Study On A Paperless System Information Technology Essay

Study On A Paperless System Information engineering EssayMany organizations, in an effort to increase their effectiveness and cleverness in tack to develop competitive advantages in their marketplace, ar intense to develop tuition technology on their teleph whiz circuit bodys. The age of discipline technology provides possibilities for an effective coordination of barter process. Different partners and parties transact electronic tout ensembley in the modern commerce surround and this takes a compact pointor for bill and take stocking systems to convert into baseless forms as well.Over the last decade, climate change became iodin of the top signalise concerns for both countries. More and to a greater extent nations atomic enumerate 18 be allow-to doe with with the sustainability of the worlds environment and ar trying to contribute by various policies very much(prenominal) as reducing their carbon footprints, conserving on resources, building greener environm ents and preserving wildlife habitats. The ch anyenge is to fight down economic growth without threatening the long term survival prospects of mankind. unrivaled of the key issues with regards to the environment is deforestation. Food and Agricultural Senior Forestry Officer, Dieter Schoene, said, at a join Nations Framework radiation diagram on Climate Change shop class in 2006, thatWe argon running(a) to solve two of the key environmental issues deforestation and global warming at the same quantifyThe removal of trees causes galore(postnominal) problems including destruction of natural habitat and damage to our atmosphere. One primer for deforestation is the yield of composing. Paper pulp is made of wood. Paper production accounts for about a liberal percentage of felled trees, and thus paper saving has been a key concern for the world with plenty of investigateers, conservation groups, campaigns and initiatives with the repoint of reducing paper work.A typical s ale transaction allow for consist of but not limited to the quote, the purchase order, the proforma invoice, the delivery note, the gross sales invoice. This pith that one transaction provide use at least five pieces of paper and this does not include other documents like the coin bank payment advice, beneficiary advice and other functions that lead to the sale. In 2007, capital of Singapore had at least 160,000 small medium enterprises. If each furrow had a buttoned-up average of 20 sale licit proceeding per month, 16 million sheets of paper would buzz off been utilize which is the equivalent of 32,000 reams of paper. That would mean to the world a unconnected of at least 1,800 trees every month just because of Singapores SMEs alone.Paperless system is used for automating the method of business relationship information processes. Automation in be system operator reducing the paper dependency, and it exit provide effectiveness. An effective paperless business system depart make paper an option rather than a necessity and thus reducing the usage of paper in the corpo valuate world.It is for this cogitate that paperless systems have in addition become a sine qua non for business processes with many a(prenominal) professionals believing that going paperless is no protracted an option but a must(prenominal). Another reason is that paperless systems involve technology which could make the business much to a greater extent(prenominal) effective. The rapid rise of paperless business solutions and providers around the world goes to yield that to a greater extent and more businesses have identified pursuing a paperless mail as a strategy that can do them gain a competitive advantage in their marketplace.It has been observed that internationally (Hannon, Neal 2004) many regions argon encompassing and shifting towards electronic proceedings, electronic business systems and even the development of protractible Business Reporting Language (XB RL), a standardized digital linguistic communication for business financial reporting. The EU for example already has a large and extensive list of directives covering the usage of electronic transmission of financial transactions, customs and trade documents, taxation issues, online privacy and security.Al around all countries in Asia have electronic transaction natural polices, with the exception of Sri Lanka and Nepal which have pending legislation. In Singapore in that location are many statutes that govern the administration of documents at heart organizations. A recent addition is the electronic transactions modus operandi 2010 where it is specifically verbalise that where a rule of legality carrys any document, remember or information to be retained, or provides for certain consequences if it is not, that requirement is satisfied by retaining the document, record or information in the form of an electronic record if conditions are satisfied (Singapore Statutes).Th e Singapore Standard for Auditing, namely SSA 500, also deals with electronic documentation. It has specified that electronic points are accepted as long as they fulfill the requirements. However it has also stated that electronic tell aparts are not as reliable as original documents. This contradicts the electronic legal proceeding hazard 2010 where the original documents may truely be in electronic forms.It is in the above context that this study attempts to investigate the awareness of the implementation of the electronics proceedings symbolize 2010 in Singapore. It further attempts to examine whether such awareness translates into an aim to adopt paperless report systems and if at that place is no intention to adopt paperless method of invoice systems then the reasons for companies resisting the intention to pursue a paperless office.For the above purpose, the study leave alone conduct a fall out on the awareness of paperless accounting and the electronic legal proceeding Act 2010 in Singapore and whether it has wedged the way businesses hold up in various industries. It get out also go over on the reasons that handicap businesses from adopting electronic transactions as part of their operation models. The study entrust also attempt to vex out what can be workable push factors to help