FREE Time for the Accountant 5.0 App: Starting the Research for the Future

Free time is the main variable of this research. The authors’ study of time management in the accounting profession is vital because accountants are employed by firms from their inception, and that work continues on a daily basis. Each period of analysis requires the accountant to use his or her skills, concentration, and experience carefully, and this leads to excessively tight schedules that increase anxiety and work-place illnesses. To be competitive as well as to minimize anxiety, the accountant must employ time-saving techniques to maximize the efficiency of cycle-time first followed by focus on saving time regarding incremental tasks. This article is the result of research on how to maximize such efficiency through software, with the aim of reducing the stress put on accountants. The methodology of the research is based on a theoretical analysis of accounting standards and corporate social responsibility (CSR) to help the accountant manage time and improve work-life balance. The researchers employed the design thinking method (Simon, The sciences of the artificial, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996) to develop the profound awareness needed to properly tailor software for accountants so that it fits in the context of accounting offices and properly addresses targeted clients’ specific demands. This research is aimed at creating a “Free Time for the Accountant 5.0 app” designed specifically for accountants. This software application will empower accounting activities and show cycle time as well as the roles, costs and sustainability that must be made during a “normal” work period. The aim is to improve both the accountant’s image and reputation and his or her quality of life by reducing stress and improving work-life balance. Additionally, the research and the “Accountant 5.0 app” will promote CSR and digital accounting because it will provide a time-management exemplar that can be adapted to other professions and even private life. Thus, it is the beginning of a new and better future.