If accountants only focus on producing financial statements and leave
the designing and production of management reports to information
systems specialists, it could give rise to a number of advantages and
disadvantages. One of the main advantages is that they can allocate
their time to focus on the accuracy or correctness of financial
statements. By laying emphasis on the financial information
pertaining to the organization, accountants can get the opportunity
to conduct a detailed and thorough analysis which can help to locate
minute financial aspects and attributes (Hasanaj & Kuqi, 2019).
However, such a practice could also lead to a number of
disadvantages. One of the main disadvantages is that information
systems specialists might not be able to identify errors relating to
financial details due to their lack of financial and accounting
knowledge. Similarly, the segregation of the production of financial
statements and the designing and generation of management reports
can increase the overall cost burden for the organization since it will
have to introduce in place two separate systems instead of having a
single system that can manage the activity at a comprehensive level.
Accountants may also fail to take into consideration vital non-
financial details if they are not involved in the generation of
management reports, and it could have an adverse impact on the
value that the financial information creates for the firm.
It is essential for accountants to be involved in the production of
reports that include more than ere financial measures relating to
performance. This is because the involvement can give the
professionals a comprehensive and details insight into factors and
variables that may impact the financial aspects of the business. For
example, the insight into the level of satisfaction of customers can
help them to understand whether the business entity is expected to
have decent sales and profitability in the market or not (Osadchy et
al., 2018). The participation of accountants in the production of
financial reports can help to enhance the reliability and accuracy of
the details. They can use their insight relating to finance and
accounting in order to identify whether the information that has been
captured in the reports is of relevance and value for the intended
audience or not. In case accountants are not involved in the report
production process, the concerns relating to the reliability of financial
data and information get magnified. The capturing of wrong
information may give rise to severe financial implications for the
business entity.
References
Hasanaj, P & Kuqi, B. (2019). Analysis of Financial Statements.
Humanities and Social Science Research. 2. p17.
10.30560/hssr.v2n2p17.
Osadchy, E. A., Akhmetshin, E. M., Amirova, E. F., Bochkareva, T. N.,
Gazizyanova, Y., & Yumashev, A. V. (2018). Financial statements of a
company as an information base for decision-making in a
transforming economy.
