New era of Accounting

Nedu Andreea, Stanciulescu Cristina, Grecu Mihai

AMIS, First year, group 623

Research Coordinator: Associate Professor Mirela Nichita, PhD

Abstract
This project paper aims to present the increasing involvement of information and communication
systems and the adaptation to the evolution of the accounting profession. The opportunities and
challenges of the accounting profession in the digital area are important issues.
New technologies, mobile phones, and any other tools that collect, store and distribute the digital
information are rapidly spreading around the world. The pace of this digital revolution is alert and
the relation between communications and computers changes every human activity regardless of
health, administration, accounting etc. The automation of administrative, accounting and
management functions through the use of robotic processes, thanks to artificial intelligence, has been
the subject of much speculation.
The future brings many changes that are both the drivers of productivity and progress but also new
competitive advantages and new opportunities. This is why, in the face of this accelerated future, the
schools that prepare students must also project itself in the preparation for the future and anticipate
today the evolution of the accounting profession with the purpose that the future professional
accountants need to become accomplished users of business intelligence and data analytics
technologies. This will be essential in order to better identify, manage and mitigate risks in the
business, supply chain, and the wider economy.

KEYWORDS: future, technology, OCR (Optical Character Recognition), cloud, Xero, innovation,
accounting

1. Introduction
We choose as our topic for this project the New era of Accounting. We made this decision
because we feel like is a very important change that will affect us all in the future and we
need to have all the necessary information in order to make the best decisions regarding our
future career.
Accounting or accountancy is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial
information about economic entities such as business and corporations. The modern field was
established by the Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli in 1494, but the history of accounting is
thousands of years old and can be traced to ancient civilizations. The early development of
accounting dates back to ancient Mesopotamia and is closely related to developments in
writing, counting, and money. There is also evidence for early forms of bookkeeping in
ancient Iran, and early auditing systems by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. By the
time of Emperor Augustus, the Roman government had access to detailed financial
information. And with the evolution of the society as well as the technology the accounting
had suffered changes as well: from the invention of the abacus that was used to keep track of
the calculations, to the working machines and the calculator which increased the speed and
accuracy of the accounting job. But the revolutionary thing came at the end of the twentieth
century when the first accounting software was invented. This allowed for the accounts to be
more efficient in their work and also permitted them to take in more tasks such as performing
statistical accounting or forecasting analysis.
The future seems brighter because the new and advanced software that will be implemented
in almost all businesses not only major corporations. Also, the technology will allow greater
flexibility and the reduction of the time needed for data validation and it seems that this will
allow accounts to have a greater number of clients from different parts of the world.
Evolution of the technology in accounting has many advantages such as: making the process
of tax preparation and bookkeeping a lot easier, making accounting a more complex job
allowing people to develop a new set of skills for a better financial vision, make up better
strategies, communicate more and be open to constant changing. Accessibility is a greater
advantage because now people won't be settled back because of the lacking of the resources
such as time to finish a job and now international teams can communicate easier and faster.
Also, the common errors made by humans will disappear along with the frauds and evasion
allowing the wasted money to be used for a greater good.

But along with the advantages of the evolution of technology in accounting comes a set of
disadvantages such as the disappearance of the bookkeeping occupation because the software
will do that job and that means that some people will become unemployed. And with the
evolution of the technology people will depend more on the machines, and that increases the
risk of disability in case of the machines crash. As of now, the accountants can be a part of
two major branches: bookkeeping and accounting.

Bookkeepers prepare the general ledgers where they record all the transactions a business,
maintain and balance the subsidiaries and the historical accounts along with other
requirements. But due to the evolution, it is not certain for how long will bookkeepers
continue to exist. They may have to keep up with the technology and evolve specializing in
other practices. Meanwhile, the process of accounting provides reports that put together key
financial parameters. The result is a better understanding of actual profitability, maximizing
the profit, and an awareness of cash flow in the business.
But the question nowadays is what do you choose? Well, taking into account the fact that
technology is in continuous changing, a career as an accountant is recommended because the
premises that this job will not disappear, but evolve into a more complex and rewarding
occupation

2. Accounting and future implementations

Every accountant knows that accounting is the language of business. That language has gone
through many changes throughout the ages. But through all the changes accounting
technology has always played a part in making the accountant’s job just a little easier. As our
knowledge of technology increased so has the accountant’s ability to analyze statistical
values. Technology advancements have enhanced the accountant’s ability to interpret data
efficiently and effectively.

