| Abstract [eng] |
Artificial intelligence, which emerged more than 50 years ago, has attracted attention and proved to be important in almost every business field. The advances in artificial intelligence over the last decade continue to evolve rapidly. Artificial intelligence has started to be introduced in various areas of life and business. Although artificial intelligence is not yet widely used in financial accounting, there is a great potential for it‘s deployment in this area. Artificial intelligence in accounting can eliminate or reduce errors, ensure efficiency and thus give accountants more time to focus on more complex and more valuable tasks, rather than repetitive, time-consuming technical tasks (Zemankova, 2019). The object of the study: factors determining the integration of artificial intelligence in financial accounting. The aim of the research: to investigate factors determining the integration of artificial intelligence in financial accounting. The first part of the project analyses the artificial intelligence market, reviews the latest research on artificial intelligence, discusses the impact of artificial intelligence in financial accounting and assesses the level of readiness for its integration. The literature review found that the use of artificial intelligence in various business areas including financial accounting is growing rapidly, with a growing body of research. Recent research examines how artificial intelligence will affect financial accounting and the accountancy profession in general, and explores the benefits, applications, opportunities and threats of artificial intelligence. There is a considerable lack of research exploring the factors that determine the integration of artificial intelligence in financial accounting. In the second part of the project by reviewing science literature, potential factors of artificial intelligence are indentified and a conceptual model of potential factors of artificial intelligence integration in financial accounting is developed. The model is based on Tornatzky and Fleischer's framework of Technology, Organisation and Environment and complemented by Roger’s Diffusion of Innovations Theory and DiMaggio’s and Powell's Institutional theory, as well as other extended factors. In the third part of the project, a methodology was developed to investigate the determinants of the integration of artificial intelligence in financial accounting. This developed methodology consists of research questions and objectives, research design and data collection methods, interview questionnaire and research processes. A qualitative phenomenological research design (semi-structured interviews) was chosen. The interviews were selected by non-probability purposive sampling and snowball sampling from accountants and managers working in different companies using artificial intelligence in financial accounting. In the fourth part of the project, results of the empirical study were presented, which partially confirmed the conceptual model of the factors determining the integration of artificial intelligence in financial accounting, added new factors and excluded factors that are not specific to financial accounting activities. The importance of organisational, technological, external environment and risk factors in the implementation of artificial intelligence in financial accounting was confirmed. Also, the most important factors for the integration of artificial intelligence in financial accounting were identified. |
