Nghiên cứu xây dựng hệ thống thông tin kế toán tại các doanh nghiệp xây dựng việt nam triển khai thử nghiệm tại công ty đầu tư xây dựng và thương mại đất việt tt tiếng anh

1 INTRODUCTION The necessity of the thesis Amid the current international economic integration context, Vietnam enterprises suffer big competitive pressure not only from domestic counterparts but also from giant multinational corporations strong in capital, brands and management capacity Accounting is known as a sharp and effective weapon for enterprises in making plans and managing business operations To develop sustainably, enterprises need to have various factors, of which the very crucial is a good accounting system As globalization is increasing, the application of information technology in accounting work has become common Computerizing accounting not only processes and provides information accurately, rapidly and conveniently but also increases labor productivity and raises accounting efficiency Reality has shown that in recent years, the Communist Party and Government have paid special attention to the development and application of information technology to boost the national cause of industrialization and modernization and affirmed that “Computerizing management plays an important part and is a regular task of organizations to raise management capacity, productivity, quality and efficiency Enterprises need to invest in information applications, considering them a fundamental measure to renovate management” (Politburo, 2000) This guideline has been reflected by different circulars and policies which specify the tasks of relevant agencies in setting, implementing, supervising and evaluating action plans so as to turn information technology applications into a new form of development, raise operational performance and competitiveness to catch up with other countries in the world In this guideline, information systems play an essential role in grasping new development opportunities, accelerating regional and international integration process and renovating production This may result in dramatic changes in business areas as well as management of enterprises Information systems help to improve labor productivity, provide information accurately, shorten work time, save human resources and raise performance The application of the information systems becomes an inevitable trend with great practical significance in raising business management quality Besides, the necessity of developing the information system also roots from the demand for integration with the world economy Vietnam has officially joined in various international economic forums such as AFTA (1995), APEC (1998) and WTO (becoming its 150th member in late 2006); entered ASEM in 2010, signed Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2015, VietnamEAEU FTA in 2015, Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement in 2016 Since 2017 the entire world has entered the fourth Industrial Revolution - an era with new technological applications in building information system with The Internet of things, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Social Network, Cloud and Mobile Computing, Big Data which have transformed the real world into digital world in all aspects of socio-economic life Information systems play an increasingly important role in the development of the society, an essential element to connect and exchange with the whole world to create, store, transmit, process and exploit information This revolution is a new trend with considerable impacts on the society and economy of every nation, region and the entire world, including Vietnam More and more foreign corporates have come to Vietnam If Vietnamese enterprises not apply information systems to facilitate their management, they will lose their market share to foreign rivals and gradually become outdated Construction represents one of the key sectors in Vietnam’s national economy Along with the development of the country, the scale and market of the construction sector are rapidly expanding, its production process is being socialized In the world, depending on the country’s growth level, the contributions of the construction sector to the economy vary greatly, ranging from 3% to 10% of GDP In Vietnam, this ratio is 6% - 7% (according to Vietnam Chamber of Industry and Trade, 2016) According to the report of Ministry of Construction in 2017, the construction industry maintained a quite high growth rate of 8.7% over 2016, contributing 0.54 percentage point to national growth rate, ranking third among sectors with high percentage point contribution to the country’s GDP Under the forecast of BIM, the construction industry will grow at 6.6 % annually in the 2017 – 2025 period Construction enterprises belong to infrastructure creating sector in the economy The construction sector is expanding and developing under different forms including state owned, joint stock, private, limited and informal To integrate into the world economy, construction enterprises need to strengthen their financial management solutions so that they can save costs in each construction work The construction industry has some typical features such as products are construction and architecture projects of big scales, complex structures, longterm completion period, these features can affect the process of informatic application in the accounting system Besides the normal accounting practices, construction accounting needs to perform some functions such as making estimates (estimating designs and construction), managing fixed assets, adjusting annual asset depreciation and accumulated depreciation Besides, product prices are calculated on the basis of negotiations with investors or estimates Assets are fixed at construction sites while facilities, materials, labor force are mobile on each project This makes it difficult to control the quality and quantity of materials exported from warehouses; managing assets, labor force and materials in the construction sites as well as creating accounting for production costs depend on various factors Besides, upon completion, products are used for a long time and difficult to change, so if products are not approved after checks, they need rebuilding, thereby increasing costs For these reasons, managing and supervising the construction