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Organisational structure and system acquisition method are two very important and integral aspects with organisations in particular the multinational organisations. This is so because it provides those organisations an invisible control on their entire important operation such as sales maintenance and accounting works. Sales maintenance and accounting works are the two most important domains of all the operational domains in a multinational organisation. Companies even few multinational companies as well suffer in monitoring the sales efficiently. However, it is solvable with the help of software such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). On a same note, accounting is another very critical and challenging task, which relies heavily on the workforce and on an accounting software system on which such workforce takes care of the entire accounting related tasks. In such context, it is highly recommended that multinational companies in particular select the best feasible accounting software to give them better chances in market competition (Laudon and Laudon 2016). The main purpose of this assignment is to analyse the best accounting software packages that could add values to the exiting organisational structure of PwC in Australia.
The existing organisational structure of PwC shows that tax management & accounting services are taken care by the group of executives. Above them, there exist the territory level senior partners. There is a gap in between the executive committee and the territory senior partners. The gap can be filled with an appropriate inclusion of managerial executives in the accounting department. They would be responsible for taking care of works of accounting executives. Additionally, they would also do proof reading to avoid any error in the operation. However, this is more advisable to acquire a system information method, which would add values to the existing organisational structure. Specifically, accounting software would fulfil the requirement with its multitasking capabilities.
The existing organisational structure shows a big communication gap in between the accountant executives and the senior partner of territory level. The communication gap can be fatal as this provides space for errors to accommodate in. One of the most common errors is the quality of reports that contains but is not limited to such as errors in report and late delivery of report. A faulty report would therefore produce a conflicting report in relation to the inventories. Such accounting works would not be able to identify the actual sales and so the fraudulent works if there is any. Accounting software is also required to provide a systematic approach in managing the inventories. Additionally, taxation, payroll and auditing are another set of important tasks, which is never possible without any accounting software. Faultiness in such tasks may even hamper the reputation of the firm. Errors in payroll may attract employee dissatisfaction. Auditing is very important as it helps in tries to tally the accounting details with the manual sales works. It helps to find any error if there is any. It is very important to conduct auditing, as this would save firms from fraudulent practices (Kanellou and Spathis 2013).
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a complete package, which offers solution on multitasks such as human resource, e-commerce, customer service, sales, inventory management, finance etc. All of these factors are highly important for a real business. PwC should rely on the use of ERP. This would provide them solution to fight against the errors that might occur with the existing organisational structure of the company. in the existing organisational structure of the company, the communication gap was highly observed. It is advisable for the company to use the ERP system if it does not use the same. This would provide them automated accounting works following the regulatory compliance as well. This would not end up the requirement of accountants but it would rather automate much of the tasks to get the most accurate results (Vakalfotis, Ballantine and Wall 2013). An accurate result in accounting works is of utmost importance, the effect of which would also be visible on employee’s satisfaction and firm’s reputation.
The designed sales structure instructs that the company would first quote for the project. After which it would wait for the results on the allocation of the project. Once it gets the project, the first thing would be to stock the details in the system. The next thing would be to prepare the work and deliver it to the client on receiving the payment. Company delivers the service and client receives it. After delivering the service, company would be required to deliver the service, which is known as after sales service.
Following are the list of control problems that can happen with the use of ERP system (Purohit, Jaiswal and Pandey 2012):
The accessibility of the developers with the “soft coded” settings in the system can attract some fraudulent activities. It is a serious issue, which should be scrutinised. However, it can only be scrutinised if the vendors implement necessary restrictions in the ERP system.
Following are the different ways, which would be required to implement the ERP system in PwC Company:
The implementation project would require the involvement of a team, which would take care of the implementation process. The implementation process is not just about installing the system; this would rather involve a thorough strategy making on the available company’s information. Then the team would require deciding first on the business practice, which would be taken under care. In this context, accounting related works would be taken into account.
This would include the reviewing of the implemented software capabilities. This would help in developing standard procedures for the operation. This may include but are not limited to such as the follows:
This would include the collection of new data. An expert is needed to efficiently handle the input of necessary data in the system. The input data is then required to be checked to check its accuracy. Unnecessary data should be cleaned up after checking the entire data carefully.
The project team should first check the database whether the uploaded data is accurately done. This would include providing the input and then checking the output to assure its accuracy. Once the test has been done, it is now ready to deliver the output. However, the final testing would be done under the supervision of a highly experienced project manager.
