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Extent of artificial intelligence into accounting and auditing work – An

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Article  in  International Journal of Business Process Integration and Management · December 2020

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPIM.2021.10037973

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Int. J. Business Process Integration and Management, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2020 125

Extent of artificial intelligence into accounting and

auditing work – an analytical attempt of job and
duties

Sajed M. Abukhader
College of Business Administration,
Prince Sultan University,
11586, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Email: sajed@psu.edu.sa

Abstract: Whereas information technology and systems (IT/IS) are anticipated to render rewards
for the accounting and auditing profession, there are increasing fears that IT/IS may be able to
automate most or even all of the duties. Little was discussed in literature in this regard although
overwhelming questions are continually being raised in various forums without enough answers
and clarifications: which of the duties/tasks can be automated, and accordingly whether it is
majority since this may force the discipline to reshape itself. An open-ended questionnaire to
members of association of accountants in Jordan was administered. The study arrives at a number
of observations and concluding remarks; the chance of intrusion of IT/IS into accounting practice
is nearly two thirds of the set of various tasks and duties that can be assigned to
accountants/auditors. This result is reached through effort of breakdown of tasks and duties of
accounting/auditing. Future research thereafter is discussed.

Keywords: accounting information systems; automation; information technology; artificial

intelligence; enterprise systems; accounting; auditing; job structure.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Abukhader, S.M. (2020) ‘Extent of artificial
intelligence into accounting and auditing work – an analytical attempt of job and duties’,
Int. J. Business Process Integration and Management, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp.125–136.

Biographical notes: Sajed Abukhader is an Associate Professor of Operations Management.

His publications have been into interdisciplinary topics that span a variety of domains of
business, environmental assessment, healthcare, information systems, and more. His current
interest is focused on knowledge management (KM) in terms of impact on performance of
operations, and KM implementation in SMEs. In addition to being an academician, he is also an
entrepreneur, and therefore has wide interests in entrepreneurship in both teaching and practice.

1 Introduction range of literature) avail most of duties of a profession or

even all?
Impact of technology on duties and job structures can be
One profession of growing interest in technology for the
multiple but not necessarily favourable. At one hand,
carry out of its duties and tasks is accounting (which is of
automating tasks in a wide range of examples of professions
three main domains: managerial accounting, financial
has proven to render several rewards – such as better
accounting and auditing (AccMFA)). One may argue that
efficiencies and fewer errors – (Dey and Das, 2019),
interest in these technologies is now declining anyway in
automation, if takes place widely among duties of a
follow of Gartner Hype Cycle as per the analysis of Gray et
profession (or a discipline), may lead to several inordinate
al. (2014). But in depth analysis of Sutton et al. (2016) and
challenges. One major challenge is a possible major
Lombardi et al. (2014) disagrees with this and confirms that
reduction of qualified professionals of the concerned
the AccMFA community is still interested in artificial
discipline required to carry out the duties. On this account,
intelligence for the support of duties. Moreover, numerous
if the odds of automating the duties of a profession lead to
studies show that the AccMFA community is continually in
less recruiting of humans, should the discipline then
discussion and embracing newly-introduced technologies to
redefine itself into a new realm? If deemed so, there will be
market (like mobile accounting, cloud technology, block-
multiple implications to be studied and not one single
chain technology, to name only few) that are proliferating in
discipline involved. But can automation (or artificial
size and variety (as in Stansheva-Todorova, 2018; Yassin,
intelligence or digital transformation, as used in a wide

