Information Technology is no longer the new world phenomenon that struck much of the free world during the 90’s and 2000’s, it is now a part of ourselves. Close the internet for a few minutes anywhere and everything could be set behind by minutes, which in turn can cause massive losses of work output and information. Furthermore, upgrades and updates of rules, systems and software no longer take months or years but rather minutes. There are continuous amendments in software codes and business methodologies, albeit in a very controlled and concentrated manner. It is because of these software systems that the need for continuous printing has been removed and information can easily be seen by means of clicks and swipes. It has also become easy today to modify certain features of software, without having to consult information technology personnel. Almost all software systems used by every organization are central to their functioning and planning, Accounting Information Systems (A.I.S) are also central, aiding in provision of valuable data for decision-makers. AIS have themselves helped many businesses in terms of corporate and have long been linked with business performance and for that, Transparency in data to be calculated by AIS is a necessity. Accounting was earlier based on manual approach and the experience and skillfulness of an individual accountant was the main critical competency in all accounting processes. However, the manual approach and methods were unproductive and unsuccessful with higher incidences of human errors. Such errors were fixed with the introduction of accounting information systems, which supported automation for processing large loads of data and produce timely accurate information.
The first accounting information systems were designed for salary and payroll functions in the 1970’s and most of them were “in-house” developed legacy systems. However, the development of these systems was costly and maintenance was difficult. Onwards from the 1980’s, software companies began to rise in direct proportion to computer companies and development of comprehensive software systems was thus initiated. Companies such as Sage Group, Microsoft, SAP AG and Oracle were not only formed but began rising gradually but phenomenally as they developed such systems in two parts, pre-configured and customized versions. The customized versions began gaining more success as such were programmed as per the firm’s business processes.
Small and Medium Enterprises often used affordable packages such as MYOB and Quickbooks whereas large organisations would choose comprehensive Enterprise Resource Planning (E.R.P) systems, such as SAP, Sage Group, Microsoft Essentials and Oracle as such were easily connected for continuous periods and had a variety of much needed modules (Accounting, Auditing, and Finance Modules being some of them) with centralized storage, planning and decision-making mechanisms with complex interfaces so the systems can communicate with other parts and locations of organisations around the globe. Today, accounting information systems are now integrated with cloud-based storage and information systems at the best costs, thereby helping many businesses remove low skills, manual transactions, and manual accounting operations.
