ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses influences of recent digital technologies and data sciences upon the Accounting and Finance (A&F) area. It discusses Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, Business Intelligence and Analytics (BI&A), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Big Data, Cloud, Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain. For each of three major A&F functions – financial accounting, management accounting, and control and treasury – the influences of these technologies are analysed.
The present day seems decisive for the A&F profession, concerning how it may evolve, expand or lose relevance to other competing professions. Variations of accounting hybridisation and the ‘business partner’ role emerge. A new hybridisation is unfolding between the A&F and information technology (IT)/data science, and the ‘business partner’ role may be taken by professionals coming from the latter area. In fact, A&F professionals lack increasingly required IT and data science skills, and companies are turning to hire IT and data science professionals to deliver these high value-added contributions. Therefore, A&F professionals should upskill to at least a basic level, increasingly required for core activities of A&F and to interact within multidisciplinary teams.
