Applications of Technology in Modern Accounting

Jonathan EnoChristopher Parks

Nathan Phillips

Technology in Accounting The more a company is able

to access and review data with immediacy, the more nimble they are in response to business challenges and opportunities.

There are many decisions that a manager, business owner or CFO may need to make as accounting systems are put in place to replace the paper ledgers of the past

ERP systems are one of the most widespread applications of technology in accounting.

ERP systems are used by organizations to integrate their accounting and other business functions.

What is ERP?

The ERP market is dominated by two vendors, SAP and Oracle

Clash of the Titans: An independent comparison of SAP versus Oracle

CRM Systems

Packaged systems focused on the support of several key areas of a company including:

The customer service relationship

Product distributionCompany revenue and

cost tracking functions

CRM Systems

Commonly used as a separate package from the central accounting and finance functions of an enterprise

Typically not focused on external stakeholders

SME Systems

Focused on small and medium enterprises

Similar functionality to ERP systems, but may not be as integrated to all departments

Often offered as Software as a Service (SaaS) products

Integration Fights Hairballs

Cost of Systems SME systems are priced as low

as $15 per year for a service A full-service SME solution

may cost several thousand dollars for the software plus several hundred per year per license

ERP systems for middle to large scale companies commonly range from 100,000 to several million dollars, plus large costs per user

System Performance

Factors that drive the decisions on what systems to use include:

Storage of documentsEase of inputtingAccessibility of data for

review, distribution, and analysis

ERP System ImprovementsRecent ERP system

improvements include: Systems that speed the

inputting of data into the ERP system at the unit or call center level and provide managers with automatic reports from the system queries

Systems and interfaces that improve ERP system functionality

Mobility Universal desktops, VPNs

or interface portals allow clients and managers to access information and perform functions in the ERP system throughout the world using mobile devices

This mobility is increasingly important as the speed of information distribution capability improves

Mobile Accounting Software Example

Dashboards

Dashboards are designed to be a visual representation of business performance for a defined business unit

Dashboards display relevant data on a single page for easy display on mobile devices

Cloud Computing

• One of the major recent developments in business software is increased use of cloud computing.

• What is cloud computing?

Cloud Computing Explained

Companies can now focus on responding to information instead of spending huge amounts of time recording and storing it

The next challenge for companies is to make use of the cloud more effectively, speeding information through their organization and encouraging pro-active response to information and analysis