and calculating process need to be implemented thoroughly to ensure that the quality of the construction work meets the estimated designs Particularly, accounting work in construction enterprises often focuses on the process of accounting construction costs implemented via the combination of three forms of calculation: profession calculation, statistical calculation and accounting calculation Therefore, the optimal solution that many enterprises are using at present is to research and apply the accounting information systems to increase the efficiency of accounting work in construction enterprises According to statistics of Construction Research Institute, there were over 1000 enterprises under Ministry of Construction in 2017 Most enterprises have been equipped with information technology infrastructure with LAN and Internet connection However, the application of information system remains quite limited Some enterprises face difficulties in processing, analyzing and synthesizing accounting figures to make financial statements and statistical reports to facilitate the decision-making of the management boards Moreover, as the demand for controlling and using information of users varies, accounting information is generally classified into two kinds: financial reports and management reports The survey findings indicate that most enterprises use financial reports to provide information for the making of financial reports for managers and external subjects such as tax agencies, banks and investors; they usually lack information for management reports that serve internal management and control All the same, in the face of pressure from international economic integration amidst the faster and stronger development of technology, construction enterprises also have the needs to change to an appropriate accounting software or upgrade their systems with additional functions so that they can manage the financial-accounting work more comprehensively The complete replacement of the old software with a totally new one costs time and money Besides, when upgrading the system, problems may arise when the old and new softwares have drastic differences in terms of technology, data accessing and processing modes To deal with these problems, the Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) has been proposed to integrate new applications into the existing ones to create a united system capable of sharing data among applications, using prevailing infrastructure, recycling old software, thereby increasing economic efficiency EAI helps enterprises to save costs of setting up the totally new system, enables them to apply different new solutions by integrating the applications of various manufacturing firms In that sense, it is of great importance to conduct thorough and systematic research on the computerization of the accounting information systems in Vietnam’s construction enterprises so as to work out solutions and proposals to complete the systems amid the context of development and integration Therefore, the dissertation titled “Research to Build Accounting Information System in Vietnam’s Construction Enterprises – Pilot Implementation in Dat Viet Investment Construction Trading Company” has both theoretical and practical significance to boost the development of accounting information system in the context of the fourth Industrial Revolution Research objectives and research questions Overall objectives: On the basis of evaluating the current level of computerization in construction enterprises and the needs to improve this issue, the dissertation aims to design a synchronously-computerized accounting information system for Vietnam’s construction enterprises Specific research tasks: − Generalizing domestic and foreign research works related to the research topic − Researching the theories on accounting information system, computerization in accounting information systems, approaches to the study of accounting information system − Evaluating the level of computerization of accounting information systems in Vietnam’s construction enterprises at present − Proposing the synchronously-computerized accounting information system capable of integrating with other implemented applications in the enterprises on the basis of EAI − Designing and coding accounting cycles by the method of ObjectOriented Analysis and Design − Testing the system in Dat Viet Investment Construction Trading Company 5 Research questions: To fulfill the afore-mentioned research objectives, the dissertation is about to answer the following research questions: − How domestic and foreign research projects mention this issue? − Which content theories on accounting information systems cover? What are the features of accounting calculation in construction enterprises and how they affect accounting information systems? − What is the status-quo of computerization of accounting information system in Vietnam’s construction enterprises? What lessons can be drawn from the successes and limitations of this process? − How is a synchronously-computerized accounting information system under the approach of accounting cycles structured? − How is the procedure of object-oriented analysis and design of a synchronously-computerized accounting information system implemented? − How is the synchronously-computerized accounting information system experimented in Dat Viet Investment Construction Trading Company? Objects and scope of research Research subjects: The accounting information systems and computerization level of accounting information systems in Vietnam’s construction enterprises, including different elements of: human, hardware, network system, software, data, process, procedure, application efficiency Research scope: Research space includes construction enterprises within the territorial border of Vietnam However, due to limitations in time and geography, most enterprises in the sample are located in Hanoi and Hochiminh city These are the locations with construction enterprises of different kinds and forms Research time lasted from 2014 to 2017 Research methodologies 4.1 Determining research methods A research method commonly used in the field of information technology is the Design Science Research Methodology for Information Systems Research (DSRM) This dissertation falls within the major of management information