Accountants in the 21st Century

Accountants in the 21st Century

Accountants in the 21st Century

Introduction

The role of the management accountant is large and not exhaustive. Defining the role of the management account Depends on many factors including: the goal of the organisation, the size of the organisation and the structure of the organisation. Popular consensus however highlights a number of areas shared by most management accountants. Most would agree that the management accountant's job is concerned with supplying senior management with information. This information is not limited to financial information it relates to any economic information that will allow senior management to make more informed decisions.

Analysis

A number of reports by academicians and practitioners all over the world have called significant change in the accounting methods and research and their relevance in the 21st century. Many believe that the accounting model is outdated with little relevance to the changes taken place in the wider world. Both the academicians and practitioners agree that if accounting is to serve a useful role in the changing environment, accounting education and accounting research should become broader, dynamic and not constraint by a single approach. Despite these facts, the academicians and practitioners both stated that the accounting methods taught and practiced have changed significantly (Engel et al, 2002).

Business relied on accountants to prepare financial information for internal and external decision-making and to assist in the fulfilment of tax-preparing requirements. As the business climate became more complex, demanding and rapidly changing than ever before, this affected the role of accountants making it increasingly adapting in response to this. The most significant factor that waves the business environment was the technological change, globalization and the opening markets of both international and national boundaries (Marshall, H., McManus, W., & Viele, D. 2002).

Clearly, the ongoing technological revolution has dramatically altered the environment of the business, government and individual enterprise. The process of globalization and the opening of international markets are providing immense opportunities and challenges to business and its advisories. The importance of national boundaries has been diminished with globalization in the factor shaping of the organizations. To maintain organizations competitiveness it attempts to meet the international economy standards by the trends of globalization (Brealey, R. A., Meyers S. C., & Marcus A. J. 2001).

These modifications occurring within the business are influencing on the accountancy profession. Yet in many of these new market areas accountants face strong competition from those outside profession. Managerial, investment and decision-making information is provided by accounts. When the information technology of accounting was paper, pencil and abacus, the technological foundation of accounts was journals, ledgers and double-entry bookkeeping. After information technology had progressed to computers and networks, accounting shifted to database management and enterprise resource planning. Although the silicon technology may reach to its physical limits within the next decade, it's very likely that computing power will continue to grow (Fanning, J. 2002).

Critics of accounting education charge that its programs and curricula have failed to remain relevant to students and ...