Top Technology Issues

I found a great article in CA magazine, from the September 2006 Issue, entitled "Top TECH Issues". It was written by Gerald Trites and Andree Lavigne. It listed the authors' top ten technological issues facing many businesses today. Some of these included the need for improved IT systems expertise, the need for tools to help with Sarbanes-Oxely, e-mail management, user authentication methods, IT outsourcing, and information privacy/identity theft. The article discusses each issue in depth and gives reasons for its importance. The authors also touched upon a topic we discussed in class, phishing, with regard for the issue of information privacy and identity theft. The article reported that instances of phishing occurring have been rising, and it is becoming an increasing threat to consumers and businesses.

Although these issues may apply to many industries, it applies to the accounting industry as well. SOX was created out of poor business practices by one of the top accounting firms at the time, as well as many other businesses. Now, four years after the legislation was passed, businesses and accounting firms are still seeing the aftermath, especially in relation to information technology. It seems to be clear that many businesses, due to the issuance of Sarbanes-Oxely, are having trouble with compliance issues and information technology controls. The law seems to be unclear in some areas, causing trouble for many businesses. This can in turn affect the accounting industry, because these businesses are all clients of public accounting firms. Information technology plays an important part in the accounting industry today, and many details will still need to be worked out regarding Sarbanes-Oxely legislation.