The Robots are Coming...But Aren't Here Yet: The Use of Artificial Intelligence Technologies in the Public Accounting Profession

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen M. Bakarich ◽  
Patrick O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Machine Learning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Process Automation ◽  
Public Accounting ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
The Public ◽  
Extensive Training ◽  
Qualitative Responses ◽  
The Impact

In this paper, we survey public accounting professionals to gauge the extent to which Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Machine Learning (ML), are currently being utilized by the profession, as well as perceptions about the impact and receptiveness to this technology. Quantitative and qualitative responses from ninety participants, representing various firms, service lines, and positions, indicate that both RPA and ML are currently not being used extensively by public accountants nor by clients of public accounting firms, and firms are conducting some, but not extensive training on these technologies for employees. However, respondents strongly indicated that AI will significantly impact their daily responsibilities in five years and that employees in the profession are very receptive to these changes. Additionally, we find that firm size appears to be the most significant factor impacting differences in responses. These results indicate that while large-scale AI adoption has not yet come to public accounting, substantial changes are on the horizon.

scholarly journals Exploring Changing Requirements of Financial Statement Audit Reports via a Morphogenetic Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 38-55
Author(s):  
Ying Deng ◽  
Graham Bowrey ◽  
Greg Jones
Keyword(s):  
Financial Statement ◽  
Public Accounting ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
The Public ◽  
Financial Statement Audit ◽  
Audit Regulation ◽  
Financial Audit ◽  
Proposed Regulation ◽  
Audit Reports ◽  
The Impact

There has been an ongoing concern with the quality of financial audit reports issued by registered public accounting firms in relation to financial accountability and transparency of the financial statements. In July 2009 the Public Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) released a concept paper outlining changes to the requirements of financial audit activities such as the inclusion of the engagement partner’s signature on the financial audit reports. The aim of these new requirements was to improve the accountability of engagement partners as well as enhance the perception of transparency of the audit reports. However, the contribution and effectiveness of these requirements to improve accountability and transparency of audit reports for various stakeholders relying on the audited financial information is questionable. This study explores the impact and effectiveness of changes to auditing regulation and processes through the application of Archer’s (1995) morphogenetic approach which is based on social conditioning, social interaction, and social elaboration where the structural influences provides the environment for agents to differentiate themselves. In addition, this study demonstrates how proposed regulation changes mould the qualities of audit regulation, the profession and the auditor whose perspectives deserved to be noticed from the dominant constituencies structured by the propositions of a morphogenetic analysis.

Impact of Information Technology on Public Accounting Firm Productivity

2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajiv D. Banker ◽  
Hsihui Chang ◽  
Yi-ching Kao
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Public Accounting ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
Accounting Firm ◽  
The Public ◽  
It Implementation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Productivity Gains

In recent years, information technology (IT) has played a critical role in the services provided by the public accounting industry. However, no empirical research has evaluated the impact of IT on public accounting firms. This study focuses on five offices of an international public accounting firm that recently made large IT investments, primarily in audit software and knowledge-sharing applications. Both qualitative and quantitative information from the research site are analyzed to estimate the change in productivity following the implementation of IT. The results from both regression analysis and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) indicate significant productivity gains following IT implementation, documenting the value impact of IT in a public accounting firm.

Perceptions of Robotic Process Automation in Big 4 Public Accounting Firms: Do Firm Leaders and Lower-Level Employees Agree?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren A. Cooper ◽  
D. Kip Holderness ◽  
Trevor L. Sorensen ◽  
David A. Wood
Keyword(s):  
Work Experience ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Process Automation ◽  
Public Accounting ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
The Public ◽  
Robotic Process Automation ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
Recent Innovation

The use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a recent innovation in the public accounting industry, and the Big 4 firms are at the forefront of its implementation. This paper examines how the adoption and use of RPA is affecting the perceived work experience of firm leaders and lower-level employees at Big 4 accounting firms. We interview 14 RPA leaders, survey 139 lower-level employees, and compare and contrast their responses. We find that the two groups generally agree that RPA is having a positive influence on the profession. Both groups believe that RPA is positively changing the work employees perform and improving employee career prospects. However, while firm leaders believe RPA will improve work satisfaction, lower-level employees report no such improvements. Our insights provide direction for the accounting profession as it increases the use of RPA and for future research studies examining related issues.

