Dissertation or Applied Business Project Assignment Sample
Part A
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Introduction
This is the first section or part of the research proposal, which provides research background and discusses the overview of the subject matter. Further, this introductory section of the project mainly outlines the aim of the research and its associated objectives. Based on these objectives, the whole research project has been formulated. This section also involves the researcher’s significance or justification for conducting this study.
1.2 Overview of the research issue
Accounting can be said as the process of recording financial transactions related to the business. The accounting process involves summarizing, evaluating, and reporting the transactions to oversight regulators and tax collection entities (Jimenez et. al.2019). Accounting is the need of businesses to manage the economic and financial records and transactions. There are several types of accounting, including financial, managerial, tax, cost, and credit accounting. Accounting is one of the critical business functions of a company that holds significant importance. This is valuable in keeping a record of the business transactions, facilitating decision-making, and meeting legal requirements. Considering accounting software is a solution utilized by different accounting professionals, bookkeepers, and business owners to process accounting transactions.
Accounting software for retail businesses is thus a type of application that records and processes business accounting transactions. It involves various functional modules from accounts receivable, payable, payroll, and trial balance (Paul & Sadath, 2019). In other words, it can be said that the accounting software works as an accounting information system. Retail or other business organizations can develop the software in-house and purchase it from a third party as per the organization’s needs. Furthermore, the companies can also buy the software by a combination of third-party software with local alterations and modifications. The software can be web-based and can be accessed anywhere and at any time.
1.3 Research background
This research project is based on assessing the significance of using accounting software in retail business organizations within the UK. This market segment comprises several retail organizations, including supermarket chains from Tesco and Sainsbury to Farmfoods. This research project aims to identify and analyze the vital significant aspects of using accounting software. For this purpose, this research proposal has been developed and is divided into three major parts. In order to conduct the research more efficiently, the views and statements of various scholars have been elaborated on in the review section. Also, the proposal is based on realizing the research objectives and problems. Moreover, to validate the study, different research methodological tools have been used in the study. The project researcher has chosen a secondary data collection method to gather reliable and relevant information to understand more about the research matter.
The aim of the research is “To analyzethe importance of accounting software in retail business organizations: A study on the UK.”
1.4 Research objectives:
- To understand the concept of accounting and related software
- To understand the relationship between accounting software and business organization
- To determine the uses of accounting software in the retail business and its efficient functioning
- To identify the benefits associated with the accounting software in the retail segment
By seeking the above-mentioned objectives, in-depth insights can be attained regarding the aim of the project and the importance of the software in a retail business context.
1.5 Research questions
Q1. What is the concept of accounting and related software and the relationship between accounting software and business organization?
Q2. What are the uses of accounting software in the retail business and its efficient functioning and the benefits associated with the accounting software in the retail segment?
1.6 Justification of the project
This research project is prepared on the basis of the vital aim or research questions pertaining to analyzing the significance of accounting software for retail business organizations. The research aim highlights the critical pillars of the research as accounting, accounting software and retail business enterprises. Hence, this explains the scope of the study. The research must be conducted because the financial transactions are increasing in the companies, and with this, financial frauds are also rising. Using accounting software can help companies organize their transactions and attain transparency in business operations. The accounting software in modern business organizations has become an integral part. Financial and accounting management now can be said to be the scientific tools to run the business effectively and help the business units manage the finances more appropriately (Wang, 2021). The increased need to use accounting software justifies the need to carry out this research project. Hence, it can be stated that conducting an investigation of this topic is justified as it can help the readers in understanding the need and significance of accounting software.
1.7 Literature gap
This project has some limitations that can provide scope for conducting future studies. It can be said that this research proposal is limited to the scope of the retail business segment only within the United Kingdom. However, the use of accounting software is widespread, and thus it offers different range for considering other industries. Apart from this, the research project adopts secondary data collections technique. Lack of use of primary data can be said as another gap. This is because the use of primary data collection in the proposal provides the researcher with updated and authentic information. The data could have been gathered from the people or accountants who are working in the retail organization. They can describe and provide their views on using the accounting software in the business. Thus, it can be summarized that this section of the study is important as it provides an overview and a basic outline of the whole proposal. This can contribute to the understanding of the readers.
Part B
Chapter 2: Literature review
This section of the research proposal focuses on providing statements and concepts given by different scholars and authors. This review has been done based on the key formulated research questions and objectives.
2.1 Concept of accounting and related software
According to Hamad et. al. (2021), the technologies have changed the way different professionals and experts conduct accounting practises. Accounting software has become an effective tool for managing business processes. There are numerous companies that produce different kinds of accounting software. Tawami (2019), opines that the manager is required to identify the problem and choose the most suitable accounting software that can fit the company’s requirements. Accounting software offers a variety of benefits to companies.
