Data integrity is essential for a company’s operations Essay

Describe various steps companies can use to ensure the integrity of its information. Just as the question states, data integrity is imperative to the success of a company’s operations. Data integrity is processing integrity which is one the five principles of systems reliability (Romney, & Steinbart, 2012, p. 274). For a company to be successful they must have a reliable system that is accurate, easily manipulated, timely, and valid (Romney, & Steinbart, 2012). Now that you know what data integrity is, we will discuss steps that company can take to ensure the information is accurate and valid. The first step that a company can take would be forms design, where they will sequentially prenumber all source documents to verify no documents are missing, and turnaround documents which are machine readable and do not include a possibility of human error (Romney, & Stein, 2012). The second step a company can take is utilizing data entry controls, which is performing several checks to ensure that the information is correct, one example would be a field check where the individual will determine whether the characters in a field are of the proper type (e.g. if you are expecting a zip code and you do not have numeric characters, there would obviously be an issue) (Romney, & Steinbart, 2012). The third step we will discuss is checking output controls. There processes would include users examining the system output verifying the information is reasonable and they are the intended recipients. In addition, users should periodically reconcile their reports and any other information including the general ledger to keep accurate up to date information (Romney, & Steinbart, 2012). By following these three steps/processes that I have discussed, companies will put themselves in a position to be the most successfully by accurately displaying the information. If they properly utilize these checks and balances, the possibility of any major issues is minimal and the likelihood of their business being successful substantially increases.