chapter 4
The Revenue Cycle
economic enterprises, both for-profit and not-for- profit, generate revenues through business processes that constitute their revenue cycle. In its simplest form, the revenue cycle is the direct exchange of finished goods or services for cash in a single transaction between a seller and a buyer. More complex revenue cycles process sales on credit. Many days or weeks may pass between the point of sale and the subsequent receipt of cash. This time lag splits the revenue transaction into two phases: (1) the physical phase, involving the transfer of assets or services from the seller to the buyer; and (2) the financial phase,
involving the receipt of cash by the seller in payment of the
account receivable. As a matter of processing convenience, most firms treat each phase as a separate transaction. Hence, the revenue cycle actually consists of two major subsystems: (1) the sales order processing subsystem and (2) the cash receipts subsystem.
This chapter is organized into two main sections. The
first section presents the conceptual revenue cycle system. It provides an overview of key activities and the logical tasks, sources and uses of information, and movement of accounting information through the organization. The section concludes with a review of internal control issues. The second section presents the physical system. A manual system is first used to reinforce key concepts previously presented. Next, it explores large-scale computer-based systems. The focus is on alternative technologies used to achieve various levels of organizational change from simple automation to reengineering the work flow. The section concludes with a review of personal computer (PC)-based systems and control issues pertaining to end-user computing.
to automate and reengineer the revenue cycle.
The Conceptual System
OVERVIEW OF REVENUE CYCLE ACTIVITIES
In this section we examine the revenue cycle conceptually. Using data flow diagrams (DFDs) as a guide, we will trace the sequence of activities through three processes that constitute the revenue cycle for most retail, wholesale, and manufacturing organizations. These are sales order procedures, sales return procedures, and cash receipts procedures. Service companies such as hospitals, insurance companies, and banks would use different industry-specific methods.
This discussion is intended to be technology-neutral. In other words, the tasks described may be per-
formed manually or by computer. At this point our focus is on what (conceptually) needs to be done, not how (physically) it is accomplished. At various stages in the processes we will examine specific documents, journals, and ledgers as they are encountered. Again, this review is technology-neutral. These documents and files may be physical (hard copy) or digital (computer-generated). In the next section, we examine examples of physical systems.
Sales Order Procedures
Sales order procedures include the tasks involved in receiving and processing a customer order, filling the order and shipping products to the customer, billing the customer at the proper time, and correctly accounting for the transaction. The relationships between these tasks are presented with the DFD in Figure 4-1 and described in the following section.
RECEIVE ORDER. The sales process begins with the receipt of a customer order indicating the type and quantity of merchandise desired. At this point, the customer order is not in a standard format and may or may not be a physical document. Orders may arrive by mail, by telephone, or from a field representative who visited the customer. When the customer is also a business entity, the order is often a copy of the customer’s purchase order. A purchase order is an expenditure cycle document, which is discussed in Chapter 5.
Because the customer order is not in the standard format that the seller’s order processing system needs, the first task is to transcribe it into a formal sales order, an example of which is presented in Figure 4-2.
The sales order captures vital information such as the customer’s name, address, and account number;
the name, number, and description of the items sold; and the quantities and unit prices of each item sold. At this point, financial information such as taxes, discounts, and freight charges may or may not be included. After creating the sales order, a copy of it is placed in the customer open order file for future reference. The task of filling an order and getting the product to the customer may take days or even weeks. During this period, customers may contact their suppliers to check the status of their orders. The customer record in the open order file is updated each time the status of the order changes such as credit approval, on back-order, and shipment. The open order file thus enables customer service employees to respond promptly and accurately to customer questions.
CHECK CREDIT. Before processing the order further, the customer’s creditworthiness needs to be established. The circumstances of the sale will determine the nature and degree of the credit check. For example, new customers may undergo a full financial investigation to establish a line of credit. Once a credit limit is set, however, credit checking on subsequent sales may be limited to ensuring that the customer has a history of paying his or her bills and that the current sale does not exceed the pre-established limit.
The credit approval process is an authorization control and should be performed as a function separate
from the sales activity. In our conceptual system, the receive-order task sends the sales order (credit copy) to the check-credit task for approval. The returned approved sales order then triggers the continuation of the sales process by releasing sales order information simultaneously to various tasks. Several documents mentioned in the following sections, such as the stock release, packing slip, shipping notice, and sales invoice, are simply special-purpose copies of the sales order and are not illustrated separately.
PICK GOODS. The receive order activity forwards the stock release document (also called the picking ticket) to the pick goods function, in the warehouse. This document identifies the items of inventory that
must be located and picked from the warehouse shelves. It also provides formal authorization for ware- house personnel to release the specified items. After picking the stock, the order is verified for accuracy and the goods and verified stock release document are sent to the ship goods task. If inventory levels are insufficient to fill the order, a warehouse employee adjusts the verified stock release to reflect the amount actually going to the customer. The employee then prepares a back-order record, which stays on file until the inventories arrive from the supplier (not shown in Figure 4-1). Back-ordered items are shipped before new sales are processed.
