Technology has a big impact in accountancy in general and we can see and feel the effects now.
The accounting principles and standards will remain but its application and helpful tools in the real-world setting will be different with what we are used to. Businesses today are employing accountants that are also skilled or at least familiar with accounting information systems and/or enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems such as SAP, Oracle, JD Edwards and others. The introduction of information technology simplified the accounting processes and procedures.
For example, companies nowadays are using procurement, material management, inventory and sales & distribution modules in their systems. The said modules have the ability to process the transactions and have it connected and integrated in a one common system available to entitled users (database management concept).
On the reporting side, those systems enabled fast and efficient closing of books by providing a customized reporting template including financial statements and management reports, and it aided timely decision-making via dashboards for executive management’s use.
Clearly, the days of big and bulky journals and worksheets will be totally gone soon and it will be replaced by a paperless accounting system. And it will be tantamount to a lesser bookkeeper workforce but a high demand in computer-skilled accountants. So as accountants, all must be at pace with the upcoming changes. Yes, accountants must know the IT aspects of their work!
It is also true for auditors. In audit, possessing skills and experience in technology is considered an edge or advantage. It makes an auditor more competitive and recent. This is also the observation of a fellow blogger and BusinessWeek’s regular contributor Joel Font, “Gone are the days when auditors could rely on a static set of skills and practices to succeed in their careers. And, gone are the days when most auditors, internal and external, had the good fortune of having job security to the point where they could, over a period of many years, fine tune company specific “routines” that allowed them to remain in their company’s insular (and sometimes provincial) cultures, where bad habits and bad practices went unnoticed and unchecked for decades. As a result of Globalization and market realities, survival for most auditors now depends on their abilities to re-educate themselves quickly and in gaining a strong foundation in the internationally accepted frameworks promoted by organizations like IIA, ISACA, ISO, IRCA and the AICPA…” (more on http://auditjournal.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/auditing-career-how-to-focus-on-high-value-skills/).
However, not all enterprises can afford the very expensive investment in their IT systems. This is the main reason why companies, particularly Philippine companies, opt to adopt a “hybrid” system (I termed it as hybrid because it is partly manual and partly automated) to save costs. The said hesitations became so popular with IT consulting firms so they find ways to make their expensive products affordable to their target clients. Just this few months ago, CFO’s around the globe became keen on the so called “Cloud Computing” (Trivia: Google has also availed cloud computing just this month). Cloud computing is like having a “server-less system”. Server-less meaning, no more big chunks of server maintenance expenditures and other server-related expenses in the company’s budget. CFO’s bought this idea in order to prevent cost and maximize savings for their employers. I will be discussing Cloud Computing on my next article.
In this era where information is considered a gem, each of us must be equipped enough to handle the forthcoming developments. The static and “boxed” approach is becoming slowly a thing of the past. We need to embrace the inevitable – that we are getting wired and interconnected.
To summarize, the accountancy profession will be greatly impacted by the future of technology. If you are still asking “how?”, just think how much Facebook and Twitter instantly became parts of your everyday life.
2 comments:
Technology has become an inevitable part of our everyday life, and so is to business. However, I would like to note here that technology can provide an aide but can't be a substitute to the human ability to analyze and interpret accounting information. Likewise, auditors professional judgment cannot be replaced by any existing technologies.
There is no denying that we have accelerated the generation of accounting information through the use of technologies. It is the reason why every business needs highly skilled accounting professionals to ensure the appropriateness of such information. It will never be true that accountants will soon be obsolete due to the emergence of complex accounting softwares that can generate financial reports.
Thank you for the the comment. I fully agree. Indeed, computers cannot decide the way accountants and auditors use their professional judgment. Moreover, at the beginning and end of the business process/activity chain, human intervention will always be present. It's just that we need to upgrade our skills and knowledge in order to adapt to the changes.
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