The Accountant Role in Business Intelligence - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss aboutThe Accountant Role in Business Intelligence. Answer: To conduct every business several functions are required to be performed by the business organisation. Accounting is one among those key functions which needs to be performed by almost every business enterprise to maintain the adequate records of important financial data of the company. The function of accounting not only involves preparation of books of accounts but it involves various activities such as collection of data from various resources, recording of the collected data, summarising the data into relevant information, classification of such information so as to incorporate them in the financial statements of the company analysing the processed information and ultimately interpreting, analysing and comparing the financial information regarding the business of the company. Few years back, all these functions were supposed to be performed by the accountants of the company. As accounting functions entails a wide gamut of activities, it was quite difficult for the accountants to carry out such functions individually with complete accuracy and in the limited time. But, with the advancement of technologies the overall accounting function is made simple and manageable. The development of concept of business intelligence has positively contributed to the simplification of business function of various enterprises. Business intelligence is a process which is completely technology driven and covers various tools and applications that supports various business functions. It supports almost every business function with the innovative tools and techniques (Ranjan, 2009). Most of the business organisations use business intelligence as an analytical tool to analyse the complex business information so as to make sound business decisions. BI helps the business managers in collecting the necessary data from various internal and external sources to facilitate the core business functioning. It also promotes the accuracy of function by providing the accurate information to the users on the correct time so that appropriate courses of actions can be made (Hassani, 2015). The implementation of BI tools improves the operational capacity of the business operation by promoting improved decision making. Particularly in the accounting area, business intelligence has a major role to play. It is used to analyse the financial information of the company thereby providing the key financial results to the required parties. Business intelligence provides the analysed data in the easily accessible formats to the users so that proper actions can be taken with the use of relevant financial information of the business of the business. The accounting functions previously used to utilise huge amount of human efforts and time to collect and process the data related to the important business transactions and events. But now the implementation of business intelligence tools has simplified and improved the accounting function by providing completely accurate information on time to time basis. The large databases are used to maintain large amount of relevant financial data regarding the important elements of the company such as the record of sock maintained by the company etc. which can help its management team in achieving the financial goals and objectives. Before the introduction of BI technique, the huge amount of financial data was stored on the physical mode which was difficult to maintain and retain in long term. The databases under the business intelligence techniques has resolved the storage of ample of business data. Moreover, business intelligence applications helps in performing various management accountants functions such as preparation of necessary reports to be delivered to the managers to enable them to take required actions (CIMA, 2008). It also helps the management of the enterprises by prompt provision of information as and when the actions upon them are required to be performed without entertaining any delay whereas in manual accounting the financial information used to be communicated to the intended users and managers by the accountants only on annual basis. Business intelligence tools helps the business goals and objectives by facilitating various functions such as financial budgeting and financial planning by completely processing the accounting data collected from various sources. It also helps the business managers in identifying the financial trends that are generally followed by the businesses so as to enable the managers in making appropriate accounting estimates and assumptio n. BI has also enabled the business enterprises to respond appropriately and timely to the changes in the financial situation of the company. The key performance indicators that are used by business intelligence makes business managers more aware and attentive towards their financial goals and performance so that it can be improved on a constant basis. The typical implementation of business intelligence concept to the business has threatened the management accountants in respect of their functions. With the development of BI technologies the management accountants had started assuming that their role an importance in the organisation functioning is getting reduced gradually. But it is actually not so. Rather the scope of role of accountants is getting enlarged with the implementation of business intelligence tools and applications in the business organisations (Richards, Yeoh, Chong Popovic, 2014). Yes it is a correct fact that the development of business intelligence has facilitated businesses with various analytical and reporting and performance management tools which has reduced the role of management accountants in these contexts but at the same time it is also correct that the implementation of business intelligence spared the management accountants capacity by releasing them from performing the analytical and reporting funct ions (Marjanen, Tommi, 2017). The released capacity of management accountants of the business organisations can be now be used in accepting the decision supporting roles. These accountants are therefore now required perform the strategic functions rather than being the mere spectators (Jordan, 2014). From the above study it can be established that the implementation of business intelligence processes supports the overall functioning of the business organisation. Particularly in the accounting areas, business intelligence tools have proved to be very successful for the organisational functioning by providing necessary information to the managers to make appropriate decision making. It also offers the companies competitive advantages over the firms that are still not using the business intelligence (Guarda, Santos, Pinto, Augusto, Silva, 2013). Moreover, the implementation of business intelligence applications in