Technology's Impact on Accounting Practices: UK Food Industry

This report delves into the significant impact of technology on accounting practices, specifically focusing on the UK food industry. It begins with an introduction outlining the background, aim, objectives, and rationale for the study. A comprehensive literature review explores the concept of technology in accounting, methods of implementation (such as cloud-based systems and accounting software), and potential challenges. The methodology section details the descriptive research design, qualitative research procedures, reliance on secondary data, and ethical considerations. The report also includes preliminary data findings, a statement of limitations, and a conclusion summarizing the key insights. The study highlights the importance of technology in modern accounting and its implications for businesses in the UK food industry, offering valuable insights into the adoption, challenges, and benefits of technological advancements in financial management.

ACCOUNTING AND
FINANCE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
Background............................................................................................................................3
Aim and objectives.................................................................................................................3
Rationale................................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................................................................4
Theme 1: Understanding the concept of technology in accounting practices........................4
Theme 2: Methods through which technology can be implemented in accounting practice
in UK food industry...............................................................................................................4
Theme 3: Identifying the challenges which might come across while implementing
technology in accounting practices........................................................................................5
METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................................5
PRILIMINARY DATA.............................................................................................................6
STATEMENT OF LIMITATION.............................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................9

Topic:“The impacts of technology on accounting practices: case study from UK food
industry.”
INTRODUCTION
Background
Accounting is the system which is being used by the organization for the purpose of
measuring thefinancial performance along with classifying thefinancial transactions,
undertaking variousfinancial decision. The emergence of technology has resulted into more
effective management of the accounting activities. This study will help in determining the
importance and relevance of the technology in the field of accounting which will result into
encouraging businesses in making use of it. The study is being conducted in UK food
industrywhich will help the companies within the industry to take advantage of such
technology based accounting practices in the business.
Aim and objectives
Aim
To analyse the impact of technology on the accounting practices in UK food
industry.
Objectives
 To understand the concept of technology in accounting practices.
 To determine the methods through which it can be implemented.
 To analyse the challenges in implementing technology in accounting practices.
 To recommend the ways through which challenges can be overcome.
Research questions
1. What is the concept of using technology in accounting practices?
2. What are the methods by which can be introduced?
3. What are the challenges in implementing the technology in accounting practices?
4. What are the ways to overcome the changes?
Rationale
The rationale behind selecting this specific topic is that the researcher is having immense
interest in this topic because the technology has taken part in different sectors in making the
work more effective. This study will enhance the knowledge on this topic and another reason
is that it will aid researcher in ensuring that companies in the UK food industry will make use
of the technology in its accounting practices which will bring accuracy and reliability.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Theme 1: Understanding the concept of technology in accounting practices
The technology has an important and crucial impact over the accounting. This has
enabled the industries to develop and make use of the computerized systems in their business
function in order to store and record the financial data. As defined by Teru, Idoko and Bello
(2019)with the rapid change and advancement in the technology and an increase in the need
for the accountants has resulted into making accounting technology a remarkable
vocation.With the use of technology has resulted into enhancement in the capability and the
skills of the accountant in regard to better interpretation of the data in an easier and
effectively way. This is the future and implementing this in the earlier stage will help the
organization’s in getting used to it and in understanding the advantages it can bring to the
business. According to Simons and VOß(2018), there are many advantages associated with
implementing the technology in accounting practices but on the other side, there are few
aspects which might be challenging for the businesses in imposing it in practices but one’s it
is done then everything will be very smooth. The system will bring in more accuracy and
reliable information on financial which will be value added to the company.
Theme 2: Methods through which technology can be implemented in accounting practice in
UK food industry
The technology has changed the way in which accounting practices is being carried
out. There are various methods through which technology can be implemented within an
organization. As stated by Bahador and Haider (2020)many firms are making use of the
cloud-based systems which helps in streamlining the information. Through, this the
accountant or the other authorized personnel can get an access to it and can make changes to
it as and when required. This method will help in analysing the data on a real time basis
because of eth easy access provided along with that cloud computing results into making of
documents through the web which can be easily collected and used.
Gulin, Hladika and Valenta(2019) stated that by making use of the accounting and
the taxation software which has helped the business organization in further narrowing the
process of accounting along with filing of the tax return. Under this, accounting software is
integrated with taxation software which assist in segmenting the data in an appropriate
category which makes the process of tax filling faster and more accurate.Proper integration
helps in effectively making use of the technology while undertaking the accounting practices

resulting into generating better and improved outcomes and helps in focusing on the
important aspects.
Theme 3: Identifying the challenges which might come across while implementing
technology in accounting practices
There are certain challenges which the organizations or the industry as a whole
might face while implementing technology in the accounting practice. According to Faccia,
Al Naqbi and Lootah (2019)the accountants have become redundant with regard to the onset
of automationand artificial intelligence. As the use of technology will result into reduction in
the overhead costs and deploys the employees in the other important tasks. This has emerged
as the major challenge for the industry. The technology has made the things so easy that
people can carry out the accounting tasks on their own without looking for accountant unless
there is any complicated situation. Many of the firms have adopted the technology at every
level of technology development and each department is having a separate system for
management of work and this has resulted into creating complexity. This has resulted into
affecting the productivity of the organization and increased the problem for the employees.
METHODOLOGY
 Research design- the research design used in the study of analysing the impact of
technology over accounting practices is the use of descriptive research. The major
reason for this is that when the qualitative study is to be conducted then the
descriptive research will be more suitable. Further the descriptive research design
involves a detailed analysis of the research topic and involves all the data and
information relating to the topic of research. Thus, this will develop a deeper
understanding for the researcher as well as the reader of the research pertaining to the
use of technology in accounting practices used within the UK food industry.
 Research procedures- for the procedure of researching for the impact of technology
on accounting practices is the use of qualitative procedure of study (Mohajan, 2018).
The major reason for this is that this will assist researcher in getting in- depth
knowledge relating to the research topic. Further the use of qualitative research is very
easy and involves the analysis of the values and the beliefs relating to topic of
research and not any fact and figures. Thus, this makes it easier to understand and
improves the completion of the research in successful manner.
 Kind of data- for this the major focus will be laid over the secondary sources of data.
This is particularly because of the reason that using the primary data is not efficient

