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1 – 10 of over 14000For over a decade now, various stakeholders in accounting education have called for the integration of technology competencies in the accounting curriculum (Association to Advance…
Abstract
For over a decade now, various stakeholders in accounting education have called for the integration of technology competencies in the accounting curriculum (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), 2013, 2018; Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC), 1990; American Institute of Certified Public Accountant (AICPA), 1996; Behn et al., 2012; Lawson et al., 2014; PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), 2013). In addition to stakeholder expectations, the inclusion of data analytics as a key area in both the business and accounting accreditation standards of the AACSB signals the urgent need for accounting programs to incorporate data analytics into their accounting curricula. This paper examines the extent of the integration of data analytics in the curricula of accounting programs with separate accounting AACSB accreditation. The paper also identifies possible barriers to integrating data analytics into the accounting curriculum. The results of this study indicate that of the 177 AACSB-accredited accounting programs, 79 (44.6%) offer data analytics courses at either the undergraduate or graduate level or as a special track. The results also indicate that 41 (23.16%) offer data analytics courses in their undergraduate curriculum, 61 (35.88%) at the graduate level, and 12 (6.80%) offer specialized tracks for accounting data analytics. Taken together, the findings indicate an encouraging trend, albeit slow, toward the integration of data analytics into the accounting curriculum.
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Vernon J. Richardson and Yuxin Shan
The accounting profession is beginning to demand data analytics skills from its professionals to handle the increasing amount of data available to address accounting questions…
Abstract
The accounting profession is beginning to demand data analytics skills from its professionals to handle the increasing amount of data available to address accounting questions. Indeed, the explosion of data availability and data are changing the accounting profession, providing accountants the opportunity to continue as key financial information providers to decision-makers. We conducted a survey of accounting department chairs to help understand if, when and how accounting programs would include data analytics in its curriculum. The authors find that 90.7% of accounting department chairs believe that data analytics belongs in the accounting curriculum, with 59.3% planning to introduce an accounting data analytics course in the next three to five years. Most (66.5%) prefer an accounting data analytics course as compared to the general business analytics course and more than half of respondents (56.2%) predict that their coverage of data analytics will be incorporated both throughout the regular accounting curriculum and in a standalone data analytics course. Combined with the requirement of 2018 Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business standards, the authors propose that data analytics should be incorporated both in the undergraduate level and graduate level, starting from basic analytics tools and ending with advanced emerging techniques.
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This paper aims to identify, discuss and provide suggestions for how the phenomenon of business analytics and its elements may influence management accounting and the accountant.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify, discuss and provide suggestions for how the phenomenon of business analytics and its elements may influence management accounting and the accountant.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper not only identifies a number of studies from academic journals but also reports from professional consultancies and professional accounting bodies concerning future opportunities and implications for management accounting in combination with business analytics.
Findings
First, it was found that both academic articles and professional accounting bodies suggest changes for management accounting. Second, it shows that topics such holistic views, fact-based decisions, predictions, visualization and specific hard core skills are the most important for the accountant. Finally, the paper demonstrates that there are different ambition levels for the management accountant, depending on if s(he) wants to be on a descriptive, on a predictive or on a prescriptive level.
Originality/value
Even though the paper is general in nature, the paper discusses a phenomenon that for some reason has been ignored by practitioners and researchers. The true value of the paper therefore lies in making practitioners and researchers more aware of the possibilities of business analytics for management accounting, and through that, making the management accountant a real value driver for the company.
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William D. Brink and M. Dale Stoel
The purpose of this study is to identify the specific skills and abilities within the broad category of data analytics that current business professionals believe are most…
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to identify the specific skills and abilities within the broad category of data analytics that current business professionals believe are most important for accounting graduates. Data analytics knowledge is clearly important, but this category is broad. Therefore, this study identifies the specific skills and abilities that are most important for accounting graduates so that faculty can create classroom materials most beneficial for the future accounting graduates. In 2013, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business developed new standards for accounting programs, including standard A7, related to information technology and analytics. The intent of the standard clearly focuses on increasing the level of technology and analytics studied within the accounting curriculum. However, the specific details and methods for achieving the intent of A7 remain an open question. This chapter uses prior research focused on business analytics education to identify potential analytic skills, tools, techniques, and management issues of concern within the accounting profession. A survey of 342 accounting professionals identifies suggested areas of analytic competencies for accounting graduates. Specifically, the authors find preferences for skills related to data interpretation and communication over any individual technical skills or statistical knowledge. These skills suggest a role for accountants as intermediaries who may need to translate analytic activities into business language. Post hoc, the authors examine the survey results for differences based on respondent characteristics. Interestingly, female respondents report lower beliefs about the importance of analytic skills. The authors also find some differences when examining different demographics within the respondents.
