DATA SECURITY IN ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Data Security in Accounting Information Systems Technology

Data Security in Accounting Information Systems Technology

1. Problem or issue identification

a. Issue identification/description is precise

With rapid development of the information technology, computerized accounting information system plays an increasingly crucial role in the operation of organization regardless large, medium or small enterprises. This can be contributed to the merits of the marriage of accounting and the computer science technology, which dramatically improve the accuracy and speed of the process of information system. However, along with the advantages of the computerized accounting information system, there emerge several deadly deficiencies which, if not appropriately deal with, can be greatly detrimental to the interests of the organization and, even worse, may lead to collapse of the company. This essay mainly focuses on several important aspects of the deficiency of the computerized accounting information system and then provides feasible solutions to prevent the negative influence derived from these threats. (Glautier et. al. 2007)

To begin with, fraudulent activities are the most significant threat to the organization after the accounting information system has been computerized. Both internal personnel and the top management may commit fraud in different ways. For instance, the most common fraudulent activities are unauthorized access of the company accounting information system, theft of resources of the company and misrepresentation of the financial report. Though these problems have been emerged since the manual accounting information system, the new computer-based accounting information system makes it easier for the internal personnel to cheat. Because the computer has a speed that is unprecedentedly fast and can process complex information which facilitate the fraudulent activities.

2. Discussion for and against the issue

a. Well thought out arguments and substantiation

One of the most common types of the fraudulent activities is unauthorized access of the accounting information system, which means that people without proper authorization access to the data stored in the accounting information for illegal purposes, such as copy the key information for the competitors of the organization or saving the value information for personal use. According to the Computer Misuse Act, the following aspects of unauthorized access are illegal, "unauthorized Access to Computer Material, unauthorized Access to Computer systems with intent to commit another offense and unauthorized Modification of Computer Material" (Tricia Ellis-Christensen, 2010) These offenders may be the employee who in charge of the information system or the program designer with advanced technology to access the information system. These employee may encouraged by the financial gain by the outsiders or just want to revenge to the company after certain unpleasant affairs with the organization. To prevent this occur, "make sure a password has been set on computer. Default passwords such as password, root, admin or no password will allow easy access to your computer or your Internet account." (Computer hope, 2010) this means passwords and relevant authorization are suggested to prohibit the outsides accessing the information system. In addition, read only access also ensure the safety of the data stored in the information ...