Copyright © 2020 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

126 S.M. Abukhader
2017; Spraakman and Sanchez-Rodriquez, 2010; Jackling
and Spraakman, 2006; Moliner and Ruiz, 2006).
Whereas usage of IT/IS leads to numerous positive
outcomes for the AccMFA job such as: efficiencies
improvement, integration, reduction of errors, better
accessibility, prevention of destroy of financial records,
more accuracy of forecasts, more responsiveness to
accounting problems, better understanding of cost
behaviour, better and faster reporting, to name only few
(Nair et al., 2019, Khallaf et al., 2017; Momany et al., 2014;
Razi and Madani, 2013; Surya, 2012; Spraakman and
Sanchez-Rodriquez, 2010; Tafti et al., 2007; Jackling and
Spraakman, 2006; Moliner and Ruiz, 2006), IT/IS may lead
to lay off or decline of vacancies to AccMFA specialists (in
addition to “intrinsic risks” as discussed by Moffitt et al.,
2018). The questions of growing interest are to what extent
can IT/IS cause a decline of job offers to them? Will the
market be in demand for them in the future? and whether
there will be a shift in practice of the career and profession
of AccMFA? Should universities rethink offering
accounting degrees, and if still offer, whether to amend the
content of the training? To find an answer, the AccMFA
community may want to find out first: What are the duties
within the job descriptions (including various ranks and
experiences) that IT/IS can automate? Can IT/IS automate
most of the duties such that no longer a need to recruit an
AccMFA specialist but rather to employ, for instance,
a 2-year business diploma personnel or instead with high
school qualification but trained for 6 months in
fundamentals of AccMFA to perform the duties with the
help of IT/IS?
2 Status of literature
Although the literature is rich in presenting and discussing
the various positive impacts IT/IS has on the operations and
performance of AccMFA, it falls short in identifying and
collectively and comprehensively tell which duties and tasks
in AccMFA professionals’ job descriptions can be
automated (including different ranks and experiences), and
accordingly falls short in concluding how much IT/IS can
permeate into the profession, whether major or minor.
Searching in the various scholar databases using multiple
keywords renders no answer to the earlier questions.
Granlund (2007,2011) – who introduces a critical evaluation
on the interface between IT and management accounting –
advises that, currently unfortunately, “the accounting
academia has in general a limited understanding of the
current developments in the accounting–information
technology (IT) interfaces” and that the relationships
between these two domains had been actually studied
relatively little.
Furthermore, unfortunately, getting hold of all studies
that are indirectly touching upon automation of AccMFA
tasks/duties (i.e., a quick mentions for examples) may not
be possible/accessible. In other words, to have a
comprehensive coverage of all literature in this regard is not
attainable because it is bits and pieces scattered all across.
Thus, this paper embraces other pathways to describe the
status of the literature. First, probing among the experts of
the community – whether there is a common clear belief
that there will be a minor or major automation – represents a
possible face of reality that could be a depiction or proxy of
literature, especially it is a multinational community of
professionals. Second, consulting handbooks may bring a
feeling whether there is a minor or major automation
possibility through a proposed listing or focused discussion
section on this topic in a handbook. Advice of a commonly-
referred-to handbook may acceptably be considered an
indication of the total status of literature. Third, if there are
predictive statements in literature on either a reshaping of
paradigm due to automation or on at least the extent of
automation, this might be an additional indicator of status of
literature. These three (prediction, handbook, and probing)
are presented as follows.
2.1 Predictive statements and handbooks
A number of studies (for instance: Stancheva-Todorova,
2018; Spraakman and Sanchez-Rodriquez, 2010; Granlund,
2007; Byrne and Pierce, 2007) predicted that the role of
accountants/auditors is changing seriously into new roles.
Stancheva-Todorova (2018) concludes that “the threat for
labour displacement seems now as a myth than a future
prospect and we are facing a shift from the concerns for
automation of accounting tasks towards embracing artificial
intelligence capabilities by the accounting profession for its
benefits”. Spraakman and Sanchez-Rodriquez (2010)
believe that “the work of management accountants has
changed into less involvement in data entry activities, more
involvement in design of business processes, and the need
to be more IT savvy”. This perspective is also found in
Granlund (2007), who was emphasising the “transforming
potential of modern IT vis-à-vis the domains of
accounting”. Byrne and Pierce (2007) also believe that
technology has an influential impact on the change of the
role of management accountants. (These studies did not,
unfortunately, show or answer the question: how much is
