Overview: Accounting Information Systems and Internal Control

Overview:  Accounting Information Systems and Internal Control

The purpose of this module is to help you learn about the accounting information systems that company's use to pull all of this wonderful accounting information together and make it available to internal and external users.  We will also learn about the internal controls that are built into the accounting information system to ensure the reliability of the financial information, the effectiveness and efficiency of operations and the company's compliance with applicable laws and regulations.  Therefore, a good system of internal control will help reduce errors and irregularities, and help minimize the "opportunity" to commit fraud.

As we go along, you will learn about the fraud triangle of opportunity, rationalization, and pressure, and how good internal controls can help reduce all of these, but generally will have the largest impact on reducing the opportunity to commit fraud.

A particularly effective internal control, especially for small business owners, is the bank reconciliation.  In this module, you will learn how to prepare a bank reconciliation and understand how it can reduce the opportunity for errors and irregularities involving cash. 

To Complete This Module

To complete this module, you will need to study all of the content pages and successfully complete the related topic and module quizzes. To successfully complete quizzes you need to achieve a score of at least 4 out of 5 for topical quizzes and achieve a score of at least 8 out of 10 for the module quiz. You may take and re-take quizzes as many times as necessary to master the material and get your passing score.

To track which content pages you have viewed and which quizzes you have successfully completed, click the "Modules" link on the course menu on the left.  A green check mark will appear to the left of each “Study” page that you have viewed and by each “Quiz” that you have successfully completed in the module. 

I anticipate that this module will take about 2 hours to complete.

Once you have completed mastering the material in Modules 1-5, you should move on and take Exam #1 which includes 40 questions from Modules 1-5.