scholarly journals Beyond Excel: Software Tools and the Accounting Curriculum

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorraine Lee ◽  
William Kerler ◽  
Daniel Ivancevich

The ability to use various software and tools is important for students entering the accounting profession. In an exploratory study, we develop a survey to assess accounting practitioners' evaluations of the importance of various software tools, as well as the importance of data analytics and data visualization skills. Responses from 197 practitioners indicate that Excel is the most frequently utilized software / tool, the most important software tool for new hires, and that Excel should be emphasized in university accounting programs. We find that the importance of Excel is consistent across different accounting areas (audit, tax, advisory, and corporate) and across all experience levels. In addition, Adobe Acrobat, PowerPoint, accounting / ERP software, and the FASB Codification were identified as frequently utilized across the various accounting areas and experience levels. Finally, practitioners in each of the different accounting areas and at all experience levels indicate data analytic skills and data visualization skills are important, but that data analytic skills are perceived as more important than data visualization skills. Our study contributes to the accounting information systems literature by identifying the specific software and tools that are relevant to the profession and provides guidance on the software and tools that should be emphasized in university accounting programs.

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chelley M. Vician ◽  
Elizabeth M. Pierce

Accounting practitioners use documentation diagrams to plan audits, train employees, and consult on accounting information systems development. Accounting educators instruct students in diagram development with various software tools as preparation for industry requirements. This paper presents a review of documentation diagrams identified by practice and major textbooks, a summary of software tool options, and an examination of cloud-based documentation software. We suggest software adoption criteria and propose Lucidchart as a cloud-software solution for developing accounting documentation diagrams. Finally, we present the results from a Lucidchart software evaluation study. The practical contribution is two-fold for educators responsible for teaching accounting documentation topics: (a) a documentation software resource; and (b) an initial usage assessment of Lucidchart software.


2016 ◽  
Vol 106 (07-08) ◽  
pp. 544-549
Author(s):  
V. K. Bellmann ◽  
P. Prof. Nyhuis

Zur Erhaltung ihrer Wettbewerbsfähigkeit setzen Unternehmen sowohl prozessverbessernde als auch kompetenzsteigernde Methoden ein. Jedoch erschwert die Vielzahl an Methoden eine anwendungsspezifische Auswahl. Somit wird ein Software-Tool benötigt, das neben den individuellen Zielstellungen auch die Voraussetzungen für eine erfolgreiche Umsetzung der Methoden berücksichtigt. Dieser Fachbeitrag beschreibt die Entwicklung eines Software-Tools zur zielgerichteten Entscheidungsunterstützung.   Companies apply process-improving and competence-increasing methods to maintain their competitiveness. However the huge amount of existing methods impedes an application-oriented selection. Thus a software tool is needed which considers individual objectives as well as requirements for a successful application of the methods. This paper describes the development of a software tool for a target-oriented decision support.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiqian Cao ◽  
Siyuan Kong ◽  
Wenfeng Zeng ◽  
Pengyun Gong ◽  
Biyun Jiang ◽  
...  

Interpreting large-scale glycoproteomic data for intact glycopeptide identification has been tremendously advanced by software tools. However, software tools for quantitative analysis of intact glycopeptides remain lagging behind, which greatly hinders exploring the differential expression and functions of site-specific glycosylation in organisms. Here, we report pGlycoQuant, a generic software tool for accurate and convenient quantitative intact glycopeptide analysis, supporting both primary and tandem mass spectrometry quantitation for multiple quantitative strategies. pGlycoQuant enables intact glycopeptide quantitation with very low missing values via a deep residual network, thus greatly expanding the quantitative function of several powerful search engines, currently including pGlyco 2.0, pGlyco3, Byonic and MSFragger-Glyco. The pGlycoQuant-based site-specific N-glycoproteomic study conducted here quantifies 6435 intact N-glycopeptides in three hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines with different metastatic potentials and, together with in vitro molecular biology experiments, illustrates core fucosylation at site 979 of the L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM) as a potential regulator of HCC metastasis. pGlycoQuant is freely available at https://github.com/expellir-arma/pGlycoQuant/releases/. We have demonstrated pGlycoQuant to be a powerful tool for the quantitative analysis of site-specific glycosylation and the exploration of potential glycosylation-related biomarker candidates, and we expect further applications in glycoproteomic studies.


2018 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Erwin Suri ◽  
Mohamed El-Saad

