Proceedings

What does that mean for the accounting software? A lot. This is so also because
nowadays there are languages that incorporate both software and technology (XML)
which have changed fundamentally the work and the understanding of the
informational phenomenon.
Customized accounting applications for a single user have become obsolete and many
users orientate themselves already to the web-based technologies. This can be noticed
also from the analysis of the programming languages used for writing accounting
applications (see fig. 1) where languages that are used to write web-based accounting
applications (PHP) have outrun other traditional languages C/C++ or Visual Basic.
The idea is to serve as much as possible the business needs of the served companies,
developing the so-called integrated accounting software. Our opinion is that very soon
even small companies will be able to use ERP type packages by sharing costs in web
system using technologies of the “cloud computing” type.
The novelty for SMEs will be that the automation of many processes of data
gathering, and the introduction only one time of data into the system will be realized
by gathering data from a single source, like those realized through bank accounts, or
the creation of documents that could be read by computers by using a RDDL-type
language (Resource Directory Description Language).
2. WORK METHODOLOGY AND ANALYSYS RESULTS
2.1 The research method and the questions we answer
Like some researchers have already mentioned, accounting systems are susceptible of
being built with the use of XML technologies (Murthy and Groomer, 2004). The
objectives of this study were to answer the following questions: Why was it necessary
for this new technology to be applied for SME accounting? What is the novelty it
brings and how do such systems work? Which are the factors that could influence the
adoption of web-based accounting?
In order to answer the first question we relied on the results of researches conducted
in the field, and especially on the historical analysis and the evolution of accounting
software and web-based technology. We wanted to underline and explain how
accounting software, including the web-based technology, can influence research and,
why not, the development of SME accounting.
For the second question we tried to show how such a system should work within a
SME. Finally, the answer to the third question is based on the result of a study relying
on a questionnaire conducted at 48 SMEs from Canada. This questionnaire was
destined first to the responsible factors for the implementation of accounting systems
(managers, owners and accountants of SMEs) as well as the users of accounting
information (managers, owners, investors). Due to the characteristics and complexity
of such an interview, we do not deny that the answers and cooperation at some of the
questions could be influenced by subjective factors. That is also why the
generalization of the results could have certain limits.
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