Question

What opportunities are arising in the accounting field due to big data and data analytics?

Answer 1

Big Data will have increasingly important implications for accounting, even as new types of data become accessible. The video, audio, and textual information made available via Big Data can provide for improved managerial accounting, financial accounting, and financial reporting practices. In managerial accounting, Big Data will contribute to the development and evolution of effective management control systems and budgeting processes. In financial accounting, Big Data will improve the quality and relevance of accounting information, thereby enhancing transparency and stakeholder decision making. In reporting, Big Data can assist with the creation and refinement of accounting standards, helping to ensure that the accounting profession will continue to provide useful information as the dynamic, real-time, global economy evolves.

Big data continues to transform the landscape of various industries, particularly financial services. Many financial institutions are adopting big data analytics in order to maintain a competitive edge. Through structured and unstructured data, complex algorithms can execute trades using a number of data sources. Human emotion and bias can be minimized through automation; however, trading with big data analysis has its own specific set of challenges The statistical results produced so far have not been fully embraced due to the field’s relative novelty. However, as financial services trend towards big data and automation, the sophistication of statistical techniques will increase accuracy.

It seems to me that Big data enables us to draw on more comprehensive information, address more questions, and answer them more thoroughly. Moreover, it facilitates cross-disciplinary approaches, especially when questions or challenges arise that transcend disciplinary boundaries.