Accounting - the Digital Way
How Microsoft adds it up. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * TECHNOLOGY IS dramatically changing the role of the financial professional from that of information recorder to business strategist--making the financial manager much more critical to the success of an enterprise. * TO KEEP PACE WITH these changes, the financial professional is expected to provide accurate and timely financial information that can be accessed and analyzed quickly and easily. While digital technology may make it easier to collect information and move it from one place to another, it also has led to an incredible proliferation of data. Filtering, sorting, compiling, analyzing and disseminating financial data in ways that add real value to a corporation has become a daunting challenge. * MICROSOFT CORP.--with 54 financial groups charged with providing financial support to more than 85 global subsidiary operations--has struggled with these challenges. Its answer is the financial "digital nervous system," an intranet-based environment that links all of the company's financial groups into a single, coherent system and provides its employees with real-time access to information and financial reports through the Internet. * FIVE YEARS AGO, it took Microsoft two weeks to close the books. Now it takes four days. The company used to print and distribute 350,000 hard-copy management reports each year. Today, none. Through FinWeb, a network of intranet sites, its employees can submit travel-expense reports and be reimbursed, purchase goods and services and transfer capital assets--all from their desktops. They've reduced paperwork, transaction time and publishing and distribution costs. * IT'S POSSIBLE for any of its employees who need financial information for decision making to access detailed reports that are updated daily. The financial system lets people drill down through layers of information to get answers--quickly, easily and without computer programming skills. None of the technology used to achieve the objectives is beyond the reach of any organization--large or small. * AS A RESULT, the company is able to achieve something finance organizations strive for: the ability to add more value at the strategic end of the business and spend less time processing transactions. Technology is providing the tools that are revolutionizing the role of financial professionals from that of information recorders and processors to business strategists--making them much more critical to the success of an enterprise. The changes started about a decade ago, when the personal computer began to supplant the mainframe computer. The desktop machine was suddenly available at the right price and with enough computational power to make it an essential business tool--streamlining manual processes, managing data and exchanging knowledge. And when the PC was linked to an enterprise network, the evolution became a revolution, totally transforming the business environment and the role of the financial professional. Add the incredible growth of the Internet and we have the communication medium for a true global economy in which data can be transmitted around the world almost instantly. Suddenly a company's value is determined not only by its tangible assets but also by its ability to collect and me information. Business continues to face other transformations triggered by widespread computerization. The number, of distribution channels is growing, forcing most companies to increase their mix of products and services--and making the task of keeping track of revenues, expenses and other financial information far more complicated. At the same time, many companies are finding that to stay competitive they must update their fundamental business model to adapt to the ever-changing marketplace. THE CHALLENGE The financial professional is expected to keep pace with these changes and provide accurate and timely financial information that can be accessed and analyzed quickly and easily. …