SEMESTER 1, 2015

Important note: This is an individual assignment. You must complete the task independently. If you submit a report that is similar to any of your classmate’s reports it will be considered academic dishonesty. Refer to the Macquarie University Academic Honesty Procedure and associated documents. Please also refer to the submission instruction as per unit guide.

Estimated student workload: 30 hours

Learning outcomes

• Understand the role of information systems in general, and accounting information systems specifically, in supporting the operations of an organisation.
• Understand the importance and benefits of system development methodologies.

Task

Your task is to write a report that critically analyses the adoption of SAP systems in business organisations and discuss accounting challenges and benefits in an SAP environment. You are required to conduct a literature review and analysis using academic journal articles through the library databases on the topic of SAP adoption and diffusion in business organisations. Your report must be structured as follows:

1. Introduction (250 words) – Provide an overview of the report that follows.
2. Overview of SAP (650 words) – Provide an explanation of SAP and its functionalities. Compare functionalities of Epicor Enterprise and SAP in Financial Management Solution.
3. Challenges and benefits (1200 words) – Discuss accounting challenges and benefits that have been identified in research literature (academic journal articles you reviewed) concerning SAP adoption in Finance and Accounting.
4. Recommendation (650 words) – From your literature review, provide recommendations of success factors for SAP adoption in Finance and Accounting.
5. Conclusion (250 words) – Summarise and synthesise the report.

Required

• Write a report that addresses all of the above sections.
• Format requirements: “Times New Roman” size 12 with 1.5 line spacing, approximately 3000 words in total (not including references). You must include the total of words used in your report. The report should have appropriate headings and subheadings (including an introduction and conclusion)
• This report must use academic journal articles to support any claims you make.
• You must acknowledge the use of the work of others (e.g. the academic journal articles on which your report is based) using the Harvard referencing style (see http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/research/referencing.html). Any ideas or quotations must be correctly cited in the body of your report and a reference list must be provided at the end of your report.
• Once you have submitted your report, check the report originality in turn-it-in and ensure similarity with other source is referenced. You can resubmit your report your report until the due date. Please note that the originality report for a resubmission takes 24 hours to be produced. Please ensure that you allow adequate time, if you are considering resubmission.
• Review the marking rubric so that you understand the expected standards and how you will receive feedback.