The irony is that it is information that is most likely to provide a competitive edge to an

organization, especially in this globalised world. If one were to examine the best-run
companies in Jamaica, and the world, at the heart of their success is a reliance on accurate
and real time information.
or them to get information as re!uired they recognize the importance of their back-
office operations and invest heavily and wisely. "any businesses, however, want to get
information without making the necessary investment and without properly
understanding what the real issues are.
They don#t, for example, take the time to understand that information is $ust as good as
the capture of the data. The result is that accounting departments get overwhelmed with
work because there is not much effort placed on fixing the problems of data capture, but
rather %patch work% fixes are applied to getting clean information from the dirty data.
This neglect of information systems is one of the primary reasons for the uncompetitive
ness of Jamaican companies internationally. If one were to look at &merican companies,
the investment in back-office operations is always a priority.
They understand that knowledge is power in an ever-changing market, and they ensure
that they are e!uipped to provide first class information for their decision makers. &fter
all, how can one make a correct decision without the supporting information' Instead
many of our entrepreneurs and public officials tend to make decisions by the %seat of
their pants% rather than make well-informed choices.
The CSME
It is important for us to understand this as we embark on the (aricom )ingle "arket and
*conomy +()"*,, as our competitiveness will be stymied if our competitors in other
countries have readily available information to make profitable decisions when we do
not. -e may enter the ()"* and find that we are unable to compete effectively as many
of the other companies are always one step ahead of us, largely because of available
information for !uick decision making. In many instances by the time it is realised how
important it is to have readily available and relevant information it may be too late, as
this realisation usually occurs when the organisation is facing cash flow problems.
&s an example, Jamaica never really seemed to be too concerned with information about
our economy and public organisations until we started feeling the effects of a heavy debt
burden. .p to the /001s there was a lot of money flowing and everyone was happy. It
was after the /002 financial sector downturn that everyone seemed perturbed about what
the information was showing. -hat happened to the decades from /034' I can assure you
that if we once again are awash with cash then many of our problems will be forgotten,
even if it is because of a large debt in$ection. The auditor-general has always been
reporting on deficiencies in public sector bodies over the decades, and not $ust since this
year.
Misplaced priorities
It is for these reasons that I think that our society has not properly understood the
important role of accountants, always consigning them to some distant place in our
organisations. The statements include things like, %you accountants are too pessimistic or
too tight with the cash%. -hen the cash stops flowing, however, it is always the
accountant who is called on to fix it. The emphasis of public and private organisations is
always on the front-end operations, for example, concentrating on total sales without
considering what the profit is.
The 5leaner article also mentioned the "ayor of almouth as saying that he is awaiting
documents from the ministry for preparation of the accounts. This is typical of many
organisations. They do not recognise that an accounting system is $ust as good as the data
that is input, that is, garbage in garbage out. &ccountants have a way of dealing with that
which is accruals, but this is not the way to achieve real- time information for decision-
making. In looking at an accounting system one therefore has to consider the entire data-
gathering system, from the point of interaction with the customer. It is important to
ensure that the system properly captures the data and is interfaced %credibly% and
%efficiently% if real time viewing of information is to be received and used. 6ut guess
what, for many it is not worth the investment to put money into proper information
technology, as it does not have a direct public profile appearance as the car does.
The first time I visited Trinidad, one of the first things that hit me was that they did not
appear to be a country that was doing much better than Jamaica. 7riving on the roads
Jamaica $ust seems like a rich country, although signs of poverty have been showing up
recently. It is this importance of public perception that has driven our society and
economy for the past many years and caused our demise, as much of the debt has been
used to purchase consumer items, as we can see by the number of cars, mobile phones
and record credit card transactions. 8f course much of this is driven by our government#s
inability to provide proper public transportation and an ade!uate phone service over the
decades.
Investing in information
.ntil as a country we get to the point of realising how important information is for
decision-making, and make the proper investments in this area, then we will continue to
suffer the conse!uences when real competition hits us.
(ountries such as the .nited )tates rely heavily on information, and you can see it in the
reaction of the stock markets to regular economic updates or when watching (99, where
they are always doing polls to inform the public. The ability to capture this information is
because of the investment they place in information technology. This importance is
evident in the vast market for accounting and other information applications sold in that
country year after year. In Jamaica many companies look for the cheapest solution and
end up being uncompetitive. In all of this, however, one should not forget the importance
of having the appropriate human resources in place to deal with technological changes. It
is highly unlikely that a carpenter will be able to do a tailor#s $ob.
In concluding, I really hope that the audit of the parish councils, and other public bodies,
does not $ust report what the breaches are but highlights the state and ade!uacy of their
information systems, as this is the only way to enforce proper monitoring. If we are
serious about public sector reform and the ()"* challenges then proper information
systems are necessary. 8ne of my concerns has always been that government accounts
are not prepared on the basis of accrual accounting, thus we can be misled during the
fiscal year about the real status of government obligations. 6ut then again our importance
is always placed on image +form, and not the real long-term issues +substance,.
Today:s business world is very much complex and competitive. To face this competition
organizations try different methodologies. The latest and most innovative way is
incorporating ;information technology: tools into the business process. -ith the
development of telecommunication industry and with the invention of network protocols
like T(<=I< IT has become an essential tool in organizations to tackle the competition.
8rganizations exploit the opportunities available and grab the good market share through
these tools. 8ne way is using information systems to different levels in the organization.
The purpose of this is make information available for people who work in different levels
of the organization. 6ecause most of the organizations understood the success of the
business is depend on accurate and real time information.