Cloud Accounting – Downside of the paradigm shift Since the inception of cloud technology, it has been the most valuable asset for organizations to keep up the trend. Cloud accounting is one of the transformational technologies of the recent times and is extremely important to expand businesses in this competitive world. The intuitive cloud application has many significant benefits such as easy access to real-time information, minimum cost of installation and most importantly save time with automatic workflows. “Cloud” is not any mystic space where data survives, it is a remote server for data storage. Enterprises have only been gravitated by new technological and economical rewards however they just overlooked the shortcomings and the possible threats to come up in the future. When considering cloud accounting it is essential to determine both advantages and disadvantages to strategize a systemic approach to handle potential vulnerabilities and increase operational efficiency. Businesses will realize the conveniences and benefits in implementing cloud accounting and in the next couple of years there will be a substantial rise to obtain cloud accounting providers to move their crucial data to virtual servers. With the increase in the usage of the cloud applications across the globe, it is obvious that there will be an upsurge in the drawbacks too.

• Some of the potential vulnerabilities in cloud accounting are as follows: 1. Accessibility: Usually, the on-site storage holds the data, which can be accessed without an internet connection but the data in the cloud can be retrieved only with an internet connection. In most circumstances, internet access is within reach, however, there are places and times when this scenario might not be possible. If the business performance is dependent on the bandwidth and the speed of the network for data transfer, there is a risk of de-synchronization of data for the parties trying to access the remote data. 2. Security: Cloud accounting software consists of sensitive and personal data plus it is essential to keep it safe. Although cloud accounting data is stored in online servers with specific security protocols as well as customized credentials and have formulated best-in-class security, business owners are still apprehensive about the safety of their financial information. There have been security breaches of cloud data storage in the recent past exposing login credentials along with passwords which shows that cloud security is not invincible. 3. Cost: While there is no