COMPUTERIZED ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE AND ITS EFFECT ON INSTITUTIONAL PERFORMANCE (A CASE STUDY OF BURSARY DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF JOS, PLATEAU STATE)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The advancements in information technology have eventually led to the introduction of computerized accounting system in place of manual accounting system in organizations report to assist turn out relevant and devoted representative monetary reports for both management and external users for deciding (Greuning, 2008). The modern trends in business organizations have more and more led to tremendous growth in data technologies infrastructure, the manual accounting systems became bit by bit inadequate for call desires (Brecht and Martin, 2015). Consequently, public and personal sector organizations in each developing and developed economies see processed accounting systems as a tool to confirm effective and economical data flow in recording, processing, and analysis of financial data. This helps in social control decision-making, thereby increasing the firm's ability to attain structure goals (Manson, McCartney, and Sherer, 2008). The several benefits from the employment of those systems have led many to conclude that computerized accounting systems in organizations have led to the growth in organizations. This was proof with varied benefits of computerized accounting over manual accounting system; manual accounting needs that every one journal entries, invoices and other financial documents be created by hand. Computerized accounting permits users to input data into accounting software package programs. Computerized accounting produces data abundant quicker than manual register. Accounting software package packages, such as QuickBooks and Sage 50 Accounting, come with built-in databases that allow users to input data. Manual accounting systems are liable to mathematical errors and misplaced numbers. With a computerised register, organizational data is automatically calculated based on numbers of input data. In a manual register, company's income statement, balance sheet and statement of owner's equity are prepared by hand. Information from your journal entries helps formulate company's monetary statements. Computerized accounting systems permit monetary statements to be created from data keep within the information. The cost of computerised accounting systems will vary from lots of to thousands of money for big businesses. A computerized accounting system may save on man hours used for creating financial statements, record keeping and other reports. For this reason, many organizations use computerized accounting software. Reports are created in a timely manner once employing a computerised register. Reports generated from computerized accounting software package permits managers to run the corporate during a lot of economical manner. Creating reports during a manual register could cause a lot of employee’s frustration and lead to having to figure with non-current data. Accounting records unbroken on the manual system may be lost or broken simply, like by low spills. On the opposite hand, records unbroken by a laptop are probably to be safer as a result of several systems is secured typically. If pages are lost during a paper pad, companies ought to recreate the transactions by conducting analysis and writing them in once more. In a computerised system, companies merely restore the newest backup and add many transactions that weren't saved. In this space, computerized accounting software is obviously superior to manual systems. Data processed through software package is organized and straightforward to seek out. That's not the case with manual systems, wherever you ought to review many pages to seek out what you would like. Accounting programs organize the data in one place, classified by kind. If a company needs to seek out sure knowledge a few vendor, it will attend the accounts due section of the software package, usually by clicking a link or tab, and conduct a search for the vendor. If you conduct a similar method on a manual system, it's going to ought to bear many pages and take longer to find the seller. In spite of the advantage of laptop to the industry and businesses normally, some problems are still left unsolved and new ones have been credited by the use of laptop itself being a tangle like the employment of laptop to stay accounting records. Another drawback is that the displacement of labour hands within the accounting department and its union implication and also the drawback of low turnover (volume of operation) and performance in institutions. Against this background this study is ready to undertake an analysis of computerised accounting software and its effects on institutional performance.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The major challenge in the manual accounting system is that processing of students and staffs information takes a very longer period of time. There is also huge labour cost, in terms of salaries and its related cost. Errors of commission and omission are very prone in institutions. The manual accounting system makes transactions very dull, cumbersome, and unpleasant; manual maintenance of accounts is quite tedious and consumes a lot of time. These are the problems associated with manual accounting system. Though it has certain benefits too, ledgers can be reviewed easily and the accountant can incorporate simple changes if needed. It convenient to reconcile individual accounts as each ledger contains information in an organized manner. The other benefit is that the accountant can physically handle any ledger and make notes against customers account if there are any issues needing correction or clarification. According to McBride (2014), computerized packages can quickly generate all types of reports needed by management for instance budget analysis and variance analysis. Data processing and analysis are faster and more accurate which meets the managers need for accurate and timely information for decision making. Frank and Sangester (2015) consented to the speed with which accounting is done and further added that a computerized accounting system can retrieve balance sheets, income statement or other accounting reports at any moment. He consented that computerized accounting system allow managers to easily identify and solve problems instantly. Nevertheless, there is a problem associated with application of computerized accounting system in an organization; this is in respect of displacement of labour hands in the bursary department and its union implication and the problem of low turnover (volume of operation) and profitability in institutions. Divergent views had been put forward in respect of the merits and demerits associated with the application of manual and computerized accounting systems in regards towards their respective contribution in an organizational efficiency in daily operations. This forms the milieu upon which the study is set out to perform an analysis on computerized accounting software and its effect on institutional performance.