system, a combination of the two fields of business management and information technology Besides, as construction is a big sector in Vietnam, its operations are related to many other production and business areas Therefore, the author selected the DSRM method (Hever, 2004) to build and implement accounting information system in construction via the following specific methods: - Method of system approach - Method of professional process description - Method of system analysis, design and building - Method of system testing Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in the initial phase of the dissertation to identify research contents and collect adequate information about the requirements of users which an accounting software in construction enterprises needs to meet before building accounting information systems 4.2 Research procedures Research overview and identified research issues Summary of theoretical research on accounting information system Qualitative research - Collect data through system documentation - Observe the system directly - Interview experts quantitative research - Design a questionnaire - Collect primary data using a questionnaire - Process surveyed data - Analyze data Results of qualitative research - Evaluate advantages and disadvantages of current accounting softwares - Synthesize demand for applications of accounting information system - Analyze necessary accounting modules in construction companies Quantitative research results - Analyze and synthesize the current situation of computerization of the accounting information systems - Evaluate the need to apply accounting information systems in construction companies - Identify the accounting modules not available in the other softwares on the market today Research to build an accounting information system - Propose the model of accounting information system - Specify business processes - Analyze and design system - Build the accounting information system Implement and test the system Conclusion Figure Process of conducting research Source: author proposed 4.3 Methods of data collection Three methods were used in the qualitative research, including literature review, typical system observation and in-depth interviews Quantitative research was conducted via the use of questionnaires The surveying time lasted from 2015 to 2016 Respondents filled in the questionnaires sent via Google doc link for a research sample of 350 questionnaires The author sent the questionnaires to respondents via ways: sending them directly to individual respondents and sending them indirectly via Forms – Google Docs to construction enterprises 4.4 Methods of data processing As to qualitative research method, the author mostly used the methods of synthesizing and analyzing documents to collect, analyze and quantify data in order to describe the status-quo of computerization in accounting and identify new technical and technological trends used in system building As to quantitative research method, of the total 350 delivered questionnaires, 280 were returned Primary and secondary data were collected, quantified, expressed via charts, diagrams or panels in Excel with specific values to lay the foundations for evaluation and comments New contributions of the thesis By accumulating the theoretical and practical grounds of the previous studies on accounting information systems, the dissertation has some new contributions as follows: Firstly, the dissertation has synthesized the fundamental theories on accounting information systems, computerization of accounting information systems in the context of the fourth Industrial Revolution to create an appropriate approach Secondly, the dissertation has generalized the fundamental issues of construction enterprises and the roles of accounting information systems in construction enterprises Thirdly, the dissertation has comprehensively analyzed and evaluated the current level of computerization in construction enterprises based on the published data and the author’s surveys Fourthly, the dissertation has proposed a synchronously-computerized accounting information system for Vietnam’s construction enterprises, including management accounting information that has not been covered in previous accounting softwares This system includes various cycles of: (1)- Accounting for material and equipment; (2)- Accounting for production costs and construction costs; (3)- Accounting for salary; (4)- Accounting for fixed assets; (5)- Accounting for revenues; (6)- Accounting for business contract distribution; (7) Financial reports, management reports, tax reports These accounting cycles are appropriate with the management conditions in Vietnam’s construction enterprises at present and can integrate with other applications in the enterprises on the basis of the Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) 9 10 Fifthly, the dissertation has designed and coded accounting cycles by using the method of Object-Oriented Analysis and Design to create a synchronously-computerized accounting information system Organization of the thesis In addition to the Introduction and Conclusion, the dissertation consists of chapters: Chapter Theoretical grounds on accounting information systems in construction enterprises Chapter Status-quo of computerization in accounting information systems in Vietnam’s construction enterprises Chapter Designing a synchronously-computerized accounting information system for Vietnam’s construction enterprises and pilot implementation in Dat Viet Investment Construction Trading Company Overview of previous studies 7.1 Overview of foreign studies Research works on accounting information systems are mostly published on the leading journals on accounting and information systems Accounting information systems are known as the interchange of the two fields of information systems and accounting (Nasser, 2012) The research by Romney and Steinbart(2015) considers accounting information systems as the subsystem of the management information systems, where profession practices are processed in serve for accounting work of the enterprises The constituent factors of accounting information systems are a combination set of humans, software, hardware, network system, accounting information and the process of establishing accounting information and business situation