Accounting software provides many characteristics that can help simplify the accounting task from basic to advanced features.However, the features of accounting software also vary based on the vendors.For example, invoice processing is a fundamental requirement of every business, and accounting software helps the company keep track of the payment status. It also offers additional features, including payment reminders, automatic invoice generation, and invoice conversion. This software provides the owners of the company and the manager with easy and quick reports for making informed decisions. Kimmel, Weygandt & Kieso, (2020) states that another essential feature of accounting software reporting is toprovide financial statements to evaluate the numbers and make business decisions for the future. Accounting software also provides the option of supporting functionality, including customization, scheduling and report sharing.
2.2 Relationship between accounting software and business organization
As per the views of Collinson et. al. (2020), accounting software and business organizations have a strong relationship and direct linkage because it significantly influences the overall business performance. This can be stated in terms of increased efficiency.Several factors that impact the effectiveness and efficiency of accounting information system software combine factors with being effective.The act of implementing an accounting information system is positively aligned with productivity and profitability. Accounting software also generates reliable data which can be critically used to plan, recognize and control different business operations. It is stated that the value of internal control impact operational performance with the help of information. In this context, Hasan et. al. (2019) describes that accounting software ensures the reliability of the information and represents that the information is free from error and unbiased. This can be used for further decision-making. Generating information with the help of software guarantees convincible accounting reports and also ensures adherence to the company policies (Wang, 2021).
The success of using the accounting software system depends on the level of ease of use.The increase in ease of using the system will positively influence different aspects of the company’s output quality (Warren, Jonick & Schneider, 2020). This can reduce training and support costs, productivity enhancement, customer satisfaction, and increase revenues. However, during the entire accounting process of a company, the accountant or accounting professionals process data in an accurate manner using accounting software in order to offer accurate and timely information output. In this regard, Qasim & Kharbat(2020) argued that the accuracy and reliability of the financial data is an efficient and consistent driver across the business that enhances the performance and helps in achieving the goals financially and operationally. Moreover, it can be said that the accuracy of accounting software is essential to the organization in terms of recognizing possible future business avenues.
2.3 Uses of accounting software in the retail business and its efficient functioning
As per the study conducted by Palepu et. al. (2020), the biggest reason for using accounting software in retail companies is the accuracy of the information. Whether small or large, an organization is required to maintain records of its cash movement, inventory, and many more aspects. This information is crucial in business operations. In addition to this, the retailers are needed to maintain real-time and accurate financial data to formulate strategic growth decisions. The accounting software can standardize and automate the reconciliation process in a retail organization.This will enable automatic data import from different systems across numerous dispersed locations. It will ensure that reconciliation has been done without any redundancy and error. Moreover, the automated workflow also facilitates reducing and eliminating any ledger discrepancies. This software is also helpful for retail companies in keeping up-to-date inventory and sales records. Maintaining such an amount of data in a spreadsheet can be time-consuming, and accounting software can help the company remove this major obstacle and automate the process of bookkeeping. The computerized system possesses the potential to generate internal reports without any error and generate invoice transactions automatically (Raiborn, Kinney & Barfield, 2020). Furthermore, retail business organizations can count on equipped bookkeeping solutions for reliable and prompt information that can control the finances. Hence, an automatic accounting system is beneficial for retail business sectors within the UK to effortlessly operate and manage financial records while reducing money and time.
2.4 Benefits associated with the accounting software in the retail segment
The key characteristics of successful retail accounting involve proper data backup, data integration, proper access, real-time update, improved efficiency and proper cash flow. Using accounting software can provide all these advantages to retail business organizations operating within the United Kingdom. Inventory tracking is one of the biggest issues in retail organizations, and accounting software can deal with this. Cunningham et. al. (2020), mentions that using accounting software can help the company in gaining access to real-time data on the availability of the stock in different warehouses. With the help of this information, the company can track stock and order at once when it is identified that the inventory level is low.With the help of accounting software, numerous tasks can be automated. With automation, the number of data entries will be reduced, and the overall efficiency of the tasks can be increased.According to Jimenez et. al. (2019), it will also simplify the process of taxation as it removes the manual tracking of the transactions, calculations and filing of the return. The accounting software users can make the taxation process quite easier as all the reports can be automatically prepared without having to rely on a third party.
