How Has Technology Changed Accounting?

The evolution of technology has reshaped the accounting profession. Some might argue that technology has taken over there jobs and others will say that technology has made it easier. The truth is technology has cancelled out the paper and pen days, where accountants would use calculators to balance the books and to verify that the ledgers are accurate. Calculators back in the day were so big and heavy to carry and they only had 3 functions, accountants could only add subtract and multiply on their calculators. So, the advancement of technology is clearly evident in the field of accounting. The technology has changed how accountants do work, where they do it and how fast they get it done. When the calculators evolved and had different functions the percent of error was reduced but was not eliminated. Not only calculators have evolved with technology so has the software. Accountants went from using excel sheets and calculators that store data to quick books, oracle and SAP which are more expensive systems. This advancement in technology has allowed for the reduction of margin error, double entry and all ledgers could be stored in a single system. In addition, these soft wares also allow accountants to prepare financial statements and reports automatically because they are ready made. Which on the long run saves them so much time.

Another technology in accounting is cloud services. Cloud services make it possible for clients and accountants to receive, store and share data. With the introduction of technology the basic accounting skills that people imagine along with the profession of accounting have declined. When accountants have access to the right software they are able to perform “tax preparation services, statistical analysis and forecast modeling” much more efficiently and they can do it from anywhere. Companies no longer need to invest hours and money in core training for such tasks because they are simply performed through the aid of technology. That removes accountants from being “number crunchers” to having a more diversified role in accounting. By eliminating tedious processes accountants have more time to give advice, develop and create new processes and technologies and perform future forecasts that computers can not perform because we still cant trust computers with that. However, the computer will be offering valuable data to accountants to create these forecasts. The time saved allows accountants to analyze the performance of the business therefore they will be providing management with better and more in depth information that will help them in decision making.

Technologies are always advancing and according to the American Institute of CPAs, anyone who wants to become a CPA must keep up with emerging technologies.

Technology changes don’t only affect the profession of accounting on its own, it affects the skills that are required from accountants. Considering how much the technology has advanced being good at calculating is not the sole requirement for an accountant. Now, IT skills are a must. So, merging accounting and IT is very crucial because that is the language that is being spoken in the profession. The advancement of technology in accounting has been beneficial, it created specialized accounting softwares, created cloud based systems, it made the transactions between clients more efficient, created online accounting (mobile accounting) and most importantly, it diversified the jobs of accountants.