Page 18 - Accounting Information Systems

Preface

Welcome to the Seventh Edition

he seventh edition of Accounting Information Systems includes a full range of
new and revised homework assignments and up-to-date content changes, as
T well as several reorganized chapters. All of these changes add up to more stu-
dent and instructor enhancements than ever before. As this preface makes clear, we
have made these changes to keep students and instructors as current as possible on
issues such as business processes, systems development methods, IT governance and
strategy, security, internal controls, and relevant aspects of Sarbanes-Oxley legislation.

Focus and Flexibility in Designing
Your AIS Course

Among accounting courses, accounting information systems (AIS) courses tend to be
the least standardized. Often the objectives, background, and orientation of the instruc-
tor, rather than adherence to a standard body of knowledge, determines the direction
the AIS course takes. Therefore, we have designed this text for maximum flexibility:

• This textbook covers a full range of AIS topics to provide instructors with flexibil-
ity in setting the direction and intensity of their courses.
• At the same time, for those who desire a structured model, the first nine chapters
of the text, along with the chapters on electronic commerce and computer controls,
provide what has proven to be a successful template for developing an AIS
course.
• Earlier editions of this book have been used successfully in introductory,
advanced, and graduate-level AIS courses.
• The topics in this book are presented from the perspective of the managers’
and accountants’ AIS-related responsibilities under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
• Although this book was written primarily to meet the needs of accounting majors
about to enter the modern business world, we have also developed it to be an effec-
tive text for general business and industrial engineering students who seek a
thorough understanding of AIS and internal control issues as part of their
professional education.

Key Features

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
This book employs a conceptual framework to emphasize the professional and legal
responsibility of accountants, auditors, and management for the design, operation, and
control of AIS applications. This responsibility pertains to business events that are nar-
rowly defined as financial transactions. Systems that process nonfinancial transactions
are not subject to the standards of internal control under Sarbanes-Oxley legislation.
Supporting the information needs of all users in a modern organization, however,
requires systems that integrate both accounting and nonaccounting functions. While
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