Essay About System Analysis And Information Technology

The Effects of Technology on the Accounting Profession
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The Effects of Technology on the Accounting Profession
The effects that technology has on the accounting
profession are huge. Information technology has to be
similar and support the components of the accounting
system. System analysis is a very important step of the
process in the accounting system. The questions to ask
are “What do you want the system to do?” “What software
packages will work to accomplish this task?”
A company is normally not alone is deciding which
accounting system would be appropriate, for the
information, you want the system to generate.
Accountants normally have an idea of which system would
work and they play a big role in the decision-making
process. A company will normally follow the advice of their
accountant.
Accounting information systems knowledge have
become critical in the accounting field. Auditors now use
computers to audit. In the past the computer was just
the box that held the information. Accountants would be
the first person to recognize whether the accounting
system was working for the company. The information the
accountant receives and how the information is input or
gathered will be an indication on how well the system
is performing. Accounting professionals should also
be aware of the accounting systems available and how
well they may work with the company structure.
In business, one of my favorite sayings is: Time is
money and money is time. If the company is taking weeks
to gather information and submit to the appropriate
department, then they should be looking for ways to
get the information in faster and therefore processing
it in a timely manner. As technology advances the way
we work, must keep up with these advances or we will
be left behind. Amazingly there are still companies out
there that do their books on paper. Using old general
ledger books to reconcile accounts and posting entries.
Imagine if we all were doing this but ten other companies
had moved forward and found better technology to serve
their customers. The customers will see the changes and
may prefer to do business with the companies that
seemed to have moved into the future. Thats how it all
started.
Email is another movement in technology. Faxing
documents and correspondence has become a thing of
the past. We can now electronically transmit documents
and create an audit trail without all the paper. These files
stored on the computer instead of in a file cabinet. The
internet has allowed research technologies that were
not available all in one area. Research