Discussion #3 Technology Trends for Accounting Firm LeadersForum https://www.jou
ID: 342524 • Letter: D
Question
Discussion #3 Technology Trends for Accounting Firm LeadersForum
https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2017/jun/technology-trends-for-accounting-firm-leaders-201716749.html
the expectation is to write a 12-15 sentence on your thoughts. Does it apply to your current work situation, have you had experience or examples, do you agree or disagree with the article. THEN provide feedback/comment to at least 2 student. This is all done on-line. Please post your initial response by Thursday of the week due and student comments by Sunday. Remember this is graded please correct grammar, write in complete sentences, and provide detailed information.
Explanation / Answer
I will help you with summarizing the article, and you can complete the feedback piece with your classmates.
The article here talks about how various technology trends, mostly in digital, will be affecting accounting firms in terms of ways of working. The article touches upon key aspects of what should be automated, and what cannot be fully automated at this point. It elaborates on the value addition that human employees play at the firms.
For instance, Cloud Migration is a big thing at most firms. The article tells us how, currently, this trend does not fit into accounting firms because it is expensive and does not have a lot of features which justify the cost.
It also talks about cybersecurity, because the more digital realms we touch, more avenues we open up for hackers to access client's data. The author also talks about staffing and right sizing the organization, which means we do more with less.
For Outsourcing, there will be always some portion of IT which will remain in house for agility. This is true as you cannot have all of your IT backbone outside of your organization, that means severe dependency on a third party.
The final emphasis is on Artificial Intelligence, which is the most interesting piece. I fully agree with the fact that AI, in its current state, can never replace accountants as they deal with a lot of grey areas which require human intervention.
I agree with all the points in the article, which beautifully touches upon how parts of technology can be used to make work faster and more cost effective in organizations, but not all of the work can be automated. There is still a long way to go on that front, and a lot of machine learning to work on for that.