Business > Double Click
Technological Advances and CGAs
Exploring the marriage of accounting and IT.
FROM: JAN-FEB 2008 ISSUE | BY JOHN YU
As we celebrate CGA-Canada’s 100 years of success, we also celebrate the 20th anniversary of this column. Faithful readers may recall the Micromation column, which was renamed Double Click in 1999. Over the years, the column has explored some of the IT trends and tools that have had a tremendous impact on accounting and finance professionals.
Tools of the Trade
For decades, accountants did their work using not much other than pads of paper and pencils. But desktop calculators and the development of other computing tools over the past 30 years have drastically changed the ways in which CGAs work. In the 1970s, accountants employed by large organizations came to rely on data processing systems run on mainframe computers, which many organizations started to use in that era. With the advent of powerful microcomputers, network systems, and the Internet, accountants now use desktop computers much more powerful than those large mainframes of the past.
The systems used by tax practitioners over the years provide an excellent example of the ways in which work processes have evolved along with technology. In the 1960s, CGAs completed tax returns by hand for clients. In the ‘70s, they coded taxpayers’ income and deductions information onto coding sheets, which they then sent to service bureaus that ran large mainframe systems. The tax returns and summary data reports were returned a few days later.
In the ‘80s and ‘90s, CGAs started to have their own networked systems of computers that allowed them to run tax preparation software directly in their own offices. With today’s widespread use of the Internet and offshore services, some CGAs have the option of scanning and uploading taxpayers’ information to servers overseas so that clients’ tax returns are prepared by offshore computers overnight.
From Program 90 to Now
Advances in IT have changed how and what students learn in the CGA Program of Professional Studies. In 1984, CGA-Canada commissioned a report to map out the future direction of the education program, and Program 90 was born. One of its key features was the integration of IT into courses so that students acquired practical skills in application software. The association pioneered the use of the Internet CD to provide course content and CGA became well-known internationally for its innovations in online education.
In early 2000, the delivery of CGA courses moved to an online e-learning model. Rather than mailing paper copies or e-mailing assignments in for marking, students now upload their assignments to electronic drop-boxes. The programs offered by CGA-Canada’s degree partners are all delivered online using a similar model.
PD Network
For several years now CGA-Canada has offered members an online resource to help them keep their knowledge current. PD Network is an effective productivity tool, which provides professional development opportunities such as online seminars, courses, and articles.
Looking forward to another century of success, CGAs can expect an even greater reliance on technology; however, advances in IT will undoubtedly continue to provide us with huge productivity gains.
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John Yu, M.SC., CDP, FCGA, has been in the IT industry since 1970 in technology and management roles. He is vice-president of IT at CGA-Canada.