BUS707 Research Plan: Innovation in Accounting & Business Impact

This report presents a research plan focused on investigating the impact of innovations in accounting on businesses. It begins with a background of the study, highlighting the rapid changes in the accounting sector due to technological advancements and their influence on the role of accountants. The research problem identifies the difficulties companies face in adapting to these innovations, particularly the lack of a common business model for strategic positioning. The research objectives include investigating technological innovations, their influence on business and accountant operations, and their positive and negative impacts on business performance. The plan outlines a primary data collection method using survey questionnaires distributed to employees in Australian enterprises, with ethical considerations addressed to ensure confidentiality and voluntary participation. The literature review will cover sources discussing technological innovation, proficiency development, and improvements in business processes. The report concludes with a Gantt chart illustrating the project timeline.

Running head: INNOVATION IN ACCOUNTING AND ITS IMPACT ON BUSINESS
Innovation in accounting and its impact on business
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1INNOVATION IN ACCOUNTING AND ITS IMPACT ON BUSINESS
Table of Content
1. Research Title: Innovation in Accounting and its impact on business.....................................2
2. Partner organization (if applicable): Not applicable...............................................................2
3. Background of the study...........................................................................................................2
4. Research Problem.....................................................................................................................3
5. Research Objectives.................................................................................................................4
6. Literature Review.....................................................................................................................4
7. Data collection plan..................................................................................................................5
8. Ethical consideration................................................................................................................6
9. Gantt Chart...............................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

2INNOVATION IN ACCOUNTING AND ITS IMPACT ON BUSINESS
1. Research Title: Innovation in Accounting and its impact on business
2. Partner organization (if applicable): Not applicable
3. Background of the study
Over the years, the accounting sector has been swiftly changing owing to yield
optimization that exists in course of equipment. The accounting sector has been
recognized as the industry where technological innovations has led to growth in business.
Innovation in accounting has changed the accountant’s role, which in turn influences the
accounting businesses. Now- a- days accounting programs have facilitated accountants in
journalizing transactions, paying bills, posting into ledgers and reporting (Kanellou and
Spathis 2013) There are some accounting software that makes the accountants easy to
utilize, thereby making them highly popular with small businesses (Ax and Greve, 2017).
The technological innovations in the field of accounting has made jobs of the accountants
easier from their regular jobs in generating accounting statements with the help of certain
technologies and software (Malsch and Gendron 2013). The technological innovation
have changed obstructed jobs of the accountants into accurate ones. Innovation in
accounting has been making it easier for the accountants to play bigger role in client’s
ongoing operations. Technological innovation in accounting makes easier for the
business owners in making financial decisions effectively (Chenhall and Moers 2015).
Innovation in accounting through integration of new technologies also makes the
accountant’s work highly reliable with less error margin and less tedious. Furthermore,
technological innovations in the tax software also helped the accountants to increase

3INNOVATION IN ACCOUNTING AND ITS IMPACT ON BUSINESS
accuracy, which in turn aid the businesses to avoid tax penalties as well as restrict
problems with the stakeholders. On the contrary, innovation in accounting might create
problems in businesses if the accounting information are not investigated for fullness as
well as accurateness. However, the businesses now- a- days focus on deploying advanced
technologies and providing education to human resources in order to make innovations in
accounting effectively. This in turn facilitates the enterprises to improve its accounting
operations and maximize profitability in business.
4. Research Problem
It has been evident from recent facts that the companies are facing several
difficulties with the innovation in accounting that occurs from integration of new
technologies. As of today, there is no common business model by which the companies
position themselves in its business elements for simplifying choices of their strategic
positioning towards making innovations in accounting (Schaltegger, Etxeberria and Ortas
2017). Changes might occur in different phases of business processes while making
innovations in accounting. This in turn creates challenges for the accountants in making
their decisions relating to their job. However, this barrier might create few actions highly
difficult to manage and thus facilitators might take other steps of procedure easier. Thus,
the businesses is predicted to have high probability in becoming automated. This means
the companies of this sector face problems in meeting with this change that occurs from
innovations in accounting. Hence, the enterprises are required to implement effective
strategies in order to make their businesses survive in the competitive business
environment.

4INNOVATION IN ACCOUNTING AND ITS IMPACT ON BUSINESS
5. Research Objectives
The main aim of this study is to investigate how innovations in accounting effect
the businesses operating in the accounting sector. The sub- objectives of this research
include-
 To investigate different aspects of the technological innovation in field of
accounting
 To find out how results of innovation in accounting influence the business
operations(Ezzamel et al. 2014)
 To explore how innovations in accounting influence the accountants operations
 To investigate the positive and negative impact of innovations in accounting in
the business performance.
 To study whether technological innovations in the accounting field impact the
business office virtually
6. Literature Review
The varying sources from where the literature relating to this research topic will
be reviewed are given below-
 Taipaleenmäki, J. and Ikäheimo, S., 2013. On the convergence of management
accounting and financial accounting–the role of information technology in accounting
change. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 14(4), pp.321-348.
 Chenhall, R.H. and Moers, F., 2015. The role of innovation in the evolution of
management accounting and its integration into management control. Accounting,
Organizations and Society, 47, pp.1-13.