2.1. Accounting Changes through the Ages

We can start way back in the beginning with the invention of the abacus, used to keep track
of calculations in business. Although we didn’t call it technology, we can go back centuries
with several attempts to build adding machines to help an accountant with mathematical
solutions. After the first working adding machine came the invention of the calculator for
information accuracy. As technology advanced so did the speed and proficiency of the
accountant’s job. But even with adding machines and calculators the accountant still had to
keep track of the businesses’ functions with paper entry. The process of identifying,
measuring, and communicating financial information was documented in the form of paper
records, columns of numbers and handwritten statements. An accountant had to be a very
methodical, detail oriented person.
Towards the end of the twentieth century, the accounting profession began to take on a whole
new look. Computers and accounting software has changed the industry completely. With
programs such as Microsoft Excel an accountant now had an electronic spreadsheet. The need
for adding machines, calculators, ledgers and pencils was eliminated. The job became less
tedious with less of a margin for error. The core training for accountants which included the
basic accounting, auditing and tax preparation was a thing of the past. With the use of the
computer, an accountant can now perform statistical accounting or forecasting analysis with
greater efficiency. Accounting technology has eliminated the number cruncher sitting behind
a desk working on people’s taxes and has allowed the accountant to find new challenges with
much more to offer than decades ago when they relied on an abacus for a calculating tool
(Kruglinski, 2009; “How Technology,” n.d.).

Today’s accounting professionals who understand the importance of the Internet will use the
Internet for e-business. They use the Internet to execute major business processes in the
enterprise. Electronic business (e-business) allows the accounting firm to coordinate activities
for internal management and combines the clients’ relationships with the use of digital
networks. Enterprise applications can be used on a small internal network called the Intranet.
The Intranet can distribute information to employees such as corporate policies, and
programs. It centers on a portal which is a single point of access. Information can come from
several different systems using a Web interface. They can feature such things as e-mail,
internal documents such as the Code of Ethics, and a search tool. It is a good means of
communication within an organization. Accounting professionals can also communicate
outside the organization with Web technology using the creation of an Extranet. This allows
the clients to have limited access, linking to a portion of the accounting firm’s Intranet to
import and export files back and forth. Linking electronically increases efficiency and cuts
down on travel costs ultimately reducing operational costs.

Accountants work with systems programmers to develop a digital process that will organize
their client’s history and all their documents. When the clients’ data is input into the
computer program the processing cycle gives the computer instructions on how to process the
clients’ data. This enables it to change the data into useful information. Output transfers the
processed information to the accountant (Laudon, et al, 2006, p.16). He/she can analyze the
data and interpret the clients’ financial statements so as to increase the client’s success. All
the clients’ records can be stored and organized on an accountant’s computer system. Rather
than bringing a suitcase full of file folders to a client’s place of business for review, the
documents can be carried on an encrypted laptop or organized on an encrypted portable
storage device. The accountant has the client’s sensitive information protected but yet at
his/her fingertips, ready to perform statistically, accounting or forecasting analysis. The
program is stored on the computer hard drive and the data is used to prepare the clients’
taxes. The need for a file storage room has been eliminated.
2.2. What’s next?

We found some predictions about changing in Accounting profession that are based on 20+
years of advising just one industry in many countries around the world and are based on
observation, fact and what works. Many believe that if accountants do not step up, be
proactive and add value, then many in the Accounting profession will go the way of the
dinosaur.

Some of the predictions are:

 Cloud accounting will be installed in >90% small to medium businesses

No one can stop social change. People want their data and information on their mobile
device. No one can stop huge technology companies from heavily promoting their solutions
to businesses. It’s time to embrace the change.

