Accm 4600 Accounting Theory And Assessment Answers

Questions:

The key elements of your report should be understandable to both accountants and nonaccountants (the boards of the accounting firms often include non-accounting professionals).

Answer:

Introduction:

New Technologies in Accounting:

It is also important to realize that the massive changes in the technical facets of accounting processes have also inserted massive pressure on the business strategies and requires companies to model new ones. Within the perspective of the keeping up with the technology in accounting reports, there are new requirements that are coming up among the companies so that they can develop new models of business, value chains, as well as organizing new ways of activities to manage these new business strategies (Church, Schmidt and Smedley, 2016). As a result of all these, the whole market is changing with the changes in the processes that are innovative and experts adapting quickly to technological links to accounting processes.

Change is inevitable and  the accounting industry, like many other industries in the various sectors of the global economy, are already involved in technological changes in the face of a more digitized world and growth that has the precedence to continue on a sustainable path. In this way, it is prudent to state that the accounting industry is like many other industries are experiencing the need for a change due to digital technologies (Collier and Dercon, 2014). Therefore, technology is becoming a competitive accounting tool that that is capable of transforming the mainframe financial reporting. 

Ways in which technology is changing Accounting sectors:

Technology to improve efficiency: The growing changes in the financial systems is expanding the demand from the accountants as well as the taxation advisory and policy makers for tools that help them improve their efficiency. These tools are also significant in managing risks because of the increasing commoditization of the various work compliance. Most of the analytical tools in accountancy and in tax systems are vital in assessing, evaluating, and identifying anomalies in the accounting data, thus the need for further investigation and report of error as they occur (Najam, Runnalls and Halle, 2016).  These are the precedents of auditing because these technological advancements helps the client firms to spot the problems earlier enough to make changes. Therefore, they enable accountants to set custom alerts among others.

Technological advancements help firms to find new business:  The software used in tax systems and accountancy help them to find new businesses in the changing market. With the increasing need for high level value added functions, the management practices in the financial sectors are gearing up for new courses of business.

How technology has changed accounting:

According to the statement of Schön (2017), the accounting industry is estimated to have a high probability of becoming automated. It means that companies of the industry need to meet this change and need to understand what it will require of their businesses for survival. Even though the need for business modeling seems to be evident for digitalized accounting firms, no general mapping exist to serve as guidelines for the needed elements.

Threats and challenges of neglecting technology in Accounting

Technological advancements in the world are causing numerous changes, some of which are opportunities to firms while some are threats. Having studied the advantages of technological use to the accounting systems, it is important to examine the threats offered by the technological use in accountancy.  Based on the statement of Sharon and Zandbergen (2017), one of the threats of using technology or neglecting technology is the risk of losing control through digital technology. This is due to the fact that advancements in technology are offering new opportunities to clients and as a result, putting accountants at risk of losing their clients. In this way, in order to avoid and counter the effects of the threats neglecting technology in accounting and remain relevant in using technology wisely to stay ahead of competitors, the accountants are encouraged to be aware of market risks and take steps to harness these threats.

Mitigation strategies:

Specialist team:

The growing changes in the financial systems is expanding the demand from the accountants as well as the taxation advisory and policy makers for tools that help them improve their efficiency. These tools are also significant in managing risks because of the increasing commoditization of the various work compliance. Most of the analytical tools in accountancy and in tax systems are vital in assessing, evaluating, and identifying anomalies in the accounting data, thus the need for further investigation and report of error as they occur.

It has been often witnessed that the organizations fail to maintain the confidentiality of client information. With the help of a specialist team, it is possible to assist the clients and the employers in handling risk and avoiding litigation arising from viruses, thefts and other violations of the securities of the systems. Even though the role of the electronic tools and techniques are immense in assuring that only particular persons have access to information stored in computer system, the individual behavior plays a role in determining the effectiveness of security structure, After breaking into a large computer system, the hacker could copy datasets easily including numerous user passwords containing necessary information about the clients. Therefore, if a specialist team is appointed, it would avoid such issues. In this way, in order to avoid and counter the effects of the threats neglecting technology in accounting and remain relevant in using technology wisely to stay ahead of competitors, the accountants are encouraged to be aware of market risks and take steps to harness these threats. Expertise in the accounting systems and advances on the tax planning with business decision making procedures help the large firms due to their broad accounting and financial analytical tools and skills.

Recommendations:

Conclusion:

References:

Church, K.S., Schmidt, P.J. and Smedley, G., 2016. Casey's Collections: A Strategic Decision-Making Case Using the Systems Development Lifecycle—Planning and Analysis Phases. Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, 13(2), pp.231-245.

Collier, P. and Dercon, S., 2014. African agriculture in 50 years: smallholders in a rapidly changing world?. World development, 63, pp.92-101.

Najam, A., Runnalls, D. and Halle, M., 2016. Environment and Globalization: Five Propositions (2010). The Globalization and Environment Reader, 19(8), p.94.

Parker, L.D. and Fleischman, R.K., 2017. What is Past is Prologue: Cost Accounting in the British Industrial Revolution, 1760-1850. Routledge.

Vasarhelyi, M.A., Kogan, A. and Tuttle, B.M., 2015. Big Data in accounting: An overview. Accounting Horizons, 29(2), pp.381-396.

Watty, K., McKay, J. and Ngo, L., 2016. Innovators or inhibitors? Accounting faculty resistance to new educational technologies in higher education. Journal of Accounting Education, 36, pp.1-15.