Accounting information systems deal with issues related to accounting information and business situation of the enterprises (1) Research on the concepts, roles and elements of accounting information systems - Research on the concepts and elements of accounting information systems - Research on the roles and impacts of accounting information systems in enterprises - Research on the quality of accounting information - Research on accounting information systems in the system of business resource planning - Research on factors affecting the quality of accounting information - Research on the impacts of e-commerce on the system of recording accounting profession, internal control and creating online reports (2) Research on technology and techniques to build accounting information systems - Research on the application of digital computers - Research to the solutions to build accounting software - Research on the solutions to build accounting information systems under Client-Server model - Research on the solutions to build accounting information systems under Web-based model - Research on the solutions to build accounting information systems under service-oriented model on the basis of cloud computing 8.2 Overview of domestic studies (1) Research on the accounting information systems and accounting software - Research on the concepts, roles and resources in accounting information systems - Research on the quality of accounting information systems - Research on the controls of accounting information systems - Research on the procedures of building accounting software (2) Research on technology and techniques to build accounting information systems - Semi-manual accounting information systems - Partly-computerized accounting information systems - Synchronously-computerized accounting information systems Research gaps A thorough investigation into domestic and foreign studies reveals that the research works on accounting information systems are greatly various in both theories and reality, they have covered different aspects of the concepts, resources and procedures to build and implement the systems These are valuable sources of reference for managers, researchers and lecturers in the field of accounting information systems Accounting information systems play a very important role in the management work of construction enterprises, especially the big ones such as Song Da Corporation, Hanoi Construction Corporation, Construction Corporation No.1, LICOGI, Bach Dang Construction Corporation, Lung Lo Construction Corporation However, international research on the building of accounting information systems remains general without particular solutions for specific sectors and enterprise forms Research on building accounting information systems in Vietnam is limited in quantity and mostly done by researchers in accounting major such as 11 12 Hoàng Văn Ninh (2010), Hồ Mỹ Hạnh (2014), Huỳnh Thị Hồng Hạnh (2014) in order to complete accounting mechanism in enterprises without solutions to build effective accounting information systems Some comments can be made as follows: - The level of computerization of accounting information systems in construction enterprises is not high, mostly limited to the use of EXCEL or separate accounting software, just a few enterprises implement the synchronously-computerized accounting information systems Although some accounting applications are implemented as soon as the enterprises are founded, these software applications are designed for all business sectors Therefore although there are accounting calculation modules for construction such as Misa, Bravo, Fast, Effect, SmartPro, AccNet, some accounting practices for construction cannot be calculated in details In the meantime, some professional softwares specifically designed for the construction sector such as Ame Construction, Amis.Vn, CicAccount, Vacom lack many major functional modules while software providers not have theoretical grounds to consult which model is suitable for each kind of construction enterprises - Most enterprises have not established accounting information systems towards providing management accounting information for managers but only provide financial information Some systems have functions of management accounting reports but the contents are inadequate, simple, dispersed with no deep analysis of business operations in the enterprises, so the information that accounting reports provide to managers remains limited - Accounting information systems are not flexible enough in formatting reports and updating new accounting mechanism Whenever Ministry of Finance changes reporting formats, users have to update the new formats manually or wait for software providers to update them Accounting books and bills not comply with the current accounting regime There has not yet been sufficient research on theoretical frames and a comprehensive accounting information system model has not yet been developed to meet the requirements of the construction industry for accounting practices and reports Moreover, the processing speed of the systems is low, causing difficulties for users, especially when updating prices or searching information - Techniques of collecting and processing information are not advanced enough, thereby cannot create the cohesion and stability between the requirements of management boards and information for management Functional divisions in enterprises are not organized under the models of responsible accounting centres Particularly, there has been no survey on the computerization in accounting work in Vietnam’s construction enterprises (except for annual surveys conducted by VCCI on the applications of information and communication technology in enterprises in general) to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of these applications and their capabilities in meeting the demand for accounting calculation so as to identify which accounting professions in the construction industry have been computerized and which accounting professions need to be implemented in order to facilitate the financial management in the enterprises Therefore, it can be concluded that no systematic research has been conducted to investigate the computerization of accounting information systems in Vietnam’s construction enterprises and evaluate the current level of