THE EFFECT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF ACCOUNTING OPERATIONS
| Format: Ms Word | 1-5 Chapters | Table of Content|
INSTANT PROJECT MATERIAL DOWNLOAD
Study Level: BTech, BSc, BEng, BA, HND, ND or NCE
Amount: ₦3,000.00
Abstract
This study is an attempt to investigate the effect of artificial intelligence on the performance of accounting operations. The study was carried out at Chartered Institute of Cost and Management Accountants, Port Harcourt. To achieve the study objectives, questionnaires were distributed to a population of 200 people and sample used was 133 that could be handle effectively. Thus this work made use of the survey research method to investigate the impact of artificial intelligence on the performance of accounting operations. To integrate our finding into a theoretical framework of analysis we made use of the globalization theory. Statistically table, figures and percentages was used and structured in a tabular form, together with responses. Using the framework of analysis we found out that: AI provide outputs that can be extremely accurate, replacing and, in some cases, far superseding human efforts. With the rapid development of information technology and the needs of economic society, artificial intelligence has ushered in the golden age. Also, the application of artificial intelligence technology in the accounting field is an inevitable trend, which will bring tremendous changes and development to the accounting industry. They study puts forward some relevant suggestions for its existing challenges.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODCUTION
1.1 Background of the Study
There is an ongoing debate that the long-term future of accountancy will ultimately reflect how accountants, as humans, see and shape their relationship with powerful automated systems like the artificial intelligence. With the proliferation of AI in the world today, it is believed that computers will replace human decision-making in the next 20 to 30 years. Johnson and Kaplan (1987) assert that the origin of present day management accounting can be traced back to the Industrial revolution of the 19th century; where most of the management accounting practices that were in use in the 1980’s had been developed. Johnson and Kaplan believe that this stewardship responsibility coupled with legislation led to the development of financial accounting which generated published financial statements for investors, creditors, government and other stakeholders, summarizing the financial position of the organization.
There has been a lot of research focusing on changes within the management accounting function. Thus, international literature views management accountant’s role as: business analyst; strategy formulator; internal consultant or advisor (or business partner); information provider (or knowledge worker, the hub for data); leader of and/ or participator in cross functional teams; designer and manager of information systems; designer and controller of performance measurement systems; teacher, guide or educator; and interpreter and manager of complexity.
In 1956, at the University of Dartmouth seminar in the United States, John McCarthy and other computer experts first proposed the concept of “artificial intelligence” (Wang, Y.J. 2017), marking the birth of artificial intelligence. The most comprehensive definition of Artificial Intelligence was coined by McCarthy in 1956. According to the father of Artificial Intelligence John McCarthy, AI is “The science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. Artificial Intelligence is a way of making a computer, computer-controlled robot, or a software think intelligently, in the similar manner the intelligent humans think. There has been an exponential growth on the capabilities of computers or machines to perform various tasks since their invention.
According to Financial Stability Board (2017), Artificial intelligence is simply the application of computational tools to address tasks traditionally requiring human sophistication. Human beings have developed the power of computer systems in terms of their diverse working domains, their increasing speed, and reducing size with respect to time. A branch of computer science known as Artificial intelligence (AI) pursues creating the computers or machines as intelligent as human beings (Zhu, Y.Y. and Zhang, J.S. 2018).
Artificial intelligence was first written into the Chinese government work report in 2017, and 15 departments including the Ministry of Finance worked together to build the world’s major artificial intelligence innovation center (Xu, Z.J. 2017). With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology and its wide application in various fields including accounting, the trend of human work being replaced by robots is intensifying. The involvement of artificial intelligence in the accounting industry will inevitably affect and subvert the traditional development mode and bring innovation to the accounting industry. The Chinese Government Work Report promoted the development of artificial intelligence to the national strategic level in 2017, clearly outlining the need to accelerate the development and transformation of artificial intelligence technology; the State Council issued the “New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan” to promote the integration of artificial intelligence and various industries, promote large-scale application of artificial intelligence, and comprehensively enhance the level of intelligent development of industry (Zhang, M. 2016).
Today, artificial intelligence (AI) is applicable in virtually all aspects of accounting operations which has generated fear and concern among professionals on the possible continual relevance human accountants in organization’s scheme of affairs in the nearest future. According to research done by the University of Oxford in 2015, accountants have a 95 percent change of losing their jobs as machines take over the role of data analytics and number crunching (Griffin O. 2016). However, (Greenman C. 2017) observed that this same report found that as technology progresses, some jobs are eliminated while others are created. This means that the artificial intelligence will reduce the rigorous, tedious and painstaking nature of accounting profession and make it more of efficient consulting services.
The evolution of accounting software’s and the more recent development of artificial intelligence has completely transformed the accounting systems. Extant studies have revealed that computers internet, software/expert system and more recently advancement in artificial intelligent has influenced positively on the performance of accounting operations. Specifically, these impacts are: increased accuracy and Speed (Ballada W, 2011), improved external and internal reporting, reduction of paper usage, increased flexibility and efficiency as well as improved data-based system (Francis P, 2013) as another plus to the use of computer and expert system in accounting.
