New technologies leading to the revival of management accountant profession in business process management

Abstract

Differing from Frey and Osborne’s (Frey, 2013) prediction of a coming demise and marginalisation of the management accounting profession, by their roles being potentially performed by new technologies, we claim that accountants can still create value in a world of fast-pace evolution. In fact, the last two decades feature a rebirth of management accounting, broadening their scope from bookkeeping to Business Process Management and development of strategies in the management field. To advance this position, my arguments rest in two pillars: accountants are familiar with datasets, information systems and business processes, and also possess knowledge of general business fundamentals. Thus, rather than replacing accountants, new technologies like Big Data analytics complement accountants’ skills and knowledge and bring tremendous areas of opportunity where accountants can grow.