Behind the Scenes of Accounting and Technology
The presence of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 brought changes to the adjustment of work for humans, machines, technology and processes in various professional fields, including the accounting profession. The Industrial Revolution requires the accounting profession to adapt to developments in information technology and big data. Facing the latest industrial era today, the development of the digital economy has opened up new possibilities while simultaneously increasing risks. These changes have a significant impact on accounting developments. In this era, technological developments and innovations seem to be racing against time. New innovations encourage the creation of new markets and shift the existence of old markets. Smart machines and robots are now taking on many roles and seem to rule the world. In the Industrial Revolution 4.There has been an extraordinary shift in various fields of science and profession, therefore the way accountants work and practice needs to be changed to improve service quality and global expansion through online communication and the use of cloud computing.
In the digital era and technological developments like now, the flow of information is running so fast, internet technology has changed one’s view of getting information, including in the world of business accounting. Technological developments change business, so that not many human resources are needed in the business, including accounting staff. This issue in the underestimate accounting profession regarding the impact of technology on accountants’ work. This is a formidable challenge that must be answered.
Accountants and Technology
The rapid development of technology is a signal for the era of automation / digitization. This means that the role of technology begins to shift control of the work that is usually done by humans. The potential for technology to replace the role of the accounting profession is only a matter of time. The accountant’s role will be strategic and consultative. Therefore accountants need to have certification, for example fluent in technology, so they can survive in competition. An accountant must also have a strategy, including mastery of soft skills both interpersonal skills and intra-personal skills, business understanding skills and technical skills in order to be able to answer the challenges of this digital era. An accountant must be aware of the development of the industrial revolution 4.0 by seeing the opportunities that exist.
Changes in the era are inevitable, therefore, you must always be able to control your reactions and attitudes to these changes so you can move forward with the times. In the accounting sector, the various challenges that come with the arrival of the digital era cannot be ignored, they must be studied properly in order to determine the attitude to overcome them. Being fluent in technology is one of the keys to facing challenges in this era.
Accountant Professional Challenges
In the next 5 years when 5G technology in telecommunication devices has been fully adopted, internet access at Gigabit speeds per second and hardware and humans are connected to each other either by IoT or IoP, will change the role of accountants replaced by AI technology (Artificial Intelligence) and robotics in carrying out the basic work of accountants, namely recording transactions, processing transactions, sorting transactions, automating financial reporting as well as analyzing these financial reports independently without human intervention. The pattern of self-management of the basic functions of accountants is of course increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of work and the results are immediately known (real time).Many companies have developed this because they have been supported by standardized financial management processes and standardized information system architectures that are adequate and in accordance with the demands of the fourth generation industry so that the crucial competencies needed for subsequent accountants are data analysis skills, following developments in information technology and updating leadership styles.
Furthermore, the impact is that accountants and accounting firms will be “forced” to develop mobile applications to be able to access data directly from mobile phones, tablets and virtual reality (VR). Financial report audits are carried out on a real-time basis where regulators and auditors automatically pull the required data directly from the system and sensors attached to operational activities so that the transparency and accuracy of the resulting data can be accounted for. If accountants do not have adequate expertise in information technology, other professions can take over the function of accountants, so it can be said that information technology is a basic need that must be met to be studied and understood by the accountants themselves.
Quoted from the December 2016 edition of the International Edition of Accounting and Business Magazine, Roger Leonard Burrit and Katherine Christ mentioned four steps accountants must take in facing the 4.0 industrial revolution, namely:
- Awareness (Awareness) that the industrial revolution gave birth to new opportunities or opportunities. This opportunity arises to grow new businesses that have never existed before, for example Germany as the originating country has 80% of companies ready to implement the 4.0 industrial revolution or China which realizes that development is needed in the knowledge aspect and targets 60% investment in this sector. Not only these two countries, but many countries are already in the early stages of information dissemination which will then develop deeper to carry out a total revolution 4.0
- Education (Education). Regulators or government and education practitioners are required to be able to create a relevant curriculum tailored to the development of digital connectivity, such as coding training, information management between several different programs and platforms or real-time accounting implementation aimed at all departments and company organizations including shareholders. .
- Professional development. Improve the performance of the accounting profession and programs that support its development by conducting online and face-to-face discussion exercises and evaluating the impact on the capabilities of the accounting profession in the future.
- Application of high standards (Reaching Out). As accountants are required to have maximum control over the resulting data, where physical data or information is usually obtained under the responsibility of engineers so that the working relationship between accountants and engineers must run harmoniously so that accounting data and information are properly maintained.
Accountants in the perspective of the industrial revolution are no longer “book keepers” but are expanding into new things that may not touch the financial aspects at all. The exploration of new things, of course, also creates specializations that do not exist at the present time. The specialization here when looking at the explanation above will increase into a new field of work that demands different capabilities and capacities because it is needed to be able to see potential changes in the short and long term. The gap between the real world of work and the world of academia should be bridged for further research and research where the results of research can be used to provide constructive and informative solutions which can then be applied in the teaching and learning process at the university. college and accounting profession.
Source: https://accounting.binus.ac.id