5INNOVATION IN ACCOUNTING AND ITS IMPACT ON BUSINESS
 Mohasseb, S., Hobson, K., Lund, K., Griffit, D., Witt, G., Hakutizwi, B., Lloyd, D.,
Lund, K., Wickre, K., Schawbel, D., Perez, T., Taylor, S., Kruger, J. and Kruger, J.
(2018). 4 Ways Accounting Innovation Benefits Business Owners - StartupNation.
[online] StartupNation. Available at:
https://startupnation.com/manage-your-business/accounting-innovation-benefits/
[Accessed 4 Dec. 2018].
The keywords that will be used in this literature review segment involves- technological
innovation, proficiency development of accountants, improvement in business processes,
accounting software, digitization, business models, digital innovation, socio- technological
change, improvement in business operation and business decision- making (Taipaleenmäki and
Ikäheimo 2013).
7. Data collection plan
Data for any research are mainly gathered by utilizing two methods- primary and
secondary. Primary data are usually collected from surveys, observations, interview process
whereas secondary data are collected from books, academic or peer- reviewed journals,
websites. Moreover, data analysis can be done by using two methods such as qualitative and
quantitative. The qualitative data analysis method includes- interview procedure while the
quantitative data analysis method includes observations, survey questionnaire procedure.
For this particular research study, primary data collection method will be used for
investigating the impact of innovation in accounting on business enterprises. The primary
data will be gathered with the help of survey questionnaire process (Treiman 2014). A
structured questionnaire will be framed and distributed to aforesaid employees including

6INNOVATION IN ACCOUNTING AND ITS IMPACT ON BUSINESS
managers and leaders of few enterprises in Australia. The respondents will be selected based
on the simple random sampling method so that every participants have equal opportunity of
being selected in the survey questionnaire process. The data collected through this process
will facilitate to analyze the effect of innovation in accounting on the accountants. It will also
help to assess the financial frauds such as hacking that might occur due to integration of new
technologies for innovation in accounting. Overall, this survey questionnaire process will
help to attain accurate outcome of this research study.
8. Ethical consideration
Every researcher must take into account ethical consideration while conducting any
research. In this research, the rules and regulations of research study will be abided in order
to avoid any kind of issues. The confidentiality of information or data will be maintained so
that accountants or managers names are not disclosed. In addition to this, emotions of
respondents will also be taken into account while structuring the questions so that they do not
provide any biased answers. Moreover, voluntary participation of respondents will be taken
into account for avoiding any kind of conflicts during the survey process.
9. Time schedule
Figure1: Gantt Chart

7INNOVATION IN ACCOUNTING AND ITS IMPACT ON BUSINESS
Source: (As created by author)
References
Ax, C. and Greve, J., 2017. Adoption of management accounting innovations: Organizational
culture compatibility and perceived outcomes. Management Accounting Research, 34, pp.59-74.
Chenhall, R.H. and Moers, F., 2015. The role of innovation in the evolution of management
accounting and its integration into management control. Accounting, Organizations and Society,
47, pp.1-13.
Ezzamel, M., Hyndman, N., Johnsen, A. and Lapsley, I., 2014. Reforming central government:
An evaluation of an accounting innovation. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 25(4-5),
pp.409-422.
Kanellou, A. and Spathis, C., 2013. Accounting benefits and satisfaction in an ERP environment.
International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 14(3), pp.209-233.
Malsch, B. and Gendron, Y., 2013. Re‐theorizing change: Institutional experimentation and the
struggle for domination in the field of public accounting. Journal of Management Studies, 50(5),
pp.870-899.
Schaltegger, S., Etxeberria, I.Á. and Ortas, E., 2017. Innovating corporate accounting and
reporting for sustainability–attributes and challenges. Sustainable Development, 25(2), pp.113-
122.
Taipaleenmäki, J. and Ikäheimo, S., 2013. On the convergence of management accounting and
financial accounting–the role of information technology in accounting change. International
Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 14(4), pp.321-348.

8INNOVATION IN ACCOUNTING AND ITS IMPACT ON BUSINESS
Treiman, D.J., 2014. Quantitative data analysis: Doing social research to test ideas. John Wiley
& Sons.