A Theoretical Framework of the Relationship between Public Accounting Firms and Their Auditors

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Dreike Almer ◽  
Julia L. Higgs ◽  
Karen L. Hooks
Keyword(s):  
Future Research ◽  
Public Accounting ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sociology Of Professions ◽  
Rich Description ◽  
Public Accounting Firms ◽  
Current Article ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Significant Attention

The behavior of auditors in the context of their employment by public accounting firms has received significant attention in the accounting literature. The current article extends this literature by providing a framework that identifies what auditing professionals contribute and receive as a result of their work efforts, as well as related influences. Using agency theory modified with fundamental ideas from the sociology of professions literature, we develop a model of the auditor-public accounting firm employment relationship. This framework is grounded in a timely, contextually rich description of the public accounting work environment, and the pressures and incentives faced by auditors. Propositions for future research are suggested that arise from understanding the auditor-firm relationship.

scholarly journals Artificial intelligence and the future of psychiatry: Qualitative findings from a global physician survey

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 205520762096835
Author(s):  
C Blease ◽  
C Locher ◽  
M Leon-Carlyle ◽  
M Doraiswamy
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Machine Learning ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Psychiatric Practice ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Written Responses ◽  
Future Technology ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive ◽  
The Impact

Background The potential for machine learning to disrupt the medical profession is the subject of ongoing debate within biomedical informatics. Objective This study aimed to explore psychiatrists’ opinions about the potential impact innovations in artificial intelligence and machine learning on psychiatric practice Methods In Spring 2019, we conducted a web-based survey of 791 psychiatrists from 22 countries worldwide. The survey measured opinions about the likelihood future technology would fully replace physicians in performing ten key psychiatric tasks. This study involved qualitative descriptive analysis of written responses (“comments”) to three open-ended questions in the survey. Results Comments were classified into four major categories in relation to the impact of future technology on: (1) patient-psychiatrist interactions; (2) the quality of patient medical care; (3) the profession of psychiatry; and (4) health systems. Overwhelmingly, psychiatrists were skeptical that technology could replace human empathy. Many predicted that ‘man and machine’ would increasingly collaborate in undertaking clinical decisions, with mixed opinions about the benefits and harms of such an arrangement. Participants were optimistic that technology might improve efficiencies and access to care, and reduce costs. Ethical and regulatory considerations received limited attention. Conclusions This study presents timely information on psychiatrists’ views about the scope of artificial intelligence and machine learning on psychiatric practice. Psychiatrists expressed divergent views about the value and impact of future technology with worrying omissions about practice guidelines, and ethical and regulatory issues.

scholarly journals Before and beyond trust: reliance in medical AI

2021 ◽  
pp. medethics-2020-107095
Author(s):  
Charalampia (Xaroula) Kerasidou ◽  
Angeliki Kerasidou ◽  
Monika Buscher ◽  
Stephen Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Machine Learning ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Public Trust ◽  
Learning Technologies ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks ◽  
Practice Of Medicine

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing healthcare and the practice of medicine as data-driven science and machine-learning technologies, in particular, are contributing to a variety of medical and clinical tasks. Such advancements have also raised many questions, especially about public trust. As a response to these concerns there has been a concentrated effort from public bodies, policy-makers and technology companies leading the way in AI to address what is identified as a "public trust deficit". This paper argues that a focus on trust as the basis upon which a relationship between this new technology and the public is built is, at best, ineffective, at worst, inappropriate or even dangerous, as it diverts attention from what is actually needed to actively warrant trust. Instead of agonising about how to facilitate trust, a type of relationship which can leave those trusting vulnerable and exposed, we argue that efforts should be focused on the difficult and dynamic process of ensuring reliance underwritten by strong legal and regulatory frameworks. From there, trust could emerge but not merely as a means to an end. Instead, as something to work in practice towards; that is, the deserved result of an ongoing ethical relationship where there is the appropriate, enforceable and reliable regulatory infrastructure in place for problems, challenges and power asymmetries to be continuously accounted for and appropriately redressed.

