Accounting Interface: ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS The Crossroads of Accounting & IT Chapter 3 Accounting Interface: Database Forms, Queries, & Reports © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Accounting Interface The Accounting interface is served by three database essentials: Database forms: input accounting data Database queries: search and retrieve accounting data from the database Database reports: present output of the queries The accounting interface is served by the three database essentials. The database forms are used for inputting accounting data. The database queries are used to search the database and retrieve the accounting data from the database. For example, if you wanted to retrieve information about a customer to enter a sales order, the system would execute a query. Database reports present the output of queries. When you are ready to prepare an income statement, for example, you would select the appropriate time and format, and a query would be executed to retrieve the accounts and account balances that should appear on the income statement. © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Graphical User Interface QuickBooks software uses a graphical user interface: Home Page: navigation Onscreen forms: data entry One of the features that made QuickBooks so popular is its easy-to-use graphical user interface or GUI. The home page is used for navigation and shows a flowchart of tasks. Onscreen forms use a GUI for data entry. © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Interface Tools User interface tools include: Icons Command buttons Radio buttons Checkboxes Textboxes Listboxes (drop-down lists) Tab controls User interface tools that can be used when designing the interface include: Icons (such as the icons on the QB Home Page) List boxes that contain drop-down lists. For example, when ordering online do you type in the state name? Or select from a drop-down list of state abbreviations? These interface tools can be used to improve data validation (the validity of data entered). © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Baseline Accounting System Input/Output Database forms record input for: Vendor module Customer module Employee module Banking module Financial module Database reports display output. When looking at the baseline accounting system, you can see that the vendor, customer, employee, bank, and financial modules use database forms to record input. The reports modules uses database reports to display output. © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Database Form Design General guidelines for database form design: Enter data once. Use data validation. Use auto entry. Format data entry forms to mirror hard copy forms. Create user-friendly forms. Implement appropriate security measures. © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

When designing database database forms, it is important to use this accounting insight. If the same data is repeated twice on the same form, the data should auto populate (automatically fill in) the second field on the form. © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

To Save Time Entering Data... MIRROR Database Forms & Paper Forms 11 11 If data will need to be transferred from paper to onscreen, then to save time, the database forms and the paper forms should mirror each other. Otherwise, the data entry takes much longer as the user searches to find the data to enter into the onscreen form. In addition, it increases the opportunity for error and oversights. To Save Time Entering Data... MIRROR Database Forms & Paper Forms © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Accounting Data Entry Forms Customer module Sales order/Invoice form Credit memo Customer payment receipt Deposit ticket Some typical accounting data entry forms for the customer module correspond to the typical customer transactions. © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Accounting Data Entry Forms Vendor module: Purchase order Receiving form Bill entry form Check form © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Accounting Data Entry Forms Employee module: Time tracking form Payroll withholding form © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Accounting Data Entry Forms Banking module: Check form Deposit form Bank reconciliation form © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Accounting Data Entry Forms Financial module: Onscreen journal form © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Joey’s Database Form What would you say to Joey? Joey works in the IT department. He has been developing a new customer form and has asked for you to sign to approve the form. What would you say to Joey? Would you approve the form? If not, what changes would you ask Joey to make? How would you communicate this to Joey? © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Building Database Forms This is an example of how a database form is built in MS Access. Notice the command buttons on the right. Also notice that the fields can be dropped into the form. The label identifying the field can be different than the field name used in the database table. Database Forms To build a database form, the developer uses a form design template as shown above. The developer selects the fields required on the form. The fields correspond to one or more tables in the database. The developer adds control tools (i.e., checkbox, button). © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

EspressoCoffee Database Forms This is what the same form looks like when it would appear on screen. Would you ask for any changes? EspressoCoffee Database Form Do you see any changes you would like? © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Accounting Reports 4 basic types of accounting reports: Financial accounting and regulatory reports for investors, creditors, and regulatory agencies. Tax reports used when filing federal, state, and local taxes. Management reports provided to internal users, such as managers for decision making. Sustainability reports to evaluate an enterprise’s responsiveness to economic, environmental, and social sustainability challenges. There are four basic types of reports as shown here. Sustainability reports are now also being called integrated reports. © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Building Database Reports This is the design screen for building a database report. Notice the headers and footers on the form. Database Reports To build a database report, the developer uses a report design template as shown above. The developer formats and enters the report header, detail, and footer. The required fields are placed in the desired location on the report layout. © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

EspressoCoffee Database Report This is the same database report when it appears onscreen. Do you see any changes you would like? EspressoCoffee Database Report Do you see any changes you would like? © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Joey’s Database Report What would you say to Joey? Joey, from IT, has prepared a prototype for a database report and would like your approval. What do you say to Joey? Do you approve his database report? If not, what changes would you request Joey to make? © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Database Queries Database queries search and retrieval data from the accounting database. Results of queries are displayed in database forms and reports. Notice that the results of queries can be displayed in database reports or database forms. For example, the query to retrieve income statement accounts and balances for the past year would appear in a database report. The query for the customer information for a customer with the last name Smith might appear in an onscreen database form used to enter new customers. © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

© Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved. Database queries can pull data from more than one database table. © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Database Queries Two ways to build queries: Query builder tools build queries without programming code. SQL, structured query language, is a programming language used to construct queries for relational databases. Most database software includes a query builder tool to streamline building queries. This permits you to build queries without using programming code. However, it may not be suitable to use with some complicated queries. Queries can also be built by writing programming code using SQL. © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Building Database Queries: QBE This is an example of MS Access’ query builder, called Query by Example (QBE). The database tables are displayed across the top. Then you can simply click and drag the fields you want displayed into the bottom portion of the screen. If you would like to search on a specific criteria, such as Last Name, then that information is entered into the criteria row in the bottom portion of the screen. Database Queries To build a database query, the developer can use a Query by Example (QBE) template shown above. Displays the tables used in query. Selects the fields required by the query. Search criteria are specified (e.g., Customer Last Name = “Pico”) as shown above. © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

SQL: Structured Query Language When the query is run, the query builder creates SQL programming code behind the scenes. This is an example of the SQL code that was created by the Query Builder for the query created on the prior slide. Although accounting professionals may not write SQL programming code, it has become more important than ever for accounting professionals and auditors to at least be able to read some SQL. SQL injections, where incorrect SQL code is injected into a query to extract unauthorized data, is being used in cyberattacks. For this reason, the accounting professional should be able to read a basic SQL statement to identify if there is anything improper. There are four basic parts to the SQL query: 1) Action. For a query, the action is SELECT 2) Fields. The fields to be extracted are specified. 3) Tables. The tables that will be used in the query are specified. 4) Criteria. The search criteria to search for and retrieve must be specified. SQL Database Queries After building a database query with Query by Example, view the SQL programming code for the database query shown above. Each SQL statement contains an Action(s), Field(s), Table(s), and Criteria. © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Query Results Customer Order Query Results This is an example of a query builder and the query results that were retrieved when the query was run. Customer Order Query Results Compare the fields in the query builder to the query results. What are the search criteria? © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Joey’s Database Query What would say to Joey? Joey, from IT, has written SQL for a query and has asked for your approval. He would like you to sign the approval form for the SQL query he has written. What you you say to Joey? © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.

Study Less. Learn More. Make Connections. My Connection Study Less. Learn More. Make Connections. Exercise When the RDBMS processes the following SQL SELECT statement: What tables are accessed? Which fields are retrieved? What is the search criteria? SELECT Customer No, Customer Name, Invoice No, Date FROM Customer, Invoice Where Customer No = “3099”; © Copyright 2012 Pearson Education. All Rights Reserved.