1.3 AIMS OF THE STUDY

The major purpose of this study is to examine computerized software and its effect on institutional performance. Other general objectives of the study are:

1. To examine the roles played by computerized accounting software in determining the efficiency and performance in an institution.

2. To examine the uses of computerized accounting system in school fees administration in institutions.

3. To examine the effect of computerized accounting software on institutional performance.

4. To examine the computerized accounting software as an aid to salary administration in an institution.

5. To examine the relationship between computerized accounting system and institutional performance.

6. To suggest ways in which computerized accounting software will aid in assisting institutions to achieve their goals and objectives in administration.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the roles played by computerized accounting software in determining the efficiency and performance in an institution?

2. How can computerized accounting system be used in school fees administration in institutions?

3. What are the effects of computerized accounting software on institutional performance?

4. Does computerized accounting software aid in salary administration in an institution?

5. What is the relationship between computerized accounting system and institutional performance?

6. What are the ways in which computerized accounting software will aid in assisting institutions to achieve their goals and objectives in administration?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Hypothesis 1

1.  There is no significant effect of computerized accounting software on institutional performance.
2. There is a significant effect of computerized accounting software on institutional performance.

Hypothesis 2

1.  There is no significant relationship between computerized accounting software and institutional performance.
2. .

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study findings will be of immense importance in the sense that:

1. The research will enable the university administrators to be aware of the problem of manual record keeping and any improvement made by computerized record keeping in order to finding appropriate steps in addressing them.
2. To bring out the significance of computerized systems on record-keeping and administration of institutions.
3. To classify and deal with some likely challenges related with the use of a computerized accounting system in record-keeping and performance of the institution.
4. It will help other institutions to also adopt these recommendations to improve their administrative performance.
5. The study shall therefore serve as a reference for further research.

1.7    SCOPE OF THE STUDY 

The study is based on computerized software and its effects on institutional performance, a case study of Bursary Department University of Jos.  

1.8 LIMITATION OF STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Computer: IBM defines a computer as a machine that can by following a controlled sequence of instructions perform both logical and arithmetic operations with data [Leedy, 1980, pp. 31] and can also record results for either immediate or future reference.

Accounting: According to Weber (2011), accounting is the way business owners manage their company’s financial information. Sacco (2008) defines accounting as a process through which financial information is recorded, organized, summarized, analyzed, interpreted, and communicated. This implies that accounting is concerned with the design of an organization’s record keeping system, the preparation of financial documents, analysis and interpretation of financial documents.

Computerized Accounting: Computerized accounting is defined by Wilson (2010) as a total suit of components that together comprises all inputs, storage, transactions, processing, collecting and reporting of financial transaction data. Before the introduction of information technology into accounting, accounting protocols were performed manually. Today accountants use computer software to perform these duties. Computerized accounting system refers to the method or scheme by which financial information on business transactions are recorded, organized, summarized, analyzed, interpreted and communicated to stake holders through the use of the computer and computer-based systems such as the internet and accounting software. This facilitates the automation of accounting tasks (Bretcht and Martin, 2008).