The Impact of Automation in the Profession of Accounting

This report investigates the significant impact of automation on the accounting profession, focusing on the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing. It highlights how these technologies are transforming traditional accounting practices, enhancing efficiency, and enabling accountants to focus on more strategic tasks. The report reviews existing literature, including studies on Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and the implementation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in accounting. It examines how automation affects job roles, the need for employee training, and the evolution of accounting practices. The analysis covers the benefits of automation, such as increased accuracy and reduced operational costs, as well as the challenges, like job security concerns. Furthermore, the report discusses the shift towards cloud-based infrastructure, which facilitates large-scale data processing and secure data storage, making businesses less vulnerable to financial risks. Overall, the report concludes that automation is reshaping the accounting landscape, requiring accountants to adapt and embrace new technologies to remain competitive and add value to economic entities.

Running Head: The Impact of Automation in the profession of accounting
The Impact of Automation in the profession of accounting
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1The Impact of Automation in the profession of accounting
Table of Contents
Importance of automation in the profession of accounting........................................................2
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................3
References................................................................................................................................12

2The Impact of Automation in the profession of accounting
Importance of automation in the profession of accounting
The accountants are required to have a mixed view about automation in accounting
since it includes advanced calculation and minute attention in the details of the profession.
The adoption of automation will help to simplify various actions with the help of technology
and at the same time it will help the accounts experts to accomplish their tasks properly and
timely (Huerta and Jensen 2017). However, there is a hesitation of transferring the valuable
information about the company to a digital process but there are availability of various
automation tools which will help in the accounting process significantly and efficiently ().
The automation in the accounting profession is done with the help of artificial intelligence
and this artificial intelligence helps the accountants in decision making processes and
maintaining high level strategy in the operations of invoicing and book keeping (Birt, et al.
2020). Therefore, it has been anticipated that the artificial intelligence in accounting will help
in future developments while transforming the industry in a variety of ways.
The automation in the profession of accounting has been done with the help of
artificial intelligence and cloud computing. As a result, there are many accounting businesses
which have shifted their business infrastructure into the cloud. The cloud computing and the
accounting artificial intelligence help in computing large amount of data in a short span of
time period (Marinescu 2017). On the other hand, the cloud computing also helps in storing
data with security which is more appealing for the accounting professionals and since it stores
the financial data safely therefore it makes the business entities less vulnerable for trespassing
and liability (Albugmi, et al. 2016).
As a result of the automation in accounting, the human and machines will go hand in
hand. The machines are expected to play an important role in the process of decision making
along with the cloud advancements with the application of artificial intelligence in

3The Impact of Automation in the profession of accounting
accounting. It has been expected that the machines will take over the role of the lower levels
of accounting and it will enable the accounting professionals to focus on other intellectual
and intensive works (Chhabra and Dixit 2015). Thus, it can be said that the automation in the
accounting profession will make the lives of the accountants easier.
Literature Review
There have been many researches which were conducted for the purpose of evaluating
the impact of automation in the accounting practices. A study has been conducted by
Fernandez and Aman for understanding the impact of “Robotic Process Automation” on the
global accounting services. The study has been conducted using the institutional logic lens
and it uses an in depth study of one of the largest global business services firm which is
engaged in providing accounting services worldwide. The author in the study mentions about
the RPA technology which has a significant impact on the on a business organization as well
as the individuals of the organization. This technology ultimately changes and reduces the
work by reducing the number of employees. This technology has both advantages and
disadvantages like it is responsible for creating unnecessary competition between the humans
of the organization and the robot and at the same time it helps to solve the different issues of
an organization like productivity of the employees, disciplinary problems and shortages of
human resources. However, there are certain activities which could not be done without the
help of human resources like the high level work of analytical aspects. The global business
service is an integrated business service which helps in the integration of the global
functionalities and practices within a business entity for the purpose of achieving scalability,
maximising processes and reducing the costs of operations. This research paper primarily
focuses on that global accounting services which include various accounting services like
preparation of the financial statements and reports including various financial activities of

