rofession, and as many accounting functions are outsourced by organizations to access technology not otherwise financially feasible, productivity is expected to improve at an even more rapid rate. Multimedia technology is already being applied in the practice of accounting to support such functions as inventory management and accounting, business presentations, accounting related research, and professional training. In a period of no more than two years, multimedia technology is expected to be applied in a wide variety of additional accounting functions.
Outsourcing of accounting functions by organizations to gain access to technology not otherwise financially feasible will, in some instances, involve information management firms able to perform the accounting functions involved. In many other instances, however, the outsourcing of accounting functions will involve public accounting firms that are able to provide both access to the desired technology and accounting expertise. Outsourcing is a term applied to a variety of practices that in essence mean that functions that would otherwise be performed by a firm's own employees are performed by entities external to the firm. Outsourcing is related to and, in the broadest scope of the term, encompasses both the make or buy decision concept and the concept of contracting out services. Outsourcing in information management, as an example, encompasses the make or buy decision concept when a decision is made by a firm to acquire a software program on the market, as opposed to the in house designing of a software program specifically tailored to the firm's need. Alternatively, outsourcing in information management encompasses the concept of contracting out services when a decision is made to have some aspect of the information management function, payroll preparation and inventory maintenance as examples, performed by an independent data processing service, as opposed to t...