businesses adopt paperless accounting.LITERATURE REVIEWThe case for paperless accounting and chasing paperless offices have been looked and discussed by many practitioners and researchers, yielding a lot of publications on this topic both in popular and academic sources2.1 The role for Paperless AccountingPaperless accounting is base on electronic transactions where all business transactions are recorded electronically. The lit available on this topic is generally from popular sources with very little scholarly research attempted. The literature on paperless accounting from both popular and academic sources is in general targeted on the benefits of going paperless, ways to implement a paperless office. They are focused on building the case for businesses to adopt a paperless strategy.Many researchers and practitioners believed that businesses must adopt paperless processes as part of their strategies. As a company grows and the transactions increase it will require a paperless system for its business processes (Webster 2004). pack Blaylock (2005) believed thatGoing paperless is no longer an option, but must for a certified public accountant (Certified Public Accountant).Businesses have to go paperless in order to keep up with their competition. The mentality has changed. For example in 2005, a cartoon by PCPS/Texas social club of CPAs National Management of Accounting Practice (MAP) showed that 41% of CPA respondents indicated that they would argue going paperless, and 20% already have done it. 25% of the firms are planning to go paperless, but 13% will not calculate it. Later in 2008, CCH Incorporated assessed accou ntancy practitioners who have use paperless system. Of those of were visual modalityed, 95% would recommend the idea of displace up paperless offices to other users.However near researchers have also challenged the notion that paperless is the way to go. Paper is dumb the most astray used form of document medium due to its many benefits that is not easy to replace and will still co-exist with electronic documents in the long term (Liu and Stork, 2000) Paper usage cannot be foreshortend significantly unless work practices are re-organized and the digital alternative to paper has to be mendd. Until that happens, offices will still most likely have paper around (Sellen 2003). This collect is further re-emphasized by Gragg (2004) where he pointed out that it is difficult to depend all on electronic documentation due to swift developments in software program technology and hard copies will unlikely go away permanently. It is also wrong to assume that there will be no picture costs in a paperless office since a lot of population will carry on to print out the documents that are displace to them electronically, even if huge investments have been made to obtain technology that help to store documents digitally.What Sellen and Gragg observed in 2003 and 2004 respectively still hold true(p) today. The world usage of paper is still increasing. Some businesses still crush to paper. Even those which have invested in technology to automate their business processes still rely heavily on paper documents. For example, it is not uncommon to conform to executives printing out hard copies of their email correspondences. Logistics and shipping companies still require hardcopies of the bills of lading and certificates on goods. Banks and tax authorities still require hardcopies of hand-signed institutional documents. In such cases, businesses should look at usage of recycled paper which is more environmentally friendly although the ultimate aim should still be at reduction eventually.Therefore the case for paperless offices is very obvious with many benefits that all businesses should strive to achieve. Paperless accounting can bring about increased capability while at the same time lowering the costs of accounting (Gullkvist 2002). Brian Steinert, director of specialty software product oversight at CCH, in a supplement to Accounting Today, said thatBecause of the amazing efficiencies that result from streamlined, interconnected workflows because of the greater productivity brought about when professionals have anytime/anywhere access to what they need and anywhere/anytime ability to collaborate with their peers because young professionals expect and embrace paperless processes because all professionals will spend more time on high-level, high-value work because cash will be saved in the long run only when by buying and storing much less paper.Cost reduction will be the primary objective for many vendors who are considering implement pa perless business processes (Davis 2005). Reduction in paper usage will also reduce the damage to the environment.The amount of literature available on paperless accounting suggests that it is a widely known concept around the world. However the lack of literature on the word sense rate of paperless accounting systems even in the United States and Europe, which are considered to be more developed in terms of technology, suggests that the actual awareness of the public is much lesser. A survey on the awareness of paperless accounting in Singapore should yield negative results.2.2 Electronic Transactions Act in SingaporeMany regions around the world are experiencing pressures for legal and regulatory changes due to the growth of paperless offices. The paperless office demands that transactions are documented electronically. Therefore the constabularys related, for example taxation and contract laws, need to be updated to recognize digital records of transactions as legal documents. As the information technology environment develops over time, nations will also move to improve their laws governing electronic commerce. This can be observed from the United Nations gathering on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts (UN Convention), choose by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 23rd November 2005 which was based upon the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce issued in 1998. The principal(prenominal) driver for the new Convention was the fact that the electronic commerce environment in 2005 was very divers(prenominal) from 1998 due to the evolution of the Internet.Singapore, being the rootage