Emerging Technologies and the Accounting Profession: Trends and Topics for Practitioners to Consider

Emerging technology and technology tools such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, and automation at large continue to drive change and disruption throughout the broader financial services landscape. While numerous articles, webcasts, and books have been put together analyzing these different topics and the implications they might have on different areas of the professional landscape, this article proposes a different approach. Instead of focusing on definitions, terminology, or assessing potential impacts at a higher level or through a broad scope of possible applications, this research examines certain specific trends and aspects of these technologies and the impacts they will generate on the profession. Definitions and work terminology will, of course, be a part of this research, but that does not form the core of this piece. Rather, and written with both a practitioner and academic audience in mind, certain emerging topics such and applications built on top of blockchain technology, as well as implementation issues connected to other emerging issues, are the core of this piece.