When a plurality of information processing apparatuses having an authentication function executes a cooperative job, user authentication information is transmitted from a cooperative information source processing apparatus to a destination cooperative information processing apparatus that executes the cooperative job. It is determined whether or not a user account with authentication information that is the same as the transmitted authentication information exists in the destination cooperative information processing apparatus. The determined result is then notified to the cooperative information source processing apparatus. In this case, when the cooperative information source processing apparatus is notified that a user account with the same authentication information does not exist, the cooperative information source processing apparatus creates a user account based on the authentication information. Authentication is performed using the created user account, and the cooperative job is executed by the cooperative information source processing apparatus and the destination cooperative information processing apparatus.