TECHNOLOGY IN FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING

In http://www.behindthebuzz.com/does-technology-make-it-easier/, Rachel Clarke delves into how technology has affected branding and marketing. One perceptive comment has observed that, as technology has made it more convenient for consumers to search for and obtain information about products and services, “the more committed businesses have to become in reaching them on their terms.”

Rachel observes: “You can’t just do TV anymore, you have to think of websites, of social networks, of video, of SMS and MMS and all that stuff. All the stuff you had to do before – understand the brand, understand the need and how the brand can fill it – is still needed to be done but overlaid by so many other things you have to think about, all the different ways to touch and connect, to listen and hold a dialogue outside of focus groups.”

In finance and accounting, technology has definitely made the tasks easier and the outputs more accurate and timely.

I remember the days when I would do ten-year financial projections using a handheld programmable calculator. Every time an assumption changes (e.g., interest rates, foreign exchange rates, etc), you either have to redo the whole thing or resort to additional assumptions (on top of assumptions) with regard to how the changes affect the projections –with the results, more often than not, way off the mark.

With technology and interactive financial models, a whole array of what ifs can be incorporated into the projections. One touch of the enter key and a whole new scenario is generated. What used to take weeks to accomplish can today be done in a few hours –and the outputs always with a high degree of accuracy.

Image from Microsoft Clipart