the extent of automation and which duties/tasks can be
automated, and they remain to be predictive statements that
represent a general footprint of status of literature.)
When it comes to handbooks, one commonly-used
handbook in accounting (Siegel and Shim, 2010, page 789,
790) proposes a list of duties being possible to automate
(Figure 1). It is interesting to notice the multiplicity of the
tasks that can be automated as per the proposal; however,
one cannot tell yet if that amount of duties represent most or
still few of the total set of duties that can be assigned to
AccMFA professionals, nor does the handbook itself
address this point.
 Extent of artificial intelligence into accounting and auditing work – an analytical attempt of job and duties
Figure 1 Suggested list of duties/tasks that can be automated (see online version for colours)
1. General accounting applications
• Preparation of various working papers (e.g. trial
examples)
• Any type of financial report for the client
• Maintaining the ledger
• Converting from cash to accrual basis and vice
versa
• Aging accounts receivable
• Payroll preparation and analysis
• Preparing financial statements
• Revenue analysis by volume, price, and product-
service mix
• Analyzing expenses
• Expense calculations and reports such as for
depreciation, amortization, leases, pensions, and
accrued expenses
• Costs specified in terms of volume, price and
category
2. Planning, Forecasting and Budgeting
• Planning budgets and forecasts
• Cash flow analysis and cash budgeting
• Inventory management, planning and control
• Regression analysis for forecasting
• Performing integrated business plans in which
financial statements and other related schedules can
be integrated into one model
• Any imaginable type of what-if analysis involving
alternative situations (e.g. what the client’s tax
liability will be assuming different tax options are
taken; what the effect on the firm’s market share is
if the price is reduced by 5%)
3. Financial statement analysis
• Ratio computations
• Trend analysis
• Vertical and horizontal schedules
4. Capital budgeting analysis
• Time value analysis
• Net present value
• Internal rate of return
• Ranking index
• Varying assumptions (e.g. interest rate) and
determining the effect
• Lease vs. purchase
Source: Siegel and Shim (2010)
2.2 A probe with the community
The paper handled a pilot outreach to experts who are in
close relationship with the University (27 experts, with
experiences between 10–30 years, in AccMFA). The aim
was to feel possibility on the extent of automation,
representing a fair proxy of literature as mentioned earlier.
Table 1 presents their statements when they were asked a
general open question about the possible challenges that
technology could exert on this profession.
2.3 Purpose of the paper
The paper aims at finding out how much IT/IS can automate
of AccMFA profession. It is beyond the scope of this paper
to discuss the possible impact on this field in terms of
decline of job offers or a possible new shape that this
discipline redefines itself into if the community realises that
127
5. Investment and financing analysis
• Future value analysis
• Loan amortization analysis
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Preparing portfolio investment transactions and
balances
• Evaluating the true cost of financing
• Optimal financing mix (i.e. debt-equity)
6. Cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis
• Break-even computations
• Target income analysis
• A variety of what-if questions (e.g. pricing and
advertising decisions)
• Graphics
7. Short term decisions via contribution-margin analysis
• Make or buy
• Sales mix analysis
• Accept or reject a special order
8. Management of Working Capital
• Cash, accounts receivable, securities
• Credit control management and analysis
• Inventory management
9. Income-tax-planning decisions and preparations
• Cash flow vs profit
• Proprietorship vs corporation
• Depreciation decisions and taxes
• Tax-loss carryforward and carryback schedules
10. Cost and managerial accounting
• Divisional and departmental performance
evaluation
• Job and process costing
• Overhead calculations
• Variance determination (standard to actual, budget
to actual)
11. CPA firm management
• Time sheets by employee for control and billing
purposes
• Client statistics for evaluation and reporting
purposes
• Arriving at answers in seconds when meeting with
the client without the need to redo many
calculations manually
12. Some auditing tasks
the automation is major. The hope is that future research
will investigate these latter interests.
3 The research method
To respond to the purpose stated above, the paper chose the
interviews method as a research means, using an open-
ended questionnaire. The reason of this choice is that
interviews method awards a chance for clarifications, if
needed, on the respondent’s perspective or on the
questionnaire’s items/purposes. The interviews were after:
1 identifying and developing a comprehensive list of all
possible tasks of AccMFA job (including various ranks
and different ranges of experiences)
2 advising which of these could be automated
128 S.M. Abukhader