4The Impact of Automation in the profession of accounting
other organizations like decision making and investment planning and other activities like
investment, debt and cash flow. It also helps in the activities of payroll and invoicing.
Therefore, many organizations have automated the technologies which have been used in the
services of accounting and finance. This automation of accounting services help in increasing
the productivity as well as optimization of operating costs and the automation technology of
Robotic Process Automation has a variety of features which are suited as per the current
operations of the business. This case study is based on the institutional logic which helps in
answering of the questions used in this study in a more detailed manner. However, this
institutional logic helps in providing clarification changes which have been occurred to either
the individuals of the organization or to the business organization itself which have taken
place due to the introduction of the new technology. The changes which have taken place
either on the individuals or on the organizations are focused on this study based on the
professional logic lenses. This study has also mentioned that whenever a new technology has
been introduced in an organization it potentially affects the collecting, storing, transferring
and usage of data within an organization. At the same time, this mechanism also affects the
professional behaviour and beliefs. The automation technologies have been applied in the
assignments of accounting and finance because it helps to increase the accuracy of the work
reducing the work cycle and this technology is also flexible according to the professional
logical lenses. At the same time, the automation technology ensures execution of work in fast
and simple compared to those technologies which include human involvement. However, the
RPA technology also has the potential to revolutionise the processes of business, IT and
workflow. This study by Fernandez and Aman has been carried out with the help of
qualitative research approaches with a mode of systematic questions for the purpose of
understanding the nature of the individuals as well as the nature of the transactions. The main
aim of carrying out this research is to have a clear picture about the human experiences and

5The Impact of Automation in the profession of accounting
this study involves a small, focused and unique sample size. The qualitative data has been
gathered after conducting a semi structured interviews with the respondents who are using the
system of RPA in finance and accounts. It has been concluded from the study that the
implementation of RPA technology has a positive impact on the organizational behaviour in
the global accounting services from the point of view of the professional logic lenses and at
the same time it helps to provide better quality of work with accuracy and help in saving the
time of the accountants. However, there is only one constraint associated with this
automation technology is the aspect of job security. Thus, it can be said that the organizations
are required to provide full support to the employees in order to prepare themselves for this
technological undertaking and this can be done by educating the employees about the
advantages, limitations and usage of the RPA technology.
Another study has been performed by Hunton for the objective of evaluating the
“information and communication technologies” (ICT) in the different aspects of accounting
and business practices. It has been found out that in today’s complex world it is necessary to
deal with the interconnected and computerized global technologies in the profession if
accounting to deal with the complex situations which have never existed before. It is
important to capture as well as record the business events and transactions, develop a value-
added business along with the information processes, creation of new opportunities of supply
chain and value chain and to provide assurance services for economic activities. As a result of
existence of these technologies the accounting researchers can put value to their profession
for the purpose of investigation of these issues and to present a scientific and clear results for
understanding the practicing trends of the accountants. There has been development in the
accounting practices and the business procedures over the past few decades but the
development rate has been slow and controlled. According to certain accountants the
existence of ICT has disturbed the peaceful existence of the accountants by changing the

6The Impact of Automation in the profession of accounting
ways of conducting the business operations and it has resultant into many challenges as well.
The information and communication technology in the past three decades has contribute
towards the speed, magnitude and acceleration of the business change but the effect was not
immense. As a result, it has put tremendous pressure on the accounting executives as they
have to keep pace with the changes which have been initiated with the implementation of the
ICT for redesigning the business models and processes. The information and communication
technology also helps to create a digitally integrated entity as the infrastructure of ICT helps
to understand the value chain of input and output processes of a business entity. Therefore,
with the help of the ICT infrastructure the digitally interacted entities of the business is able
to capture the economic events which helps to unfold the process information with
remarkable speed and help in the process of valuable decision making as well as spreading of
knowledge throughout the business organization. The blending of ICT and business
integration is found in the enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) which is responsible
for linking various business entities with the integrated supply chains. Therefore, when there
is a link between the related entities about their integrated information systems the value of
the interconnected network becomes greater than the total of the participation of the isolated
systems of the firms. This will help the suppliers to monitor the future production plan of the
manufacturers for the purpose of ensuring that the proper amount of raw materials will be
arrived in time of requirement. On the other hand, it will help the manufacturers to ensure
that the suppliers, both primary and secondary for having sufficient capacity of meeting the
future demands of the production. The implementation of the information and communication
technology when done in the initial stages, the managers automated the existing process other
than finding out ways of how the ICT would help to conduct the business in a new as well as
innovative way. The effect of the information and communication technology has helped to
transform the simple and general ledger applications to the complex ERP Systems and it

