Do Accounting Students Have Realistic Expectations of Information Technology Usage in Nonprofit Organizations?
Not-for-profit organizations employ 11% of all U.S. workers; these organizations are often the recipients of hand-me-down hardware and software. This study investigates accounting students expectations of the information technology available to and used by not-for-profit organizations. In this descriptive study, based on two different surveys, students had much higher expectations of number of paid staff and amount of hardware than the reality of Louisiana nonprofit organizations. Clear discrepancies existed between student expectations of number of software applications in use and actual use reported by nonprofits. Accounting students ranked accounting software as the most important software for nonprofits, yet only 44% of nonprofits reported the use of this type of package. Students clearly think that not-for-profits in Louisiana are more technology-rich and technology-savvy than the not-for-profits report about themselves. Includes 10 tables and four figures. (Contains 11 references
