-spaced).
• Section VI –Challenges to Automation: In this section, you will identify and
discuss the challenges to migrate to a new automated system (2 pages doublespaced or 1 page single-spaced).
Paper Guidelines
• Page Length: Your response will exceed our normal eight pages (doublespaced) or four pages (single-spaced) length as we used for Assignment #1 – #4.
Note that cover page, reference page, and appendix, if provided are excluded
from the page count.
• References: You will need to include at least eight literary references and at
least four in-text citations to support your paper. These references must be
related directly to the topics covered in the paper. References & citations must
be properly formatted as noted below.
• Headings: You will need to use headings (short, brief, and centered) to separate
each area of your paper. Your headings should have an appropriate title such as
Need for Outsourcing instead of Part III
• Margins & Font Sizes: Use standard margins (minimum .5″; maximum 1.5″) and
standard font size (minimum 10 point; maximum 12 point) in your paper.
• Writing Style: APA is the preferred writing style, but you can choose any
appropriate writing style (e.g. MLA), except that all references are to be formatted
via APA. Please consult the UMUC Effective Writing Center
(http://www.umuc.edu/writingcenter/index.cfm) for assistance regarding the
choice of styles and formatting of references via APA.