An accounting system is a collection of interrelated processes designed to accumulate, organize, and report on an organization’s transactions. The ultimate goal of an accounting system is to generate reports based on this information to support management decision making. These reports help management make well-informed decisions.
In order to integrate a new and effective accounting system into an organization it must go through a process referred to as an “implementation.” An implementation involves a series of steps that begins with a plan and ends with the achievement of a “go live” milestone.
The following list of steps is a conceptual overview of the implementation process for a generic organization. Various factors, such as the expertise of an organization’s IT department or the organization’s available resources, will influence the design and the related implementation steps required to achieve the go-live plan.