Only a few years ago bookkeepers and accountants would need to spend up big to provide the
best possible financial suite to service their clients. The new cloud platform, providing
professional finance and accounting tools to anyone with a meager $70 a month or so has
completely wiped out that old business model. These technological advances will continue at
an accelerated pace over the next decade, providing even more innovative applications,
combined with better analytical tools, larger data sets, and mobile computing to drastically
transform the industry.

These new technologies will not only change the way the books are kept and financial
information is stored but will create an entirely new business environment, allowing greater
flexibility to professionals with when and where the work is done. With the development of
real-time information and automation, being onsite will become significantly less important
and will greatly reduce the time needed for data validation.
Due to these advances, accountants are now able to take on more clients than ever and
provide services globally.

 Employment
While many believe that the cloud and other advances in technology are costing bookkeepers
and accountants their jobs, a huge part of the driving force in the adoption of online finance
sites has been the vast support received by accountants. In particular, financial gurus
representing small and micro businesses have taken it as an excellent opportunity to reshape
and expand their service and value, offering clients a greater range of services, assisting
businesses to become more competitive.

While the adaptable race ahead, the ‘dinosaurs’ of the accounting world are being left behind
with the introduction of cloud-based and mobile computing and the rejection of desktop
software and back room servers. Modern firms are undergoing full practice conversions,
taking on major cloud activity.

While the shift towards cloud computing takes place so too does the shift towards
untraditional means of employment with freelancers and contractors, significantly altering
how businesses are run, creating new and unexplored opportunities for accountants. Due to
technological changes and the need for a greater understanding of legal compliance and
regulatory requirements, clients will drastically favor accounting specialists over generalists.
This push towards specialization will lead to collaboration among bookkeepers, accountants,
and firms worldwide. These professionals will possess new roles as advisors, consultants, and
compliance specialists, providing strategic advice to clients through the use of automated data
capture and advanced analytical tools.

 Computers will be doing the reading, from now on.

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is the technology that makes that scanner in your office
useful for things besides photocopying. OCR is technology that turns images into readable
and editable text. That means you can take a picture of your whiteboard after a meeting and
have a document with all the handwritten notes typed out, produced in minutes.
For accountants, OCR is the technology that finally kills the hand-entered receipt by
uploading the receipts you get right into an online accounting platform, pulling out all the
relevant text and data along the way.

 From Traditional Payroll To Full-Service Payroll

In addition to the general ledger, traditional payroll practices have also evolved into full-
service payroll options through online services such as Gusto, formally known as ZenPayroll.
This platform allows for automated pay runs and employee onboarding with data syncing
directly to the Xero cloud in live time. This automated feature instantly saves the small
business owner from the hassles that come with payroll complexities and other compliance
matters. Gusto has made payroll software even more user-friendly because it gives users the
ability to add personal notes on the paystub.
The software also offers calendar reminders of important dates, events, birthdays, and
anniversaries as a way of keeping business owners connected to their employees and outside
contractors. This type of engagement enforces close employer-employee relationships in a
much different way that may not have been possible if this form of virtual technology was
nonexistent.

3. The advantages and disadvantages of futuristic Accounting

Thanks to the new advances in technology, consulting, business advisory firms and even
business owners are beginning to use new software and analytical tools to provide accounting
services.
These new technological advances make tax preparation, bookkeeping and similar jobs a lot
easier reducing the cost but also the demand for simpler accounting occupations. Many of
these services, including data entry, are becoming less profitable and in time are exceedingly
likely to disappear due to automation Sadly, one disadvantage is that the job of bookkeeping
will disappear in the future and that the accountants will have to be better prepared in the
technological field in order to keep up with the accounting programs.

Increased dependency on technology is another disadvantage. Tools such as calculators and

spell checkers affect the way individuals use their brains. Relying heavily on technology
reduces creativity and competency, so a technologized accounting will do more damage than
that the calculators did. Individuals can become addicted to technology. Many people spend a
large amount of time checking emails, sending text messages and using social media, which
can become addictive.

Also, the more advanced society becomes technologically, the more people begin to depend
on computers and other forms of technology for everyday existence. This means that when a
machine breaks or a computer crashes, humans become almost disabled until the problem is
resolved. This kind of dependency on technology puts people at a distinct disadvantage
because they become less self-reliant.

