ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a short overview of the technological aspects of cloud computing, its advantages and challenges for managers and accountants and provide ideas for future research resulting from cloud computing's impact on management accounting and control. It presents the cloud computing configurations, devices and reported advantages, outlines the various configurations of cloud computing, and provides some detail on cloud technology and devices and the advantages of the technology. The chapter also provides some thoughts on the influence of cloud technology on management accounting and control systems. The increased speed of information provision may also cause faster decision-making. In general, decreasing the needed time for decision-making due to a reduced time for information gathering and processing is an advantage of cloud technology. Future years are likely to see more and more services move to a cloud environment, and indeed cloud services are considered to be the next utility service.