computerization to propose a synchronously-computerized accounting information system for these enterprises This is the research gap that the dissertation aims to fill in CHAPTER THEORETICAL GROUNDS ON ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISES 1.1 Overview of accounting information systems 1.1.1 Concepts of accounting information systems This part presents various concepts and resources in the accounting information systems 1.1.2 Roles of accounting information systems Accounting information systems are regarded as playing a crucial role in: (1) boosting the efficient exploitation of current equipment and infrastructure; (2) providing timely information to customers, giving them accurate and detailed information on finance-accounting situation; (3) raising labor productivity; (4) working as a catalyst in improving operational professions, eliminating unnecessary work and avoiding repetitive activities 1.1.3 Working procedures of accounting information systems The procedures of accounting information systems consist of three main activities: collecting, processing and communicating information, storing information, controlling and supervising the systems 1.1.4 Principles to build accounting information systems The process of building accounting information systems should respect the principles of consistency, integration and efficiency 1.2 Distinctive features of accounting information systems in construction industry 1.2.1 Features of Vietnam’s construction industry 13 14 1.2.2 Features of accounting in construction industry Accounting calculation in the construction industry is characterized as follows: products are separate construction works implemented in a long time and affected by social environment; production places depend on construction sites; construction prices change in accordance with market fluctuations 1.2.3 Features of accounting information systems in construction industry Accounting calculation in construction differs from other industries in: accounting for production costs and construction prices, accounting for material and equipment, accounting for revenue, accounting for fixed assets, accounting for business performance, management accounting 1.3 Computerization levels of accounting information systems This part presents the features of manual accounting system, semi-manual accounting system (conducted in Excel), partly-computerized accounting information systems, synchronously-computerized accounting information systems and accounting information systems in ERP 1.4 Technology to build accounting information systems In this dissertation, the author inherits the model of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) based on Web service technology proposed by IMB (2004) CONCLUSION OF CHAPTER In this chapter, the author presents fundamental theoretical issues of accounting and accounting information systems, the roles and principles of building accounting information systems The author also analyzes the typical features of accounting work in construction industry and features of accounting information systems in construction industry The author generalizes and evaluates computerization levels of accounting information systems and analyzes the technology to build current accounting information systems Chapter findings are scientific grounds for the author to investigate the statusquo of computerization of accounting information systems in construction enterprises in Chapter and propose solutions to build the system in Chapter The survey finds that hardware equipment used in enterprises mostly includes servers, desktops, laptops, printers, telephones, fax machines, scanners, projectors 2.2.2 Status-quo of accounting software - As to the desires of users to accounting software: Screen interface should be users-friendly, data exchange among accountants should be conducted automatically, report formats should comply with regulations and Vietnam’s accounting regimes - As to capabilities of upgrade and expansion: some softwares such as Misa, Omega.GL provide users with ad-hoc network - As to technical specifications in software: technological and technical bases, programming language, database management system - As to capabilities to meet accounting profession requirements: accounting softwares available in the market support accounting for material, accounting for production costs, accounting for fixed assets and financial report formats - As to strengths and weaknesses of the softwares: many functions are abundant while necessary construction accounting practices are not available, the softwares not support creating management reports or reports not meet the requirements of Ministry of Finance or not update in accordance with new Accounting Law, manipulations are complicated, there is no notification when users make mistakes 2.2.3 Status-quo of accounting data - As to the content of ensuring data integrity - As to database management system - As to the function of ensuring data safety in the software 2.2.4 Status-quo of professional procedures and accounting regime Some enterprises not have regulations on printing account books, reporting and saving data, erroneous figures on vouchers are adjusted directly on the vouchers without creating correction vouchers The practices of removing duplication of accounting entry in enterprises greatly vary, there are no absolute scientific and effective measures: duplications are mostly removed manually when vouchers have entered the same data or have been calculated via intermediate accounts and this does not comply with the accounting nature In fact, when computerizing accounting applications, enterprises often combine between software and manual work 2.2.5 Status-quo of users CHAPTER STATUS-QUO OF COMPUTERIZATION IN ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN VIETNAM’S CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISES 2.1 Sample descriptions This part describes enterprises participating in the survey 2.2 Analyzing the status-quo of computerization in accounting information systems in construction enterprises 2.2.1 Status-quo of hardware and network system Most users are accountants who have specialized knowledge of accounting trained in universities, colleges or vocational schools nationwide (those with post-graduate degrees account for 26.34% while