| Abstract [eng] |
The relevance of selected topic is significant for accounting profession. First of all, the world in terms of new technologies is constantly changing. Every day something new is created. In that effect, businesses are using technology to increase efficiency and decrease costs, which means that some processes are being automated, machines are changing employees, AI tools are applied. With all this rapid technological improvement, number of professions are changing. Therefore, this research helps analyze how artificial intelligence is transforming one profession that is feared to disappear or change significantly in the future – accounting. It helps understand what aspects and areas will be affected the most, how accountants need to transform themselves and what is their perception on this transformation. In addition, such research is relevant for businesses in order to understand if they are ready to adopt such innovation as artificial intelligence in their operations. The main matter of this research is that there is lack of research done on current situation in businesses and current accounting professionals’ readiness to adapt artificial intelligence. Therefore, this study’s objectives and aim are focused to fill this gap. Aim of this study is to analyze how accounting profession is changing due to artificial intelligence and how accounting professionals perceive the need to change themselves beginning with the entrylevel professionals, to experienced ones. As well as to answer the research question raised: how artificial intelligence is transforming the accounting operations in businesses and what is the perception of accounting professionals on this transformation? The conducted research found, that there are a lot of literature on this topic, analyzing it from different angles. The primary finding was that currently there is lack of studies done on current situation in businesses and whether accounting professionals are prepared to change. Secondly, the analysis of previous studies on artificial intelligence was conducted and found that even though authors take different approches to the problem, majority of them agree on main conclusions: there are many benefits of AI implementation in business processes; artificial intelligence is not a new thing, but together with the improvement of all technologies, AI is getting more and more recognized and applied; AI is also affecting accounting profession significantly; accounting profession is changing rapidly, and accounting professionals must gain new skills and adapt to remain competitive; there are also some disadvantages of AI, such as high cost, small and lengthy return on investment, people losing jobs to machines. Last, but not least a research in form of a questionnaire survey was conducted to understand accounting proffesionals‘ perception of transformations due to artifcial intelligence and their readiness to adapt. Four hypotheses were raised and they were all confirmed. The conclusions showed that accounting professionals agree that they must improve their technological and IT knowledge in order to stay competitive in labour market; accounting specialists agree that they are aware about the transformation of their profession and are prepared to adapt; accounting and finance professionals are positive about using artificial intelligence in their work; top level executives are positive about investing in technological innovation and artificial intelligence integration in their businesses. |
