Strategic Information System For Banking Software And Packages

History of Accounting Software/Packages

Discuss about the Strategic Information System for Banking Software and Packages.

Accounting industry is an essential industry for every country as it finds its application in a number of other sectors as well. The case is the same for Australia and accounting in Australia has seen some major transformations in the past few years. The technological advancements have had an impact on the practices of accounting as well. The report throws light on the history of accounting in Australia along with the development and adoption of the same. Market size at the present scenario and the popular accounting software has also been discussed. There are a number of gaps in the industry from the perspective of the users which have been covered in the report.

Accounting industry has seen some major revolutions and transformations right from 1970s. Prior to this period, the traditional practice of accounting was followed in Australia. 1970s and mid 1980s saw the development and advancement of personal computers and technology which impacted accounting practices as well. Paper based systems were then replaced with computer based applications. 1990s introduced automated customer invoicing and transaction management. The present era included the application of Business Intelligence and techniques of cloud computing to the world of accounting (Ryan, 2016).

The demands of the customers with respect to the accounting practices and needs include automated services, non-stop expert assistance, easy cash flow, tax processing and likewise. The accounting software that are being developed currently adhere to such requirements and aim to score well on the technological aspects along with being decent on the pocket as well. The development process includes the latest set of tools and technologies and makes sure that the user is able to run the software on all the popular operating systems and on desktop as well as mobile platform. (James, 2016).

Accounting industry in Australia is a huge industry that got least impacted by the recent global financial crisis. Bookkeeping, auditing and accounting are the three pillars on which the industry operates in (www.afpbb.net.au, 2016). There are approximately 1333,000 employees employed in the 9,968 firms in Australia that work on the accounting operations. It has been estimated by the market researchers that the industry will witness and income development of 5.5% and will reach an overall income of 20.7 billion Australian dollars (www.bankwest.com.au, 2015).

Accounting Software/Packages – Current Leaders in the Market and their Competitive Advantage

Intuit QuickBooks is accounting software that is popular among the users in Australia. There are a number of features and advantages that are offered by this package to the users:

• The primary advantage of this software lies in the cost that it comes with as it is extremely affordable.
• It allows all if its business users to manage their business needs and operations through constant tracking of expenses and revenues.
• Huge quantities of data can be managed with ease.
• The software also allows the payment of the payroll related activities for free of cost. There are no additional charges for the same.
• The software has been developed for access on the mobile as well as on the desktop platforms.
• The level of security that comes bundled with this package is of extremely high quality and it makes it difficult for the attacker to get hold of the sensitive user information (www.advisoryhq.com, 2015).
• MYOB Accounting Software

MYOB is accounting software that is known and reputed name in Australia. The lists of striking features offered by this software are as described below.

• The software provides all the basic accounting services that are mandatory and demanded by all the users.
• It brings forward the real time view of the finance activities for the business users.
• Point of Sale (POS) transactions are now possible to be integrated with the business units through the aid of this software.
• One of the prime features of this software is its ability to be used in the offline mode as well. There are often scenarios in which the internet connection drops or faces slippages and in such cases the performance of the software does not get altered or affected by one bit.
• Compliance obligations and complaint capability are the two areas that the software always remains updated on.
• There are a number of add-ons that can be installed to enhance the functionality of the software (www.myob.com, 2016).
• Reckon

Reckon software is a popular and a demanded name in the market and among the users. It has received excellent reviews by the critics and provides the following set of features.

• Reckon is a cloud based accounting software that makes use of all the latest techniques and platform of cloud based computing.
• It allows and enables the users to easily manage all of their Point of Sale transactions and integrates the same with the overall software suite.
• Billing processes and credit management can be easily carried out with the aid of this software along with other features such as tax processing and resource planning (Carey, 2015).
• Saasu

Saasu is accounting software that has been termed as a next gen software package in Australia. The name has been assigned due to the wonderful features that the software offers to its users. It allows the users to set up automatic alerts for their finance related activities and also ensures faster invoicing. The unique feature of this software is its ability to manage the transactions in fifty different foreign currencies. Xero

A huge number of customers make use of and prefer Xero as their accounting software as it offers some of the fantastic and latest set of features.

• Online processing and invoicing that is offered by this software is quick in nature.
• Reconciliation processes can be executed with extreme ease and in the presence of an expert for assistance in case the user gets stuck.
• The software is rich in terms of the user experience as it offers a clean interface that can be easily navigated.

The following table showcases the cost that is associated with the basic and premium version of the five accounting software packages that are used in Australia.

Cost of the accounting software (www.advisoryhq.com, 2015).

• Accounting is an industry that deals with finance related activities, Any sort of an attack that compromises with the security of accounting information can be fatal in nature. The same is one of the biggest challenges that are faced by the users. There are a number of risks that take place in terms of unauthorized access that put a threat on the confidentiality and integrity of the information.
• The advanced and premium versions of all the software come at a massive monthly rental. Small and medium scale firms along with individual users mostly have a second thought on the use of the same as it may hit hard on their pockets (Crowder, 2016).
• Accounting software involves simple to a little complex operations. Users often look for training documents and user manuals with software which go missing in a certain cases. The same brings forward another challenge for the users as without proper instructions and guidelines there is a state of confusion.
• Users often tend to make up some errors which are difficult or impossible to roll back in a few cases. The loss that the user faces in such cases can be extremely severe in nature.
• There can also be challenges for the users while the installation of the software on their machine and other post production issues in terms of features and functionalities.

References

Carey, M. (2015) Cloud Accounting Overview 2015: MYOB Essentials vs Xero vs Intuit QuickBooks Online vs Reckon One – Digital First. [online] Digital First. Available at: https://www.digitalfirst.com/2015-overview-cloud-accounting-software/ [Accessed 24 Aug. 2016].

Crowder, C. (2016) [online] Techin.oureverydaylife.com. Available at: https://techin.oureverydaylife.com/disadvantages-accounting-software-1965.html [Accessed 24 Aug. 2016].

James, D. (2016) 7 accounting packages for Australian small businesses compared: including MYOB, QuickBooks Online, Reckon, Xero. [online] BIT. Available at: https://www.bit.com.au/Review/344651,7-accounting-packages-for-australian-small-businesses-compared-including-myob-quickbooks-online-reckon-xero.aspx [Accessed 24 Aug. 2016].

Ryan, E. (2016) The Evolution Of Accounting Software: Past, Present And Future |. [online] Gaaaccounting.com. Available at: https://www.gaaaccounting.com/the-evolution-of-accounting-software-past-present-and-future/ [Accessed 24 Aug. 2016].

www.advisoryhq.com, (2015) 5 Best Small Business Accounting Software in Australia. [online] AdvisoryHQ. Available at: https://www.advisoryhq.com/articles/5-best-small-business-accounting-software-in-australia/ [Accessed 24 Aug. 2016].

www.afpbb.net.au, (2016) The Australian Accounting Industry. [online] Afpbb.net.au. Available at: https://www.afpbb.net.au/Resources/TheAustralianAccountingIndustry.aspx [Accessed 24 Aug. 2016].

www.bankwest.com.au, (2015) Accounting Services Industry Report. 1st ed. [ebook] Bankwest. Available at: https://www.bankwest.com.au/cs/ContentServer%3Fpagename%3DFoundation/CS/Blob/Document%26id%3D1292539844555%26ext%3D.pdf+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in [Accessed 24 Aug. 2016].

www.myob.com, (2016) Online Accounting Software for Businesses | MYOB. [online] Myob.com. Available at: https://www.myob.com/au/accounting-software/compare [Accessed 24 Aug. 2016].

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