those with graduate degrees make up 54.20%) Their computer skills are created via personal experience and self-training Managers rarely manipulate the applications by themselves, they are provided with financial-accounting reports periodically or on request 2.2.6 The necessity of applying accounting information systems - The level of computerization in accounting work in construction enterprises - The demand for implementing accounting information systems - The necessity of modules in accounting information systems - The forms of implementing accounting information systems - The benefits of implementing accounting information systems - The challenges when implementing accounting information systems 2.3 Status-quo of computerization in accounting information systems Achieved results: Many enterprises have applied accounting software or Excel application A few have implemented accounting information systems to computerize some accounting professions for construction works, construction material, real estate business, estimates of construction projects Limitations: Limitations are found in network system and hardware, functions in accounting softwares, accounting information, vouchers, data, procedures and awareness of users CONCLUSION OF CHAPTER In this chapter, the author presents the results of a survey conducted on 262 construction enterprises in the two years of 2016 and 2017 to have a scientific and objective evaluation of the computerization of accounting information systems in Vietnam’s construction enterprises The survey findings provide specific data on the availability of hardware, network system, database, accounting procedures in construction enterprises The learner synthesizes and analyzes the strengths and weaknesses, technical specifications of accounting software currently in use in construction enterprises as well as their capabilities to meet the demand for accounting work in the construction industry Statistical results illustrate the necessity of researching and implementing computerized accounting information systems in Vietnam’s construction enterprises to meet the demand of development and international integration, especially amid the context of the fourth Industrial Revolution 15 CHAPTER DESIGNING SYNCHRONOUSLY-COMPUTERIZED ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR VIETNAM’S CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISES AND PILOT IMPLEMENTATION IN DAT VIET INVESTMENT CONSTRUCTION TRADING COMPANY 3.1 Proposing model for accounting information systems 3.1.1 Functional model for accounting information systems The proposed model for the accounting information system is an integrated model which manages all financial – accounting practices in construction enterprises The main modules in the accounting information system include voucher management, accounting book management, construction accounting management and report management Some other modules to ensure the system’s operations include set-up management and portfolio management These modules are updated first to ensure that users can use them to declare and enter fixed data The proposed model uses network system and hardware that are available in the enterprises after they are upgraded and supplemented These modules are integrated in the system and use the centralized database Construction accounting management is an important module, it is separated from others to help manage calculate construction accounting practices This enables accountants to their work easily and conveniently The module for construction accounting profession management presented in the following figure consists of functions for construction accounting profession, including: accounting for material and equipment, accounting for production costs and construction prices, accounting for salaries and salary deductions, accounting for fixed assets, accounting for construction contract revenues and construction transfer, accounting for business result distribution 16 17 Accounting information system Manage system settings Manage portfolio Manage accounting books Manage vouchers Manage construction accounting profession Manage reports Set up company information Manage goods Manage recording of increasing fixed assets Manage detail books of accounts Manage material accounting Create financial reports Set up accounts Manage units Manage recording of reducing fixed assets Manage detail books of sales Manage production costs accounting Create management reports Set up accounting periods Manage information of fixed assets Manage sale vouchers Manage detail books of materials Manage salary accounting Create tax reports Set up the initial balance Manage warehouse Manage purchasing vouchers Manage ledgers Manage fixed asset accounting Set up invoice, receipts Manage departments Manage debit notes Manage warehouses Manage construction contract revenue accounting Set up display format Manage suppliers Manage exporting forms Manage cash books Manage identified business results accounting Set up accounting entries Manage customers Manage entry forms Manage bank deposit books Set up the entry Manage employees Manage receipts Manage general journals Set up report format Manage monetary Manage payable vouchers Manage taxes Manage banks Figure 3.1 Functional modules in the accounting information system Source: Author proposed Regulations and policies of the State on financial and accounting activities, accounting law, accounting standards in the construction field 18 Presentation Layers User interface components Webform Winform Mobile Net Framework, DevExpress, Javascript,HTML,CSS Business Logic Layers Manage system settings Manage reports Manage portfolio Manage vouchers Manage accounting books Financial reports Management reports Tax reports Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) REpresent State Transfer Applicatoin Program Interface (REST API) Material accounting Manage construction accounting profession Construction Production costs Salary Fixed asset contract revenue accounting accounting accounting accounting Identified business results accounting Data security and update services Database Layers Component database (relational form) Database management system (Oracle, FireBird, SQL Server) Manage Query / Search Manage transactions Manage storage Synchronize data Manage directory