The questionnaire letter was sent to the members of the
Jordanian Accountants Association via email, excluding few
ones that have no available emails in the database. Around
352 emails were sent in total. The letter, sent to the
members, was of two questions in addition to an appendix
of a list of 55 tasks (which is part of the list of Table 2):
1 Does the appended-to-this-letter list of the 55 tasks
represent a comprehensive list of tasks/duties that the
accountant/auditor can be assigned (considering various
ranks and ranges of experience)?
2 Which of these tasks/duties can be automated?
(automation means that there is no need to recruit a
personnel with bachelor degree in accounting to handle
the task but, instead, train someone – with high school
degree or perhaps a diploma on any field – on doing the
concerned tasks).
The aggregation list of 55 tasks/duties was an effort carried
out, beforehand, in three steps. The goal was to reach a
near-to-comprehensive list of all tasks/duties that can be
assigned to accountants/auditors (considering various ranks
and ranges of experience). Firstly, the Handbook of Siegel
and Shim (2010) (mentioned earlier) was consulted for
instilling and developing an initial list. Afterwards, two
practising academicians were consulted on the list and they
suggested modifications. Lastly, an accountant with very
close tie to university gave some further insights.
Ultimately, the list became of 55 tasks/duties (exhibited as
part of Table 2).

Table 1 Perspectives collected from the outreach

“Even though the development of technology cannot cause a major threat, however, the dawn of artificial intelligence is rising and it
is going to change the game”

“The technology can prevail to good extent in several tasks but not everything. There will still remain certain duties that need human
attention; and only humans can feel it. The bookkeeping work for instance can be eliminated. Whatever technology penetrates
profession of accounting/auditing, there will be a need for humans to oversight and make sure that everything is done as planned”

“Blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning are threats in the present era. Yet, with change there is always a new
opportunities that rises with it, and it is left for the people of that era to innovate”

“The accounting profession is going to rely on technology more and more”

“Whatever technology intrudes the profession and replaces humans, still the human brain cannot be replaced. Technology itself
cannot innovate but only human can innovate”

“Technology does a lot of things but not everything”

“I do not recommend that we continue offer bachelor degrees in accounting, but rather be taught in an earlier age before entering the
university”

“students must not take accounting as a primary major”

“Even if technology widely automates many tasks, non-accounting staff cannot distinguish among the inputs and statements. We
must still recruit accountants”

“The demand for accountants could decrease over next years and number of jobs for accountants will decline but it will never
disappear” (3 experts of almost same statement)

“Technology is meant to ease the job of accounting/auditing with more accuracy but not meant to delete accountants” (2 experts of
almost same statement)

“If an accountant is not up to date with new technologies, he will be the one who should be scared to lose job/not get employed”

“Technology will lead to reducing jobs for accountants but eventually we need human specialist human to analyse and oversight the
process”

“Technology is there to cut the time spent on data processing but not handle the why question which will be the major job of the
accountants”

“We will still need accountants to read and make sense of the numbers”

“Information systems did not reach a stage to replicate the human brain”
 Extent of artificial intelligence into accounting and auditing work – an analytical attempt of job and duties 129

Table 1 Perspectives collected from the outreach (continued)

“Although technology can overtake many duties of accounting/auditing, however, I foresee that it will instead open some new
responsibilities because of that”

“The responsibilities of accountants is no longer transactional, but increasingly becoming strategic to assist senior management to
analyse the drivers behind certain financial results rather than only getting numbers right”

“Students who want to major in accounting must get in depth knowledge and training on technology so that they are competitive in
the market”

“Part of the accounting profession is dying; the bookkeeping and routine part. But there will be a rise for a new thing…‘Technical
Analytical Accountants’…”

“Technology made it easier to accountants to finish their tasks and increase the level of accuracy but stands as a threat to the lower
level accountants”

“Technology is meant to relieve accountants from routine tasks so that they can focus on larger and more important tasks. Who is
lacking competencies in the latter tasks will be under threat”

“Current technology for accounting work offer complex functions, capabilities and features; if accountants (especially fresh
graduates) are not trained enough and acquainted they will face difficulties and rejections. In other words, technology will eliminate
tech-unskilled/semi-skilled accountants from the market”

“Technology will automate most of the accounting/auditing work. For instance, Blockchain technology will award auditors the ability
of automatic verification for a large portion of the most important data relating to financial statements”

“Technology nowadays is able not only to handle simple tasks but also complex duties; there exist softwares with complex
capabilities to do that”

Table 2 Feedback of seven respondents

Tasks Respondent 1 Respondent 2 Respondent 3 Respondent 4 Respondent 5 Respondent 6 Respondent 7

1. Identify financial Can be Can be Can be Non- Can be
information automated automated automated applicable automated
2. Measure financial Difficult to Can NOT be Non- Can be
information automate (due automated applicable automated
to the
continually
upcoming
international
standards)
3. Accumulate financial Can be Can be Can be It must be Can be
information automated automated automated Automated automated
4. Income statement Can be System Can be Can be Can NOT be It must be Can be
reporting automated issue* automated automated automated Automated automated
Can be
automated
5. Balance sheet making Can be System Can be Can be Can NOT be It must be Can be
automated Issue* automated automated automated Automated automated
Can be
automated
6. Prepare statement of cash Can be System Can be Can be Can NOT be It must be Can be
flow automated Issue* automated automated automated Automated automated
Can be
automated
7. Decision making Can be Can NOT be It must be Can NOT be
regarding accounting automated automated Automated automated
principles, policies and
framework to govern
statements
8. Handling of accounting Can be Can NOT be It must be Can NOT be
changes automated automated Automated automated
130 S.M. Abukhader

Table 2 Feedback of seven respondents (continued)

Tasks Respondent 1 Respondent 2 Respondent 3 Respondent 4 Respondent 5 Respondent 6 Respondent 7

