1. Management Information System (MIS) : An information system is any combination of information technology and people’s activities and using that technology to support operations and management. In a very broad sense the term information system is frequently used to refer to the interactions among people algorithmic processes data and technology. In this sense the term is used to refer not only to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) an organisation uses, but also to the way in which people interact with this technology in support of business processes.
A Management Information System (MIS) is a system that provides information needed to manage organisations effectively. Management information system involve three primary resources, i.e., technology, information and people where
- Technology: It is any improvement in the existing set of operations.
- Information: It is nothing but processed data which is in useful form e.g., accounting data is an example of data and when processed and presented in the form of final accounts, ratio analysis or cash flow statements etc. becomes information.
- People : As already defined it refers to the system users. The people who are using the computer systems for entering and analyzing accounting data.
Earlier, business computers were mostly used for relatively simple operations such as tracking, sales or payroll data, often without much detail. Over the time these applications have become more complex and began to store increasing amount of information while also interlinking with previously separate information system. The term “MIS” arose to describe these kinds of applications, which were developed to provide managers with information about sales, inventories and other data that would help in managing the enterprise.
Features of MIS:
- Flexibility,
- Economy,
- Simplicity,
- Accuracy,
- Common Data Flows,
- Brevity,
- Relevance.
2. Accounting Information System: An accounting information system is one of the oldest and most popular information system. It is widely used in profit as well as non-profit organisations because the accounting information that it provides is used not only by the accounts department but also by other departments like sales department, production department, human resource department, etc.
An accounting information system gathers data describing the organisation’s activities, maintain a detailed financial record of the organisation operation, transforms the data into information and makes the information available to users both inside and outside the organisation.
An accounting information system contributes to problem solving by:
- producing standard management reports that summaries the firm’s financial conditions.
- providing the database that is used by other information system.
An accounting and information system is a system of collecting, processing, summarizing and reporting information about a business organisation in monetary terms.
Features of AIS: An accounting information system is a transaction based information system. It caters to the accounting applications of an organisation.
The main characteristics of AIS are as follows :
- AIS helps in handling and manipulating accounting and financial transactions of an organisation.
- AIS is responsible for meeting information needs by generating reports.
- AIS is helpful in producing futuristic data in the form of budget forecasts etc.
- AIS is helpful in maintaining accounting information as per the guidelines of the law.
- AIS is highly crucial for the organisation and thus can easily be harmfully manipulated.
Thus, it is required to keep a highly safe and secure environment to ensure its safety.
