A Comparative Study between the Opportunities Resulting from Incorporating Big Data into the Accountancy Profession and the Associated Requirements and Challenges

As a result of the increasing amount of information that has been made available due to developments in communications and computing technology, the use of the Internet and remote sensing, the so-called big data has appeared. It is a relatively new concept that appears to be used practically in every aspect of human life at the time. This vast amount of data being produced, stored and made available from multiple sources has thus become a major source of strength for any organization. Professional entities (e.g. CGMA, IMA, KPMG, E&Y) have also started to focus on big data and its role in accounting transformation. Accountants can also utilize this huge amount of data to improve their profession. In light of this, this research aims to illustrate the opportunities that big data offers to the accountancy profession, the requirements that is necessary to utilize big data in accountants' function, and challenges that must be taken into account in an attempt to overcome them. The study indicated that Big data can provide opportunity to accountants to improve their work in terms like (prediction accuracy, performance measurement, cost management& planning, supporting informed decision). The study also confirmed that accountants must develop their skills through adopt data analysis skills besides their accounting skills to enjoy the advantages of big data and to keep their jobs in light of the continuous developments in technology. Accounting curricula also should be modified to absorb information technology and data analytics techniques.