What do you foresee for electronic billing and payments in the future? How safe do you think your organization’s information is on the Internet? Why? How does an employer balance its right to control and monitor e-mail and Internet use against the employee’s right to privacy? What are some of the challenges facing the accounting profession when doing business on the Internet?

As a child I remember everyday getting off the school bus and retrieving the mail, a nice big stack, and walking down my quarter mile dirt driveway, where I'd place the stack on the counter. My father would arrive home around 5:00 PM while I sat at the kitchen table engulfed in my nightly homework and he shuffle through the stack of mail, sorting it into piles. He'd comment once in a while “Ha! You kids want to grow up? For what? It's no fun, to go to work each day to pay bills!” He'd show us his stack of “Personal Mail” and his stack of “Bills”, and there was most definitely a difference in size. This does not occur in my home, to my children. They look at me like I have ten heads when I tell them such stories of my childhood. Although electronic billing and payments has just begun within the last decade or so, it has definitely become more common and I believe it will become the norm. As it is currently most companies give you the option to receive a monthly “paper” statement or to go “paperless” adding in that they are “Going Green”! I believe eventually their will be no option and instead no “paper” bills will be available, unless of course you print one yourself. I think it in many ways it is magnificent to go paperless, for instance the amount of trees it saves. However, I think everyone should still be given the option. I also think that this could cause an abundance of unemployed individuals. There are definitely pros and cons to this, just like everything else in life. I feel most things are secure via the internet however nothing is 100% in life, so neither is this, unfortunately. As far as employers and employees balancing rights it is a very sensitive subject. As an owner of a business it is important to include legal assistance and create a company handbook that puts all rules and regulations within it. This allowing the employee, if reading the material, the understanding of any and all expectations, as well as the rights the employer has to data passed via the internet on the companies grounds, whether on company time or not. I think, personally, it is important to preform your job duties and to hold yourself to extremely high and positive standards while on company grounds, but especially while on company time. If one feels the need to check their personal email, post a Facebook status, or tweet on Twitter while at their place of employment then they should expect that others will have the ability to see what they see. A business first and foremost concern is protecting themselves, hence the importance of security, many times in multiple forms. It is a huge liability for a customers personal information to be shared and as a small business owner myself I know that any and all mistakes, errors, or mishaps, whether they're not intentional, or they are, and no matter the magnitude, it falls back on the company. Yes, the one in which preforms such things will be reprimanded in some form, but at the end of the day the company will suffer. For instance, you take two customers, one is overly happy with your company and the other is equally unhappy. It is more likely that the unhappy customer will talk to others about their experience with your company. This is because they are upset, they want to vent, and they will do so to anybody that will listen. This resulting in negative word-of-mouth publicity. Customers that are happy with a company tend to share their experiences when asked for a recommendation, or can benefit in someway, perhaps a referral discount/bonus. I think think this is why internet security and security in general for a company is so important and not taken lightly.
I think there are many challenges for Accountants when doing business on the internet. One challenge I would have is knowing the sender is sending accurate information. Information that they themselves checked for errors, as well as, had assessed by another individual. Typo's are an easily mistakable error, but it is important to have accurate data presented, especially for an accountant. If the sender typed a payment of “$689” when in actuality the payment was in the amount of “$989” then all calculations would be off by $300. I, myself, prefer all hard copies of all information. If I had to deal with data being sent via the internet only or mostly I believe I would have great difficulty, as I would always have doubts in the back of my head on the accuracy. Another potential challenge could be the sender and the accountant using different software and their inability to convert and/or for their software to comprehend how to communicate the provided data. An accountant cannot purchase every available software, nor is there one software available that is compatible with all other software, to my knowledge anyway. Lastly, it could potentially lose clientele due to the ever evolving technologies. In the near future an accountant may not be viewed as necessary as computer software will likely allow one to easily do it themselves.