AN ANALYSIS OF THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES USED IN THE ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT IN ROMANIA. EVIDENCE BEFORE AND AFTER THE ECONOMIC CRISIS

In this research we established the impact of information technologies on the Romanian companies' accounting department. We distributed questionnaires in two different moments in time: 2007 and 2014 (before and after the economic crisis). Our investigation focuses on: (i) the types of technologies used, (ii) the reasons of implementation of specific technologies, (iii) the benefits brought by the use of IT, (iv) the difficulties met during the implementation process and (v) the future effects of the IT. We came to the conclusion that there is a change in the degree of implementation of the information technologies in the Romanian enterprises. Previous studies show a varied range of benefits generated by IT, but also a great number of difficulties generated by their adoption. In this research, we followed the manner in which the different types of IT influence the activity of the persons employed in the accounting departments of the companies functioning in Romania. We pursued all the aspects which have to be taken into account by a person who decides to implement technologies: the way the company obtained IT (by purchasing them or by developing them within the company), the types of application used within the accounting department (an ERP system or independent applications), the expected benefits, the difficulties encountered, the future effects which can be exploited.