Background

You are working as a junior Business Analyst in a Big Four Accounting and Management Consulting firm in Australia. Recently, you are assigned to work with one client who owns and operates medium sized fashion stores across all states in Australia with the head office in Melbourne. In addition, this client also has a busy online fashion boutique business being operated by staff members in the head office. Currently, each store has its own accounting software and monthly management reports are manually prepared and submitted to the head office via email. As to the limitations of its’ current traditional accounting system, the client believes that an investment in cloud-based accounting software is needed to support the growth of the business.

Required

You are required to prepare a report to evaluate and recommend a cloud-based accounting software for the above client. The report should include the following components:

1. Background

• Briefly describe the basic business activities involved in the revenue and expenditure cycles of the above client. (Hint: Observe the operations of a typical fashion store which you know)

• Identify the major internal control weaknesses in these business activities.

• Discuss the possible risks associated with each of the identified control weaknesses.

2. System Requirements

• Outline the software features/ functionalities that your client should consider supporting its business activities.

3. Software Selection

• Visit the websites of at least two (2) accounting software package vendors (e.g. SAP, MYOB, Xero, etc.) and provide a brief description of each vendor and its products.

• Compare and contrast the features/functionalities of two cloud-based accounting software packages offered by accounting software package vendors.

• Identify the most suitable vendor and accounting software package for your client and explain why it is the best option.