Abstract
Recent developments in technology have introduced dramatic changes to the practice of the accounting profession. This paper provides a comprehensive review of current developments in big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and blockchain utilized in general business practice and by specialized practitioners in the accounting profession worldwide. This paper explores the evolution of the accounting profession following these recent technological developments and assesses the impact of future developments. Inherent challenges and opportunities posed by these new technologies pertaining to accounting professionals and accounting educators are also examined, including an increased demand for IT professionals with accounting experience as opposed to accounting major graduates. Considering the dramatic changes and developments of AI applications in accounting, this paper reflects how all these technologies and the associated requirements of job candidates will affect the desired capabilities of accounting graduates and provides further discussion regarding what higher institutions and their accounting graduates can do to adopt such changes.
Highlights
As the ‘‘language of business’’, accounting was first established by Luca Pacioli in 1494 [1]
Surveys of more than 120 internal auditors from the 2016 and 2017 Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG) IT Internal Audit conferences reveal that nearly half of the representatives confirmed the use of artificial intelligence (AI)
The rest of this paper is presented as follows: Section 2 provides a brief introduction of the technologies of big data, machine learning (ML), and AI, as well as their applications in the business fields; Section 3 provides a further discussion of the current use of AI by Big Four accounting firms worldwide; Section 4 reviews the concept of blockchain and its current application in the accounting field; Section 5 reflects how all these technologies and the associated requirements of job candidates will affect the desired capabilities of accounting graduates
Summary
As the ‘‘language of business’’, accounting was first established by Luca Pacioli in 1494 [1]. The Big Four accounting firms have recently launched their own financial robots that are capable of automatically recognizing data, entering invoices, and generating financial reports. The rest of this paper is presented as follows: Section 2 provides a brief introduction of the technologies of big data, machine learning (ML), and AI, as well as their applications in the business (accounting) fields; Section 3 provides a further discussion of the current use of AI by Big Four accounting firms worldwide; Section 4 reviews the concept of blockchain and its current application in the accounting field; Section 5 reflects how all these technologies and the associated requirements of job candidates will affect the desired capabilities of accounting graduates. AN INTRODUCTION TO BIG DATA, MACHINE LEARNING, AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNOLOGIES AND THEIR APPLICATIONS IN THE BUSINESS (ACCOUNTING) FIELD A. In the practice of tax administration, the Guangdong Provincial Taxation Bureau adopts ML approaches to identify suspected fraudulent tax practices [24]
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