Contemporary Issues in Accounting. The Accounting Profession

Eleonora Stancheva-Todorova, PhD is an Associate Professor at the Department of Finance and Accounting at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. She teaches basic and advanced courses in financial accounting and reporting for specialist and non-specialist, International Financial Reporting Standards, applications of Big data analytics in accounting, and artificial intelligence in the fintech industry. Since 2015, Dr. Stancheva-Todorova is a director of the Master’s degree programme “Accounting and Audit”, which is accredited by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. She is in charge of the accreditation of the Bachelor’s degree programme “Accounting, Finance and Digital Applications”, provided by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Dr. Stancheva-Todorova is a member of the Association of the Certified Public Accountants (International). The research interests of Dr. Stancheva-Todorova lie in the field of accounting theory, financial accounting, international standardisation of corporate reporting, application of technology innovations in the accounting domain and sustainability reporting.

The book “Contemporary Issues in Accounting. The Accounting Profession” studies a wide spectrum of issues, encompassing: the impact of the fourth industrial revolution and the deployment of technological innovations such as Big data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and blockchain; sustainability reporting of companies and its expanding standardisation; and accountants’ ethical behaviour in the technology-driven business environment. The analysis is focused on the new role and functions of the accounting experts within organisation and the skill set of the future accountants considered sustainable business and finance professionals. The new career opportunities in organisations, seeking to create sustainable long-term value, are explored. Ethical considerations penetrate the performed analysis due to the growing importance of the professional ethical behaviour in times of expanding digitalisation of businesses.

CONTENT

Abbreviations / 7

List of tables and figures / 9

Introduction / 11

Chapter 1.

The impact of recent technology advances on accounting professionals / 19

1.1. Industry 4.0 as a driver of change. General implications of convergence, digitalisation and exponentially growing technologies / 20

1.2. The knowledge and skills pro????ile of Accountant 4.0 / 24

1.3. Big Data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning and how they challenge the accounting profession / 33

Chapter 2.

Blockchain technologies and their implications for the accounting profession / 57

2.1. Introducing blockchain technology / 58

2.2. Implementation of blockchain technologies / 65

2.3. Blockchain challenges for accounting professionals / 75

2.4. Regulatory challenges and implications / 93

2.5. Future economic and accounting implications of cryptocurrencies / 102

Chapter 3.

Future accountants in the sustainable organisation / 105

3.1. Drivers of change and their impact on the sustainable organisation and the future accountants / 106

3.2. Career opportunities for the future accountants at the heart of the sustainable organisation / 128

3.3. The future of sustainability reporting and its impact on the accounting profession / 134

Chapter 4.

Ethical considerations / 147

4.1. The relevance of fundamental ethics principles for professional accountants in the digital age / 149

4.2. The role of accountants for ethical and sustainable artificial intelligence adoption / 162

Conclusions and future research / 171

References / 175