country in 1998 to follow the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce, on 7 July 2010 was the first Asian country to confirm its colligation to the new Convention, which is aimed at minimizing differences between laws in different countries. Therefore Singapore needs to update its Electronic Transactions Act (ETA) 1998 to complement the UN Convention and this resulted in ETA 2010.The ETA 2010, although based on the one in 1998, has introduced many key changes, one of it being Clause 9 which provides thatWhere a rule of law requires certain documents, records or information to be retained, the requirement is satisfied by retaining them in the form of electronic records subject to certain safeguards. If the rule of law already expressly provides for such retention in electronic records, the clause will not apply. A public agency may see additional requirements for the retention of electronic records under its jurisdiction.This is the critical change that allows for the feasibility of a paperless office as businesses are no longer needful to keep paper records of their business transactions by law.Besides financial reporting purposes, the other reason that companies archive their financial transactions is for audit purposes. In the Singapore Standard on Auditing under SSA 500, A31 states thatAudit evidence in documentary form, whether paper, electronic, or other medium, is more reliable than evidence obtained orally (for example, a contemporaneously written record of a group meeting is more reliable than a subsequent oral repre displaceation of the matters discussed)This is concordant with the ETA 2010 and further enhances the notion that companies no longer have to generate invoices in paper forms. Businesses can choose to issue their invoices in digital formats to their clients. The digital invoice will be recognized in the eyes of the law as a legal document.As the ETA 2010 was passed only in July this year, it is pass judgment that most executives will be unconscious(predicate) of this change in the Act and subsequently, most will not have plans to adopt paperless accounting systems yet. The survey will attempt to determine if this is indeed the case.METHODOLOGYThe primary research instrument used in this paper is a questionnaire which is piloted among members of the public work ing in finance related positions across a wide clutches of industries. The diversity of the members surveyed was as wide as possible in order to obtain a good mix of responses from members in both IT-savvy industries and non IT-savvy industries. The survey was administered and collected between October-November 2010. In keeping with the topic that is being discussed the questionnaires were sent out either via e-mail as attachments or through transfers via flip-flop drives and respondents were encouraged to complete and return in the same manner.The questions were structured in order to get feedback of respondents awareness of the Electronic Transactions Act 2010, whether it has impacted the way their businesses operate. If it has no impact yet, the survey will aim to find out why the business has not adopted a paperless transactions as part of its operations and what factors will push the business to adopt paperless systems.Surveys were distributed to 200 possible respondents from through digital survey forms. Although the target members were pass on to reply in digital formats with respect to the topic in questions, near respondents replied through their own paper formats of the survey. Instructions and explanations are clearly stated should the respondents face any difficulties in understanding the questions.RESULTS4.1 Question one later 2 reminders, the surveys were returned by 124 (62 percent respond rate) respondents. The breakdown of the respondents according to their industries is shown in the chart below.Chart 4.1 Breakdown by IndustriesAlthough an attempt to survey a wide diversity of respondents was made, 47% of the respondents came from the Banking and pay and the IT pains. This is passing due to the fact that near half of the 200 surveys were distributed at 2 commercial buildings physically where the tenants at both buildings consisted mainly of companies providing financial services or IT-related services. In order to obtain a more accurat e response rate for different industries, the survey should have been distributed in a fixed number per industry.It must also be mentioned that a larger essay of respondents is involve in order to obtain more accurate results that can be indicative of the follow population.4.2 Question 2The second question of the survey was to find out whether the respondents were aware of paperless accounting. The results of the survey are shown below.Q1Q2YesNoBanking and Finance321913Fashion514Food swallow13112IT26917Logistics404Manufacturing1129Pharmaceutical101 topographic point110retail20119Trade1046Government101 resume1243886Table 4.1 Question 2 resultsOut of the 124 respondents, 69% of the respondents were unaware of what is paperless accounting. This is consistent with what was concluded in the literature review. Although paperless accounting is widely discussed in both popular and academic articles, the adoption and awareness range are much lower. This is especially the case as shown by the results above, where almost 74% of the respondents who are aware of paperless accounting come from IT-savvy industries. And even deep down the IT-savvy industries, only 28 out of the 58 respondents (48%) are aware of what is paperless accounting. Clearly, more has to be done in order to increase the awareness.4.3 Question 3The third question of the survey asked if respondents are aware of the Electronic Transactions Act 2010. As discussed in the literature review, the awareness level should be low since this Act was only in effect since Jul 2010. The results of the survey are listed below.Q1Q3YesNoBanking and Finance32626Fashion514Food Beverage13013IT26620Logistics404Manufacturing11011Pharmaceutical101Property101Retail20020Trade1019Government100Total12414110Table 4.2 Question 3 ResultsThe results are almost one-sided with 88% of the respondents stating that they are unaware of the Electronic Transactions Act 2010. Most are unaware that