scholarly journals An analytical survey on the role of machine learning algorithms in case of intrusion detection

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (19) ◽  
pp. 32-35
Author(s):  
Anand Vijay ◽  
Kailash Patidar ◽  
Manoj Yadav ◽  
Rishi Kushwah
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Machine Learning ◽  
Intrusion Detection ◽  
Intrusion Detection System ◽  
Detection System ◽  
Learning Algorithms ◽  
Machine Learning Algorithms ◽  
Handling Mechanism ◽  
The Impact

In this paper an analytical survey on the role of machine learning algorithms in case of intrusion detection has been presented and discussed. This paper shows the analytical aspects in the development of efficient intrusion detection system (IDS). The related study for the development of this system has been presented in terms of computational methods. The discussed methods are data mining, artificial intelligence and machine learning. It has been discussed along with the attack parameters and attack types. This paper also elaborates the impact of different attack and handling mechanism based on the previous papers.

scholarly journals Early Adopters to Early Majority - What's Driving the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Powered Transformation in Financial Services?

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Srikrishna Chintalapati
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Machine Learning ◽  
Portfolio Management ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Retail Banking ◽  
Early Adopters ◽  
Customer Life Cycle ◽  
Digital Disruption ◽  
The Impact

From retail banking to corporate banking, from property and casualty to personal lines, and from portfolio management to trade processing, the next wave of digital disruption in financial services has been unleashed by the concepts and applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Together, AI and ML are undoubtedly creating one of the largest technological transformations the world has ever witnessed. Within the advanced streams of research in AI and ML, human intelligence blended with the cognitive reasoning of machines is finally out of the labs and into real-time applications. The Financial Services sector is one of the early adopters of this revolution and arguably much ahead of its leverage compared to other sectors. Built on the conceptual foundations of Innovation diffusion, and a contemporary perspective of enterprise customer life-cycle journey across the AI-value chain defined by McKinsey Global Institute (2017), the current study attempts to highlight the features and use-cases of early-adopters of this transformation. With the theoretical underpinning of technology adoption lifecycle, this paper is an earnest attempt to comment on how AI and ML have been significantly transforming the Financial Services market space from the lens of a domain practitioner. The findings of this study would be of particular relevance to the subject matter experts, Industry analysts, academicians, and researchers focussed on studying the impact of AI and ML in the financial services industry.

scholarly journals The Influence of Reputation of Public Accounting Firms on the Integrity of Financial Statements with Corporate Governance as the Moderating Variable

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nera Marinda Machdar ◽  
Dade Nurdiniah
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Institutional Ownership ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Financial Statement ◽  
Public Accounting ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
Accounting Firm ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Accounting Firms

This research aimed to determine the effect of the reputation of the public accounting firm on the integrity of financial statements by including leverage and firm size as the control variables. This research also investigated the effects of corporate governance moderation that was proxied by the independent commissioner, institutional ownership, and audit committee in strengthening or weakening the reputation of the public accounting firms on the integrity of the financial statements. The population was manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in 2013-2015. The sample utilized the purposive sampling method and resulted in 34 manufacturing firms, so the total observations were 102 firms in all observed years. This research performed statistical data processing with EVIEWS 8. There are two main findings of this research. First, the reputation of public accounting firm affects the integrity of the financial statement. Second, corporate governance that utilizes the independent commissioners and institutional ownership strengthen the effect of the reputation of the public accounting firm on the integrity of the financial statement. However, corporate governance using audit committee weakens the reputation of the public accounting firm on the integrity of financial statements.

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