World Review of Business Research Vol. 5. No. 1. January 2015 Issue. Pp. 72 – 85 Applications of Accounting Software: An Empirical Study on the Private Universities of Bangladesh Mohammad Rokibul Kabir*, Mohammad Afjalur Rahman **, Mohammad Yunus *** and Adnan Chowdhury**** For sound management of an entity the use of accounting information is a must. Once it was possible to maintain only paper works of the transactions when the number of transactions and users of accounting information was limited to the boundary that could be managed manually. But with the passage of time the increase of business scope has forced organizations to shift from manual system of accounting to the modern ways of using software to prepare accounting information. Thus, this paper is an endeavor to identify the extent to which the private universities in Bangladesh are practicing automated accounting process through the applications of software. This paper also attempts to identify the barriers in the applications of accounting software and problems encountered with such applications. A five scale Likert technique has been used to investigate the interviewees’ opinion about the application of accounting software in the respective universities as well as to find the cause of differences between actual and expected level of use of accounting software. The study revealed that almost 80% private universities are now using accounting software. The result of the study shows that 100% of the respondents think maintaining record in accounting software is easier than manual systems, 97.87% of the respondents think chance of error and difficulties in identifying errors is much less in accounting software and 100% of the respondents showed their opinion in favor of accounting software that it is faster to apply. 65.96% of the respondents agreed that reluctance of the top management is the main barrier in the applications of accounting software while other two factors which create obstacles are reluctance of employees and initial cost of installations and training. The study also revealed an alarming fact that some of the universities do not provide any special training on accounting software though they are using such software and almost 36% of the accounts personnel doesn’t have academic background on accounting discipline. Field of Research: Accounting Keywords: Accounting Information, Accounting Software, Private Universities 1. Introduction Accounting Information Systems has become a part and parcel of day to day‟s life. For sound management of an entity the use of accounting information has been increasing day by day. Once it was possible to maintain only paper works of the transaction when the number of *Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration, International Islamic University Chittagong. email: rakibais@yahoo.com **Research Fellow and MBA Student of International Islamic University Chittagong. email: m.ar_rahman@yahoo.com ***Associate Professor, Department of Business Administration, International Islamic University Chittagong. email:yunusiiuc48@gmail.com **** Research Fellow and MBA Student of International Islamic University Chittagong. email: aczehan3632@gmail.com