Karen Mcbride and Christina Philippou
Accounting education is re-inventing itself as technology impacts the practical aspects of accounting in the real world and education tries to keep up. Big Data and data analytics…
Abstract
Purpose
Accounting education is re-inventing itself as technology impacts the practical aspects of accounting in the real world and education tries to keep up. Big Data and data analytics have begun to influence elements of accounting including audit, accounting preparation, forensic accounting and general accountancy consulting. The purpose of this paper is to qualitatively analyse the current skills provision in accounting Masters courses linked to data analytics compared to academic and professional expectations of the same.
Design/methodology/approach
The academic expectations and requirements of the profession, related to the impact of Big Data and data analytics on accounting education were reviewed and compared to the current provisions of this accounting education in the form of Masters programmes. The research uses an exploratory, qualitative approach with thematic analysis.
Findings
Four themes were identified of the skills required for the effective use of Big Data and data analytics. These were: questioning and scepticism; critical thinking skills; understanding and ability to analyse and communicating results. Questioning and scepticism, as well as understanding and ability to analyse, were frequently cited explicitly as elements for assessment in various forms of accounting education in the Masters courses. However, critical thinking and communication skills were less explicitly cited in these accounting education programmes.
Research limitations/implications
The research reviewed and compared current academic literature and the requirements of the professional accounting bodies with Masters programmes in accounting and data analytics. The research identified key themes relevant to the accounting profession that should be explicitly developed and assessed within accounting education for Big Data and data analytics at both university and professional levels. Further analysis of the in-depth curricula, as opposed to the explicitly stated topic coverage, could add to this body of research.
Practical implications
This paper considers the potential combined role of professional qualification examinations and master’s degrees in skills provision for future practitioners in accounting and data analysis. This can be used to identify the areas in which accounting education can be further enhanced by focus or explicit mention of skills that are both developed and assessed within these programmes.
Social implications
The paper considers the interaction between academic and professional practice in the areas of accounting education, highlighting skills and areas for development for students currently considering accounting education and data analytics.
Originality/value
While current literature focusses on integrating data analysis into existing accounting and finance curricula, this paper considers the role of professional qualification examinations with Masters degrees as skills provision for future practitioners in accounting and data analysis.
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William J. Amadio and M. Elizabeth Haywood
In today’s marketplace, accountants must understand and master Big Data and data analytics, and many educators have devised approaches to help students acquire these critical…
Abstract
In today’s marketplace, accountants must understand and master Big Data and data analytics, and many educators have devised approaches to help students acquire these critical skills. At our university, we have worked closely with our accounting advisory council to develop an adaptable classroom case where students not only gain a broad understanding of what data analytics means to the profession but also what specific tools are available to analyze an accounting-centered problem – cash collections. Using patterns and behaviors discovered in their data analyses, students develop collection procedures and controls for a case firm. Such a project begins to fulfill the profession’s initiative that accountants must exploit Big Data and data analytics for organizational growth and opportunity.
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Thomas G. Calderon, James W. Hesford and Michael J. Turner
In recent years professional accountancy bodies (e.g., CPA), accreditation institutions (e.g., AACSB) and employers have steadily raised, and continue to raise expectations…
Abstract
In recent years professional accountancy bodies (e.g., CPA), accreditation institutions (e.g., AACSB) and employers have steadily raised, and continue to raise expectations regarding the need for accounting graduates to demonstrate skills in data analytics. One of the obstacles accounting instructors face in seeking to implement data analytics, however, is that they need access to ample teaching materials. Unfortunately, there are few such resources available for advanced programming languages such as R. While skills in commonly used applications such as Excel are no doubt needed, employers often take these for granted and incremental value is only added if graduates can demonstrate knowledge in using more advanced data analytics tools for decision-making such as coding in programming languages. This, together with the current dearth of resources available to accounting instructors to teach advanced programming languages is what drives motivation for this chapter. Specifically, we develop an intuitive, two-dimensional framework for incorporating R (a widely used open-source analytics tool with a powerful embedded programming language) into the accounting curriculum. Our model uses complexity as an integrating theme. We incorporate complexity into this framework at the dataset level (simple and complex datasets) and at the analytics task level (simple and complex tasks). We demonstrate two-dimensional framework by drawing on authentic simple and complex datasets as well as simple and complex tasks that could readily be incorporated into the accounting curriculum and ultimately add value to businesses. R script programming code are provided for all our illustrations.
