• Professionals appreciate training sessions that are tailored to their individual

level of experience. Survey respondents consistently report low values for all
determinants of effort expectancy. In contrast to the expectations raised in the
qualitative analysis, however, neither do low values imply a low inten-
tion to adopt analytics tools nor do high values enhance this intention. A potential
cause for the insignificant influence of effort expectancy could be a cross-over
interaction effect of experience. This effect indicates that experienced
professionals would appreciate more difficult tasks, while the opposite is true for
less experienced staff. The effect unveils the need for audit firms to tailor their
training more specifically to the level of experience of their staff.

The suggested actions presented above are not exhaustive. For example, further possible
elements for increasing IT adoption in the pre-implementation stage (design
characteristics, user participation, management support, incentive alignment) and in the
post-implementation stage (training, organizational support, peer support) can be found
in the study by Venkatesh and Bala (2008).

Sellers
Despite the focus on the supply side (audit firms) rather than demand side (especially
sellers and investors) of FDD, important implications arise for the latter. In particular,
this thesis raises awareness of the possible use of analytics in FDD, presents the
advantages of using analytics over traditional approaches, and outlines situations in
which the use is particularly beneficial (e.g., in carve-out transactions). This improved
understanding could be helpful for vendors when awarding the commission for FDD
projects, e.g. by formulating concrete expectations of the providers’ analytics
competences. Moreover, selling parties could consider making their own contributions to
improving the FDD process. For instance, the in-house data analytics departments present
in large companies could be included in this process to facilitate data provision and
extraction. Finally, large groups and holding companies could start reusing parts of the
data model (e.g., the mapping logic) for controlling purposes after the divesture.

Investors
This thesis also raises awareness among bidders. This research aims to facilitate and
enhance their understanding of the benefits associated with using analytics. In particular,
bidders can gain deeper insight into the target company’s financial figures, thus
narrowing the information gap and uncovering value potential. Value creation is of the
utmost importance in times of fierce competition for high-priced assets (e.g., due to high
cash reserves/dry powder and a persistently low interest rate environment) and in light of
the high failure rates of M&A. Financial investors, who tend to possess less knowledge
of the market, customer, and competitive environment of the target company than
strategic investors, particularly benefit from the increasingly commercial orientation of
FDD. Moreover, the use of analytics can accelerate the due diligence process and thus
provide a time advantage over competing bidders. Even in transactions with an exclusive
negotiation situation, i.e., without competitive bidders, the higher transparency allows for
a more fact-based argumentation and could consequently reduce the need for discussion
with the sell-side. These obvious advantages associated with the use of analytics, together
with the assessment of the interviewees, underscore that a lack of awareness is the
primary reason for the lack of demand for the application of analytics. This thesis can
hopefully help counteract this situation. If, however, investors empower audit firms to
employ analytics, the investors must find approaches to cope with the corresponding
constraints (e.g., extension of the lead time, inability to share interim results).

7.4 Research implications

In the following, implications for the four areas of research covered in this thesis are
presented: finance and accounting, M&A and due diligence, big data and data analytics,
and technology adoption.

Finance and accounting research

As outlined in the introductory chapter, Gepp et al. (2018) state that research in finance
and accounting related to big data and data analytics is limited to only four research
streams. Although there are now a few studies outside these four areas (e.g., in the field
of managerial accounting), it can be generally confirmed that research on these big data
and data analytics is scant in finance and accounting. However, the use cases that are
widespread in practice go beyond the four research streams and are also relevant to other
areas. Therefore, this dissertation strives to expand existing literature with a new research
vein: FDD.

Only two articles, both published while this thesis was in progress, deal with data
analytics in FDD. Therefore, adjacent literature, especially from auditing research, is
used. This approach has two implications for finance and accounting research on big data
and data analytics. First, it underscores that the different research directions are
sufficiently interrelated to be able to transfer general ideas from adjacent literature to
emerging research veins. However, the specificities of each area already require separate
research in genealogies beyond the existing four. Second, the review of existing studies
and their research approaches reveals that a greater alignment to practice is required.

Moreover, concrete implications for the three topics of big data, data analytics, and
technology adoption arise from this thesis. Numerous research papers suggest how big
data can be integrated into accounting work. However, these suggestions (such as the use
of unstructured data types, especially audio, image, and video data) have often turned out
not be relevant – at least for FDD practice. A critical reflection on the actual practical
applicability of these academic suggestions is needed. Moreover, large parts of previous
literature that deal with analytics neither sufficiently link the analytics techniques used to
the underlying data nor do they regard analytics in conjunction with previous data
management activities. Finance and accounting research could therefore benefit from
taking a different, more holistic lens to the topic of analytics. Finally, adoption research,
which is crucial to understanding a technology’s practical application, is currently mainly
qualitative in nature and not grounded in established adoption theories. Thus, a more
systematic review is needed.

M&A and due diligence research

This thesis adopts the process view (as opposed to the content view) when considering
digitalization in M&A. Accordingly, research on the M&A process in general, and the
FDD process in particular, benefits from the results of both literature study and empirical
analysis.

Prior publications demonstrate obvious limitations in their examinations of FDD’s

objectives. These previous articles were incomplete (i.e., listed only a few objects),
unsystematic, or not focused enough in FDD. This thesis seeks to rectify these limitations
by employing an FDD-specific scheme. Moreover, a process framework supports the in-
depth review of all process phases. This holistic view is likely to gain in importance as
the increasing use of analytics software leads to an extension of the preparation phase and
the growing popularity of new formats for presenting results in the reporting phase.
Concentrating purely on the analyses of FDD and the report in a classic format will
therefore be insufficient in the future. The expansion of the areas of analysis, especially
in the direction of commercial aspects, must also be taken into account. Simultaneously,
there is a growing need to more closely consider the interfaces of FDD, both with other
due diligence forms and with other work streams in the M&A process.
With regard to the application of big data and analytics software, this thesis offers
unprecedented insights and seeks to establish another research stream in the finance and
accounting domain. This thesis is compelling in its breadth and depth, it erects a strong
foundation for numerous new research projects to build upon. For example, the research
of this thesis could be expanded upon (e.g., focus on initiators instead of service
providers, additional countries, further activities in the M&A process, or other
technologies) or future studies could examine selected topics of this thesis in more detail
(e.g., possible changes in the business models of service providers, quantification of
implications of analytics usage on the deal process and success). Future research will also
necessitate a recourse to adjacent literature as only two other studies, besides this thesis,
have examined analytics in FDD. Therefore, research methods that involve practitioners
(e.g., interviews, questionnaires, case studies) are particularly suitable for future
investigations.

Big data and analytics research

This paper explains important terminologies and concepts related to big data and data
analytics. Future research should consider the distinctions outlined. Too often, vogue
expressions (e.g., big data, advanced analytics) are still used without the necessary
conceptual understanding, an obstacle both in practice and in research. After reviewing a
broad spectrum of adjacent literature, it can be discerned that this observation particularly
applies to research that attempts to transfer the use of novel technologies to new areas of
application (e.g., finance and accounting).

In addition, studies examining the use of analytics should also take into account both the
data analyzed (as already proposed by Alles and Gray, 2016; Ruhnke, 2019) and the
necessary data management activities. In current studies these connections are often
missing, leading to an incomplete picture. In contrast, this thesis demonstrates that an
understanding of the use not only of analytics but also of data management is crucial –
especially in the early stages of adoption.