But here are some advantages that this new era will give to the people in that work in this
field of activity:
 More efficient practices
Regardless, accounting will become a much more complex job. The accountant will have to
become more of consultant and adviser. This means that their skills will need to change
because the desk work will evolve in meetings, preparing strategies with the shareholders,
making presentations and making decisions that will affect the business environment that
they work in. In fact, this means that the future accountants will have to have a better
financial vision, make up better strategies, communicate more and be open to constant
changing, as the former president of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, John
Brockwell said: “The professionals who will add the greatest value are those whose minds are
open, who can interpret, understand and communicate the meaning of numbers, who thrive
on challenges, who relish the opportunities for lifelong learning and who embrace change.”.

 Future of software
Also, the software that will do the job of bookkeeping, allowing accountants to take more
clients that they could in this moment and expanding their services to a larger scale. And
because of that accountants will become basically virtual controllers, making sure that the
programs run without fail. Machines won't take over the accounting job because judgment is
still required in order to make the best decisions financial wise and the machines only learn
patterns in order to predict an outcome. As Cernusca and Balaciu (2015) says, “the future
professional accountants must be aware of the qualities and characteristics that a good
accountant should have, such as a sense of responsibility, honesty, ethics and professional
conduct, confidentiality, integrity, attention to detail, thoroughness, and determination.”

 No more errors
Furthermore, new technology will make not only errors hard to make but will stop frauds and
other questionable activities such as creative accounting and make them impossible to
commit, programs such as RoboCop will be implemented on a global scale due to the
efficiency in tracking and stopping fraud. And this is a benefit to everyone because fraud and
tax evasion have become a global problem. Last year Africa lost billions because of tax
avoidance and fraud and it isn't the only continent with this kind of problems, all over the
world money that can make a lot of people's lives easier are stolen trough errors in
accounting. This is one of the issues that causes the African countries to develop a lot slower
than the western states and to be considered third world countries. A survey concluded in
May 2016 shows that developing countries were drained of $12 trillion and a study was done
in November 2011 showed that tax evasion alone cost countries worldwide $3.1 trillion.

 Accessibility
Accessibility to applications and data isn’t simply a matter of convenience. It is critical to
real-time, collaborative business operations and enhances team communications and
cohesion. Now, the schedule of one individual will not set back an entire team, trough easier
and faster access accountants will become more efficient than ever, solving problems that
normally imply more effort. This gives the opportunities to reduce the capital costs; increase
service and employee productivity by leveraging mobile devices and digital platforms, and
consolidate and integrate cloud-based information repositories.
4. Accountant’s features
Bookkeeping is the process of recording daily transactions in a consistent way and is a key
component to building a financially successful business.
Bookkeeping is comprised of: Recording financial transactions, Posting debits and credits,
Producing invoices, Maintaining and balancing subsidiaries, general ledgers, and historical
accounts, Completing payroll.
Maintaining a general ledger is one of the main components of bookkeeping. The general
ledger is a basic document where a bookkeeper records the amounts from sale and expense
receipts.

Accounting is comprised of: Preparing to adjust entries (recording expenses that have
occurred but aren’t yet recorded in the bookkeeping process), Preparing company financial
statements, Analyzing costs of operations, Completing income tax returns, Aiding the
business owner in understanding the impact of financial decisions.
The process of accounting provides reports that bring key financial indicators together. The
result is a better understanding of actual profitability and an awareness of cash flow in the
business. (The Difference Between Bookkeepers and Accountants, bench.co, January 11,
2017, Cameron McCool)

 Which One to Choose?

For a long-term career, accounting offers much more upward mobility, individual career
paths and income potential than bookkeeping. The education required to be competitive in the
field is greater, but the payoff down the road is immense. That said, bookkeeping is a great
starting point if you are interested in the field but not fully committed and want to test the
waters. (Career Advice: Accounting Vs. Bookkeeping, Investopedia.com, September 17,
2015, Greg DePersio)

 Dinosaur or Entrepreneur?
If you are an accountant, you need to make a decision: Are you going to become a dinosaur
or an entrepreneur? Leslie Seidman, the former Chairperson of the Financial Accounting
Standards Board, had this to say about the future of accountants: Accountants must have
intellectual curiosity and a willingness to learn and embrace change.
Accountants who embrace change and figure out what strategic pivots to make will succeed
and thrive. They will become thought leaders in the industry and crush everyone. Those who
don't and stay stuck in their ways because "This is how we have always done it" will go the
way of the dinosaur.

