ACCOUNTANCY firms have been hit by unreliable computer software.

The claim is made in an IT Faculty survey report from the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

The report says that -- "worryingly" -- significant numbers of respondents said their software packages had failed in a "business critical sense" in the last two years.

Six per cent said an accounting application had failed, 24 per cent had experienced a failure in time and fees recording software and 13 per cent also reported that a taxation package had failed.

Mr John Dutchman-Smith, the Chairman of the Institute's Faculty of Information Technology, is senior partner of chartered accountants Ryans in Chorley Old Road, Bolton. He said: "We are concerned by accountancy practices' reports of shortcomings in IT systems which have resulted in critical business failure.

"Work needs to be done by software providers to improve the reliability of their packages."

The survey, which covered 729 offices of accountancy practices, revealed that 69 per cent use software packages to produce their accounts.