This information demanded by the creditors and investors is now being provided by Moodys, Standard and Poors, etc. In order to identify the revenue opportunities of the profession, the accountant needs to determine who the customers are, what services are to be provided and the technologies that wil be employed to provide the service. Therefore, the accountant is required consistently to look at new customers, new services and particularly new technologies in order to remain relevant in the new global environment. We are now in the age of e-commerce and if we do not embrace it, we will simply not be able to take advantage of the various opportunities, which are available. There is enormous capacity but the pace is very slow, particularly because of the reluntance on the part of customers.
Many people prefer to deal with people rather that a computer terminal.
There are others who have concerns about the reliability of the process and the security of the transactions. If the customers are assured that the systems will produce the desired results, then they are more likely to use the system. The customer feels that accountants generally do good work and that they act with integrity. I wish to point out that when I speak of technology, I am not just talking about the ability to run a Personal Computer to do spreadsheets, etc. It is the fundamental understanding of how technology reshapes organizations, products, services and markets.