Accountants and the organisations they
work with and for, are exploiting the
cloud - in business, practice and the
third sector. Accounting systems were
among the first software to become
available online where they (and their
associated data) have been joined by a
growing range of business ‘software as
a service’ (SaaS): from budgeting to
spreadsheets. Using cloud-based
infrastructure such as computers and
data storage can provide access to
unlimited resources without the need
for up-front investment, maintenance or
IT expertise. But the consumptionbased,
pay-as-you-go approach is a
mixed blessing.