invoices no longer need to be in paper form and can be sent via electronic means. This can be considered as a blow on the part of the government when the residents of a country are unaware that the country is the first Asian country to ratify the UN Convention. The government will need to raise awareness through more media coverage, campaigns and gazettes.4.4 Question 4The fourth question of the survey tries to find the adoption rate of paperless accounting by businesses in Singapore. The results are tabulated below.Q1Q4YesNoBanking and Finance19019Fashion101Food Beverage101IT963Logistics000Manufacturing202Pharmaceutical000Property101Retail101Trade413Government000Total38731Table 4.3 Question 4 ResultsSince the results of the previous 2 questions have indicated that there is a lack of awareness of paperless accounting and the Electronic Transactions Act 2010, only 38 respondents answered this question. The rate of adoption of paperless accounting systems cannot be high. establish on these 38 respondents, only 18% of th e companies implemented paperless systems. Based on the results of this survey, Singapore is on a long road to congruous a paperless society. It is worthy to note that among the 19 respondents in the Banking and Finance industry who are aware of what paperless systems are none of them were in companies that implemented such systems. This is highly likely due to the nature of their industry where paper documents are required.4.5 Question 5Question 5 asked respondents, whose companies have not implemented paperless systems, the reasons behind their companies decisions. A list of 5 options was offered to the respondents and they were allowed to choose more than one. The next chart shows their responses.Chart 4.2 Reasons for not adopting Paperless SystemsOut of the 38 respondents, only 3 felt that paperless systems were costly. A majority of 30 felt that their suppliers and clients required paper documents and thus there was no need for them to adopt paperless systems. This clearly s hows that the respondents and their clients/supplier as well are unaware of the new Electronics Transaction Act 2010. Half of the respondents felt that paperless systems are not adopted as it was not a standard procedure in their industry. Thus if their competitors started adopting paperless systems, they will highly likely follow suit as well. 13 respondents felt that there was no need to implement paperless systems since it is not mandatory by law and 7 felt that there were not many incentives to adopt such systems.4.6 Question 6Question 6 surveyed all the respondents on the factors that will push their companies to adopt paperless accounting. Again, a list of 5 options was offered and respondents were allowed to choose more than one option. The chart below shows their response.Chart 4.3 Push Factors for Paperless AccountingThe biggest push factor for companies to adopt paperless accounting systems is for the government to make is a legal requirement. This is indicated by the resp onse of 66% of those surveyed. 76 of the respondents indicated that they will consider adopting paperless systems if it is one of their industry standards. Half of the respondents felt that there is a need to create more awareness of paperless accounting. It is also worthwhile to note that less than 30% of respondents are looking at incentives and costs of adopting paperless accounting.CONCLUSIONThis survey, carried out in late 2010, found a low level of awareness and adoption rate of paperless accounting. The results of this study must be interpreted in the crystallize of the response rate of 62%, which were obtained after 2 reminders. The final sample size of 124 respondents is definitely not a good indicator of the total population. The fact that 47% of respondents came from 2 out of at least 8 different industries shows that the distribution of the survey was not conducted wide enough although the time given for the survey to be conducted has to be taken into consideration. Bas ically this means that more time and resources need to be allowed in order for a similar survey to be conducted on a wider scale. A survey that yields at least 1000 respondents that are equally distributed across different industries will be a better indicator of the total population.The results of the survey indicate low awareness of both paperless accounting and the new Electronic Transactions Act 2010. Survey respondents have indicated that there should be more awareness made about paperless accounting. This indicates that there is a lot of voltage in the Singapore market for companies that provide digital document management services. The government can increase the awareness of paperless accounting by setting up a national framework for a paperless society as well. This framework should be aimed at resolving the issues that are creating resistance to paperless accounting and helping Singapore businesses to switch to paperless accounting systems progressively.When businesses ad opt paperless accounting systems, there are a few authorities that will have to be involved as well. For example, the Monetary place of Singapore will have to look into solutions that can enable banking and financial institutions to adopt paperless business processes without compromising on risks and securities. The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority will have to look into the acceptance of electronic financial statements. The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore will have to come up with solutions that enable business to file their taxes electronically. By creating such frameworks and support, businesses can be assured of a smoother and easier transition as they adopt paperless accounting systems. This will greatly reduce the resistance to the adoption of paperless business processes that currently exists.The survey results should be interpreted with caution as they indicate only respondents awareness of paperless accounting and the Electronic Transactions Act 2010. H owever it does indicate that there is a need for more research to be done regarding actual business adoption rates of paperless systems and the benefits that both companies and the environment enjoy with the reduced usage of paper.