Manage Objects Manage data Dynamic files Static Files Dictionary lists Intermediate files Accounting reports LAN, WAN, VPN, Hardware and Network Layers Information Technology Infrastructure Server Database server Web server Application server Figure 3.2 Technology model of the accounting information system Source: Author proposed 19 20 3.1.2 Technological model of the accounting information system Based on the instructions to build information systems under serviceoriented architecture model by Thomas Erl (2005), based on accounting professions and distinctive kinds of reports of construction enterprises, the author proposes the procedures to build the accounting information system including following steps: connected networking model Stations will work directly on the database of the server At the end of the day, the server will backup data to prevent the risks of data loss Stations and the server will send information to other departments via Router or by the server itself Other devices such as telephones, printers, fax machines use the system by sending requests to the server The server is connected to the Internet to strengthen the sharing and can be secured by switching devices such as Switch, Router or Firewall - Building accounting software: The biggest difference of this system from existing accounting softwares is the AISC (Accounting Information System in Construction companies) model proposed by the author has full independent accounting functions and kinds of reports to help accountants perform their work rapidly and accurately The software has decentralization mode and runs under the control of anti-virus software to intensify the capability of accounting data security When in use, this software does not change the nature, principles and methods of accounting regulated by legal documents Besides the necessary modules of a normal accounting software such as system management, portfolio management, voucher management, accounting book management, report management, the proposed system has the module Construction accounting management which directly supports accounting professions related to construction field and the module Report management which automatically creates kinds of reports as requested by users The new feature of this proposed software in comparison with the existing ones in the market is the author has built the software with programming modules which can work independently or integrate with functional modules in other softwares - Building accounting database: In this model, the database is the structured set of data created from files of accounting data that record the daily business activities The collected accounting data are updated and saved in relation panels The software will automatically update data from relevant departments and calculate the allocation of production costs The database encode cost objects and items The result panels will collect production costs under categories of half-completed or completed projects With accounting for materials: fixed data and items related to accounting cycles must be entered first With accounting for labor costs, some items such as the number of dates, hours, basic salaries must be entered after payroll has been created With accounting for production costs, fixed data such as portfolio and arising data must be entered - Completing the accounting profession management procedures on computer 3.3 Description of the procedures of the accounting information system Step Examine the existing accounting modules Step Identify new accounting modules Step Analyze accounting professional procedures Step Analyze and design the system Step Program and test the system Step Build the enterprise application integration Step Integrate old modules into the new system Step Maintain and upgrade the system Figure 3.3 Process of building the accounting information system Source: Author proposed 3.2 Solutions to build accounting information systems - Completing network system and hardware: The hardware system is established depending on the human resources in the accounting department To guarantee data safety and security, enterprises should ensure that two accountants should not share one computer The accounting department should also be allocated with its own network so that accountants can work internally and avoid unauthorized access from equipment in other departments or from outside the enterprises Computers should be connected with each other under 21 22 3.3.1 Accounting for material and equipment 3.3.2 Accounting for production costs 3.3.3 Accounting for salaries 3.3.4 Accounting for fixed assets 3.3.5 Accounting for construction contract revenues and construction transfer 3.3.6 Accounting for determining business results 3.3.7 Financial reports 3.3.8 Management reports 3.4.9 Tax reports 3.4 Analyzing the design of the accounting information system 3.4.1 Overall Use Case diagram 3.4.2 Class diagram 3.4.3 Component diagram 3.5 Pilot implementation in Dat Viet Investment Construction Trading Company 3.5.1 Analyzing the status-quo of computer application in accounting At present, Dat Viet is implementing Unesco software with modules of Accounting for materials, Accounting for production costs, Accounting for fixed assets Salary calculation is conducted manually on Excel when construction teams send their employee timesheet at the end of every month Financial reports and tax declarations are conducted annually based on the results of these three modules and updated into Excel reporting format that is created by accountants The company has not implemented Accounting for revenues, Accounting for determining business results and Management reports 3.5.2 Pilot implementation of the system 3.5.2.1 Installing the system a Setting up network system and hardware b Building application integration pivot under Web service-oriented architecture model 3.5.2.2 Implementation diagram 3.5.2.3 Pilot implementation of some functional modules (1) Module for salary accounting (2) Module for revenue accounting (3) Module for business result determination accounting (4) Module for financial reports (5) Module for management reports (6) Module for tax reports 3.5.3 Evaluating the pilot implementation of the system For accountants and chief accountant: - Automatize many calculation tasks on computers, not need to work