The Integration of current and emerging technologies in accounting education: content analysis of reports of accounting professional bodies

Introduction: Over the past few years, there have been numerous calls from the accounting profession to increase the integration of technology into the accounting curriculum. In response to these calls,the purpose of this research is to provide an insight related to current and emerging technologies to accounting students and professors so that they can evaluate the impact of these technologies on accounting profession and education and prepare for it.considering that the accounting research focusing on the integration of new technologies in the accounting curriculum is in its early stages, and considering that the accounting professional bodies due to the professional focus and the communication arm of the employers in tracking and responding to the changing needs professions have been more efficient than universities, so it is a good time to pay attention and respond to the calls of these organizations to integrate current and emerging technologies in accounting curricula by reviewing the reports of professional accounting institutions.therefore, the present study examines the research questions that are related to the technologies used and integrated in the areas of the accounting curriculum. The research questions addressed in this study are, which bodies are leading in this field? And what are the main topics of the reports of different accounting bodies that discuss emerging technologies in the field of accounting education?

Method: This research, with a systematic review, content analysis of a wide range of research reports published by prominent accounting and auditing professional bodies. According to the purpose of this research, the scope of the research includes reports from professional accounting and auditing bodies that have a significant impact on the standards and content of higher education curricula. Also, the selected statistical sample includes reports that provide comprehensive geographic coverage to ensure that the discussed fields are covered at the international level. Therefore, the selected sample includes publications from major accounting professional bodies in Europe, America and Australia. For this purpose, this research reviewed the professional literature by PRISMA flochart and content analysis of 56 reports from the main internationally recognized professional accounting bodies in the period from 2012 to 2021.

Results: The findings of the research show that the importance of integrating current and emerging technologies in accounting education programs and official accounting exams and the concern about the career future of accounting graduates under the influence of these technologies from 13 prominent professional accounting bodies, Big4 and institutions related to accounting accreditation, especially in recent years, have received attention. In terms of geographical distribution, America, Europe and Australia respectively have the highest number of reports in this field, which shows the importance of this issue all over the world. The highest number of reports are respectively related to professional bodies (66%), major auditing firms (27%) and AACSB accreditation body (7%). Most of the published reports in this field (73%) are related to the years between 2018 and 2021, which shows the attention and emphasis of these bodies on the importance and need of integrating technology in accounting education programs in recent years.

Discussion and Conclusion: content analysis of the reports from accounting bodies shows the increasing importance of digital skills and these bodies have a firm belief in understanding technology and its potential impact on the profession. content analysis of the reports of accounting bodies shows that the skill gap between what the university teaches and what the profession needs is one of the other concerns of professional accounting bodies. In fact, concern about the career future of accounting graduates and revision of the accounting curriculum to meet the needs of today's market is one of the important topics of these reports. The change in the nature of professional accounting and management accounting exams such as CPA and CMA is one of the issues which show professional bodies are continuously updating their frameworks and tests with an emphasis on technology. The results of some research show that digital skills have become a common and key element of accounting bodies' competency-based frameworks, and these bodies require students to learn technologies such as big data and data analysis. A review of the reports of accounting bodies shows that bodies such as IAESB and AACSB have issued new accounting education standards in recent years that emphasize learning information technology skills and including them in the accounting curriculum. Therefore, due to the importance of this issue, it is necessary for academics to include current and emerging technologies in accounting curricula to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary for success in the accounting profession. In order to meet the changing demands of the accounting profession, accounting curricula must be revised and redesigned to prepare accounting students for significant changes in the accounting profession brought about by new technologies. Recognizing this need, leading international accounting bodies have updated their competency-based frameworks and exams, and through the publication of new educational standards, have placed increasing emphasis on technological skills and have cooperated with universities in this field.