General Lecture of the Accounting Department FEB UI: The Changing Role of Accounting in Digital Transformation
Rifdah Khalisha – Public Relations FEB UI
DEPOK – (15/9/2021) Dr. Wang Jiwei (Associate Professor of Accounting, Singapore Management University) was a speaker at the Public Lecture of the Accounting Department of FEB UI entitled “The Changing Role of Accounting in Digital Transformation” on Wednesday (15/9).
At the beginning of the lecture, Dr. Ancella Anitawati Hermawan (Chairman of the Accounting Department FEB UI) delivered her remarks, “Today’s public lecture discusses a very interesting topic because we will see the important role of the accounting profession in digital transformation.”
“After this public lecture, we will officially launch the latest collaboration between Universitas Indonesia (UI) and Singapore Management University (SMU), namely the fast track program. This program makes it easy for UI undergraduate students to take a master’s degree at SMU with a shorter study time,” he explained.
Entering his presentation, Dr. Wang said, “Digital transformation is a very popular topic, almost everyone is talking about it. But in fact, we don’t have a definite guide to digital transformation in the same way. Every individual and company does things differently. In fact, different regions will produce different practices. So for me, it’s good for us to communicate, share, and learn from each other.”
Point of fact, technological transformation began during the industrial revolution era, starting from industry 1.0 steam engine in the 18th century, industry 2.0 steel and electricity in 1850-1910, industry 3.0 computers and the internet in the 1970s, to industry 4.0 artificial intelligence and automation in the 21st century.
However, the transformation in accounting is slightly different, from accounting 1.0 double-entry bookkeeping in the 14th century, to accounting 2.0 electronic data processing in the 1970s, to accounting 3.0 using artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud-based in the 2010s.
In recent decades, digital technology has advanced rapidly, changing lives globally in ways that were previously unthinkable. Of course, this technology also creates new competitive dynamics.
If a company develops linearly and technology develops exponentially, the gap will widen so that it is often filled by innovative startups that use technology to meet customer needs with different strategies.
“Therefore, many companies are starting to transform by developing new business models to penetrate or reclaim markets, new business products to attract more customers, and new business processes to streamline and automate work systems. In addition, they have also restructured their core business and improved financial performance,” he said.
Dr. Wang also explained that the drivers of digital transformation consist of using the right technology for the right purpose, enhancing individual and organizational capabilities, data processing and analytics to attract new insights; and the development of internal and external ecosystems that drive the transformation journey.
All the above encourage changes in the role of accounting. Currently, many accounting activities use Robotic Process Automation (RPA), business process automation technology through intelligent robots (bots) in the form of software. RPA is able to identify and imitate human interactions, thereby reducing costs, shortening time, and increasing efficiency in repetitive activities.
According to Dr. Wang, accountants must be able to adapt and move forward. Given the fast-evolving digital world, accountants must be able to have intelligent human thinking and mastery of information technology. He reminded, “Domain knowledge remains relevant and important, be a professional who can use new technology.”
“Digitalization and Automation (D&A) is just a tool that comes from new technology, but changing that mindset is more important. As well as RPA and automation, these tools can turn manual work into an automated sequence and make programming easier. So don’t worry, RPA will not replace human cognitive abilities.” he said.
The use of technology is indeed able to take over the basic work, but cannot replace the role of accountants. Instead, RPA will lighten the burden so that accountants focus more on jobs that require unique human abilities and provide added value to the company.
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