7The Impact of Automation in the profession of accounting
required huge outlays of both financial and human capital. The researchers conduct this
research for the purpose of investigating the value of the enterprise wide system of
information which would help the business processes and the internal decision makers. It
helps in the evaluation of the ERP systems for improving the reliability, timeliness and the
relevance of the information of the decision making throughout the business entity. Thus,
from the above case study it can be concluded, the information and communication
technology has drastically transformed the nature of the accounting practices and the business
processes. Therefore, the accountants are required to add value to the economic entities and
the society as per the information and communication technology. Based on the research it
can be said that the traditional accounting tasks like the recording and processing of the
accounting transactions can be easily automated with the information and communication
technology and the accountants as a result can focus on other complicated and extensive
tasks. This will help the accountants to showcase their skills in critical tasks of accounting
like designing of the business processes, developing of the e-business models, providing of
assurance and integrating the strategic knowledge of business. The research has been
conducted with the help of methodical approach for investigating the research questions of
accounting information systems along with other qualitative inquiries of accounting domain.
There has been another research which was conducted by Wessels for the purpose of
evaluating the effect of information technology on the skills of the professional accountants.
It has been found that information technology has been considered as one of the prime drivers
to change the environment of the business as it helps to integrate all the aspects of the
business. The research is mainly focused on the skills and abilities of the professional
accountants which is required for having a better understanding about the use of the
information technology. All the accounting professionals irrespective of their expertise are
required to interact with the information technology so that they are able to perform their jobs

8The Impact of Automation in the profession of accounting
with competence. However, the basic purpose of this research is to identify that skills of
information and communication technology which is critical for the professional accountants
who wish to become competent with this technology for present and future working
environment. It has been found that the environment in which the professional accountants
are working are subject to constant changes and as a result it is creating new demands. At the
same time, these changes are also responsible for creating new expectations among the
employers about the skills and abilities of the new accountants. In order to create competition
and value in these dynamic and flexible environment it is important to acquire new skills and
knowledge of the accounting graduates. The goal of the accounting education should be
designed in such a way so that it helps in providing competent professional accountants. The
professional bodies are setting certain standards regarding the qualification of the students
and accordingly the students get their admission into the membership. This in a ways helps
the clients and the employers to trust those professional bodies regarding the competency of
the professional accountants for offering their services in public. Thus the objective of these
professional bodies is to produce competent professional accountants who have the proper
competence to perform the job role as per the defined standard with relevance to the real
working environment, proper capabilities with respect to professional skills, knowledge as
well as the professional values, have a proper professional knowledge for having a proper
knowledge about the subject of accountancy, have a proper professional skill which is
necessary for the application of professional knowledge as well as professional values and
attitudes and lastly the accountants should have professional values, ethics and attitudes
which identifies an accountant as a professional accountant with principles of conduct. In
order to judge all these qualities of an accountant the professional bodies appoint various
committees. There are various number of professional institutions which provide these
professional courses like “The Institute of Chartered Accountants”, “The Institute of Certified

9The Impact of Automation in the profession of accounting
Public Accountants”, “The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and the
International Federation of Accountants” (Anderson-Gough 2018). The research also
mentions about the IT skills which are required by the professional accountants and this
knowledge include the general idea about IT like IT competencies of knowledge, IT
competencies of control, IT competencies of the users and other mixture of the competencies
required to be possessed by manager and the evaluator of the systems of information
technology. It can be inferred from the above research solution is that the information and the
communication technology plays a crucial role in the business world today and for that it is
necessary for the professional accountants to function as the financial managers as well as
independent evaluators in accordance with the systems of the financial information. They are
also required to have a proper knowledge about the information and communication
technology in order to perform their jobs while properly interacting with the technology. This
paper also discusses about the importance of “information and communication technology” in
the training institutes of the professional bodies so that the accountants can become
professional accountants in true sense with all the abilities to perform their jobs in accordance
with the information technology. There is the mention of a list of all the critical attributes
which are necessary for the professional accountants to possess before entering into the
business of accountants in the present world. The paper here mainly focuses on the skills and
knowledge of the accountants in the South African environment and it is important to
investigate the environment of South Africa in the beginning for application of the
accounting skills to the accountants. The author of this research paper is currently engaged in
further researches for developing a well-structured research paper on how to adapt the
professional skills of an accountant especially on the environment of South Africa.
This is based on another research paper created by Stancheva-Todorova for evaluating
how artificial intelligence has challenged the accounting profession. It has been found that the