9. Prepare prior period Difficult to Can NOT be It must be Can NOT be
adjustments automate automated Automated automated
10. Segmental reporting Can be System Can be Can be Can NOT be It must be Can NOT be
automated Issue* automated automated automated Automated automated
Can be
automated
11. Imputing interests on Can be Can be Can be Can be It must be Can NOT be
notes automated automated automated automated Automated automated
12. Measuring fair value Can be Can be Can NOT be Non- Can NOT be
automated automated automated applicable automated
13. Income tax accounting Can be Can be Can be Can be Can be
automated automated automated automated automated
14. Translation and System Can be Can be Can NOT be It must be Can be
transaction of foreign Issue* automated automated automated Automated automated
currencies Can be
automated
15. Balance sheet analysis Can be Can Can NOT be It must be Can be
automated automate automated Automated automated
part of it
16. Income statement Can be Can Can NOT be It must be Can NOT be
analysis automated automate automated Automated automated
part of it
17. Perform industry Can be Can NOT be It must be Can NOT be
comparison automated automated Automated automated
18. Trend analysis Can be Can NOT be Non- Can NOT be
automated automated applicable automated
19. Horizontal and vertical Can be Can be Can NOT be It must be Can NOT be
analyses automated automated automated Automated automated
20. Various ratios analyses Can be Can be Can NOT be It must be Can be
automated automated automated Automated automated
21. Interpret financial Difficult to Can NOT be It must be Can NOT be
information automate automated Automated automated
22. Communicate financial Can be Can be Can be It must be Can NOT be
information automated automated automated Automated automated
23. Prepare financial reports Can be Can be Can be Can be It must be Can be
to non-management groups automated automated automated automated Automated automated
(regulatory agencies and tax
authorities)
24. Recognising, Can be Can NOT be It must be Can NOT be
classifying, allocating, automated automated Automated automated
aggregating, and reporting
various costs of the
operations of the
organisation
25. Activity based costing Can be Can be Can NOT be It must be Can NOT be
automated automated automated Automated automated
26. Strategic cost analysis Can be Can be Can NOT be It must be Can NOT be
automated automated automated Automated automated
27. Various cost analyses Can be Can be Can NOT be It must be Can NOT be
automated automated automated Automated automated
28. Budgeting for profit Can be Can be Can NOT be It must be Can NOT be
planning automated automated automated Automated automated
29. Prepare segmental Can be System Can be Can be Can NOT be It must be Can be
report for profit centers automated Issue* automated automated automated Automated automated
Can be
automated
 Extent of artificial intelligence into accounting and auditing work – an analytical attempt of job and duties 131

Table 2 Feedback of seven respondents (continued)

Tasks Respondent 1 Respondent 2 Respondent 3 Respondent 4 Respondent 5 Respondent 6 Respondent 7

30. Capital budgeting Can be Can NOT be Non- Can NOT be
decisions automated automated applicable automated
31. Recording financial Can be Can be Can be It must be Can be
transaction in accounting automated automated automated Automated automated
journals (journalising) (with
conservative
perspective)**
32. Posting transactions in Can be Can be Can be Can be Can be It must be Can be
the journals into the automated automated automated automated automated Automated automated
individual accounts
(recording in the ledger)
33. Preparing trial balance Can be Can be Can be Can be Can be It must be Can be
periodically to ensure that automated automated automated automated automated Automated automated
all entries in the accounting
records are agreeing with
debit and credit side total
34. Follow up and collection Can be Can be Can be It must be Can be
of receivables from automated automated automated Automated automated
customers
35. Payment of money due Can be Can be Can be It must be Can be
to creditors automated automated automated Automated automated
36. Payment of all expenses Can be Can be Can be It must be Can be
including salaries automated automated automated Automated automated
37. Preparing bank Can be Can be Can be It must be Can NOT be
reconciliation statement automated automated automated Automated automated
38. Preparing budget for the Can be Can be Can NOT be It must be Can NOT be
next year automated automated automated Automated automated
39. Verifying expenses and Can be Can be Can be Non- Can be
revenues in the current year automated automated automated applicable automated
to see that it is as planned in
the budgets and finding out
variances
40. Helping auditors coming Difficult to Can be Non- Can be
from outside to verify the automate automated applicable automated
accounting records
41. Discussing with banks Difficult to Can be Non- Can be
for loans whenever automate automated applicable automated
necessary
42. Internal auditing Can be Can be Can NOT be Non- Can NOT be
PARTIALLY automated automated applicable automated
automated
43. Recommends financial Difficult to Can NOT be Can NOT be
actions by analysing automate automated automated
accounting options
44. Substantiates financial Can be Can NOT be Non- Can NOT be
transactions by auditing automated automated applicable automated
documents
45. Maintains accounting Can be Can NOT be Non- Can NOT be
controls by preparing and automated automated applicable automated
recommending policies and
procedures
46. External Auditing Can be Can be Can NOT be Non- Can NOT be
PARTIALLY automated automated applicable automated
automated
47. Guides accounting Can be Can NOT be Non- Can NOT be
clerical staff by automated automated applicable automated
coordinating activities and
answering questions
132 S.M. Abukhader

Table 2 Feedback of seven respondents (continued)

Tasks Respondent 1 Respondent 2 Respondent 3 Respondent 4 Respondent 5 Respondent 6 Respondent 7

