Accounting Education

AI and Digital Transformation and Accounting Education

The accounting profession stands at a crossroads. It is facing unprecedented change as AI and, in particular, creative or Generative AI, redefines the world of work. This swiftly evolving and rapidly improving technology is impacting accounting, accountants, and the accounting profession in ways never envisaged, and at a pace that demands a response. No longer can accounting faculty rely on teaching what they have always taught, assessing in the ways they have always assessed, or in teaching in the way they have always done. Major professional accounting firms are already demanding AI-related skills in the graduates they employ. To maintain its relevance in this ‘Age of AI’, accounting educators need to respond swiftly, effectively, and appropriately. They need to equip accounting graduates with the skills, ethical competencies, and global digital mindsets necessary for their future in a very different world of work.

This requires major adjustments in perceptions of what accounting education should look like and what needs it should serve. If accounting educators are to ensure the relevance of what they teach, not simply in the topics taught, but in the lifetime skills they develop in their students, they need to embrace these new and emerging AI technologies. They need to learn how to use them, become aware of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and the threats they represent; and then prepare their students appropriately for their future world of work. 

This is not something that accounting educators can ignore. Generative AI is already having a major impact on accounting education, impacting how and what is taught; and its pace of advancement has, most noticeably, disrupted student assessment. Research has highlighted the importance of understanding AI limitations, the influence of GenAI on the student learning experience, and adoption of GenAI tools. It has demonstrated that AI can significantly influence assessment design and creation by eliminating tedious processes, improving user-centricity, and stimulating creativity, but at what cost? Research is needed to understand not only challenges and identify good practice. It is needed to identify how AI can be used in teaching, learning, and assessment; and to identify how teaching, learning, and assessment in accounting can support the development of advanced AI-literacy in accounting students that is relevant to their future professional workplace. The ethical consequences of cultural and ethical diversity in AI use in accounting education is another area on which more research needs to be done; as also is how to address the impact of AI on accounting education where and when accounting students do not have access to the necessary technology.

This Special Issue aims to contribute to a greater understanding of how AI and digital transformation impact, and can also support accounting educators, accounting students, professional accounting firms, professional accounting bodies, and universities, developing efficient and effective responses and rethinking accounting education.