According to Murungi and Kayimba (2010), failure to use software/expert system technology in business almost implies that financial information may not be accurate as the utilization of computer technologies allows companies to maintain a competitive advantage over their rivals. In 2016, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, one of the world’s four largest accounting firms, announced the introduction of artificial intelligence into accounting, taxation, and auditing (State Council, 2017). In 2017, Nigel Duffy, a world-renowned machine learning and artificial intelligence expert, joined Ernst & Young as the person in charge of its global innovative artificial intelligence team. In recent years, many countries have been competing to carry out research and application of artificial intelligence, and the call for the use of artificial intelligence is louder and louder in academia. This present study is on the effect of artificial intelligence on the performance of accounting operations in Nigeria.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
There have been a long lingering challenge of inefficiency and low added value in the primitive accounting practice. With the introduction of Computers and artificial intelligence Accountants are in the risk of being displaced by artificial intelligent software and expert system. The most recent scenario in the development of artificial intelligent has led to the advent of accounting software robots and more improved expert system. This phenomenon of new technology therefore has led to a lot of changes in business environment and has affected the way business operates. Based on reports, these change in technology had the tendency to disrupt one work of qualified accountants. More specifically the Association of Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA 2013), shows that smart systems, bots and artificial intelligent tools have the challenges of progressively de-skilling of the Accountant. More researches in artificial intelligent has emphasized that technological changes may result in new skills being valued and may also lead to a rethinking of the concept of “work” and if we aren’t careful increased income inequality and mass unemployment may result and increase social unrest particularly, (2014) had projected in their study that by 2025 more and more automation and technological advancement would displace human in their work. However, research has not systematically examined issues that lead to improvement in accounting reports which led to the introduction of AI for accuracy, efficiency and timely delivery. In addition, previous research primarily has focused on expected benefits derived from artificial intelligence and “conventional wisdom”, rather than its influence on accounting operations. This led to the study on the effect of artificial intelligence on the performance of accounting operations.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
In broad sense this research attempts to dig deeper on the effect of artificial intelligence on the performance of accounting operations in Nigeria. The specific objectives are:
- To examine the influence of artificial intelligence on the execution of accounting duties in Chartered Institute of Cost and Management Accountants Port Harcourt.
- To ascertain the effect of expert system on the performance of accounting function of accounting firms in CICMA Port Harcourt.
- To find out the possibilities of the integrated artificial intelligence replacing human accountants in the nearest future.
- To proffer solutions to the challenges associated with the introduction of the new technologies in accounting operations.
1.4 Research Questions
For the purpose of this study, the following research questions guided the study.
- Are there any significant influence of artificial intelligence on the execution of accounting duties?
- Is there any significant effect of expert system on the performance of accounting function of accounting firms in CICMA Port Harcourt?
- Are there possibilities that the integrated artificial intelligence could replace human accountants in the nearest future?
- What effect does Intelligent Agents have on the performance of accounting function of accounting firms in Nigeria?
1.5 Research Hypothesis
The following hypothesis will be tested in the course of this study;
H0: there is no significant influence of artificial intelligence on the execution of accounting duties.
H1: there is a significant influence of artificial intelligence on the execution of accounting duties.
H0: there are no possibilities that the integrated artificial intelligence could replace human accountants in the nearest future.
H2: there are possibilities that the integrated artificial intelligence could replace human accountants in the nearest future.
1.6 Significance of the Study
This study is significant in the following ways:
- It would enable the researcher to expand the frontiers of research in artificial intelligence especially in this era of new technological innovations.
- It would enable the researcher to understand how human accountants view the new system technologies as they affect their practices and operations in their jurisdiction of duties.
- It would enable the researcher and other scholars to understand the level of acceptability, application and operation of the artificial intelligence technologies into Nigeria.
- It would enable managers and business owners to know the full benefits which the new account technology possess and how to utilize them for optimum services.
- It would give direction on how to gradually transform from the present analogue method of accounting reports in Nigeria and embrace the new AI system that is driven by modern Information and Communication Facilities as obtainable in western countries.
- It would stimulate further research on how to work with Artificial Intelligence and also add to the body of academic literatures on Artificial Intelligence in Nigeria.
1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Study
The scope of this study revolves around Rivers State; suffice it to state that in evaluating the effect of artificial intelligence on the performance of accounting operations in Nigeria, the dynamic scope has a national outlook and it will thus be universal to embark on the study. However, it becomes very necessary to narrow it down to the premises of Chartered Institute of Cost and Management Accountants Port Harcourt study center. The researcher encounters some constraints which limited the scope of the study;
Finance: Due to the nature of distance from the state to the study area, the researcher spends a lot of money on visiting, traveling from one location to another, from one office to the other and even had to repeat a visit more than three times to seek for information, all these involves money considering the financial constraint of the researcher and limited resources available to her.
Sources of Information: Many registered and non-registered staffs of Chartered Institute of Cost and Management Accountants were reluctant to give out or provide information about the research, since they believe that accounting information is something very confidential and therefore could not open up to the researcher.
Inadequate Record Keeping: the management of the institution visited were unable to present complete and comprehensive accounting records while some were not keeping proper records of the institution activities and as such could not give adequate and correct information on the effect of vat on their operation rippling on the economy of Nigeria.
Time: Time constraint has been another vital limitation and obstacle towards effective realization of the main objectives of this study. Time was really not on my side since I have to combine the little time left with my academic work and preparation.
1.7 Definition of Terms
Artificial intelligence: In computer science, artificial intelligence, sometimes called machine intelligence, is intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence displayed by humans.
Accountants: An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy, which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities and others make decisions about allocating resource.
Accounting Record: Accounting records are key sources of information and evidence used to prepare, verify and/or audit the financial statements. They also include documentation to prove asset ownership for creation of liabilities and proof of monetary and non-monetary transactions.
Operational accounting: is the practice of minding the financial aspects of running a business, whether small or large. … They often plan a business’s financial operations, as well as mind a company’s ledger while working with executive management to create and control budgets.
USE THIS MATERIALS AS A GUIDE FOR YOUR PERSONAL RESEARCH WORK (IF PROPERLY CITED)
PAY ₦3,000 HERE TO DOWNLOAD MATERIALS
Account Number: 0709546102
Access Bank: Savings
Account Name: Emmanuel Idorenyin Samuel.