48. Reconciles financial Can be Can NOT be Non- Can NOT be
discrepancies by collecting automated automated applicable automated
and analysing account
information
49. Secures financial System Can be Can be Can be Can be
information by completing issue* automated automated automated automated
database backups Can be
automated
50. Maintains financial Can be Can be Can be Non- Can be
security by following automated automated automated applicable automated
internal controls
51. Prepares payments by Can be Can be Can be Can be Non- Can be
verifying documentation, automated automated automated automated applicable automated
and requesting
disbursements
52. Answers accounting Can be Can be Non- Can be
procedure questions by automated automated applicable automated
researching and interpreting
accounting policy and
regulations
53. Prepares special Can be Can be It must be Can NOT be
financial reports by automated automated Automated automated
collecting, analysing, and
summarising account
information and trends
54. Maintains customer Can be Can be Can be Non- Can be
confidence and protects automated automated automated applicable automated
operations by keeping
financial information
confidential
55. Maintains professional Can be Can be It must be Can NOT be
and technical knowledge by automated automated Automated automated
attending educational
workshops; reviewing
professional publications;
establishing personal
networks; participating in
professional societies
56. Preparing Income Tax Can be It must be Can be
reports automated Automated automated
57. Preparing Sales Tax Can be Can be
(VAT) reports automated automated
58. Disclose about conflict Can be Non- Can be
of interest (if any) automated applicable automated
59. Maximising the Can NOT be Non- Can NOT be
stockholder interest automated applicable automated
60. Facilitate the process of Can NOT be Non- Can NOT be
decision making especially automated applicable automated
financial decisions
61. Achieving justice, trust Can NOT be Non- Can NOT be
and transparency in the automated applicable automated
financial reports
62. Disclose about unusual Can NOT be Non- Can NOT be
transactions and money automated applicable automated
laundering (if any)
*Unclear what he means by that as he did not reply or provide further clarification.
**The respondent stands in conservative position about automation of this task (this point is being considered in the conclusive
discussion next).
 Extent of artificial intelligence into accounting and auditing work – an analytical attempt of job and duties
4 Results
Unfortunately it was only eight respondents – out of the
large number of emails communicated – responded.
Reasons behind a very low participation possibly include:
• number of experienced or specialised fellows in
accounting information systems is limited (globally
speaking)
• the timing of the questionnaire was in March which is
in the middle of period of very busy time usually for
accountants/auditors
• also, some emails were invalid ones, and these were
near 68 emails (bounced back)
• in addition, there might be that some emails arrived in
the spam folder of the interviewee and thus not seen
• there might be few cases in which the recipients chose
not to open the email if they do not recognise the
sender.
However, we may look at the eight respondents as a sample
“representative” of population that is knowledgeable in
accounting information systems, which is in fact a small
proportion anyway among the total member population in
that association (which is already limited globally).
The questionnaire process rendered a data exhibited in
Table 2. The number of tasks in the table were 55 only
when sent to more than 60% of the population until the
receipt of reply from the fifth respondent who suggested
that there are seven tasks missing which should be added to
the list (as per his suggestion). Thereafter, a 62-task list was
prepared and sent to the remaining members. There was no
possibility to resend to the previous members or even
contact the first four respondents about this added part,
unfortunately.
The eighth respondent did not insert his data in the table
but rather elaborated in text because he believes the list
must be fully revisited and re-developed in a different
manner. He advised that some of the items in the list are not
a duty or task per se but in fact a title/subject name for a
group of tasks, and hence must be broken down into more
details. For instance, item #14 in the table is a subject not a
task. Also, item #25 is a subject which includes several
tasks some of which were already included in the list.
Another point he addressed is that there is an area that was
not covered properly and was mentioned through one item
only (#34);
“there are many other complementary tasks
under that area such as studying credit
applications for new customers, approving
customers, deposits and guarantees, studying
receivables to determine the need for provision
for doubtful debts, the task of dealing with bad
debts in terms of classification, carrying out
the necessary actions in court, etc.”
These are all about tasks on dealing with customers.
One of the seven respondents in Table 2 pointed out that
the list sounds fair and acceptable and seems to include
133
most of the financial and accounting matters required of the
regular accountant; however,
“the experienced accountant has roles other
than those related to accounting matters where
the accountant becomes an essential part of the
higher management of any institution or
company, such as banks, creditors, debtors and
investors. This is usually a key component of
specialised internal committees such as
purchasing and tender committees, evaluation
committees, etc. The financial department
represented by the accountant in this case is
the heart of any institution or company. It is an
essential element for the existence and
application of an effective internal control
system and provision of appropriate financial
management data and information to enable
them to take the necessary decisions in a
timely manner.”
This statement concurs, in fact, with several statements
received from the outreach to community performed earlier
(Table 1).
5 Concluding discussion
Towards clustering the answers of Table 2, this paper used a
scoring framework as in Table 3 in order to reach some
conclusive insights. The purpose then is to feel how much
body of the profession remains not possible or difficult to
automate, or in other words, how much information systems
or technology is intruding the profession. Table 4 shows the
results of clustering and from there Table 5 rounds up
descriptive statistics. Then, it can be perceived clearly that
what remains difficult or not possible to automate is not
more than one third of the profession. This “one third”
portion of tasks are into providing judgements on some
financial records, facilitate the decision making process,
achieve justice and transparency, disclose unusual
transactions, valuating intangible assets and developing
standards.
Table 3 Developing clusters for the feedbacks of respondents
Conclusive
Scores insight
If none of the 7 believe it can be automated It cannot be
If none of the 3 believe it can be automated automated
(tasks 56 to 62)
If one or two only of the 7 believe it can be It looks
automated difficult to
If one only of the 3 believe it can be automated automate
(tasks 56 to 62)
If three or four or five only of the 7 believe it It might be
can be automated possible to
automate
If two only of the 3 believe it can be automated
(tasks 56 to 62)
If six or all of the 7 believe it can be automated Surely can be
If all the three believe it can be automated automated
(tasks 56 to 62)
134 S.M. Abukhader

