Level Of Acceptance Of Accounting Software Research Proposal

Question: Describe A Research Proposal On The Level Of Acceptance Of Accounting Software In Organizations Based In New York. Answer: Introduction Most organizations in the United States perceive Accounting Software as a more effective strategy of increasing the level of efficiency and effectiveness as compared to the traditional manual bookkeeping. It is evident that the software eliminates the probability of presenting erroneous data as long as it is fed the correct information, it operates on a shorter duration, and the data is easily accessible(Association of Accounting Technicians Ltd, 2010). However, there exist a few businesses that do not embrace the advanced technology because of numerous reasons, such as the costs of the software and fear of change. There is also a question of whether organizations are still willing to embrace accounting software for efficient and effective data management after the numerous cases of failure of the systems. For example, last year, 2015, HBSC experienced the inability to access the data system. The failure led to reduced profitability and consumer satisfaction as the consumers could not acquire the banks services for two days. Later in the year, the bank also experienced a failure to process the payment of approximately 275, 000 employees. Failure of accounting software reduces not only the level of profitability but also the employee motivation level(Jee, 2016). This paper proposes a research for the evaluation of the level of acceptance of accounting software in organizations that are in the State of New York. It starts by highlighting the research questions that would help achieve this objective and the hypothesis. After identification of the operational variables, the paper recommends research methodologies, research process, and highlights the expected outcomes. Literature review The various case studies that Hsu (2007) presents demonstrate how various companies have developed accounting software, such as QuickBooks and Quicken to improve the level of efficiency in organizations accounting practices. However, various factors influence organizations on whether they should incorporate them or not. According to OLeary (n.d), the start-up cost depends on the complexity of the system in use. A high-cost suggests that the accounting software is well structured against issues of data loss and insecurity. On the other hand, low-cost software is vulnerable to various problems such as failure of operation and hacking. Moreover, time and other finances have to be set aside for frequent evaluation of the software as it proves manual bookkeeping to be less costly than the practice(Amiri Salari, 2013). Shields (2011) and Syafrudin Sriwidharmanely (2012) affirm that a high start up cost acts as a discouragement for small businesses to purchase accounting software. This is because they already operate on a small budget, which is easily managed through the manual practices. This is unlike the large corporations, where accountants have to handle large sets of data. Moreover, firms still face resistance to change from both the management and employees due to fear of loss of jobs (Kabir et al., 2015). From the study of Zare (2012), accounting software plays a major role in determining the acceptability level of the processed financial systems. Thus, for organizations that embrace software that is deemed to be inefficient, there is a high likelihood of rejecting the financial data. Research Questions and Hypothesis Research Questions What is the approximate percentage of organizations that operate in New York use accounting software? What is the approximate number of organizations in New York that use the software have ever faced any instance of failure? How many New York organizations that are not currently using accounting software have ever used one? Why are the organizations in New York not using the software reluctant from using the software? Hypothesis More than 75% of organizations in New York prefer using accounting software to manual bookkeeping. Approximately 25% of organizations in New York have ever faced accounting failure. Less than 25% of agencies in New York prefer manual bookkeeping practices to the more efficient accounting software. The four broad reasons why some organizations in New York are reluctant to embrace accounting software is due to, the size of firms (for small businesses), increased instances of failure of the system, fear of change among employees, and high start-up cost. Operational Definitions and Measurements The independent variable is accounting software because it is the basis of the research work. Thus all research questions are geared towards assessing the factors that influence the level of accessibility in corporations. On the other hand, the dependent variables will aid in estimation of the level of acceptance of the software through answering the set research questions. Thus, the variables are the number of organizations using accounting software; the number of organizations not using the software; instances of software failure, lack of using the software due to high start-up cost, and the fear of change that reduces the probability of organizations to adapt to the technological operation. The dependent variables will be converted into percentages during measurement so that the statistics from the sample could be used to draw inferences of the selection pool. Research Methodologies: Sampling Techniques: The research work will target at the collection of primary quantitative data from some of the organizations in the New York. Due to the limitation of both time and funds, the sample size will be small, as it will entail 30 organizations. The sampling technique will target not only the multinational organizations but also the small and local businesses. Both random and stratified sampling techniques will be useful. From the list of registered sole proprietorships, partnerships and companies, there will be a random selection of 10 corporations from each category. This will help eliminate any form of biases. Method of Analysis: Data analysis will be conducted by the use of SPSS 2.0 software, which is a demonstration of accounting software. It is relevant since it will help in the analysis of the frequency distribution of various dependent organizations. Moreover, it will aid in the calculation of the percentages, which will be important for comparative purposes (Glenn, 2010). For example, after calculation of the percentage of the number of organizations that use accounting software and percentage of those that do not, one can assess whether the hypothesis that 75% of organizations in New York prefer the software to the manual bookkeeping. Research Process After the sample selection, data will be collected through administration of structured questionnaires to be filled by the head of accounting department of the selected organization. The questionnaire will have two selections. The first one will have open-ended questions, such as the name of the organization and how long the firm has been in operation. The second section will contain closed-ended questions, to eliminate ambiguity. Some of the questions in this section are whether the organization uses manual bookkeeping practices or has accounting software and whether an organization has ever experienced system failure. For firms that do not have the software, there will be a question of the reasons they do not have them. The choices will entail high start-up cost, employees reluctance to change, managements reluctance to change, small firm size, increased instances of system failure, and irrelevant. The questionnaire will be short to increase the chances of receiving a response (Gle nn, 2010). Expected outcomes From the research work, it is expected that accounting software is more common in large and well-established organizations than small and new ones. This is because of the high start-up cost. Moreover, fear of change is expected to be more evident in the small firms as compared to the established ones. However, from the selected sample, at least a third may have incorporated software in the accounting practices. Although a quarter of these corporations may have faced challenges such as system failure, they focussed on improving the software instead of going back to the strenuous manual bookkeeping. Therefore, there is a high expectation that the outcome will reflect that most organizations are willing to use the software even though there are instances of failure. Conclusion The research paper will target at evaluation of the acceptability of accounting software in organizations that are found in New York. This is in light of the factors that may act as inhibitors for firms to embrace the efficient and effective strategy as compared to the difficult and time-consuming manual bookkeeping. The work will involve administration of questionnaires to heads of accounting departments of the selected 30 organizations. In order to improve the level of reliability and validity of collected data, the selection process will eliminate any form of biases, and the questionnaires will be short and precise to eliminate ambiguity. Nonetheless, the expected outcome is that the level of acceptability of the accounting software is high among the firms in New York. List of References Amiri, A. Salari, H., 2013. Effect of Accounting Information System on Software Qualitative. International Journal of Business and Management Invention, 2(4), pp. 6-12. Association of Accounting Technicians Ltd, 2010. Computerized Accounting Software. London: BPP Learning Media. Glenn, J., 2010. Handbook of Research Methods. Jaipur: Oxford Book Co. Hsu, D., 2007. Case Studies in Financial Accounting Software. E-Leader Prague, 1(1), pp. 3-7. Jee, C., 2016. Top Software Failures. [Online] Available at: https://www.computerworlduk.com/galleries/infrastructure/top-10-software-failures-of-2014-3599618/ [Accessed 15 August 2016]. 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