Go live would take place after making a final assessment on some checklist such as the follows:
The current market shares of the PwC Company are approximately around $2b. The key factors behind such a strong growth are non-financial metrics. Their core services such as Assurance and Tax continue to benefit the company. It has again preceded Deloitte in terms of market shares (Peterson 2017).
There is a very tough competition in the market in between the four marketing giants PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY. According to some experts, this is indeed tougher to identify the differences among the mentioned firms. However, a close analysis of all the four giants would definitely throw out some differences in numerous aspects. KPMG is at best to support the community at a larger platform whereas EY values the diversity and has a global vision. PwC offers opportunities where individual can grow to its fullest by exhibiting sheer values to work with the help of quality work. Deloitte believes in delivering the performance by using an in-depth operational strategy and multidisciplinary nature (Peterson 2017). Following are the list of competitive advantages, which these four companies have (Peterson 2017):
The above comparison clearly that it is hard to select a single company for job aspirants; however, there are some areas that need improvement in PwC to prove its status even more profound. Such areas are providing ample space to career growth, bringing diversity at the workplace, flexible working hours and appropriate payment of wages. Improvement in these areas means that the company would now emphasise more on such factors to gain maximum benefits.
There are few challenges, which different firms across the globe face with the ERP system. Many organisations do not make prior planning for evaluating the organisational output. This creates confusion because they do not find ways to lead for. They do not analyse the existing benefits, which is why they are not able to analyse the difference post implementation of ERP system. The unavailability of right stakeholders is another problem that causes the ERP to suffer. Implementation of ERP is a big project. This should be carried out in the supervision of experts or those who are experienced in working with the ERP. In absence of such stakeholders, the ERP implementation of the system would not benefit the organisation. Understanding the accurate data is imperative to yield success from ERP. Organisations fail to program it appropriately, which is why they suffer in deriving the desired result.
The first recommendation is to conduct an internal audit of all the policies and processes prior to implementing the ERP. Additionally, organisation should also prepare a team, which would be responsible for evaluating the performance of ERP. If it does not have such resources then it should hire third party consultant externally. Those third parties would be experienced in implementing the ERP system in the same industry.
The second recommendation is for forming a team of such stakeholders who are experienced in working with ERP system. This would help in getting sufficient support from such stakeholders. In such way, the monitoring of the ERP system would be rightly justified.
The third recommendation is for placing everything at its place. Before the implementation, it should be planned carefully that what services are needed to be monitored with the use of ERP. Additionally, the system should be programmed accordingly. Placing right data at right place and knowing the ways to extract that information correctly are keys to success with the ERP.
In this assignment, the real world scenario is not considered; it was rather assumed. The implementation of ERP system is assumed to understand the entire circumstances surrounding its implementation and the post implementation. The assumption was made that PwC Company requires a switching from the existing accounting software to ERP. PwC is one of the leading accounting firms both globally and in Australia also. However, the company is behind to its other competitors such as Deloitte, KPMG and EY in respect to some important aspects, which also includes the advisory & consulting works. The implementation of ERP is not suggested to solve this issue; it was rather suggested to enhance its capability in accounting terms. The company is still ahead of all the leading companies in its sector; however, Deloitte in particular has become a threat for the company. It is necessary for PwC that it maintains high standard service both for its employees and the customers. To serve that purpose the implementation of ERP is utterly needed. ERP has some limitations as well, which have potentials in them to hamper the expected success from it. One of the deadliest risk is the access of software developers with the “soft coded” region of configuration settings. They can change in the settings unethically at their own will, which might be highly dreadful for the company. PwC in should make a team of experts who would take care of the software post implementation. Additionally, they should also hire third party experts who can take care of the implementation process in order to program it according to the company’s needs.
Kanellou, A. and Spathis, C., 2013. Accounting benefits and satisfaction in an ERP environment. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 14(3), pp.209-234.
Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., 2016. Management information system. Pearson Education India.
Parker, R.H. ed., 2013. Accounting in Australia (RLE Accounting): Historical Essays (Vol. 58). Routledge.
Peterson, J., 2017. Count Down: The Past, Present and Uncertain Future of the Big Four Accounting Firms. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Purohit, G.N., Jaiswal, M.P. and Pandey, M., 2012. Challenges involved in implementation of ERP on demand solution: Cloud computing. International Journal of Computer Science Issues, 9(4), pp.481-489.
Vakalfotis, N., Ballantine, J. and Wall, A.P., 2013. A literature review on the impact of Enterprise Systems on management accounting.
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