Table 4 Tasks vs. conclusive insights

Tasks Conclusive insights

1. Identify financial information It might be possible to automate
2. Measure financial information It looks difficult to automate it
3. Accumulate financial information It might be possible to automate
4. Income statement reporting Surely can be automated
5. Balance sheet making Surely can be automated
6. Prepare statement of cash flow Surely can be automated
7. Decision making regarding accounting principles, policies and framework to govern statements It looks difficult to automate it
8. Handling of accounting changes It looks difficult to automate it
9. Prepare prior period adjustments It looks difficult to be automate it
10. Segmental reporting It might be possible to automate
11. Imputing interests on notes It might be possible to automate
12. Measuring fair value It looks difficult to automate it
13. Income tax accounting It might be possible to automate
14. Translation and transaction of foreign currencies It might be possible to automate
15. Balance sheet analysis It might be possible to automate
16. Income statement analysis It might be possible to automate
17. Perform industry comparison It looks difficult to automate it
18. Trend analysis It looks difficult to automate it
19. Horizontal and vertical analyses It might be possible to automate
20. Various ratios analyses It might be possible to automate
21. Interpret financial information It looks difficult to automate
22. Communicate financial information It might be possible to automate
23. Prepare financial reports to non-management groups (regulatory agencies and tax authorities) Surely can be automated
24. Recognising, classifying, allocating, aggregating, and reporting various costs of the operations It looks difficult to automate it
of the organisation
25. Activity based costing It might be possible to automate
26. Strategic cost analysis It might be possible to automate
27. Various cost analyses It might be possible to automate
28. Budgeting for profit planning It might be possible to automate
29. Prepare segmental report for profit centers Surely can be automated
30. Capital budgeting decisions It looks difficult to automate it
31. Recording financial transaction in accounting journals (journalising) It might be possible to automate
32. Posting transactions in the journals into the individual accounts (recording in the ledger) Surely can be automate it
33. Preparing trial balance periodically to ensure that all entries in the accounting records are Surely can be automated
agreeing with debit and credit side total
34. Follow up and collection of receivables from customers It might be possible to automate
35. Payment of money due to creditors It might be possible to automate
36. Payment of all expenses including salaries It might be possible to automate
37. Preparing bank reconciliation statement It might be possible to automate
38. Preparing budget for the next year It might be possible to automate
39. Verifying expenses and revenues in the current year to see that it is as planned in the budgets It might be possible to automate
and finding out variances
40. Helping auditors coming from outside to verify the accounting records It looks difficult to automate it
41. Discussing with banks for loans whenever necessary It looks difficult to automate it
42. Internal auditing It looks difficult to automate it
43. Recommends financial actions by analysing accounting options Cannot be automated
44. Substantiates financial transactions by auditing documents It looks difficult to automate it
45. Maintains accounting controls by preparing and recommending policies and procedures It looks difficult to automate it
 Extent of artificial intelligence into accounting and auditing work – an analytical attempt of job and duties 135

Table 4 Tasks vs. conclusive insights (continued)

