PART 2: DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY
The revolution that took place in the IT area that resulted, for example, in the change from the traditional software business model to the “SaaS” – “Software as a Service” model did not stop there, a new revolution arising from BIGDATA is already underway, CLOUD COMPUTING, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, BLOCKCHAIN and ANALYTICS, which is already impacting the business model of companies in general and also of accounting firms. The speed and disruptive degree of this true revolution forces us to envision short, medium and long-term scenarios in the search for answers to questions such as:
Should sophisticated technologies replace the traditional way accounting professionals work?
BIGDATA – data collection automatically indicates the end of book-entry accounting?
Automation of robotic processes what timeframe do we have to adapt?
“Blockchain”, its application in the business environment of accounting companies. To what extent can it impact transaction logging?
The impact of cloud computing on the business model of accounting firms is an irreversible process. Is it possible to predict deadlines and limits?
Artificial intelligence, especially cognitive, already affects some business models, with the use of robots. How much time do accounting companies have to assimilate this reality and start the transformation process? What’s the first step?
Will ANALYTICS be the basis for accounting professionals to practice their profession?
Readers of this article who have answers to these troubling questions can consider themselves ahead of their competitors. As an observer of the market, it is possible to say that very few have noticed this avalanche / tsunami that is approaching and, like a storm, it will devastate the market not only because of the issues and advances in technology, but also because of the lack of new skills imposed on professionals who work in this area and have not yet awakened to face this new reality.
The term disruptive that gained evidence in this process, synthesizes the effects that the speed of innovation in the field of technology means in the practice of business, impacting the market’s day-to-day activities, changing consumption habits and creating demands for the new.
Some impacts that technology has been causing in the accounting profession are already noticeable in accounting organizations, in specialized activities in auditing and also in academia, which, in my view, will be responsible for the transformation of the professional who enters the market. However, the educational side has its own dynamics in the sense of understanding this transformation, exercising its mission in the search for knowledge, through research, preparing its faculty. In the past, it was inadmissible for an accounting professional not to have knowledge of finance, law, economics, taxes, corporate, among others. Today, disruptive technology has been incorporated into the skills of the accounting professional, transforming the practice of the profession that we will discuss in the next articles.