10The Impact of Automation in the profession of accounting
recent developments made in the robotics and artificial intelligence along with their
applications have started to reshape the world and bringing the human kind closer to the
technological world. The technological innovations have changed the lives of the human
beings in many aspects and as a result of this the business is now exploring different new
opportunities for the purpose of raising profitability as well as the return on capital ratio with
the help of various ways like increasing the revenue and reduction of costs. However, there
have been many controversies related to the debate about the topic of “artificial vs. human
intelligence” among the practitioners and the academics. The debate mainly encompasses
around the fact how the future prospects of various occupations will be changed based on the
required new set of skills and competencies and how the humans and the machines will work
hand in hand in a more efficient and effective manner. Therefore, the profession of
accounting is on its way to undertake a remarkable change in its way of functioning in
different organizations. The implementation of the artificial intelligence will make this
change and it has been considered as a development for embracing the challenges in future.
On the other hand, this revolution has a drawback, and this drawback includes the lack of
knowledge and skill of the professional accountants which will make difficulties for the part
of the accountants to adapt to this new business environment. This research paper discusses
about the challenges which are being faced by the professional accountants nowadays and it
also mentioned about the possible trends of the future developments as a result of this
artificial intelligence. It is true that nowadays it is difficult to imagine our loves without the
artificial intelligence like usage of smartphones, usage of self-driving vehicles. There has
been implementation of artificial intelligence in the accounting domain particularly in the
sections of auditing, taxation, management accounting, financial accounting and personal
financial planning. Mostly, researches have been conducted for evaluating the development
as well as use of the expert systems (ES) in the accounting domain. The expert system is

11The Impact of Automation in the profession of accounting
defined as the programing software which has attempted to store the human knowledge,
expertise, behaviour and transforms them into certain rules which help in solving the various
problems of accounting and performing the tasks of accounting. There are many ESs which
have been developed for the purpose of making an analysis of the decision processes which
are based on the accountancy. The artificial intelligence systems will help the accountants to
perform their routine work in faster and more accurate manner. However, with the emergence
of the artificial intelligence in the profession of accounting there is a risk of raising the ratio
of unemployment. The main aim of implementing artificial intelligence is to embrace the
challenges of technologies and to adapt to the suitable business environment as well as
requirements of the business. The artificial intelligence should be seen in a way of adapting
the recent changes in the business and accounting environment and the accountants should be
benefitted from these intelligent systems with the help of their skills and knowledge for
solving the basic problems which include the problem of decision making with the help of
cheaper and better data, providing solid analysis of the data for giving business insights,
focusing on more valuable tasks as the basic tasks are being performed by the AI
applications. Thus, the artificial intelligence requires the accountants to possess the required
skills of technical expertise based on the size of the business organization along with the
innovation strategies and investment policy of the organizations. At the same time, it is also
important for the accountants to have an understanding about the significance of the quality
of the used data. Thus, it can be inferred from the above research paper that the artificial
intelligence helps in reshaping the future of many occupations, accounting profession to be
precise. The threat to the human capital as a result of the artificial technology has been
considered a myth as artificial intelligence will help in embracing many new opportunities in
the accounting profession for its own benefits. The impact of the artificial intelligence will
further change the role of the accountants and soon there will be a time when the educators of

12The Impact of Automation in the profession of accounting
the accounting profession has to change their mind set and should introduce those required
skills and knowledge which are needed for performing the jobs as per the smart technologies
and their applications in the business (Kokina and Davenport 2017).
References
Albugmi, A., Alassafi, M.O., Walters, R. and Wills, G., 2016. Data security in cloud
computing. In 2016 Fifth International Conference on Future Generation Communication
Technologies (FGCT) (pp. 55-59). IEEE.
Anderson-Gough, F., 2018. Making up accountants: The organizational and professional
socialization of trainee chartered accountants. Routledge.
Birt, J., Chalmers, K., Maloney, S., Brooks, A., Oliver, J. and Bond, D., 2020. Accounting:
Business reporting for decision making. John Wiley & Sons.
Chhabra, S. and Dixit, V.S., 2015. Cloud computing: State of the art and security
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Fernandez, D. and Aman, A., 2018. Impacts of robotic process automation on global
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pp.115-122.

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Marinescu, D.C., 2017. Cloud computing: theory and practice. Morgan Kaufmann.
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