The Affects of Information Technology on the Accounting Education

The Affects of Information Technology on the Accounting Education
WANG Yufa
School of Economics and Management,
Henan Polytechnic University, P. R. China, 454000
[email protected]
：
Abstract Information Systems and Technology have greatly affected the accounting profession. For
example a task that normally would take eight clerks to perform can be accomplished by one accountant.
Information Technology has now made it easier for accountants to generate reports and perform
year-end closes. A number of professional organizations have called on accounting faculty to use
technology in their courses. Given the range of technologies available, the purpose of this study is to
determine what technologies have widespread applied among accounting educators. In addition, from
this study we can learn the differences among educators in their choices of technology and the extent to
which they use it. The information presented in this article also can be used by administrators to develop
an effective policy which can ensure broad participation of faculty in the integration of technology into
the university curriculum in China. Considering major globalization impacts on accounting professions,
accounting educators are recommended to pay special attention to this issue.
Key words: Information systems and technology, accounting profession, affects
1 Introduction
With the recent advances in computer technology, accounting approaches providing organizations with
information are increasingly insufficient. Many organizations have been challenged with implementing
new accounting systems. Just “finding the right accounting software is a time-consuming, tedious job” .
An organization must first understand the importance of the accounting information system (AIS) and
what makes it efficient. An AIS is a “system of collecting and processing transaction data and
disseminating financial information to interested parties”. Factors that shape the AIS include natures of
the business, the size of the firm, volume of data, and the informational demand that management and
others place on the system. AIS data is processed to external stakeholders--stockholders and government
agencies--in addition to its internal use. This data must be “certifiably free of specific type errors” since
a firm is subject to data quality control assessment conducted by auditors at anytime during operations.
Therefore, it is important that AIS produces relevant and reliable information.
The International Education Guideline (IEG) 11 issued by IFAC’s Education Committee considers that
“Information Technology is pervasive in the world of business” and “competence with this technology is
imperative for the professional accountant.” In addition to the statements widely made by academics and
practitioners, it is important to empirically analyze current University practices in order to detect to what
extent what has been said has also been absorbed by the Accounting Curriculum.
A professional with competence and skills to work in different jurisdictions and worldwide is key in
today’s economy. The exchange of professionals between countries should consider not only standard
International Accounting knowledge but also a number of business tools being extensively used today,
such as IT. “With the borders no longer what they were in the past, with the sovereignty concept in
crisis and with the need of our country to affirm spaces where it possesses more likeness, the
relationship America-Brazil should be a privileged relationship in the world context.” (Moreira, 2002 President of the Portuguese Council of Higher education evaluation - CNAES). Considering this
relationship between America and Brazil, and United States influence on China accounting practices as
well, it is important to compare the similarities and differences between two countries that are physically
apart, and while still sharing cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
This research attempts to provide some indication of the IT relevance in Universities Accounting
Curricula, and also identify Globalization level as proposed by Boritz (1999) Specially Pointed out has
difference between China and US. The results aim to provide information and insights for educators
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who are in the position of organizing Accounting curricula at Educational Institutions. The present paper
is organized as follows: The Literature review provides an overview of existing IT literature on
Accounting Education, followed by a section of research method. The last section presents research
results and discussion. Some limitations and recommendations are presented in the last part of the paper.
2 Literature Review
Although increasing attention has been given to Information Technology in Business and Accounting
Education (Benbunan-Fich, 2001) (Boritz, 1999), (Jackson 1998, 2002) (Fox, 1998) (Jackson, 1998)
(Fuess, 2001), little research has been conducted in the area of Information Technology education,
especially in Brazil. This section reviews existing literature references that discuss Information
Technology and Globalization in Accounting Curricula.
Following Boritz (1999) definition
“Globalization is a movement towards harmonization of practices, standards and professional
qualification programs”, this paper attempts to analyze the part played by qualification programs in the
role played by globalization. The IT curriculum in Accounting may include complementary issues and
aspects of Computer Technology and applications such as General Systems Theory, Accounting
Information Systems, Business systems and design, handling skills, Internet tools among others. “The
role of the accountants, as well as other business professionals, is changing dramatically as the world
becomes more technology oriented.” (Jackson, 1998;13). Therefore, “a well crafted AIS curriculum
can attract new students, particularly those who are interested in a more ‘techno-oriented’ approach to
accounting, who see the institution as offering a cutting-edge program that will produce highly
marketable job applicants”, as stated by Fox (1998; 15)
Considering that Information Technology skills are more important than ever for accountants, Brigham
Young University in UK has developed a comprehensive program to provide a strong education in
systems and information technology to its accountants (Jackson 1998). Japanese Universities in recent
years “have been under pressure to internationalize their curricula and make undergraduate studies more
cross-disciplinary”. (Fuess, 2001) However, Fuess (2001) also concludes that planning a global
curriculum is difficult considering the rooted Information Technology. Although some research focusing
IT curriculum and globalization has been carried out, it is still shy considering the amount of research
focusing financial issues. Among other reasons, this discussion results from regional crises, as well as
professionals’ increase moving around the world while involved in multinational companies activities.