 Which route will you choose? Turn Into A Consultant!

The wave of the future for accountants (it's actually already here) is to become more than a
button pusher for your clients; you need to be a trusted advisor. If you only know
QuickBooks, but you don't understand financial reporting and general business strategy, then
you are in trouble. (Will Accountants Be Needed In The Future?, slcbookkeeping.com, Mar
3, 2016, Matt Roberge)

 How important is career progression?

This may sound like a no-brainer question but it’s not. Looking ahead 2, 5, 10 or even 20
years is important when thinking about your college major.
Here are just of the few jobs titles that an accounting degree can prepare you for Tax Analyst,
Budget Analyst, Public Accountant, Auditor, Government Accountant, Tax Accountant, Cost
Management Accountant, Financial Accountant, Accounting Supervisor, Forensic
accountant(The Future Looks Bright Indeed, franklin.edu)
Any analytical approach which is connected to the profession leads to the conclusion
that we have the obligation (each and every one of us together) to co nsider the
changes in the labor market, of course – first of all in a national context, but also in a
larger perspective, global and European. What today seems to be a distant goal, if you
don’t take it seriously, you could lose the “train” of economic and social progress.

 What does a modern bookkeeper do?

Awareness of benchmarks, industry norms, financials. Not so much involvement in day to
day data entry. Able to advise owners of their financial position; Ability to work with clients
anywhere whilst being “one source of truth” and providing reliable data; Use OCR
technology for data entry of invoices/receipts; Value based and fixed price fees—there are
many bookkeepers now who have adopted this model with great success; Quote the client
pricing early on, therefore minimizing the chance of difficult conversations about pricing
later. If the quote is clear and the client agrees, then there is usually no issue; Define the
engagement up front—again this reduces the angst factor, uncertainty, and potential future
issues. Have a letter of engagement for all clients; the modern relationship between business
owner and bookkeeper is a joint agreement, which implies joint responsibility. The
engagement process (including engagement letter), initiates that relationship of mutual
responsibility; Get it right in your own business and then you can be a better service provider
for others. The more efficient you are in your own business the better you can be for your
clients; Embrace change and make the changes needed quickly. If it’s not the right change,
move on quickly and change again until you find the solutions that work for you; Embrace
remote work. This changes the way you work to being less big batches of time dedicated to
one client on site, to regular small touches on a file to keep the data as up to date as possible.
You know earlier if there are problems or issues with the file or missing data, rather than
finding out last minute; Work on your business, not in your business. “Automate automate
automate”. Take a high level, supervisory and educational role for clients, and engage others
in working in your business with the low-level data; Set your own standards, pace, scale, etc.
What works for others may not work for you. Try things, and don’t be afraid to engage
help—from others in the industry, from existing staff and from business coaches; Challenge
yourself to address your own resistance and barriers to change—but again, at your own pace.
Find a balance between what works and is comfortable for you vs challenging yourself to
change and grow. There are always new opportunities out there in a constantly changing
world; Outsourcing—you are already an outsourced worker for another business owner. So
don’t be afraid to outsource your work to someone else. It won’t necessarily be easy to find
the right person, but once you do, it can be a great help. When you find the right person or
team, they become an extension of your local team and integrate well into your business.
(Xerocon 2015 Full Report)

Some of the research that has been done by the biggest professions in the world is about how
to respond to changes. The American Institute, for example, looked at how they should revise
their qualifying examinations to provide the skills that are more appropriate to today’s
market. However, I think they found it difficult to fully implement the recommendations that
flow from their research because it is difficult to change ones, model. Introducing innovations
like capstone multidisciplinary case studies and testing high-order skills (like judgments and
estimates) when using machine grading systems is difficult. The education technology is
lagging behind, in terms of producing tests that can assess judgments and estimates. Maybe
the technology, in time, will be able to assess judgments and estimates, but the technology
does not seem to be there yet.

