Kudler

Kudler Fine Foods – Computer Information System ACC/542 April 9, 2012 Kudler Fine Foods is a fast growing chain of gourmet food stores committed to providing their customers the finest selection of the very best foods and wines in all three of their store locations. In 1998, first store was opened in the city of La Jolla, California and two other stores resided in Del Mar and Encinitas, California. The structure of Kudler Fine Foods consists of six departments: Administration, Finance and Accounting, Sales and Marketing, Human Resources, Operations and Information Technology. The initial plan for the company included funds in excess of $50,000 to hire a consulting firm to assist in the selection and installation of a comprehensive Retail Enterprise Management System (REMS). The REMS system has several modules that are currently not being fully utilized by the company. The system should be used to its full capabilities, and automatic several key processed for the company. There are several areas of key business and accounting information that need improvement, such as the accounting, payroll, purchasing and inventory. Under the Finance & Accounting Section, Kudler should add the statement of cash flow to show management the actual inflow and outflow of cash. Also, to show the purpose for which the Kudler Fine Foods is utilizing cash, which ensures that the company isn't spending it irresponsibly. One of the areas Kudler need improvement is purchasing and inventory tracking, someone to help Kathy Kudler with ordering as well as check the inventory. This would allow Kathy to just review orders and give the final approval every week before they are sent out to the suppliers. The company should request that all their suppliers be paid in the form of a check. Since taking ordering and inventory process out of Kathy’s hands would give her extra time, she could interact with the customers more. Kudler Fine Food’s hardware consists of the following: Novell 4.11 Server for POS which is very reputable; 56k modem; UPS standalone, four terminals with POS PII WIN9x, 1 of PII w/NT Server IIS4 Winfax Pro with built in modem and CDROM reader, Computer 64mg Ram Win 9x Office 97 Server XLS Inventory Spreadsheet with equipped with external CD burner and one bubble jet printer. For faster speed the company needs to replace the bubble jet printer with a laser printer. Kudler’s Fine Foods uses a payroll system that involves many unnecessary steps performed before checks and deposits can be completed. It is recommended that the company acquires software that will allow them to make corrections and print only one time when printing final checks and sending out direct deposit. A network needs to be configured so that all stores can connect as an intranet, allowing payroll, purchasing and inventory information to be sent to a central location. By automation of purchasing and inventory tracking the company can get a better handle of products at each of the stores. The company would be able to track when the quality of an item is getting low. Kudler know what is selling faster than other items and also what is not selling well at all. It is important to know which products are in demand at the three stores and which ones they will discontinue. In regards to tracking employees time, the company can purchase cash registers that can be set-up as a time clock. This will assign the employees identification numbers that are used to clock in. This method would allow information to be shared with the payroll software, and making payroll an internal feature that wouldn’t need to be outsourced. The General Ledger Module provides the company with reports such as chart of accounts to financial reports and budget tracking. The Accounts Payable Module provides all the payable function needs, excluding issues with large cash purchased at the store level. Finance and Accounting department are informed in advance about the purchase and they send a check to the manager of the store, and the checks can be cashed at the issuing bank. The information is manually entered into the system by Finance and Accounting once the proper documents and paperwork is faxed over. All documents should be fax to the Finance and Accounting prior to the check being cut. The company should establish a bank relationship with a secure network that handles automatic transfers to vendors that require cash payments. With this improved process, the company can link directly to the secure bank accounts and appropriate accounting entries could be made automatically when an account is debited.