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This study aims to investigate the relationships between big data analytics, management accounting practices and corporate sustainability and, more precisely, the impact of the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the relationships between big data analytics, management accounting practices and corporate sustainability and, more precisely, the impact of the integration between big data analytics and management accounting on corporate sustainability performance development.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative case study approach is used in this study with multiple collecting data tools as in-depth interviews and observations, in addition to the content analysis used of the annual reports for the year 2021, of Almarai manufacturing corporate (one of the leaders of food and beverage manufacturing corporates in Saudi Arabia and other countries).
Findings
Research findings provide good insights about the significant impact of the effective integration between big data analytics and management accounting on corporate sustainability performance development, big data can assist management accounting to form corporate value-added strategies and activities.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limitedly applied to one manufacturing corporate as a study case; therefore, the findings cannot be generalized. Thus, future research can examine the association between the current study variables with wide-scale applications and with different approaches and in different contexts to enrich the findings. Moreover, future research may focus on the integration between big data analytics and management accounting reports in the meta-verse environment to explore the benefits that corporates could gain from the features and capabilities of meta-verse technology.
Originality/value
There is a research gap regarding the impact of the integration between big data analytics and management accounting practices on corporate sustainability development, as most of the previous studies focused on two variables only of the current study variables; therefore, this study tries to investigate and give important insights about it.
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Khaldoon Al-Htaybat and Larissa von Alberti-Alhtaybat
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the phenomenon of Big Data and corporate reporting, and to determine the impact of Big Data and the current Big Data state of mind with…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the phenomenon of Big Data and corporate reporting, and to determine the impact of Big Data and the current Big Data state of mind with regard to corporate reporting, what accountant and non-accountant participants’ perceptions are of the phenomenon, what the accountants’ role is and will be in this regard, and what opportunities and risks are associated with Big Data and corporate reporting. Furthermore, this study seeks to identify the inherent technological paradoxes of Big Data and corporate reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study is qualitative in nature and assumes an interpretive stance, investigating participants’ perceptions of the phenomenon of Big Data and corporate reporting. To this end, interview data from 25 participants, video and text material, were analysed to enhance and triangulate findings. A four-fold sampling strategy was employed to ensure that any collected data would contribute to the findings. Data were analysed on the basis of open and selective coding stages. Data collection and analysis took place in two stages, in 2014 and in 2016.
Findings
Three topics, or categories, emerged from the data analysis, which have sufficient explanatory power to illustrate the phenomenon of Big Data and corporate reporting, namely the Big Data state of mind and corporate reporting, accountants’ role and future related to Big Data, and perceived opportunities and risks of Big Data. Features of a new approach to corporate reporting were identified and discussed. Furthermore, four paradoxes emerged to express inherent opposing positions of Big Data and corporate reporting, namely empowerment vs enslavement, fulfilling vs creating needs, reliability vs timeliness and simplicity vs complexity.
Originality/value
The original contribution of the study lies in the empirical investigation of the phenomenon of Big Data and corporate reporting as one of the most recent and praised developments in the accounting context. The dual communication flows of corporate reporting with Big Data is an important element of the findings, which can enhance the prospective financial statements significantly. Finally, technological paradoxes of Big Data and corporate reporting are discussed for the first time, two of which are based on the literature and the remaining two are inherent in the phenomenon of Big Data and corporate reporting.
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Steven A. Harrast, Lori Olsen and Yan (Tricia) Sun
Prior research (Harrast, Olsen, & Sun, 2023) analyzes the eight emerging topics to be included in future CPA exams and discusses their importance to career success and appropriate…
Abstract
Prior research (Harrast, Olsen, & Sun, 2023) analyzes the eight emerging topics to be included in future CPA exams and discusses their importance to career success and appropriate teaching locus in light of survey evidence. They find that the general topic of data analytics is the most important of the eight emerging topics. To further understand the topics most important to career success, this study analyzes subtopics underlying the eight emerging topics. The results show that advanced Excel analysis tools, data visualization, and data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) are the most important data analytics subskills for career success according to professionals and that these topics should be both introduced and emphasized in the accounting curriculum. The results provide useful information to educators to prioritize general emerging topics and specific subtopics in the accounting curriculum by taking into account the most pressing needs of the profession.
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