The Impact of Accounting Information Technology on the Roles of Accountants in Nigeria

Many authors have observed that unless accountants adapt to developments in information technology ( IT) they risk being reduced to a subordinate role. This paper reports on the results of two surveys of chartered accountant members in Nigeria spanning ten years. These surveys aimed at assessing the change in their roles as a result of IT developments. The paper identifies some specific IT skills necessary for decision support systems and discusses how such skills should be incorporated in accounting profession and also examines the possibility that accounting functions within organisations are becoming restricted to the areas of financial reporting and transactions processing, rather than decision making and problem solving. The findings of both studies show that chartered accountants perceive they spend on average only a half of their time on the latter types of accounting activities.