As a result, International bodies such as ISAR, IFAC, ACCA and UNF have called the attention for the
creation of a global curriculum to serve as benchmark for developing countries. The Model Curriculum
developed by ISAR suggests 4 blocks of knowledge:
1. Organizational and business Knowledge
2. Information Technology
3. Accounting and accounting-related knowledge
4. General Knowledge
The Information Technology block is detailed as follows:
• Information technology (IT) concepts for business systems
• Internal control in computer-based business systems
• Development standards and practices for business systems
• The management of IT adoption, implementation and use
• Managing the security of information
• Artificial intelligence, expert systems, fuzzy logic, etc
• Electronic commerce
Some IT implementation has been seen in different parts of the world according to IEG11, issued by the
Education Committee in 1995 (revised in 1998), thus indicating some curriculum orientation’s practice.
The General IT Education Requirement in the pre-qualification level addresses five major content areas:
1. Information technology concepts for business systems;
2. Internal control in computer-based systems
3. Management of IT adoption, implementation and use;
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4. Development standards and practices for business systems;
5. Evaluation of computer-based business systems.
The General IT Education Requirements state that “prior to qualification all professional accountants
must have at least a general level of knowledge of each of the content areas identified above.”
Considering the similarities between IFAC and ISAR, the research design considered the following eight
topics as guideline for curriculum analysis:
1) Information technology (IT) concepts for business systems;
2) Internal control in computer-based business systems
3) Development standards and practices for business systems;
4) The management of IT adoption, implementation and use;
5) Managing the security of information;
6) Artificial intelligence, expert systems, fuzzy logic, etc;
7) Electronic commerce
8) Evaluation of computer-based business systems.
；
；
3 Results
According to our investigation, IT disciplines considered as a block of knowledge still represent a minor
portion of the whole Accounting curriculum. Picture 1 and 2 show the percentage of each of the four
blocks of knowledge in American and China University Accounting Curricula.
Figure 1: Blocks of Knowledge in American Accounting Curricula. In American Accounting Curricula,
Accounting and Accounting related knowledge (60%) is the major focus for the course, followed by
Organizational Knowledge (17%) General Knowledge (13%) and IT Knowledge(10%).
、
Blocks of knowledge in America Accounting
Curricula
4
13%
3
17%
1
2
60%
10%
1
2
3
4
Figure 2: Blocks of Knowledge in China Accounting Curricula In China Accounting Curricula,
Organizational Knowledge (65%) is the major focus for the course, followed by Accounting and
Accounting related knowledge (17%) General Knowledge (15%) and IT Knowledge (3%).
、
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Blocks of knowledge in China Accounting
Curricula
4
15%
3
17%
1
2
65%
3%
1
2
3
4
The aggregation of IT disciplines in the 25 China Universities represents 3% of the total. In American it
represents 10% of the total of Accounting Curricula. Although those figures alone may indicate that little
attention is given to IT, the content of the discipline program plays an important role in this analysis.
4 Conclusion and Discussion
In the age of information and increasing use of technology, market requirements for accounting
graduates are changing rapidly. The training of future accountants who can fit into the highly
technology-based environment is more challenging than ever before for universities.
As it was expected, the most frequently used technology in accounting education is the information
technology. By far the most popular applications of information technology on computers are e-mail,
internet, word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and data analysis software. In addition, video
technology is also used by accounting educators to some.
As technology continues to make tremendous impact on the way businesses conduct their daily activities,
information about faculty’s choices of technology for teaching is of vital importance. Such information
can assist us to identify what technologies and applications are appropriate for the delivery of our
curriculum. No doubt a well-designed technology based curriculum requires proper planning, skills, and
disposition. In search for the best teaching result in accounting education, faculty should continually
look for some applications that are most likely to enhance student learning.
A considerable number of companies from America are entering the market of China. Considering
International market expansion, and similar cultural background and language, all foreign accounting
diplomas must be validated by China universities, just as our accounting diplomas must be validated in
America. Therefore, the discussion on global curricula is pertinent. This would allow professionals to
have similar competencies and skills to work in countries.
The IT professionals of China have been increasingly recruited every year by developed countries, as
USA for instance, by offering better work positions. However, accounting students are still leaving t
universities with low IT knowledge, as the research has indicated. When they finished university
accounting courses, this lack of knowledge could be offset by other courses or training programs which
may result into a delay to enter the job market.
5 Limitations and Future Research
Some limitations of this paper are concerned with the availability of the IT program on the Internet. In
the cases where the full program was not available, the name of the topic was considered. It may lead to
some classification errors Portuguese accounting courses offer different areas of specialization, such as
Auditing, Systems, Business or Accounting and Finance. These specializations are a complement for the
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3 years of mandatory disciplines. In this case, to define a complete curriculum and homogenize the
sample, the authors’ choice was for a 3-year curriculum, added by specialization in Accounting and
inane whenever possible. This would integrate a most common curriculum in order to compare with
China Universities.
Future research is this issue is necessary. The comparison with other countries would bring important
information as to the level of Technology Corporation in accounting curricula. It would be necessary to
interview practitioners in order to detect the consequences brought by the lack of such knowledge.
References
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Author Brief
Wang Yufa, -1975, male, the Shandong yuncheng person, the lecturer, accounting master, mainly is
engaged in the audit and accountant the fundamental research and the practice work. Dr. Wang teaches
in School of Economics and Management, Henan Polytechnic University now.
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