COMPUTER EFFECTS

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31729, 12 July 1968, Page 5

COMPUTER EFFECTS

‘Challenge To Commerce’

A commercial revolution had challenged the whole commercial world since the introduction of computers, said the research director of the New Zealand Bankers’ Association (Mr R. 0. Smillie) in a statement

He said that an editorial In “The Press” discussing remarks by the president of the New Zealand Society of Accountants (Mr J. A. Valentine) drew attention to this.

In the past, mechanisation had resulted in procedures previously performed by hand being done by machines, but the procedures remained the same, Mr Smillie said. "To use computers in the same way is to forgo their tremendous potential. They are capable of much greater and more complex achievements, but only if previous procedures are reorientated. In the banking world overseas, and New Zealand was likely to follow computers were being used first for the cheque service and then to develop new payments methods and financial services to facilitate the recording function of accounting. Mr Smillie said that Mr Valentine’s urging of his fellow accountants to catch up with the times called to mind a recent comment by an American who had said that whereas previously an accountant used to do the accounting, as well as be responsible for it, he was now simply responsible for it