Questions and Answers of Introduction To Accounting Information Systems

Define the term comparative advantage and explain its relationship to wealth maximisation.
‘Information is the most valuable resource a company can possess.’ Discuss.
‘The purpose of a corporate accounting information system is to provide information, and support decision making.’ Discuss.
What role does accounting information play in the regulation of corporate activity?
Explain what is meant by the functional context of accounting information systems, and why the understanding of such context is important for accounting information systems managers.
What are the main influences (internal and external) on accounting information systems?
Who are the main users of accounting information systems?
Briefly explain the term ‘systems thinking’.
Distinguish between a soft system and a hard system.
What is sub-optimality?
What is the transformation process, and why is knowledge of organisational boundaries important?
Why are systems boundaries so important?
What are the key features of a closed system and an open system?
If a sales system has 14 subsystems, how many possible connections could there be?
Distinguish between a closed system and an open system.
Why is control necessary?
What is meant by the term ‘trust in systems’?
What are the basic elements of a control cycle?
What is a feedback loop and what are the key components of a feedback loop?
What is a feedforward loop?
What are the key components of a feedforward loop?
Distinguish between negative feedback and positive feedback.
Why is the law of requisite variety important in control systems?
Briefly explain the contribution that ARPAnet made to the development of the internet, and distinguish between the internet and the World Wide Web.
Define the term RFC, and explain the role of RFCs in developing internet standards.
Define and explain what is meant by the term file sharing.
Define and explain two of the following internet services/facilities:(a) E-mail,(b) File sharing,(c) Media streaming,(d) VoIP (Voice over IP),(e) Newsgroups.
Define and briefly explain the role of the Internet Society (ISOC).
Identify and describe the main categories of electronic funds transfer (EFT).
Briefly explain the difference between card-based and non-card-based EPOS EFT.
What is iXBRL?
In relation to soft-type networks, briefly explain the difference between a bureaucracy and an adhocracy.
In relation to hard-type networks, define the term network topology and distinguish between two types of topologies.
Explain the advantages and disadvantages of a peer-to-peer network.
Describe the advantages and disadvantages of a client–server network.
Briefly explain why the internet is often referred to as a 3-tier network.
Distinguish between the 7-layer reference model known as the OSI reference model and the 4-layer reference model known as the internet model or the TCP/IP model.
What are the major differences between:(a) An internet,(b) An intranet, and(c) An extranet?
Define and describe the advantages and disadvantages of:(a) A bus topology,(b) A ring topology, and(c) A star topology.
Distinguish between physical data input and non-physical data input.
Describe the main advantages of the data-orientated approach to data storage.
Define data redundancy, and distinguish between direct redundancy and indirect redundancy.
Distinguish between a data flow diagram and an entity-relationship diagram.
What are the main stages involved in constructing a decision table?
In an accounting information systems context, what is the purpose of a coding system/chart of accounts?
Explain the difference between a flat file data model, a hierarchical model, a network data model and a relational data model.
What are the key features of contemporary transaction processing?
Distinguish between transaction processing cycles and transaction processing systems.
What is meant by, and what are the key differences between, each contemporary transaction processing type/sub-type?
What transaction processing systems are normally found within a company’s expenditure cycle?
What transaction processing systems are normally found within a company’s revenue cycle?
Explain the main requirements for the securing of effective control within a transaction processing system.
In relation to the Data Protection Act 1998, define the following terms:(a) Data subject,(b) Data controller, and(c) Data processor.
Describe the eight key principles contained within the Data Protection Act 1998.
Explain what is commonly meant by the term self-service economy.
What are the main factors that contribute to a good website design?
Distinguish between a dot com company, a dot bam company, and a dot bam+ company.
Describe and explain the three main component facilities of a business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce website.
Describe and briefly explain the main stages of a business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce transaction.
Distinguish between identified e-money and anonymous e-money, and briefly explain the main advantages and disadvantages of using e-money.
Distinguish between an active m-commerce service/application and a passive m-commerce service/application.
Briefly describe the Web Accessibility Initiative, and distinguish between WCAG 1.0 and WCAG 2.0.
Briefly explain the precautionary principle, and distinguish between weak form precaution, moderate form precaution, and strong form precaution.
Distinguish between event/activity-based risk and resource/asset-based risk.
What are the three main factors that determine the degree of risk exposure a company may face?
What is the purpose of BS 7799 Part 1 and IOS/IEC 17799?
Define the term fraud and describe/explain the illegal acts normally associated with the term.
Briefly explain the main differences between a virus, a worm, and a Trojan horse.
Distinguish between preventative controls, detective controls, and recovery controls.
What are the main categories of computer crime?
Describe the five interrelated components that comprise the term internal control.
Distinguish between preventative controls and detective controls.
Define the term corrective control and describe four examples of such corrective controls relevant to a computer-based accounting information system.
Define, describe and evaluate the following general controls:(a) Organisational controls,(b) Documentation controls,(c) Access controls, and(d) Asset-management controls.
What are the main purposes of application controls?
What are systems security measures designed to ensure?
Define and explain the key components of a prevention protocol and a recovery protocol.
Briefly explain the role of an auditor and distinguish between the role of an internal auditor and the role of an external auditor.
Define and explain the possible use of a non-CAAT-based audit.
What factors should an auditor consider before using a CAAT?
Define and explain a context (environmental) audit.
Identify and describe five alternative auditing techniques.
Define and distinguish between each of the following terms:(a) Generic audit software,(b) Utility software,(c) Expert audit software.
Briefly explain the main types of controls often used by companies to minimise the risks and problems associated with the use of EDI.
Describe the six main stages of the systems development life cycle.
Distinguish between the following categories of change:(a) Smooth incremental change,(b) Rough incremental change, and(c) Discontinuous change.
Distinguish between the following:(a) Soft minor change,(b) Hard minor change,(c) Soft major change, and(d) Hard major change.
Explain the key phases you would expect to find in the systems analysis stage of the systems development life cycle.
Describe the four main stages of the prototyping approach to systems development.
Distinguish between the following types of resistance:(a) Hostile aggression,(b) Defiant opposition, and(c) Negative projection.
Explain the main factors/issues a company should consider when selecting a hardware system.
Distinguish between a top-down approach and a bottom-up approach to the in-house development of software.