Accounting Software Implementation Macquarie Group-Free Samples

Question: Discuss About The Software Implementation At Macquarie Group? Answer: Introduction The report is made in the light of Macquarie Group, a reputed company based in Sydney, Australia. The purpose of the report is to focus on the importance of implementation of accounting software packages by small to large-scale businesses for furthering the development of the same. Accounting Software packages help a company of any scale to manage all financial aspects and issues by keeping electronic records of the same and providing solutions related to any accounting issues (Hall 2012). Therefore, it is better to implement software that can help in efficient handling of accounts related matters. About the Company and its Organisational Structure Macquarie Group is a financial institution that provides financial aid to its clients in any manner. It provides its clients with solutions to manage assets, gives guidance related to banking, investment and such. The company was listed in the year 1996 whose current managing director (MD) and CEO is Nicholas Moore (Macquarie.com 2017). The non-hierarchical organisational structure of Macquarie is divided into five functional divisions. The executive committee is a centralised group that is formed with the MD, Deputy MD, Risk Management Head, Global Chief Operations officer and Chiefs of Macquaries main operating departments. There are separate departments within the organisation that is managed and handled by these operating groups. These departments are inter-related depending on their specialisation in specific market. Apart from the operational divisions, there are four service divisions that provide the support, infrastructure and framework required by the operational divisions for the management of the business. The four service groups are Financial Management, Risk Management, Corporate Operations, Legal and Governance Group (Macquarie.com 2017). Figure 1: Organisational Structure of Macquarie Group (Source: Macquarie.com 2017) Operational Issues of the Company due to its Structure The organisational structure of the company has led to certain operational problems related to its services to its clients. Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) ordered the company to compensate 160,000 clients including the past and existing ones. The company is accused of misconduct and wrong financial advice provided by its financial advisers that had caused huge financial loss to the clients (Mossa and Silvapulle 2012). The advisors used a cheat file known as the Penske File that contains answers to important questions required in professional development exams. The financial advisors of the company are also accused of intentionally labelling people as sophisticated-wholesale investors so that their money can be utilised in risky investments ignoring the security provided to retail investors (Li, Allan and Evans 2015). Apart from this massive scandal, the company have faced problem due to poor quality of record keeping and lacking proper information about its cl ients. The organisational structure is non-hierarchical that is the top management of the company must depend on the reports of the service departments and do not examine the feasibility of the reports. This type of organisational structure has hindered the company to get information about the activities performed by the financial advisors, which has led to such operational scandals (Li, Allan and Evans 2015). System Acquisition methods of Macquarie Macquarie Group uses three vendor software providers as a method of system acquisition. Intralinks is collaboration and project management software that supports strategic collaboration solutions for various industries including financial services (Www2.intralinks.com 2017). It helps the company in providing financial solutions and management guidance in the organisation. Manage Engine is another software used by the company that provides real-time management tools for IT sector of an organisation (Manageengine.com 2017). The software provides efficient performance in critical IT infrastructure that includes desktops, applications, networks, servers and such. Synopsys is a software provider that provides testing and optimisation tools for the IT sector of the company dealing with software that will allow secure financial transactions and processes in between the organisation and its clients (Synopsys.com 2017). Apart from the software that Macquarie Group utilises from the three software vendors mentioned above, the company have also created custom software to improve the relationship of the bank with the customer. The bank has developed a data layer between the existing legacy systems and the banks clients. The data layer is developed using open source database tool along with machine learning technologies and Big Data (ComputerWeekly 2017). Macquarie Banking Group is a digital-only bank that does not have any physical branch apart from its headquarter. In case of digitalised banks, a good customer experience is solely dependent on the online websites or the applications that help to cater for all the needs of the customer. Therefore, the primary objective of a digitalised bank is to improve the quality and service of the websites or applications to provide customer a flawless experience (ComputerWeekly 2017). In case of legacy systems, there is always an intermediate person involved between the bank and its client who manage the communication between the business and client. However, in case of digitalised banks like the Macquarie Group the customer approaches the bank directly regarding any matter.Therefore, the services provided by the bank through the digital medium are necessary to fulfil all the requirements of the customer. The data layer that is implemented on top of the legacy system is known as the customer experience layer (CX), which removes the complicated features of a legacy system. The open source software used by the company is provided by DataStax. The data stored in the legacy systems are