Accounting in the Big Data Era: A Literature Review

Due to the increasingly growing amount of information that came available through the telecommunications and computing technology developments, the concept big data became popular. Despite its novelty, the term big data has become one of the most discussed topics recently, it has affected many fields in general and the business sector in particular. This data will drive the transformation of processes and business models towards higher levels of quality and effectiveness, thus improving performance, adding value to enterprises and creating its competitive advantage. In light of this, this research aims to discuss the concept of big data and its attributes in a trial to enrich knowledge on this new topic. Accounting in the big data era has also been focused through reviewing the literature that has been classified by branches of accounting. The study illustrated that the concept big data is completely different from traditional data. It can be accurately defined using some properties which can be summed up as: volume, variety, velocity, veracity, and finally value. In accounting, the study illustrated that big data has a great impact through improving financial reporting, risk management, enhancing budgeting, and increasing the efficiency of the audit process. The study also recommended that Performance measurement is a major area in managerial accounting that can greatly benefit from big data and therefore needs further research.