Accounting information system, redefining the accounting profession

Accounting information system has redirected the direction of accounting profession onto a positive path of becoming a highly sought after information processing professionals with super magic powers to crunch data and make sense of it – this is otherwise known as big data analysis.

Traditionally, accountants were seen as business and audit specialist whose only duty is to keep records of things that has already happened in the past.

Accounting in those days was classified into; cost accounting, financial accounting and management accounting. People see accountants then as stale people who routinely carry out one function- recode keeping.

Today as I write this article, the role of accountants in organizations have changed. They are now known as and addressed as ‘information and business measurement professionals/ specialists’

This new role was necessitated by the fact that the world we live in today has moved from industrial age when record keeping was the ultimate to information age where information analysis gives upper advantage and is now set to move to the internet/ google age where measurement of information relevance is the key to every business success.

Accountants quickly realized that their relevance in companies will diminish if nothing is done to address the new business requirement of information relevance and business measurement and created the fourth realm of accounting- Accounting Information System (AIS). AIS is a course that broadened the accounting curricular to help accountants become more prepared for the future challenges of the business world.

Gone are the days when you only need technical accounting knowledge to excel. You have to be more information specialist than ‘figure cruncher’ to succeed in the modern accounting profession. To be relevant as an accountant today and in the future, you need to be comfortable with the use of; computers, accounting softwares, information gathering, processing and analyzing tools. You also need to have a broad knowledge of e-business and e-commerce.

It will interest you to know that some universities now run a full fledge course on AIS and e-business strategy. That is to let you appreciate how important these skills are in today’s business world.

If you are an accountant or a finance professional reading this, I have good news for you. You don’t need to go wild looking for resource to help you acquire these skills as I have done the research and come up with these two useful links to softwares and books you need to enhance your career.

If by chance you have other questions, simply register with this forum and post your question. To your success as an accountant!