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Accounting Systems
Chapter 13
42
Accounting
Undergraduate 3
03/26/2010

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Term
Entity
Definition
Person or object about which information is stored (people, employee, customer, supplier, product, inventory item)
Term
Attributes
Definition
Characteristics of an entity that need to be stored (customer: name, address, phone number, email, credit scores)
Term
Bit
Definition
The lowest level of information (-binary digit)
Term
Character
Definition
A computer combines eight bits to create a byte of data that represents a single character.
Term
Field
Definition
A physical place that data are entered (columns and rows)
Term
Record
Definition
A group of fields (rows, 1 record is one row)
Term
File
Definition
Ledgers and files provide storage of data (a collection of records)
Term
Master Files
Definition
Files containing data that are of a more permanent or continuing interest. (ex. accounts receivable file with all its information in it)
Term
Transaction File
Definition
File containing data that are of temporary rather than permanent interest. (usually used to update master files)
Term
Schema
Definition
Collection of ALL data available from companies database
Term
Subschema
Definition
Subset that is available from the Database
Term
What is a Data Base
Definition
Its a collection of files that has data integration and data sharing with all AUTHORIZED users.
Term
Why are databases necessary?
Definition
There is a large number of master files and this creates problems, each department would maintain separate and independent files and this would cause the same data to be stored and duplicated. This is not an efficient use of storage, because of DATA DUPLICATION AND REDUNDANCY
Term
What is better to be used File-based system or Database system?

And what is a file-based system?
Definition
Database system is better to be used.

Its a system with different structures for the same data, different coding systems, and different length of fields. ITS A SYSTEM THAT HAS NO STANDARDIZED FORM OR STANDARDIZED SYSTEM!
Term
What do database systems have
Definition
Standardized storage, retrieval, and maintenance of data.
Term
What is DBMS and what is a good example of a software system?
Definition
Database Management system... Microsoft Access.
Term
Define DBMS.
Definition
1. defining the data
2. defining the relations among data (whether data structure is relational, hierarchical, or network)
3. Interfacing with the operating system for data storage on the physical media.
4. Mapping each user's view of the data through schema's and subshema's
Term
Why is a Database so important?
Definition
1. Its valuable information... it can be seen as the MOST important data.
2. The volume that a database can hold... potentially millions of customers.
3. Complexity - very hard to do.
4. Privacy - must be protected from unauthorized users.
5.Irreplaceable data - data is unique to the company
6. Need for accuracy - complete, comprehensive and accurate.
Also important in internet users - critical components for internal and external corporate web systems.
Term
Primary Key
Definition
An attribute that uniquely identifies a record. (Customer #, employee #, product #, SS#)
Term
Secondary Key
Definition
non-unique field to identify a record (used to sort records) (zip code, state, city, credit limit)
Term
Foreign Key
Definition
An attribute in a table that is a primary key in another table (file) used to link one table to another.
ex. Inventory file (item #, Description, type, VENDOR #)
Vendor File (Name, Phone #, VENDOR #, address)
Term
What does Data Dictionary do?
Definition
Describes the data fields in each DB record. It is a data file about data.
Term
What does data integrity Controls do?
Definition
The SW that is used to ensure that erroneous data is guarded from being entered. Making sure its accurate and correct.
Term
Define Transaction controls?
Definition
The control that makes sure the DB system performs each transaction accurately and completely.
Term
Define Concurrency controls
Definition
Without this two or more users could access the same record from the same table at the same time. This is bad.
Term
What does data modeling mean?
Definition
Designing a Database
Term
What does REA stand for what is it an example of?
Definition
Resource, Events, Agent... a process design.
Term
What does the REA model require?
Definition
1. Identify business and economic events
2. identify entities
3. Identify relationship among entities
4. Create Entity-Relationship diagrams
5. Identify the attributes of data entries
6. create database records
Term
Business events what do they effect?
Definition
They do not effect financial statements, but can impact in a value-added way
Term
What do economic events impact?
Definition
Impact a companies financial statements
Term
The entity resource, what does it mean?
Definition
identifiable resources that an organization acquires and uses... ex. (cash employee, customer, building,)
Term
What does events mean as an entity
Definition
All of an organizations business activities
Term
What does agents mean?
Definition
the people or organization's participating in events (manager, employee, customer, supplier)
Term
Examples of resources?
Definition
Cash, inventory, equipment, plant facilities.
Term
Examples of events
Definition
Sales orders, sales, purchase order, purchase, receive goods, hire employees
Term
Examples of agents?
Definition
Employee, customer, vendor, manager, stockholder, creditor.
Term
What does cardinalities mean?
Definition
The nature of the relationship among entities
Term
What does the first number in each cardinality pair give you?>
Definition
It gives you a minimum...
Term
What does the first number in each cardinality pair give you?>
Definition
It gives you a minimum...
Term
What does the second number in each cardinality pair mean?
Definition
It indicated a maximum, it indicates whether one row in the table can be linked to more than one row in the other table.
Term
Sequential-access file
Definition
Records can be stored sequentially according to their primary keys. reading and writing in sequential order
Term
Direct access file
Definition
Preceding data does not need to be scanned to locate the desired results.
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