The impact of technology on the public accounting profession
By Ricardo Ruiz Bentancourt
IC Member | Represents Latin America
To ask oneself what impact technology has on the public accountant’s work is redundant. And the reason for this is that the development of technology has been inherent to human progress and it has affected practically all aspects of life; the accounting profession not having escaped this influence. However, if this question were to have been asked merely thirty years ago, the answer would not have been so obvious. In my opinion, the change that has had the greatest impact on this profession is, without doubt, the electronic worksheet. “Visicalc, the first worksheet would take some 20 hours of work per week for an accountant and has now been reduced to 15 minutes, allowing accountants to be more creative”1.
When I first used this worksheet back in 1986, I immediately sensed the effect that it would have in my work. In particular, I had that same sensation when another important moment for my practice came about which was the wide-spread use of personal computers - the PCs. At that time, a computer was assigned to me at my job and with it, I was able to perform a series of analyses that complemented the reports issued at that time by an AS 400 from IBM. I even became an expert in Lotus 123 and was given the opportunity to give courses on this program.
But this was not only a change at a personal level. Agnes Ann Pepe pointed out that “towards the ending of the twentieth century, the accounting profession began to take on a whole new look.
Computers and accounting software has changed the industry completely. With programs such as
Microsoft Excel, the accountant is enabled electronic worksheets. With the use of these technologies, the CPA can make statistic analyses, financial forecasts and calculations with great