Another significant benefit of accounting software in the retail sector is its integration with other business applications and software. As per Paul & Sadath (2019) views, a business’s data grows more widespread and complex with time. Therefore, integration is crucial as it enables the company to access and work with the data using different applications from a single platform. This accounting software in the retail organization can be further integrated with different CRM solutions, online payment gateway,and information management systems and reporting applications. Hence, based on the identified benefits and importance of accounting software for the company, there are several factors that the company needs to be taken into account when choosing the accounting software for the business organization.For example, these can be user-friendly software, assessing the financial needs, its integration with other business software and compatibility with the business functions.
Part C
Chapter 3: Research methodology
Research methodology is the use of the process of tools required to identify, choose, and analyze information regarding any topic (Snyder, 2019). This section involves the assessment of the research methodologies and tools that the researcher can embrace to implement the research.
3.1 Research paradigm and philosophy
The research paradigm is the comprehensive and basic belief system to consider and view the research phenomenon. Research philosophy is how the information for the topic must be collected, analyzed, and used. There are mainly three types of research philosophies involving realism, interpretivism, and positivism (Nayak & Singh, 2021). In order to conduct this study, positivism research philosophy can be used. The researcher has chosen this philosophy because it aims to provide the reliability of the information and follows a well-defined structure during the study as well as discussion.
3.2 Research approach
This plan and process comprises the steps of more comprehensive assumptions to detailed data gathering and analyzing methods (Bairagi & Munot, 2019). The research approach suitable for the present study is deductive. This type of research approach is mainly associated with scientific investigation. In this, the researcher studies what others have done and tests hypotheses that arise from these theories. The investigator will consider the deductive research approach as it is a time-savingtime-saving approach and gets straight to the point. The investigator can choose the deductive research approach because it offers the possibility to describe the causal association between the variables and diverse concepts.
3.3 Research data collection
In order to ensure reliability, validity, and robustness of the results, it is important to collect authentic and valid information. The study can be considered trustworthy and reliable when the data used in the research is gathered from accurate sources (Zawacki-Richter et. al. 2020).
Data gathering is the process of collecting and measuring information for the purpose of carrying out the study. There can be two types of data collection techniques; primary and secondary data collection. This project will rely on a secondary data collection method. In this, the information is gathered through already existing sources. For example, in order to carry out this study, different published articles, reports, and other websites will be considered. The websites that has been considered are Deloitte.com, pwc.com, taxguru.in, Danbro, and ey.com.
In order to conduct the research study on analysing the importance of accounting software, the researcher will rely on reviewing different published sources and gaining qualitative data. Moreover, in order to ensure reliability and accuracy of the data, only valid published sources will be used, which are published after 2017. The aim is to collect the latest and updated information. The reasons and justification for taking secondary data collection into account are that it is cost and time effective. This is economical and helps the researcher in improving the understanding of the problem.
3.4 Data analysis
In the context of research methodology, data analysis is concerned with the researcher’s process to analyze the collected information (Shields, 2019). Thus, in other words, it can be said to be the systematic process of applying the logical and required technique to explain, illustrate, and evaluate the gathered data. Data analysis involves defining goals, collecting data, cleaning, analyzing, drawing conclusions, and visualizing data. This is important for the present research as it will make the studying of data a simpler and more accurate form. It has been observed that there are numerous kinds of data analysis techniques that can be embedded in the research study.
These have been identified as statistical, thematic, transcript and many more. For this research proposal, the suitable data analysis technique is thematic analysis. Thematic analysis is the technique for analyzing qualitative data that identifies, analyzes, and reports repeated patterns (Sileyew, 2019). To carry out the research of exploring the significance of accounting software, thematic analysis is helpful. This data analysis technique is useful as it enables flexibility to the researcher, to interpret data and aids in approaching data sets by sorting them into wider themes. The researcher can adopt steps for this analysis that comprises familiarization, coding, generating and reviewing themes. The researcher will generate appropriate themes for the analysis according to the research topic.
3.5 Ethical considerations
Maintaining ethical principles and values in the research is the most important part of the research study (Snyder, 2019). Sticking to the ethical dimensions while collecting information and carrying out other aspects of the research is significant in avoiding any future disruptions and challenges. Thus, the researcher is expected and required to ensure confidentiality, validity, and security of the collected data. For instance, it can be said that the gathered data must be used for this research only and not used to accomplish any personal goals or agenda. Ethical aspects ensure the reliability of collected data and support the whole research process.
Chapter 4: Conclusion and summary
The above analysis and proposal reveal that accounting software is important and critical for retail business organizations within the UK market. Hence, the use of this software can be encouraged within the business to avail of its advantages and benefits. The literature review segment of the proposal discloses different viewpoints and opinions of scholars. In order to accomplish the research proposal, the researcher has used secondary data collections and thus considered different reliable published sources.
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