Shimamoto has not formally surveyed the profession. However, he says that the trend is obvious from those attending sessions that he has presented, although it is still definitely a minority.

A frequent speaker at CPA events and a consult to firms, Shimamoto attributes the trend to the spread of cloud technology because firms need to understand the data and the process. But the pure technology has been handed off to the companies providing the cloud applications.

The accounting technologists, Shimamoto says, "become the technical experts on the cloud apps."

It is also obvious that the preferred method is to name an accountant to the position. "It's easier to teach accountants IT than to teach an IT person accounting," he says.

Positions created are usually at the manager level and named via department. Audit operations have IT auditors and client accounting services often apply the name accounting technologist. "I haven't seen them much in tax," he notes.

Bob Scott

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Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards.  Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He  has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that.  A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind