The Effects of Technology on the Accounting Profession
ACC/340
December 9, 2013
The Effects of Technology on the Accounting Profession
Accounting information systems have changed the way in which businesses conduct their accounting functions. Real time billing and processing allows the business to have a live accounting system where transactions are processed by operators, and these transactions are simultaneously integrated into the continuously updated financial accounting system (Bagranoff, Simkin, & Strand, 2008). Transactions and their impact and influence on the company's profit and loss accounts are visible as they are processed. This means that there is no need to wait anymore until month-end to see how the business is performing. The performance of the business can be monitored, transaction by transaction, and corrective or preventative action taken as a result of the continued transaction updating (Bagranoff, Simkin, & Strand, 2008). Data or values, once inputted, can be quickly analyzed and used to compile projections. This would not be possible without a functional accounting information system. Some of the generated reports from the accounting information system may be useful in detecting or predicting potential problem areas, such as fraud or impending financial failure. Automatic financial audit trails are not only possible; they can provide a fast, reliable, and acceptable way of monitoring financial transactions within the business (Bagranoff, Simkin, & Strand, 2008).
Source documents have gone from purely paper-based documents such as orders, invoices, and delivery notes too, in many instances, completely digital documents. This enables order tracking, the processing of customer invoices, and the automatic transfer all purchase and sales documents to statements (Bagranoff, Simkin, & Strand, 2008). Traditional paper transactions have been replaced by digital transactions most often transmitted via e-mail and...