Accounting software gives control over managing different types of transactions by

recording and processing transactions according to the given rules set by the
management. It eliminate any sort of personal or cheating mistakes.
We will divide this literature in two parts

Part 1: The introduction of Company and its operations

Part 2: Development and adoption of Accounting Software Package

Part 1 The introduction of Mars and its Operations

Mars Company started its operation in Australia in 1954. They started selling its
iconic MARS chocolate and later introduced PAL and WHISKAS in 1965. The first
manufacturing facility was in Wondonga, Victoria. Today MARS have six
manufacturing units across Australia and New Zealand and employ more than 2000
Associates.

Organizational Structure of MARS

The organizational structure of MARS is hierarchical. The organization established
different hierarchies to manage the operations. In second level organization they
have division and sub divisions.
The following hierarchical structure exists in MARS:
Higher Level Management - Chairman of the Board & CEO
Lower Level Management - CFO
Marketing & Customer
People & Organization
Wringley Pacific
Chocolate
Food, Drinks and Multi sales
Pet Care
Wringley Confectionary
Symbioscience
Europe
R&D
Procurement
Legal and Secretary
Corporate Affairs
Sub Level Management In Sub Level management comes the staff under the
above mentioned departments.
Short Comings of this Operations System
There are few short comings in this type of organizational system. Few of them are
as follow:

Departmental Politics
Due to the less interaction between different departments the departmental
politics arises. It hinders the productivity of the organization.
Coordination Problems
It becomes very difficult to have a coordination between different
departments. And it results in loss of overall efficiency of company.
Communicational Problems
Due to lack of regular communication between different departments we
cant measure the growth of the overall company.

Options for System Acquisition

To control all the problem listed above companies look for some system software
which fulfill their needs and also eliminate the organizational problems. For this
purpose the softwares available in market comes in following categories

Commercial Softwares
Custom Softwares
ERPs

Commercial softwares are handy but they have a high cost which small companies
cant buy. Then comes the ERPs. The problem with ERPs is that they need a proper
consultant to develop all the systems for ERP. The development of the software
need to perform with utmost care. It cost us more and also need lot of time to
develop. So what companies do instead is they go for the custom solution
softwares. Custom software fulfil company needs and also they have speed,
automatic production of documents, accuracy and reliability edge over other
softwares.

System flowchart of the sales procedures for the chosen organization (MARS)

Customer Sales Contracts Legal Fulfilment

Customer Rep Logs Contract

Standard Terms? Changes Acceptable?
Submits PO, Enter Agent
Agent Attorney Pick Order
PO Rep is
Order Order
Agentis
Reviews Return to Order is
Approves
Request
Cancel Marks it OK,
Agent Log
notified not Yes
Order shipped
Shipment
NO
Approval
Order Return
YesNO to
 Figure 1: System flowchart of the sales procedures for the chosen organization (MARS)

In the above flow chart you can find out how the sales operation in MARS works. The
customers request the order by placing Purchase Order. This PO is received by the
Sales representative and it is recorded. Then this order move forward to Agent for
the contract review. He review the Standard Terms and conditions. If he agrees with
Terms the order is logged for shipment and order is shipped to customer. In between
if the standard terms were not met Agent reverse order for amendments. Now
attorney review these amendments. If he aggress the order move forward otherwise
Agent cancel the order and representative is notified.

Control Problems of this system and the possibility

In the above mentioned flow system there are many problems like:
 When Sales Rep receives order he didnt verified the customer in the
controlled customer database. It can create the payment amount as the
product can also be shipped to defaulter customers.
There is no double check on the work. We cant allow this in this type of big
shipments. This can result in a big loss to company.
The sales price is not confirmed from cost department. May be the customer
have pending payments or maybe he is eligible for discount offers etc.
There is no cross check on the stock quantity. Whether we can ship the
quantity ordered or we have to produce it. What will be the lead time etc.
There is no mentioning of payments terms. What will be the mode of
payments, what will be the frequency of payments etc.

Part 2 Development and Adoption of the accounting

software packages:
The development of any accounting software is a big job. We need to hire trained
experts for this job. Development of software demands lot of time and care. We
have to study each and every aspect of the system to understand the needs and
wants of the system. After all the study we can devise such a system which can not
only cater the current problems but also flexible for the coming problems. Each and
every department have to get involved in the system development and costs
company their time and frustration in terms of efforts, as they are not used to it.
Even after the successful completion of software it takes time for the system to get
mature. We have to train all the staff how to use this custom system. Data entered
should be cross checked, all the details of the customers have to be entered into the
new system. Another problem with this process is that may be current staff dont
have skills and knowledge to understand the new system. For that reason we need
to hire new staff which will cost company a lot of money.

Market Study:
The current market of system softwares are very big. Many softwares captures the
market of Australia. The big fishes include Xero which own around 65% of market
share. After this is Intuit which have about 20% of market penetration and Sage 50
have 10 % of market share.

Market Leaders and their competitive edge:

The leaders in the market are MYOB, Quick Book, Reckon and Xero. MYOB is the
leader in terms of ERP market. Why MYOB is so likely used in the market? The
answer to this question is that it has MYOB has a very stong community and
network of local users, trusted partners, authorized dealers and approved third
party suppliers. In this way MYOB provides the local solution and customized
softwares which cater the need of specific company.
Gaps and Challenges encountered by the current users, their solutions
and suggestions:
There are various problems associated with the accounting softwares which we
need to understand. We will list few of them and then try to find out the solutions of
them

Problem of converting manual accounting to accounting software:

It happens most of the times that when entering manual data to new
accounting software lot of data is not been able to enter correctly. In that
case we should make sure we double check the data while entering in the
system.
Data handling by old staff:
Sometimes it happens the old staff is not used to the new system and in this
case they cant handle the software. We have to design some training
programs for the staff to get hand on experience on software in test condition
rather making mistakes in real software.
Linking charts
Another problem which mostly arises is the linking of charts. In charts a lot of
data is linked together and when one value is changed all the chart data got
disturbed and it makes all the chart distorted. So the data incorporated in the
system should be checked time to time and keep and eye on the reports
printed.

Conclusion:
The company selected is MARS, Australia. They have started their business in
Australia in 1956. They started small but eventually grows to four production units
in Australia and New Zealand. They have employed over 2000 associates. There
organizational structure is hierarchical. This type of structure create lot of problems
like politics, lack of communication and less interest toward company goals. The
development and acquisition of accounting software must be done with due care.
There should be proper arrangement to enter data into new system. The leaders in
the market of accounting software are MYOB, Quick books and XERO. There are
various types of problems which are encountered by the users and customers of the
accounting software or package. So, it must be used with great care and sufficient
number of controls must be implemented so that if anything is wrong, it must be
identified or traced and then corrected on timely basis.