performing the accounting function has not ended the roles of the accountants rather their roles are changed from being the mere accountants to the strategic decision makers. They are now expected to adopt enhanced role by managing the strategic functions of the same company in which they were performing the mere accounting functions. Ransomware attacks are the cyber security disasters that are carried by the malwares which are disguised as the authentic word files or PDFs that the corporate users are tricked to download. These files are sent in the through the email attachments. When these files are downloaded the malware encrypts the organisational data and demands ransom to release that. Recently, in year 2017, a similar ransomware attack occurred which had majorly affected four countries: Taiwan, Ukraine, Russia and India. The important data maintained by the organisations of these countries was caught by the malware. As a consequence of this, the caught data was encrypted and the access to it was blocked for these organisations. The malware demanded heavy ransoms in return to the decryption of that data. The ransom was supposed to be paid in the Bitcoin currency (Perlroth, Scott Frenkel, 2017). The key risk areas where the medical institutions are exposed to the Ransomware attack: Organisational data: The medical organisation maintains a large record of its patients in the electronic mode which is of utmost importance for it as such records contains the significant information about the patients and the their health care service providers. Such information needs to be accessed for various administrative and operational purposes. However, because of online storage, this data is more exposed to the cyber-attacks (Zetter, 2016). Market reputation: The loss of valuable data or the lives of patients as a result of ransomware deeply affects the market standing of the company and the medical practitioners working in the victim organisation. Health and safety of the patients: One of the major area which could be exposed to the adverse impact of ransomware attack is the safety and well-being of patients of the healthcare facilities providers. The inactivation of medical devices due to such attacks can affect the health of the patients (Zetter, 2016). Intellectual properties: The organisation holds various results of the researches made by its medical practitioners, the drug formulas and the details of experiments in relation to the surgery procedures. Such information is generally kept confidential so that any external interested parties is prevented to access it. However, the ransomware attacks could expose such data to the outside world. The potential impacts of these risks can vary depending upon the severity of the attack. In general following impacts could be experienced as a result of ransomware attack: Harm to the patients health: The disruption of the medical facilities provided to the patients of the hospital because of occurrence of the cyber-attacks can cause heavy injuries to their health. Legal implications: The leakage of public sensitive information of the patients of the hospitals may call for legal costs to be paid by the hospital. Sabotage: The impact of ransomware attack could also reach outside the boundaries of local country. The foreign pharmaceutical competitors of the victimised hospital could also be made available with its valuable data which could be misused by them. Loss of competitive advantage or creditability: The confidential data maintained by the hospital could be revealed out to its competitors as a result of the ransomware attack. The exposure of confidential information could enable the interested third parties to take undue advantage of hospitals valuable data and the exposure of sensitive information about the patients of the company may also cause loss of trust among them (Gordon, Fairhall Landman, 2017). Financial loss: The ransomware attacks may destroy the sensitive and important financial information of the hospitals which could make the organisation suffer from huge financial losses. Following controls can be implemented to protect the hospitals from the occurrence of ransomware attacks. Use of firewall systems: The firewalls can protect the hospitals from the cyber-attacks by preventing the unauthorised users to access the authorised data of the organisation. Password protected systems and devices: All the systems and devices operated by the hospital staff must be password protected so that the illegitimate parities cannot access such systems (Kruse, Frederick, Jacobson Monticone, 2017). Cyber-security training: The employees of the hospitals must have adequate knowledge of cyber security measures so they can prevent the occurrence of such cyber-attacks. Therefore, they must be provided required training in this context (Perakslis, 2014). Installation of antivirus programs: The antivirus programs can safeguard the operating systems of the hospitals by constantly scanning for the viruses in the system applications and software (Martin, Martin, Hankin, Darzi, Kinross, 2017). Deployment of updated software: The organisational functions such as accounting, banking functions etc. of the hospital are often supported by various software. The management must ensure that only updated software with complete security features are used for such business functions. References: CIMA. (2008). Improving decision making in organisations Unlocking business intelligence. Retrieved on: https://www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/ImportedDocuments/cid_execrep_unlocking_business_intelligence_Feb09.pdf. Accessed on 05-01-2018. Gordon, W. J., Fairhall, A., Landman, A. (2017). Threats to Information SecurityPublic Health Implications.New England Journal of Medicine,377(8), 707-709. Guarda, T., Santos, M., Pinto, F., Augusto, M., Silva, C. (2013). Business intelligence as a competitive advantage for SMEs.International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance,4(4), 187. Hassani, Y. (2015). Why is Business Intelligence (BI) important to your company? Retrieved from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-business-intelligence-bi-important-your-company-yass. Accessed on 05-01-2018. Jordan, B., (2014). The Accountant's Role in Business Intelligence. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141120155615-40154060-the-accountant-s-role-in-business-intelligence Accessed on 05-01-2018. Kruse, C. S., Frederick, B., Jacobson, T., Monticone, D. K. (2017). Cybersecurity in healthcare: A systematic review of modern threats and trends.Technology and Health Care,25(1), 1-10. Marjanen, Tommi. (2017). How business intelligence has changed management accountants profession and roles? Retrieved from https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/24588 Accessed on 05-01-2018. Martin, G., Martin, P., Hankin, C., Darzi, A., Kinross, J. (2017). 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