Digitalization of the Accounting Industry : The influence of digitalization on the accountants’ role and their self-understanding. An exploratory study based on 13 Norwegian accounting firms

Abstract

The purpose of this master thesis is to examine the accountants’ perception of their roles and how digitalization influences them. This is an exploratory study of Norwegian accountants, where we have collected primary data from 13 accounting firms using semi-structured interviews. Our findings indicate there is a limited understanding of digitalization among the respondents, and most of the firms are in the early stage of digitalization meaning that they experience with how to make use of the new technical possibilities coming along with digitalization. There is a need for better technical skills that are essential to enter a new role as a "different accountant," and the educational system must change to prepare the accountant students for work life. Another observation is the distance between the ideal accountants and how they act will be reduced when the accounting industry includes people with more IT-background. Based on our study, we can conclude that the media has exaggerated when it comes to the advanced technology automatize the accountants’ tasks and extinction of the profession within the next years. Besides, there is an overestimation of the rapid transition from being a bean counter to a business partner, and our findings indicate the shift is moving slower than prognosis and media present. Since the future role of an accountant has additional characteristics and qualities than earlier, there is a need for a new name that fits the profession better. With this study, we provide knowledge on a field of research with limited evidence. Also, we provide the thoughts and opinions from the accountants himself regarding how the impact of the digitalization is.