The Impact of Information Technology on Accounting Systems
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To access how information technology in accounting systems has assisted in the enhancement of globalization in Unilever Nigeria plc
- To access how information technology (IT) helps in the reduction of cost and benefit in increasing the revenue profit of Unilever Nigeria plc
- To investigate the extent of effectiveness and efficiency in Unilever Nigeria plc after the introduction of information technology.
- How the introduction of information technology has influenced bank performances as well as assessing logically whether the adoption of information systems has influence the growth and development of the Unilever Nigeria plc
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ROLE IN ACCOUNTING DEVELOPMENT
Trade in companies and institution is very different with recent years. Strong effects of information technology such as computers, the Internet, wireless, software and hardware have been changed business and management style generally. New practical software, improved obtained results in different sections of a company or factory such as production line, packaging, accounting and management. Improvement in performance and obtained results leads to promotion in quality level of products or services, more attractions of customers’ satisfaction, and obtain more profit finally. Accounting systems are one of the systems with the most changes due to the IT progress. These changes and developments help accountants to overcome the defects of traditional methods. In traditional methods of accounting, accountants were notes their calculations, statistics and data in papers, which problems of these method need to be investigated in other researches, but low accuracy and speed, information losses due to the different reasons and environmental problems are disadvantages of these methods, briefly. Mentioned problems in traditional methods of accounting, have been resolved in new methods; by automated software and computer, manual calculations and paper usage is not required anymore for accounting calculations. The strength of these applications is their flexibility in programming; so, accounting software can be used in different companies with different goals, or an application can be written for a company, exclusively. Therefore, there is no limit in coding software for different companies. The raised question is how to choose the type of software by company. Two factors are effective in this choice; the first factor is the amount of operations, which should be done by accountants, the second one is the number of users who access to this system. According to the mentioned notes, stronger application is needed in the larger company. On the other hand, if a normal company use from very powerful and professional accounting application, it spent additional cost. It must be acknowledged, information technology has been significant contribution in improvement of accounting groups. In this regard, some advantages can be noted such as short time needed to present financial information to managers and stakeholders. Huge amount of today’s calculations are very time consuming, if accountants perform them based on traditional methods, and the obtained results are not reliable completely. In addition to the shorter time of calculations, increased accuracy, improved performance and environment-friendly method, are other advantages of information technology in accounting. In the next section, these advantages investigated, separately.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought the impact of information technology technology in accounting system
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information the impact of information technology technology in accounting system. 200 staff of unilever Nigeria plc, Enugu state was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain the impact of information technology in accounting system. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of the impact of information technology in accounting system
Summary
This study was on the impact of information technology in accounting system. Four objectives were raised which included: To access how information technology on accounting system has assisted in the enhancement of globalization in unilever Nigeria plc, to access how information technology (IT) helps in the reduction of cost and benefit in increasing the revenue profit of the unilever Nigeria plc, to investigate in to the extent of effectiveness and efficiency in unilever Nigeria plc after the introduction of information technology, How the introduction of information technology has influenced bank performances as well as assessing logically whether the adoption of information system has influence on the growth and development in the unilever Nigeria plc. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of Unilever Nigeria Plc, Enugu state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made human resource managers, accountants, senior staff and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
There is no need to perform complex and time consuming manual calculations, in the recent century. Companies can do their accounting calculations with desirable organization by use of new technologies. Information technology progress doesn’t limit to a specific part of human life, and it includes all the areas. Accounting synchronized with developments in the world too, and it has evolved from traditional and old form to advanced and modern form. In the past, accountants had special skills in mathematical calculations to perform their accounting tasks, but nowadays, mathematical calculations are defined in accounting applications by default, and accountants don’t need to engage themselves in these kinds of operations. Of course, this does not mean an accountant sits behind a computer and obtained desired results with use some buttons only; so, they should have trained about accounting applications as well, and have sufficient expertise in use of these programs. Advances system of accounting usage, have many advantages for companies. As mentioned, there is no need to spend many times and cost for accounting calculations, so one of the most important advantages of information technology usage is saving time and money. Information technology progress, have been left many positive and negative impacts on environment
Recommendation
The impact of the progress in accounting information technology on banking service should not lead to a very strong increase of cost of their processing, which put in question possibility to achieve economy of scale by Nigerian banks. Also all banks must continue to utilize and upgrade their information technology for efficient service delivery and profitability because in competitive banking industry, relationships with customers have to be developed and maintained at all costs, irrespective of the service delivery channel.
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