Discuss the current trends in accounting usage of the cloud

In the class we covered the production of accounting information by practicing on online QuickBooks system. The teaching goal was to have a feeling of how such systems generate financial data (statements) after entering a series of journal entries in the cloud. We did not cover the accounting trends in these platforms especially with respect to cloud computing. Do some research of cloud accounting and respond to the questions in the discussion below.

Discuss the current trends in accounting usage of the cloud. Focus on how the cloud is changing accounting practice in businesses, not-for-profit organizations, and public accounting firms. Especially focus on the reasons why some firms are moving to the cloud and why others are staying away from the cloud. Try to access the online QuickBooks and look at the applications (apps) that can be added to QuickBooks. This increases QuickBooks functionality but does it bring it closer to an enterprise resource program (ERP)?