ACCA BT Syllabus C. Business Functions, Regulation and Technology - Cloud Computing - Notes ^{1 / 5}

This is the provision of computing as a service instead of a purchased product sat on your computer

It enables system information and software to be accessed by computers remotely through the Internet.

Cloud Accounting is the provision of accountancy software through the cloud.

Users login to process financial transactions and produce financial reports in the same way as if the software was installed on their own machine.

In the UK, Sage, Quickbooks and Xero (as well as others) provide cloud accounting services.

Benefits of Cloud Accounting

1. System data and the software itself is automatically refreshed and kept up-to-date

2. Information available to multiple user simultaneously and globally, providing the users have internet access and a login

3. Duplication and inconsistencies eliminated because only one set of data is kept

4. Data is stored in one offsite location and users simply access the information when required

5. It reduces the cost and complexity of keeping backups of the data because this is performed by the cloud service provider

6. It improves support and customer service because the service provider can access the user’s information to help resolve issues