The Evolution of Management Accountants' Digital Skills in Industry 4.0: A Qualitative Approach

Abstract

The Fourth Industrial Revolution generated changes not only in the accounting and financial activities and processes but also in the set of digital competencies that management accountants must demonstrate. This paper aims to examine the impact of digitalisation in managerial accounting in terms of the changes generated in the set of digital skills. By wielding an inductive cross-sectional qualitative approach, we examined longitudinally and comparatively the evolution of the curricula in the last decade, defined by two widely recognised qualifications provided by the most important international professional bodies in managerial accounting – the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). The research’s findings highlight that currently, the digital competencies management accountants should demonstrate are focused on both technologies already widely adopted by the business environment, such as cloud computing, big data, and data analytics, but also on emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, and Internet of Things. Even though at the beginning of the analysed period, the set of digital competencies was relatively narrow, once most industries started navigating Industry 4.0, it extended, thus allowing management accountants to continue providing valuable information and embrace the new role of advisors. These results emphasise the changing role of the management accountant through the lens of digitalisation, providing valuable insights for practitioners and universities regarding the importance of an adequate set of competencies vital in a highly digitalised profession.

Keywords

• management accounting
• digitalisation
• digital skills
• industry 4.0
• accounting education