The participants of such recreational activities as hang gliding, soaring, hiking, rock collecting, or skydiving often create local ‘‘birds-of-a-feather’’ (affinity) organizations. Two examples are the Chicago sky divers (www.chicagoskydivers.com) or the soaring club of western Canada (www.canadianrockiessoaring.com). Many of these clubs collect dues from members to pay for club activities as well as the printing and mailing costs of monthly newsletters. Some of them maintain only minimal accounting information on manual pages or, at best, in spreadsheets.
a. What financial information are such clubs likely to collect and maintain?
b. Assuming that the club keeps manual accounting records, would you consider such systems ‘‘accounting information systems?’’ Why or why not?
c. Assume that the club treasurer of one such organization is in charge of all financial matters, including collecting and depositing member dues, paying vendor invoices, and preparing yearly reports. Do you think that assigning only one person to this job is a good idea? Why or why not?
d. What benefits would you guess might come from computerizing some or all of the club’s financial information, even if there are less than 100 members? For example, do you think that such computerization is likely to be cost effective?