IT systems in accounting – the evidence from Polish companies

Abstract

The use of IT systems in modern accounting has become a necessity for all companies. The basic function of modern business organisations is the efficient management of information and knowledge. During decision-making processes, managers require reliable and accurate information. Managers, for both tactical and operational goals, must have data from functional areas, like accounting, production, marketing or procurement. A properly functioning information system in an enterprise ensures the flow of information between all systems and subsystems, and between an enterprise and its surroundings. The aim of this paper is to present IT systems used in the area of accounting in Polish companies. The purpose of this paper is to determine the motives of choice – which software is the best for using in the accounting subsystem of given enterprises. The used methods in this paper are a questionnaire, comparisons and explanation. Some theoretical approaches are examined by analysis of the survey. The results rely on the questionnaire among the chosen Polish companies. This study was undertaken because of the continuous changes in information technology, accounting rules and the changed approaches to accounting (or bookkeeping). This study can be helpful for managers and accountants to possess better accounting information and to make better economic decisions. The accounts supporting software used by the surveyed companies in the paper were compared and analysed. The analysis of the questionnaire allowed finding out motives of choice of a particular solution. It showed how entrepreneurs get information about the accounting software and what type of software they have implemented in companies. In addition, respondents pointed out the pros and cons of the IT systems they implemented. Finally, the survey has shown that users of various accounting software or accounting applications cannot imagine their work without them, and all IT tools bring them benefits.

Keywords: Information system, IT system, integrated management systems, IT-supported accounting, SMEs.