manually or on Excel - Save time of checking data in detailed accounting professions Accountants can easily create accurate reports when knowing accounting procedures in the company - Saving costs of training for users as the system is integrated with existing functional modules in the company, so changes in tasks are not remarkable - Provide management board with all accounting figures on request, save time for calculation, statistics and synthetization For board of directors: - Provide detailed pictures of financial – accounting situation of the company rapidly and accurately - Enable managers to adjust financial goals and plans promptly thanks to management reports with detailed analysis of costs, material and production profits of the company For tax and auditing offices: support checks, supervisions and comparisons of all kinds of invoices and vouchers in the company 3.6 Proposals to enterprises when implementing the system - Survey the demand of enterprises - Invest in building and applying accounting information systems - Open to technological innovations CONCLUSION OF CHAPTER In this chapter, the author presents the theoretical frame and builds software modules for the accounting information system in Vietnam’s construction enterprises with sufficient functions capable of integrating with existing applications in the enterprises based on the Enterprise Application Integration EAI The overall theoretical model (including functional modules and technological modules) consists of the basic modules: (1) Accounting for material and equipment; (2) Accounting for production costs and construction prices; (3) Accounting for salaries; (4) Accounting for fixed assets; (5) Accounting for revenue; (6) Accounting for construction contract revenues; (7) Financial reports, management reports, tax reports These are accounting cycles that are appropriate with the current management conditions in Vietnam’s construction enterprises 23 24 The author proposes detailed solutions to build the system under resources: completing hardware and network system, building accounting software, building database, completing profession management procedures and raising awareness of users The author builds the accounting information system by modelizing the profession procedures, analyzing and designing the system and building software At the end of the chapter, the author presents the results of pilot implementation of the system in Dat Viet Investment Construction Trading Company CONCLUSION Within the research scope, the dissertation has gained the following outcomes: The author has generalized and enriched theoretical issues on accounting information systems in general and accounting information systems in construction enterprises in particular Especially, the author has analyzed the level of computerization of the accounting information systems and proposed a model of accounting information system suitable for Vietnam’s construction enterprises The author has evaluated the status-quo of computerization of accounting information systems in Vietnam’s construction enterprises On this basis, the author has drawn scientific and objectives comments for this issue and affirmed the necessity of implementing synchronously-computerized accounting information systems in construction enterprises in present context The author has proposed a theoretical frame and overall model of a synchronously-computerized accounting information system and presented solutions to implement this model in reality The author has proposed functional model and technological model, identified techniques and technology that will be applied to integrate the existing software with the modules in the new system The author has proposed a detailed profession procedure with accounting professions and reports for construction enterprises The author has evaluated the pilot implementation of the accounting information system in Dat Viet Investment Construction Trading Company The pilot implementation indicates that the model proposed by the author has facilitated accounting work of the company greatly In the context of global economic integration, enterprises need to implement systems to facilitate all accounting practices which not only manage finance – accounting but also help managers to take charge of management accounting, adjust economic goals and plans The systems should create information connection between functional departments, build digital information environment, save costs, utilize existing resources and limit the purchase of new equipment Data should be standardized under the common principles of data format, limit abundance and data anomalies to the lowest level The accounting information system proposed in the dissertation can integrate with existing applications in the enterprises, support all aspects of construction accounting professions, automatically update new accounting regime, rapidly create reports when there are requests from tax agencies, administration offices with formats appropriate to regulations of Ministry of Finance Besides, the system can be upgraded and maintained easily, have high efficiency and not depend on technological experts In brief, the research results of the dissertation not only make theoretical contributions by enriching the knowledge of accounting information systems but also have great practical significance The integrated accounting information system proposed by the author is appropriate with enterprises which are starting to apply or have applied information technology in accounting It is the foundation to implement the accounting information systems to facilitate all accounting tasks and raise the efficiency of financial management in Vietnam’s construction enterprises  ... implementing accounting information systems - The necessity of modules in accounting information systems - The forms of implementing accounting information systems - The benefits of implementing... information that accounting reports provide to managers remains limited - Accounting information systems are not flexible enough in formatting reports and updating new accounting mechanism Whenever... on the quality of accounting information - Research on accounting information systems in the system of business resource planning - Research on factors affecting the quality of accounting information