and in case of secondary data the use of already published data and articles can be
used relating to the topic of the research. More emphasis is laid over the secondary
source of information and data because this involves the already used data and
because of this it is more reliable and valid.
 Collection procedures- the collection procedure will include the gathering of
different types of articles, books, journals and other published data (Dodds and Hess,
2020). Firstly the relevant articles and journals relating to the topic of research will be
listed and then they will be analysed and relevant information and facts and figures
will be used in research.
 Selection and access- under the completion of this research the data will be accessed
which is not beyond the year 2016. The major reason for this fact is that beyond the
2016 the data will be old and it might be possible that facts and figures have been
changed after that. Further the major reason for the selection of the latest data is that
in the current dynamic environment there are many changes taking place and if these
will be involved in research then it is of no use.
 Ethical statement- The researcher has carries out the research in an ethical
waythrough the way of collecting the relevant data for the valid and authentic sources
and along with that has cited the work being carried out by other authors. The
research information has been kept confidential and along with it any type of
communication being carried in respect to the project ahs been done with full honesty.
No use of any offensive or discriminatory statement is being used in preparing the
report. Along with it, the research has complied with the Data Protection Act (1998)
while undertaking the study.
 Costs and funding- this research involves a lot of cost and this has to be barred by
the researcher only. Thus, for this it is essential for the researcher to have access to
finds in effective manner. For this if the researcher is not having enough money then
they have to arrange for finance for the funding of the complete research to be
undertaken in successful manner. The cost involved in the research will be
approximately £300- 400.
PRILIMINARY DATA
 Evidence of importance- it is very essential for the researcher to have evidence of all
the data and facts and figures which they are using in the research. Thus, for this the
researcher will make use of the different articles and journal over the Google scholars

and will also provide for their reference within the dissertation as well (Zangirolami-
Raimundo, Echeimberg and Leone, 2018).
 Informs methodology- this is also very essential for the researcher to inform the
methodology in the research as this will assist the reader to have a view that how the
data was collected and how it was used in order to reach to some conclusions. This is
also important to inform the mythology as this will guide the other researcher as well
who are conducting the same or similar research study.
 Preliminary finding- the preliminary study involved the use of literature review
wherein the views of different authors and publishers was made (Ørngreen and
Levinsen, 2017). Under this the different themes were made according to the research
objective and then after the views of different authors were highlighted relating to
these aspect of the study.
 Important categories and relationship- under this research the most important
category was the impact of the use of technology over the use of accounting practices.
Further for analysing this research topic the use of different sub category that is
objectives are created. This is done to simplify the research procedure and to reach to
some conclusion.
STATEMENT OF LIMITATION
The major limitation encountered during the study was the availability of too much
data relating to the research topic. This was a major limitation as the researcher got confused
that which data to be used. If they go for too old data then the research will be irrelevant and
if they use latest data then it might be possible that most of the readers are not acquainted
with that data. In addition to this another major limitation was the time as the time provided
for the completion of research was less. It was difficult for the researcher to complete the
research in successful manner. But then also the researcher with their effective hard work and
skills managed to complete the research on time.
CONCLUSION
In the end from the above discussion it is clear that accounting is very essential for the
success of any organization. In addition to this in the field of accounting there are many
modifications in the use of technology. Thus, if the technology is not being implemented
within the company for accounting then this will not result in better and effective working.
Thus, the current proposal highlighted the different objective which was made for the
completion of the research aim. In addition to this, the views of different authors relating to

research aim and objectives were discussed. In the end the use of various methods and data
that will be used for research was highlighted like it was highlighted that secondary source of
data will be used.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bahador, K.M.K. and Haider, A., 2020. Enhancing information technology-related skills
among accounting practitioners. International Journal of Business Information
Systems. 35(1). pp.88-109.
Dodds, S. and Hess, A.C., 2020. Adapting research methodology during COVID-19: lessons
for transformative service research. Journal of Service Management.
Faccia, A., Al Naqbi, M.Y.K. and Lootah, S.A., 2019, August. Integrated Cloud Financial
Accounting Cycle: How Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and XBRL will Change
the Accounting, Fiscal and Auditing Practices. In Proceedings of the 2019 3rd
International Conference on Cloud and Big Data Computing (pp. 31-37).
Gulin, D., Hladika, M. and Valenta, I., 2019. Digitalization and the Challenges for the
Accounting Profession. Available at SSRN 3492237.
Mohajan, H.K., 2018. Qualitative research methodology in social sciences and related
subjects. Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People. 7(1). pp.23-
48.
Ørngreen, R. and Levinsen, K., 2017. Workshops as a Research Methodology. Electronic
Journal of E-learning. 15(1). pp.70-81.
Simons, A. and VOß, J.P., 2018. The concept of instrument constituencies: Accounting for
dynamics and practices of knowing governance. Policy and Society. 37(1). pp.14-35.
Teru, S.P., Idoko, I.F. and Bello, L., 2019. The Impact of E-Accounting in Modern
Businesses. International Journal of Accounting & Finance Review. 4(2). pp.1-4.
Zangirolami-Raimundo, J., Echeimberg, J.D.O. and Leone, C., 2018. Research methodology
topics: Cross-sectional studies. Journal of Human Growth and Development. 28(3).
pp.356-360.