Finally, the warehouse employee adjusts the stock records to reflect the reduction in inventory. These stock records are not the formal accounting records for controlling inventory assets. They are used for warehouse management purposes only. Assigning asset custody and accounting record-keeping responsibility to the warehouse clerk would violate a key principle of internal control. The inventory control function, discussed later, maintains the formal accounting inventory records.
SHIP GOODS. Before the arrival of the goods and the verified stock release document, the shipping
department receives the packing slip and shipping notice from the receive order function. The packing slip will ultimately travel with the goods to the customer to describe the contents of the order. The ship- ping notice will later be forwarded to the billing function as evidence that the customer’s order was filled and shipped. This document conveys pertinent new facts such as the date of shipment, the items and quantities actually shipped, the name of the carrier, and freight charges. In some systems, the shipping notice is a separate document prepared within the shipping function.
Upon receiving the goods from the warehouse, the shipping clerk reconciles the physical items with the stock release, the packing slip, and the shipping notice to verify that the order is correct. The ship goods function thus serves as an important independent verification control point and is the last opportunity to detect errors before shipment. The shipping clerk packages the goods, attaches the packing slip, completes the shipping notice, and prepares a bill of lading. The bill of lading, as shown in Figure 4-3, is a formal contract between the seller and the shipping company (carrier) to transport the goods to the customer. This document establishes legal ownership and responsibility for assets in transit. Once the goods are transferred to the carrier, the shipping clerk records the shipment in the shipping log, forwards the shipping notice and the stock release to the bill-customer function as proof of shipment, and updates the customer’s open order file.
BILL CUSTOMER. The shipment of goods marks the completion of the economic event and the point at which the customer should be billed. Billing before shipment encourages inaccurate record keeping and inefficient operations. When the customer order is originally prepared, some details such as inventory availability, prices, and shipping charges may not be known with certainty. In the case of back-orders, for example, suppliers do not typically bill customers for out-of-stock items. Billing for goods not shipped causes confusion, damages relations with customers, and requires additional work to make adjustments to the accounting records.
To prevent such problems, the billing function awaits notification from shipping before it bills. Figure 4-1 shows that upon credit approval, the bill-customer function receives the sales order (invoice copy) from th
chapter 4
The Revenue Cycle
economic enterprises, both for-profit and not-for- profit, generate revenues through business processes that constitute their revenue cycle. In its simplest form, the revenue cycle is the direct exchange of finished goods or services for cash in a single transaction between a seller and a buyer. More complex revenue cycles process sales on credit. Many days or weeks may pass between the point of sale and the subsequent receipt of cash. This time lag splits the revenue transaction into two phases: (1) the physical phase, involving the transfer of assets or services from the seller to the buyer; and (2) the financial phase,
involving the receipt of cash by the seller in payment of the
account receivable. As a matter of processing convenience, most firms treat each phase as a separate transaction. Hence, the revenue cycle actually consists of two major subsystems: (1) the sales order processing subsystem and (2) the cash receipts subsystem.
This chapter is organized into two main sections. The
first section presents the conceptual revenue cycle system. It provides an overview of key activities and the logical tasks, sources and uses of information, and movement of accounting information through the organization. The section concludes with a review of internal control issues. The second section presents the physical system. A manual system is first used to reinforce key concepts previously presented. Next, it explores large-scale computer-based systems. The focus is on alternative technologies used to achieve various levels of organizational change from simple automation to reengineering the work flow. The section concludes with a review of personal computer (PC)-based systems and control issues pertaining to end-user computing.
to automate and reengineer the revenue cycle.
The Conceptual System
OVERVIEW OF REVENUE CYCLE ACTIVITIES
In this section we examine the revenue cycle conceptually. Using data flow diagrams (DFDs) as a guide, we will trace the sequence of activities through three processes that constitute the revenue cycle for most retail, wholesale, and manufacturing organizations. These are sales order procedures, sales return procedures, and cash receipts procedures. Service companies such as hospitals, insurance companies, and banks would use different industry-specific methods.
This discussion is intended to be technology-neutral. In other words, the tasks described may be per-
formed manually or by computer. At this point our focus is on what (conceptually) needs to be done, not how (physically) it is accomplished. At various stages in the processes we will examine specific documents, journals, and ledgers as they are encountered. Again, this review is technology-neutral. These documents and files may be physical (hard copy) or digital (computer-generated). In the next section, we examine examples of physical systems.
Sales Order Procedures
Sales order procedures include the tasks involved in receiving and processing a customer order, filling the order and shipping products to the customer, billing the customer at the proper time, and correctly accounting for the transaction. The relationships between these tasks are presented with the DFD in Figure 4-1 and described in the following section.