Tasks Conclusive insights

46. External Auditing It looks difficult to automate it
47. Guides accounting clerical staff by coordinating activities and answering questions It looks difficult to automate it
48. Reconciles financial discrepancies by collecting and analysing account information It looks difficult to automate it
49. Secures financial information by completing database backups It might be possible to automate
50. Maintains financial security by following internal controls It might be possible to automate
51. Prepares payments by verifying documentation, and requesting disbursements It might be possible to automate
52. Answers accounting procedure questions by researching and interpreting accounting policy and It might be possible to automate
regulations
53. Prepares special financial reports by collecting, analysing, and summarising account It might be possible to automate
information and trends
54. Maintains customer confidence and protects operations by keeping financial information It might be possible to automate
confidential
55. Maintains professional and technical knowledge by attending educational workshops; reviewing It might be possible to automate
professional publications; establishing personal networks; participating in professional societies
56. Preparing Income Tax reports Surely can be automated*
57. Preparing Sales Tax (VAT) reports It might be possible to automate*
58. Disclose about conflict of interest (if any) It might be possible to automate*
59. Maximising the stockholder interest Cannot be automated*
60. Facilitate the process of decision making especially financial decisions Cannot be automated*
61. Achieving justice, trust and transparency in the financial reports Cannot be automated*
62. Disclose about unusual transactions and money laundering (if any) Cannot be automated*
*The shaded blocks are the set of tasks/duties that it was only for three respondents to evaluate.

On the other hand, we still need to consider a number of
critics in opposition to this conclusion. The list (62 tasks) is
still an under-development list and is not yet a universally
agreed upon as a “Comprehensive List”, although it looks
covering a “great deal” of tasks. So, in case of future
research that amends the list into longer one (by either
adding missing ones or breaking down some of the existing
as per one respondent), then the percentages in Table 5 will
differ. Secondly, there are comments (if embraced) may
drive a different scoring. For instance, one respondent
mentioned that task #31 can be automated but with
conservative perspective in the sense that not all the
recording incidents of financial transactions can be
automated, for example,
“when dealing with the adjustments at the end
of the financial year, there will be a need for
an accounting platform or outlook in order to
decide whether to classify some costs as
capital expenditures or administrative
expenses. In such situation, it is not possible
for non-accounting personnel to judge where
to insert that data. Only routine recordings can
be handled by such personnel”.
As an implication of her comment, although four
respondents advised that task 31 can be automated;
however, her conservative point might be more realistic to
consider over her peers (especially that two other
respondents left the blank empty for possible indication that
“it is not possible to automate”). Thus, task 31 might be
removed from the counts for “it might be possible to
automate” in Table 5, which affects the concluding
statistics. Another comment – the feedback of respondent
(#8) who did not provide answer in the table – advises that
the list must be wholly revisited and if her points (presented
earlier) are valid, this means that the percentages in Table 5
become invalid. These critics could be a driver for future
research.
Table 5 Percentage of duties/tasks that can be automated
Percentage
The conclusive insight (out of the 62 tasks)
It cannot be automated 8% (5 tasks)
It looks difficult to automate 29% (18 tasks)
It might be possible to automate 50% (31 tasks)
Surely can be automated 13% (8 tasks)
6 Future research
Based on the results above (Table 5), four questions of
interest rise up. Firstly, if the remaining portion of the
profession (not possible to automate) is around the third,
should academia cease offering the degree and instead offer
the skills related to these “cannot-be-automated” duties
under a diploma or a minor associated to Degree in Finance
or so? Future research might be interested in this question.
Secondly, another alternative (as per some comments in the
outreach in Table 1 and one perspective of an interviewee)
is to consider a new emerging name to the profession (in
sense of shift in paradigm), such as: “Business Analytics” or
“Accounting Analytics” instead of “Accounting,” towards
136 S.M. Abukhader
including, for instance, supervisory and mentoring work,
analytical work, judgemental work, consultancy to decision
making process, and development of standards.
Thirdly, if we assume that the one third portion is the
type of “intellectual tasks” vs. the two thirds portion to be
“repetitive tasks” type, and if we consider few comments
from the community (Table 1) indicating that new emerging
softwares may even handle complex tasks beyond the
repetitive, then a question of interest can be: Is the “cannot
be automated” one third portion going still to survive with
the new development of softwares? (Intellectual vs.
repetitive as a classification is one way of looking at and
examining any profession generally speaking because any
profession will have a mix of both with different ratios.)
Fourthly and last, would the discussion about “conceptual
fluidity” in accounting information systems (Ask and
Magnusson, 2013) intercross and influence the discussion
about extent of automation and thereafter about the need to
reshape the paradigm? Perhaps interesting exploration
might be worthwhile in this regard.
For satisfying the first three lines of interest identified
above, future research is needed into principally first of all
developing a widely acceptable and comprehensive list of
tasks/duties to be (as discussed in this paper). This might be
attainable by perhaps communicating with as many
accountants in managerial positions of long experience
using relaxed semi-structured interviews. Once the
concerned list is developed, then the automation discussion
should come immediately right after that. The questionnaire
must be sent to a larger set of population, perhaps by
including other countries, or maybe communicating with
communities/forums/associations to which
accountants/auditors of background in accounting
information systems and automation topics belong.
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