Accounting and Big Data: Trends, opportunities and direction for practitioners and researchers

Abstract

Big Data, the Internet of Things and Machine Learning are only today starting to be widely used but are already attracting interest. They can generate a significant impact on business management. This article analyses use and exploitation of Big Data by business management, focusing on its role in reshaping accounting information systems. The Internet of Things and Machine Learning play a key role in obtaining insights and value in this complex world. Like other areas of business, the accounting function is showing growing interest in their possible applications. We analyze, from three perspectives, how big data impacts on the accounting role in supporting managers and decision-making process, also with the aim to define future research lines that scholars could explore. An internal perspective focuses on how big data can impact management accounting; an external perspective focuses on a new dimension of financial accounting and disclosure of information; and a third perspective, the control one, fo- cuses on the impact of big data on internal and external audit procedures.