A Journal Survey: The Software CPAs Use

Keywords

accounting technology evolution, CPA software usage, industry survey

Abstract

About a generation ago, the only tools an accountant used were a hand-cranked calculator, a columnar pad and a sharp pencil. In those days, an electric pencil sharpener was considered a high-tech accessory. Today, you probably wont find any of those tools in an accountants office—except maybe the pencil and the sharpener. Replacing them are computers—mostly personal computers (PCs)—and their high-tech accessories are software products that do the work, and then some, of those old, clunky four-function calculators.

To find out what software tools CPAs use today, the Journal surveyed more than 4,000 members of the American Institute of CPAs, asking them, among other things, which products they used, how they liked those products, how they used them and, if they had plans to switch, what products they were likely to move to. This article describes the results of that extensive survey.

The participants represented a broad cross-section of the CPA profession: those working for CPA firms—large (Big 6 and national), medium-size (regional and those with multiple offices) and small (local and one-person offices)—and those working for a wide spectrum of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, for schools and for federal, state and local governments.

Original Publication Citation

“A Journal Survey: The Software CPAs Use,” Journal of Accountancy, November 1997, 52-66, with M. Romney and S. Zarowin.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

1997

Publisher

Journal of Accountancy

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Accountancy

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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