PurposeChanges in file format specifications challenge long-term preservation of digital documents. Digital archives thus often focus on specific file formats that are well suited for long-term preservation, such as the PDF/A format. Since only few customers submit PDF/A files, digital archives may consider converting submitted files to the PDF/A format. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachThe authors evaluated three software tools for batch conversion of common file formats to PDF/A-1b: LuraTech PDF Compressor, Adobe Acrobat XI Pro and 3-HeightsTMDocument Converter by PDF Tools. The test set consisted of 80 files, with 10 files each of the eight file types JPEG, MS PowerPoint, PDF, PNG, MS Word, MS Excel, MSG and “web page.”FindingsBatch processing was sometimes hindered by stops that required manual interference. Depending on the software tool, three to four of these stops occurred during batch processing of the 80 test files. Furthermore, the conversion tools sometimes failed to produce output files even for supported file formats: three (Adobe Pro) up to seven (LuraTech and 3-HeightsTM) PDF/A-1b files were not produced. Since Adobe Pro does not convert e-mails, a total of 213 PDF/A-1b files were produced. The faithfulness of each conversion was investigated by comparing the visual appearance of the input document with that of the produced PDF/A-1b document on a computer screen. Meticulous visual inspection revealed that the conversion to PDF/A-1b impaired the information content in 24 of the converted 213 files (11 percent). These reproducibility errors included loss of links, loss of other document content (unreadable characters, missing text, document part missing), updated fields (reflecting time and folder of conversion), vector graphics issues and spelling errors.Originality/valueThese results indicate that large-scale batch conversions of heterogeneous files to PDF/A-1b cause complex issues that need to be addressed for each individual file. Even with considerable efforts, some information loss seems unavoidable if large numbers of files from heterogeneous sources are migrated to the PDF/A-1b format.


Author(s):  
Kevin E Dow ◽  
Norman Jacknis ◽  
Marcia Weidenmier Watson

The technology and Data Analytics developments affecting the accounting profession in turn have a profound effect on accounting curriculum. Accounting programs need fully-integrated accounting curriculum to develop students with strong analytic and critical thinking skills that complement their accounting knowledge. This will meet the profession's expectation that accounting students have expert level skills in both technical accounting knowledge and Data Analytics. This paper provides a framework and the resources for creating a Data Analytics-infused accounting curriculum. Specifically, using the Diffusion of Innovation Theory, we apply the theory's five stages to the infusion of Data Analytics into the accounting curriculum: Knowledge, Persuasion, Decision, Implementation, and Confirmation. We formulate an Analytics Value Cube to guide the use of different analytic techniques as accounting programs integrate. We recommend free tools, questions, and cases for use across the curriculum. While our focus is on accounting programs new to Data Analytics, these resources are also useful to accounting programs and practitioners that wish to expand their data analytic offerings.


Author(s):  
Kimberly Swanson Church ◽  
Jennifer Riley ◽  
Pamela J. Schmidt

Demand for data analysis skills in the accounting profession is well documented and necessarily informs accounting curriculum and pedagogy. This empirical survey study focuses on small and medium-sized entities (SMEs), finding SMEs continue to use Excel spreadsheets extensively for data analytics tasks. SME cluster research suggests different adoption rates for technology between this segment and large firms. Investigating SME demands for skills and abilities of new job entrants differs from the large organizations that served as the original drivers of analytic skills and technology recommendations. Findings in this study suggest SMEs continue performing their leading accounting tasks using Excel spreadsheets, and lag in adoption of data analytics technology. SMEs are a significant business sector comprising 95-99 percent of firms in the U.S. economy, creating 65 percent of new jobs from 2000-2018 (USSBA 2019), and competing with large firms but with fewer resources. These findings will guide educators in SME markets.


2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 101-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esperanza Huerta ◽  
Scott Jensen

ABSTRACT Forty-six academics and practitioners participated in the second Journal of Information Systems Conference to discuss data analytics and Big Data from an accounting information systems perspective. The panels discussed the evolving role of technology in accounting, privacy within the domain of Big Data, and people and Big Data. Throughout all three panels, several topics emerged that impact all areas of accounting—developing enhanced analytical and data handling skills; evaluating privacy, security requirements, and risks; thinking creatively; and assessing the threat of automation to the accounting profession. Other topics were specific to a segment of the profession, such as the growing demand for privacy compliance audits and the curriculum adjustments necessary to develop data analytic skills. This commentary synthesizes and expands the discussions of the conference panels and suggests potential areas for future research.


Author(s):  
Helena Hashemi Farzaneh ◽  
Lorenz Neuner

AbstractMuch of the work in design research focusses on the development of methods and tools to support engineering designers. Many of these tools are nowadays implemented in software. Due to the strongly growing use of computers and smart devices in the last two decades, the expectations of users increased dramatically. In particular users expect good usability, for example little effort for learning to apply the software. Therefore, the usability evaluation of design software tools is crucial. A software tool with bad usability will not be used in industrial practice. Recommendations for usability evaluation of software often stem from the field of Human Computer Interaction. The aim of this paper is to tailor these general approaches to the specific needs of engineering design. In addition, we propose a method to analyse the results of the evaluation and to derive suggestions for improving the design software tool. We apply the usability evaluation method on a use case - the KoMBi software tool for bio-inspired design. The case study provides additional insights with regards to problem, causes and improvement categories.


Author(s):  
Tigran Parikyan ◽  
Nikola Naranca ◽  
Jochen Neher

For efficient modeling of engine (or powertrain) supported by non-linear elastic mounts, a special methodology has been elaborated. Based on it, software tool has been developed to analyze the motion of rigid body and elastic mounts, which comprises of three modules: • Non-linear static analysis; • Modal analysis (undamped and damped); • Forced response (in frequency domain). Application example of a large V12 marine engine illustrates the suggested workflow. The results are verified against other software tools and validated by measurements.


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