Big Data’s Disruptive Effect on Job Profiles: Management Accountants’ Case Study

Adriana Tiron-Tudor,Delia Deliu

doi:10.3390/jrfm14080376

Adriana Tiron-Tudor, Delia Deliu

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm14080376

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Abstract

The abundance of new innovative data sources creates opportunities and challenges for all professions and professionals working with information. One of these professionals is the management accountant (MA). Although their tasks have expanded over time and especially recently, MAs have not fully employed all the available internal and external data sources to describe, diagnose, visualize, predict and prescribe possible solutions that enable smart decisions with positive effects on businesses. Thus, the paper investigates the impact of Big Data, including Data Analytics, on MA’s job profile. Through a review of the most recent academic and professional publications, the paper contributes to the debate surrounding the redefinition of the role of MAs in organizations in a novel informational perspective of Abbott’s theory. The results could serve as a research agenda and incentive for further studies, as well as provide MAs with a guide on the topic of the enlargement of their role(s), respectively, the augmentation of their tasks and responsibilities regarding the analysis of Big Data. Furthermore, the research may provide both a rich and flexible framework to help practitioners in their analysis of potential risks, opportunities and challenges when handling Big Data, and a lens for professional accounting associations and bodies by helping them to prioritize the holding and seizing of jurisdictions as an imperative part of safety and security.

Highlights

While executives are open to moving towards BDA, this requires them to understand the change from their reliance on traditional data sources, and their appeal to a changed and developing knowledge base, founded on both economic transactions information and other data (Bhimani and Willcocks 2014; Krahel and Titera 2015)
Digitalization has a significant impact on the way organizations function, predominantly impacting the output and analysis of Big Data (BD), as part of management decision-making support
BD lays the foundation to implement a radical change in the organization of the management accounting function

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The digital transformation of economies, as well as technological innovations, trends, and breakthroughs worldwide, are currently affecting all businesses, through enabling new more fluid and dynamic forms of cooperation and, requiring companies to reflect on their business model and strategies (Möller et al 2020). There is a tremendous variety of open data sources available on the Internet that requires specific data-processing software and hardware to handle it and advanced techniques for analysis. There is an increasing request in using predictions and data-driven decision-making in organizations’ practices.

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