It became clear from an interview with Michael Wells (Independent Accountancy Education,
ex-director of IFRS Education Initiative and who led over a decade International Accounting
Standards Board) asked about the right direction that the accounting has to be driven in order
to be relevant for the future that: The future profession of accounting should be developed by
the ability to make judgements and estimates. The bookkeepers would have no jobs for the
future; the machines have taken the bookkeepers. The accountants would make a difference
to prepare audit, to regulate and use the information. There would need to be more emphasis
on valuation in the qualification of accountants, less emphasis on bookkeeping, more
emphasis on understanding the economics, more emphasis on decision-making, more
emphasis on sensitivity analysis, more judgments and estimates focus, and less focus on
routine bookkeeping (Wells, 2016).

5. Accounting era – view from AMIS faculty students

In this project, our aim is to inform the students about innovation and changes in
technologies. To do that, we wanted to know exactly their knowledge about the improvement
and if they did some research or heard about future accounting and how this job will
constantly change upon a time.

To find out we asked 20 students from Accounting and Management Information System
faculty, to reply on a questioner based on questions about their job goal, the information
brought by the university in this domain, how they think innovation would affect them and
maybe if they know about the changing.
We were surprised to find out that all of them were aware of developing fast the tools for
keeping an accurate accountancy and thought that it is a good idea to improve accounting
because this would be more efficient for the employees regarding their work.

As an example, we will give some of the best answers to the most relevant questions:
Q: Do you think this faculty will help you in the future?
A: “Yes, I do, because here we can learn a lot of things about accounting and how to manage
different problems which occur during the process of accounting.” Or “Yes, I think this
faculty is the base of knowledge that I want to accomplish in my future career”

Q: Do you think you could keep up with the innovation in technology in your future career?
A: “Of course I can. Accounting means more than simple registers. It is about making the
best decisions, comparing results and situations and taking risks.” Or “Of course. It is not like
a choice is more like an obligation to do so.”

Q: How do you assume that the innovation in accounting would change the way of teaching
the useful information at faculty?
A: “More classes will have to engage in teaching students how to apply the accounting
information in a computerized world.” Or “The innovation in accounting would force the
ways of teaching to change and adapt to it while keeping the basic information the same.”
Q: Do you consider that the evolution of accounting has more advantages or disadvantages?
Why?
A: “As long as people can be adaptable to change there would be more advantages, but if not,
the unemployment rate could become too high and disadvantages would take the lead. I think
the subject is a bit too sensible and it has many variables, but mostly it depends on the will
and capacity of people to accept change and rise to the new challenge.” Or “The accounting
has to evolve in order to keep up the well-being of the companies. The only disadvantage
may be represented by the fact that in the future will be more difficult and not everyone will
be able to do it and learn it that easily because it will be more like a thinking process than an
automatic one.”

As a conclusion, as you can see, most students are afraid of this evolution because of
reducing the number of jobs in the future on this economic domain and pushing them out of
their comfort zone by learning even more. For them, it will be a challenge at their work, but
they are fully aware of that and still, they know that they will keep up and be prepared for the
new.

Looking to the future

This paper was concerned with the identification and analysis of the factors influencing the
evolution of accounting profession because of the technology, who is an enabler and can not
do all of the work. Accountants must be proactive and have conversations with their clients.
Business owners are faced with plenty of uncertainty, ambiguous situations where all the
parameters of the future are not known. Technology is not defining the future of accounting.
It is just helping accountants move into the future. As an accountant, you can help people
understand future consequences of their decisions. In the future, anything that is “rule-based”
and “repetitive”, even if it is complex, will get taken care of by technology.

What technology (yet) can't figure out is the "context", which is where human interactions
come in. For example, AI can learn to do "analytics", even complex ones, but to put the
intelligence from that analytics in the context of the business of the client is not easy for
technology to deliver in a way the reduced the current numbers and how the same numbers
can give input to better future decision-making - provided the accountants truly understand
client's business and industry.

The accounting profession will be most definitely digital, the paper will go eventually, the
paper receipts will go, and it will all be done through a barcode system and through internet-
based accounting.

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