Syllabus: Basics of Accounting Information Systems
Chapter 1: Organizations and Information
An organization: is a group of people intentionally cooperating to achieve one or more common goals.
1. Two or more people
2. Focus on one or more common goals
3. Organizations assign formal roles to individuals, guiding each member’s contribution towards
collective goals.
Mission: Raison D’être; the reason for being. Missions are stated in a balanced and inspiring phrase. Is the
organization's main reason for existence. It is the ultimate assignment of the management of the
organization in order to satisfy the owners and/or stakeholders.
Vision: this is the outside-in analysis, on how the organization will work towards its mission in the years
ahead.
Strategic goal: The vision that is translated into objectives linked to business activities and timelines. They
provide direction to activities and provide a framework for evaluation and control of management.
Critical success factors (CSFs): to measure whether strategic goals are achieved on the process level. The
limited number of areas in which results, if they are satisfactory, will ensure successful competitive
performance for the organization.
System: is a set of interdependent elements that together accomplish specific objectives. It does not need
to contain humans. If the entities are microchips and the relationships is electronic connections, it is a
computer. If the entities are departments and information flows within it is called an organization.
Closed systems: have no relationships with the outside world. The output they generate is used as input
(fed back) over and over again. There are hardly any examples of organizations that are closed systems.
Open systems: systems that depend on getting input from and delivering output to outside entities
(suppliers, customers, coworkers, managers, delegates).
Business process (business cycle); an essential chain of interrelated business activities in the organization,
resulting in a specific output that contributes to the organizational goal.
, Primary processes (value cycle): essential processes for delivery of products or services to customers.
Management processes: a specific group of supporting processes. Their purpose is to effectively run and
control all other processes. They act on ‘meta level’ in contributing to the organizational goals.
Primary process level: the highest level of representation.
All business processes together = the value chain.
Every business process contains a cluster of interrelated (chained) activities = Subprocesses.
Input can be tangible (raw materials, products) or intangible (labor, information).
A function: a logical cluster of tasks that can be assigned to an existing or future organizational member or
department.
- Combining different tasks that require a comparable skill set: contribute to efficiency and quality.
- Relating to the same business unit; contribute to transparency.
- Are performed at the same physical location; contributes to efficiency.
- That involves interaction with the same internal or external entities; efficiency and effectiveness.
To conclude: not all tasks have to be assigned to organizational members (humans), but it can also be to
computers (automated routines). 2. Functions are not unique, often many of the same functions are
assigned to different organizational members. 3. Organizational members can have more than one function
at the same time.
Cooperating focuses on common goals: management functions, operational functions, business functions,
and supporting functions have to be linked to each other effectively and efficiently.
Management model: specifies how the organization ensures that it will achieve its strategic goals. (ex.
Product focus or functional focus).
The organizational model and management model are representations of the way functions in an
organization are structured in order to achieve the organizational goals.
Data is output by a sensing device or organ that includes both useful and irrelevant or redundant items and
must be processed to be meaningful.
Information is relevant data. Data that triggers a rational and conscious decision-making process.
Relevance of data should be put on a scale from zero to very high, instead of yes and no.
Information: in an organizational context is data made useful to a certain degree for decision-making in a
specific function or in performing a specific task.
Management cycle/ planning and control cycle: illustrates the purpose of information from the perspective
of managing an organization: three flows of information throughout the organization.
1. Downstream, consists of information to delegated functions on what needs to be done
2. Upstream: consists of information to superiors on what has been done
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