Will Robots Replace Accountants? Assignment Help.
Instructions: INFS 5000 Accounting Information Systems Essay – Will robots replace accountants.
Will Robots Replace Accountants?
The software of robotic process automation is used to capture and interpret existing applications for the purpose of transactions, manipulation of data and interaction across many systems of IT. Robots are invading the modern workplace of accountants, and the fictional science is becoming a reality. According to the report given by Deloitte, it claimed that most of the jobs in the UK are at significant risk of automation. Suggested survey respond that future automation will not just get delivered through incremental enhancement to systems of enterprise resources planning (ERP) but cloud computing and robotics will also play a role in automating processes. The percentage of work performed in today by industrial robots is minuscule but in the coming years it is estimated to rise (Deloitte, 2015). In the essay, the question remains whether robots are there to replace accountants or not, and the following discussions will help us answer that.
Robotic process automation comes with various benefits like being relatively quick to implement. Once the infrastructure gets set, it takes a shorter period to automate the whole process, and this will potentially offer short periods of paybacks in comparison with other implementation of technology. Robotic process automation can improve engagement of staff by removing routine, tedious work and critically it is a tool that can get implemented by global business services (GBS) and expand instead of depending on the function of IT (Brooks & Rodney, 2015). Leaders of GBS may consider automation of the robotic process, particularly when there is a case of insufficient business for the material of change of ERP.
Robotic process automation has a transformed cost, speed, and accuracy. Humanly is prone to error, but the machine is there to give accuracy. The software is coming with lots of promises, and large enterprises are considering it since it can do better. Autonomic will permit firms to redefine the way they perceive about the process of Accounts Payable (AP) and in doing so, they will radically transform the price, speed and accuracy of the function of AP (Kambil, 2015). Robots work much faster than the resource of human and uniformly provide a level of high quality. Many professionals are ready to welcome the replacement of mundane and activities that are manual that robotics can take on and appreciate the insight that the tools can bring the existing roles of a human.
The application of Robotics in the accounting is large since it gets used in fixed-asset accounting, recording of journal entries, conducting of general reconciliation of ledger account, the performance of transactions of intercompany and accounting master data maintenance. Companies may also use robotics to audit expense reports, management of incoming vendor invoices and process vendor payments while handling inquiries of vendors or disputes.
Robotics can assist companies to review the disclosure of the employee regarding personal account and statement of paper-making a trade of employee and disclosures subject to immediate and appropriate evaluation levels (Tonbohlm, 2014). Attestation of the disclosure can also get automatically examined, and robotics can reconcile the report of an employee on gifts and entertainment to the system of expense and spot possible anomalies and issues that are potential.
Robotics automation process will establish an association between continuous improvements and automation with both featuring prominently in many transformational services that get shared and as the adoption of robotics expands, the relationship will likely evolve (Deloitte, 2015). Additionally, robotics will reduce overhead and cost associated with housing and employing an FTE, productivity will be high, error rates will be low, reduced risk and customer satisfaction will be higher.
Through robotics, workforce virtualization has the potential to change fundamentally the way accounting services addresses multiple areas of execution process while reaping substantial benefits of business (Culp, 2016). Robotics adoption is almost investable, and leading firms will not only use it as a way of reducing cost but to improve controls and effectiveness of the people making them productive and valued within the institution.
On the other hand, firms of accounting have available sophisticated tax software and their accountants are thoroughly trained in ways to use several packages. The advantage to taxpayers of using an accountant to practice the return of tax is the individual’s skill and knowledge. While the software gives the outline and does the computation, it is still the analysis that identifies anomalies, inquiry, various expenses and notices untaken legal subtraction (Oshunnuga, 2015). For instance, when people need help to claim exemptions, reliefs and allowance, a software programmer and in this case robots cannot be able to distinguish between allowable and non-allowable deductions without the help from tax practitioners, and since taxes are hard work, people want to push it to “human” accountant. Some investors in the community want to sue a real person so as to account when something goes wrong. But in a case, one cannot sue the company that provided the technology that replaced the humans (Oshunnuga, 2015).
The company may change the way accountants do their job and replace all automated routine tasks so as to produce smart analytics and reports but it will only empower and accountants and auditors to do their jobs in a different way. Samuli who is project finance says; “The human touch is critical because of the role of an accountant and an auditor very often calls for judgment to be applied, which is terrible for technology to replicate.” (Makitalo, 2003).In the intent to judge for example genuine error or a modified mistake, the judgment of human is required though the computers have the ability to peruse errors in real time. Technology will not likely evolve to give the best assessment of the experience.
Accounting rules which get developed by human accountant changes, the jobs of analysts are do jobs of accounting, review standards of accounting and policies and even help institutions and nation adapt to various things which software cannot do. Moreover, also in verification of physical assets and liabilities that must be carried out by auditors during engagement course of an audit.
Conclusively, automation process of robotics come with various benefits in the field of an accountant, which many companies and organizations may prefer instead of human analysts who are prone to errors and other risks. In my essay it has shown the discussion of what robotics will bring to the company and much is more of benefits, it has also highlighted the role of a personal accountant that may not be carried out even in the emergence of robotics. Here I can firmly conclude that the performance of robots may displace accountants, but they will never get replaced. It is true that computers may provide the framework and do all the calculations, but still, someone needs to keep a skeptical evaluation of its performance, and that is a human accountant.
Reference
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