initially migrated to the implemented data layer that is made on the DataStax platform (ComputerWeekly 2017). The second phase involves implementation of sophisticated artificial intelligence (A.I) to execute functions like real-time data analysis and machine learning. The implementatio n of an A.I will help to facilitate the customer with their requirements irrespective of time. The last phase includes the decommissioning of the legacy systems completely from the back end after all the user data have been migrated from the legacy systems to the new data layer. The maintenance of legacy systems is very costly and it often exhausts the resource of the IT sector of a company and eventually various issues arise due to it. Removal of the legacy systems will help the organisation greatly in terms of finance and will allow the investment of the saved money in improving other sectors of the same (ComputerWeekly 2017). System Flowchart for the Sales Procedures of Macquarie Group The figure provided below shows the system flowchart for the sales procedure of Macquarie Banking Group. The chart shows that the operation in the sales process starts from the customer who places an order request, say for a Credit Card. The order or disapproved by the banks executive depending on the terms of the company. Once the order is confirmed, it is delivered to the customer (Macquarie.com 2017). Figure 2: System Flowchart for Sales Procedure of Macquarie Group (Source: Macquarie.com 2017) Control Problems in the System and Possible Frauds The non-hierarchical structure of the organisation has created a gap in various levels in the organisation. The management of the organisation fail to monitor the activities of the service team that has created control problem. The financial advisors are undertaking unfair and illegal means for self-interest (Ting 2014).They are cheating the clients and using a specific file called the Penske File that contains answers to important questions required in professional development exams. These frauds have led the company to compensate for the damage caused to 160,000 customers as ordered by ASIC (Ting 2014). Development and Adoption of the Accounting Software Packages Macquarie Banking Group has adopted Xero as the accounting software package. Xero is a third-party accounting software package provider that is based in Australia. It provides for all the online financial helps that are required by the customer of Macquarie bank. The clients can view their account details along with transaction history that took place in that account through the Xero app (Dimitriu and Matei 2014). Xero provides a direct feed and online mini statement to the customers on the existing status of their account. The accounting software is also responsible for the bookkeeping of the entire banking activity log daily that allows the organisation to keep records of its past activities and refer the same when required. The financial records and the customer details are efficiently maintained by the software (Mageto 2017). Current Market Size The figure provided below shows a graph where the market size of four leading banks of Australia, including Macquarie Bank, are analysed and recorded from the month of March 2017 to August 2017.The grey coloured graph depicts the market size of Macquarie Banking Group. The figure clearly proves that Macquarie Bank is at the top of the chart in the market and is dominating the same in comparison to its other competitors (Macquarie.com 2017). Figure 3: Current Market Size of Macquarie Group (Source: Macquarie.com 2017) Leaders in the Market The dominant leaders in the Australian market along with the Macquarie Group are the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking Corp and the Scentre Group. Each bank has adopted different competitive strategies to stay ahead from its rivals in the market.The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has adopted the strategy to excel in customer service, while the Westpac Banking Corps strategy is to achieve technological and operational excellence. The Macquarie Group have given stress on the variety of services that can be provided to their clients. The clients of Macquarie bank enjoy a large variety of services than other banks provide, which has proved to give an edge to the bank in the competition in the market (Bhattacharya, Romani and Stern 2012). Existing Challenges Encountered by Users of Accounting Software The users of accounting software packages frequently face problems related to the same. The reason for most problem encounters are use of outdated software or the ones that are not very user-friendly (Simkin, Norman and Rose 2014). Lack of proper protection is also a matter of concern for the accounting software users as important company data are accessible to the third-party service providers. There is some accounting software that have weak reporting service and fail to help users who desire to fetch their stored business data. There are many more challenges that is faced by an accounting software package user which requires detailed analysis (Mutongi 2014). Some Recommendations To avoid the problems mentioned above while using accounting software packages, it is better to use sophisticated firewall and network security software that will manage data protection and use trusted as well as reputed and user-friendly accounting software service provider, so that the user can avail an efficient accounting service. Conclusion Considering all the pros and cons of availing an accounting software service, the report concludes that it is necessary to implement this service for businesses of every size and competency for furthering their improvement. References Bhattacharya, A., Romani, M. and Stern, N., 2012, May. Infrastructure for development: meeting the challenge. In Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, Londres. www. cccep. ac. uk/Publications/Policy/docs/PP-infrastructure-for-development-meeting-the-challenge. pdf. Consultado el (Vol. 15). ComputerWeekly. 2017. 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