(ELECTIVE : ACCOUNTS)

–          Select a Purchase Voucher

–          Navigate between Accounting Reports

–          Server Security

–          Message Privacy

–          Message Integrity

b) Write about the different types of vouchers in Tally and steps involved in creating Voucher?

Approximately 1,500 new items enter the product line annually and a similar number are discontinued. The 12,000 finished goods require 25,000 in components, of which 6,600 are carried in inventory and 18,400 are made to order. The integrated system has already paid substantial in dividends and refinements continue to increase the benefits. In the seventies, Sudesh and Co. was achieving a 60 per cent customer service level (i.e. 60 per cent of the orders were being delivered according to original customer request with no delays or adjusting of dates). The sales/ inventory ratio was a respectable 4.2 per cent. However, the production cost variance avenged 16.3 per cent. Clerical expenses ran up to 36 per cent of sales. This was not good enough in a highly competitive business. Since the primary asset a company has (in addition to high quality reliable products) is customer service, an improvement in customer service was given top priority.

Three areas of cost control were also given high priority. They were:

(i) Production costs, especially those associated with a nationwide disbursement of inventory, must be controlled within reasonable limits, relative to the needs of customer service. (ii) Distribution costs, especially those associated with a nationwide disbursement of inventory must be controlled within reasonable limits, relative to the needs of customer service, (iii) Clerical costs in a growing business must be contained and if possible, reduced.

A computerized integrated management information and control system was instituted. By the early eighties, performance in the following four areas of high priority greatly improved.

(i)                             (i) Customer Service: Up to 72 per cent of orders were now filled as requested, as against the earlier 60 per cent, showing substantial improvement.

(ii) Inventory Turnover: The sales/inventory ratio was 6.2, a 50 per cent increase over the previous performance. More improvement was expected. (iii) Production Cost Variant: This category had all but disappeared, being controlled with a 1 per cent tolerance. This was possible because timely and accurate information now was available when needed.(iv)Clerical Expense: The ratio of clerical expenses had dropped to 2.8 per cent, an unusual achievement in a rapidly grow-ing business that had to face increasing rates of clerical labour.

Of late, the company realized that they should enter into custom manufacturing, as its initial mass production techniques had pushed it into standardized products, long product life cycles. Rigid manufacturing emphasized efficiency and low cost, but not true customer satisfaction. Customers want quality, value and products specially tailored to their needs — at the lowest possible price. Custom-manufacturing uses state-of-the-an information technology to produce and deliver products and services designed to fit the specifications of individual customers. Companies can customize products in quantities as small as one with the same speed and low cost as mass production methods. In custom-manufacturing, software and computer networks are used to link the plant floor tightly with orders, design and purchasing to finely controlled production machines. The result is a dynamically responsive environment in which products can be turned out in greater variety and easily customized with no added cost for small production runs. Huge manufacturers can be as agile as small firms. Custom-manufacturing systems take information from the customer and apply it behind the scenes to control the flow of goods.

Questions:

a. Are you impressed with the improvement in customer service, inventory turnover, production cost variance and clerical expenses? Justify your answer.

b. How could custom-manufacturing change the way the company did its business?

c. Which activity areas was the focus of IS operational control, management control or strategic planning? Do you agree with the emphasis?