How Accountants Can Drive Digital Transformation

In recent years, organizations have embarked on digital transformation efforts across different aspects of the accounting function as they seek to benefit from technological advancements. Two strategies that accountants can leverage to drive digital transformation within their organizations are step-in and step-forward strategies. The step-in strategy recognizes that, although digital transformation incorporates the use of technology in many aspects of an organization’s processes, many tasks in the accounting setting cannot be performed by technology alone. Instead, human accountants need to “step-in” to work alongside technology to complete such tasks. The step-forward strategy recognizes that rapid advancements in technology have created many opportunities for accountants to leverage these developments to develop the next generation of tools that drive digital transformation. In this chapter, using examples, we illustrate how accountants can execute step-in and step-forward strategies in various accounting and audit settings to facilitate digital transformation in their organizations. In addition, to the extent that accountants need to adopt new skills and competencies to effectively execute step-in and step-forward strategies, this chapter will discuss how universities and other educational institutes can support the development of these skills and competencies in accountants.