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| Transaction Cycles | A group of related business activities (e.g., the set of business activities consisting of sales order entry, shipping, billing, and cash receipts constitutes the revenue cycle). The five major transaction cycles are revenue, expenditure, production, human resource management/payroll, and general ledger and reporting. |
| Revenue Cycle | The recurring set of business activities and related information-processing operations associated with providing goods and services to customers and collecting cash in payment for those sales. |
| Expenditure Cycle | A recurring set of business activities and related data processing operations associated with the purchase of and payment for goods and services. |
| Human Resources (Payroll) Cycle | The recurring set of business activities and related data processing operations associated with effectively managing the employee workforce. |
| Production Cycle | The recurring set of business activities and related data processing operations associated with the manufacture of products. |
| General Ledger and Reporting System | The information-processing operations involved in updating the general ledger and preparing reports that summarize the results of the organization's activities. |
| Data Processing Cycle | The operations performed on data in computer-based systems to generate meaningful and relevant information. The data processing cycle has four states: data input, data processing, data storage, and information output. |
| Source Documents | Contain the initial record of a transaction that takes place. Examples, which are usually recorded on preprinted forms, include sales invoices, purchase orders, and employee time cards. Contrast with operational document. |
| Turnaround Documents | A document, readable by humans, that is prepared by the computer as output, sent outside the system, and then returned as input into the computer. Example: utility bill. |
| Source Data Automation (SDA) | The collection of transaction data in machine-readable form at the time and place of origin. Examples are optical scanners and automated teller machines. |
| Batch Processing | Accumulating transaction records into groups or batches for processing at some regular interval such as daily or weekly. The records are usually sorted into some sequence (numerically or alphabetically) before processing. |
| On-line, Real-Time Processing | The computer system processes data immediately after capture and provides updated information to the user on a timely basis. On-line, real-time processing usually entails one of two forms of processing: on-line updating and inquiry processing. |
| Entity | The item about which information is stored in a record. Examples include an employee, an inventory item, and a customer account. |
| Attributes | Characteristics of interest in a file or database; the different individual properties of an entity. Examples are employee number, pay rate, name, and address. |
| Field | The part of a data record that contains the data value for a particular attribute. all records of a particular type usually have their fields in the same order. For example, the first field in all accounts receivable records may be reserved for the customer account number. |
| Record | A set of logically related data items that describe specific attributes of an entity, such as all payroll data relating to a single employee. |
| Data Value | The actual value stored in a field. It describes a particular attribute of an entity. |
| File | A set of logically related records, such as the payroll records of all employees. |
| Database | A set of interrelated, centrally controlled data files that are stored with as little data redundancy as possible. a database consolidates many records previously stored in separate files into a common pool of data records and serves a variety of users and data processing applications. |
| General Ledger | Contains summary-level data for every asset, liability, equity, revenue, and expense account of the organization. |
| Subsidiary Ledger | Used to record the detailed data for any general ledger account that has many individual subaccounts. Subsidiary ledgers are commonly used for accounts receivable, inventory, fixed assets, and accounts payable. |
| Chart of Accounts | A listing of all balance sheet and income statement account number codes for a particular company. |
| Financing Cycle | A recurring set of business activities and related data processing operations associated with obtaining the necessary funds to run the operations, repay creditors, and distribute profits to investors. |
| Budget | The formal expression of goals in financial terms. Budgets are financial planning tools. contrast with performance report. |
| Cash Budget | A budget that shows projected cash inflows and outflows. A cash budget can provide advance warnings of cash flow problems in time to permit corrective action to be taken. |
| Segregation of Duties | The separation of assigned duties and responsibilities in such a way that no single employee can both perpetrate and conceal errors or irregularities. |
