ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Machine Problem.
Direction: Read, analyze and perform what is/are required.
Forrest Green followed in the footsteps of his Father, Tony Green, and spent most of his adult life working with flowers. He worked for a large commercial flower grower while he got his online degree in horticulture for Colorado State University. After graduation, he traveled extensively to see how flowers are grown around the world. He spent a year at the Dutch Flower Auction where European flower growers, members of the Dutch Flower Wholesale Association, assembled their flowers in a 2 million square meter warehouse for buyers from around the world. He then spent some time in Kenya, which is surprisingly the 3^rd largest exporter of cut flowers in the world. Kenya enjoys a sunny climate that enables high-quality blossoms to be grown year-round. After working with large flower distribution organizations, he recognized the inherent problems created by shipping flowers around the world from remote locations. First, it was getting more expense as the cost of jet fuel and transportation increases. Second, consumers were becoming more demanding. They wanted fresher flowers that lasted longer.
Forrest recognized that his supply chain was critical to his success. Therefore, each YNF store works with local growers in each metropolitan area. They buy from smaller, more responsive, growers that produce the best flowers. Each YNF store is really just a small warehouse designed to expedite delivery from growers to customers. YNF operates a fleet of trucks used to pick up flowers from growers daily. At the YNF store, the flowers are carefully bundled for delivery to customers each afternoon. Thus, YNF maintains no inventory and flowers move from growers to customers in less than one day.
Customers call to place orders for future flowers deliveries. Usually, they order about one week in advance. One order can (and typically does) involve several types of flowers. The store employees know most of the customers by name and the types of flowers they prefer. They also know what types of flowers may not be available, so they try to steer the orders to other flowers. They record customer orders in our Excel-based order log. Around 4:30 AM each morning, Paul reviews the log to determine what they need to purchase for the day.
Most recordkeeping takes place locally. Each store keeps track of its purchases, inventories, sales, etc. The only centralized functions were writing checks, receiving payments from customers, and processing payroll. The stores regularly email records to Mia and then forward hard-copy documents each month, so she can monitor operations and provide updates to Forrest. Since, Forrest plans to continue expanding YNF, he wants to improve his accounting systems and he intends to have cloud accounting. However, the proposal was still under review and if the proposal will prosper, it will take about 6 months to complete the project. For the meantime, Paul is using the YNF Excel File