RECEIVE ORDER. The sales process begins with the receipt of a customer order indicating the type and quantity of merchandise desired. At this point, the customer order is not in a standard format and may or may not be a physical document. Orders may arrive by mail, by telephone, or from a field representative who visited the customer. When the customer is also a business entity, the order is often a copy of the customer’s purchase order. A purchase order is an expenditure cycle document, which is discussed in Chapter 5.
Because the customer order is not in the standard format that the seller’s order processing system needs, the first task is to transcribe it into a formal sales order, an example of which is presented in Figure 4-2.
The sales order captures vital information such as the customer’s name, address, and account number;
the name, number, and description of the items sold; and the quantities and unit prices of each item sold. At this point, financial information such as taxes, discounts, and freight charges may or may not be included. After creating the sales order, a copy of it is placed in the customer open order file for future reference. The task of filling an order and getting the product to the customer may take days or even weeks. During this period, customers may contact their suppliers to check the status of their orders. The customer record in the open order file is updated each time the status of the order changes such as credit approval, on back-order, and shipment. The open order file thus enables customer service employees to respond promptly and accurately to customer questions.
CHECK CREDIT. Before processing the order further, the customer’s creditworthiness needs to be established. The circumstances of the sale will determine the nature and degree of the credit check. For example, new customers may undergo a full financial investigation to establish a line of credit. Once a credit limit is set, however, credit checking on subsequent sales may be limited to ensuring that the customer has a history of paying his or her bills and that the current sale does not exceed the pre-established limit.
The credit approval process is an authorization control and should be performed as a function separate
from the sales activity. In our conceptual system, the receive-order task sends the sales order (credit copy) to the check-credit task for approval. The returned approved sales order then triggers the continuation of the sales process by releasing sales order information simultaneously to various tasks. Several documents mentioned in the following sections, such as the stock release, packing slip, shipping notice, and sales invoice, are simply special-purpose copies of the sales order and are not illustrated separately.
PICK GOODS. The receive order activity forwards the stock release document (also called the picking ticket) to the pick goods function, in the warehouse. This document identifies the items of inventory that
must be located and picked from the warehouse shelves. It also provides formal authorization for ware- house personnel to release the specified items. After picking the stock, the order is verified for accuracy and the goods and verified stock release document are sent to the ship goods task. If inventory levels are insufficient to fill the order, a warehouse employee adjusts the verified stock release to reflect the amount actually going to the customer. The employee then prepares a back-order record, which stays on file until the inventories arrive from the supplier (not shown in Figure 4-1). Back-ordered items are shipped before new sales are processed.
Finally, the warehouse employee adjusts the stock records to reflect the reduction in inventory. These stock records are not the formal accounting records for controlling inventory assets. They are used for warehouse management purposes only. Assigning asset custody and accounting record-keeping responsibility to the warehouse clerk would violate a key principle of internal control. The inventory control function, discussed later, maintains the formal accounting inventory records.
SHIP GOODS. Before the arrival of the goods and the verified stock release document, the shipping
department receives the packing slip and shipping notice from the receive order function. The packing slip will ultimately travel with the goods to the customer to describe the contents of the order. The ship- ping notice will later be forwarded to the billing function as evidence that the customer’s order was filled and shipped. This document conveys pertinent new facts such as the date of shipment, the items and quantities actually shipped, the name of the carrier, and freight charges. In some systems, the shipping notice is a separate document prepared within the shipping function.
Upon receiving the goods from the warehouse, the shipping clerk reconciles the physical items with the stock release, the packing slip, and the shipping notice to verify that the order is correct. The ship goods function thus serves as an important independent verification control point and is the last opportunity to detect errors before shipment. The shipping clerk packages the goods, attaches the packing slip, completes the shipping notice, and prepares a bill of lading. The bill of lading, as shown in Figure 4-3, is a formal contract between the seller and the shipping company (carrier) to transport the goods to the customer. This document establishes legal ownership and responsibility for assets in transit. Once the goods are transferred to the carrier, the shipping clerk records the shipment in the shipping log, forwards the shipping notice and the stock release to the bill-customer function as proof of shipment, and updates the customer’s open order file.
BILL CUSTOMER. The shipment of goods marks the completion of the economic event and the point at which the customer should be billed. Billing before shipment encourages inaccurate record keeping and inefficient operations. When the customer order is originally prepared, some details such as inventory availability, prices, and shipping charges may not be known with certainty. In the case of back-orders, for example, suppliers do not typically bill customers for out-of-stock items. Billing for goods not shipped causes confusion, damages relations with customers, and requires additional work to make adjustments to the accounting records.
To prevent such problems, the billing function awaits notification from shipping before it bills. Figure 4-1 shows that upon credit approval, the bill-customer function receives the sales order (invoice copy) from th
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