A Journal Survey: The Software CPAs Use
1997; American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; Volume: 184; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0021-8448
AutoresDouglas F. Prawitt, Marshall B. Romney, Stanley Zarowin,
Tópico(s)Financial Reporting and XBRL
ResumoAbout a generation ago, the only tools an accountant used were a hand-cranked calculator, a columnar pad and a sharp pencil. In those days, an electric pencil sharpener was considered a high-tech accessory. Today, you probably won't find any of those tools in an accountant's office -- except may be the pencil and the sharpener. Replacing them are computers -- mostly personal computers (PCs) -- and their high-tech accessories are software products that do the work, and then some, of those old, clunky four-function calculators. To find out what software tools CPAs use today, the Journal surveyed more than 4,000 members of the American Institute of CPAs, asking them, among other things, which products they used, how they liked those products, how they used them and, if they had plans to switch, what products they were likely to move to. This article describes the results of that extensive survey. The participants represented a broad cross-section of the CPA profession: those working for CPA firms -- large (Big 6 and national), medium-size (regional and those with multiple offices) and small (local and one-person offices) -- and those working for a wide spectrum of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, for schools and for federal, state and local governments. UP ON TECHNOLOGY It's no secret that for years the CPA profession was slow to adapt computer technology. This survey provides evidence of a reversal of that situation. Computers are being used extensively to perform accounting tasks -- from posting transactions to writing reports, from developing what-if business scenarios with spreadsheets to preparing tax returns, from tracking receivables to keeping track of fixed assets. Extrapolating from the data collected in this survey, we surmise that many CPAs not only use technology to do their jobs but they also stay on top of the new technology by upgrading software in a relatively timely way. That's not to say every accountant is using cutting-edge software, but the number of those still using decade-old tools is shrinking. For example, 88% of the survey respondents use some version of Windows as their operating system. Of that group, 35% are on Windows 3.x and a surprisingly high 49% used Windows 95, which is only a little more than two years old. Among Big 6 users, Windows 95 has 70% of the market. DOS users number only 8%. For details, see exhibit 1, page 53. Another significant statistic is that 4% use Microsoft's NT (which can be an operating system either for a single computer or for a network system linking many computers). While the NT users' percentage is small, consider the fact that just a bit more than a year ago there were hardly any users -- indicating the swiftness at which NT is moving into the accounting field. In business and industry, NT is spreading at nearly twice that speed, according to our survey. NT has already grabbed 7% of that market. Meanwhile, Windows (3.x and 95) is being used by 82% of management accountants. Likewise, not-for-profit organizations' use of NT is nearly at 6%, and in the academic world NT holds nearly 10% of the market. Windows runs 92% of government offices' computers: Windows 95 totals 31%, Windows 3.x is about double that, at 61%. But government's use of NT was too low to even register. When asked why their organizations failed to upgrade to a more advanced operating system (from DOS to Windows 3.x or from Windows 3.x to Windows 95 or NT), 45% report they are satisfied with their current systems and see no need to upgrade. For details, see exhibit 1a, above. Also coming as no surprise was Microsoft's role in the accounting community. Most CPAs use the company's software applications -- from word processing to spreadsheets -- and it's making swift inroads in the one area where it didn't even have a presence just a few years ago -- network software. THE NETWORK SPREAD The use of local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs) is growing. …
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