Exploring the programmability of management accounting work for increasing automation: an interventionist case study
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 5 November 2020
Issue publication date: 1 March 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to better understand management accounting automation by exploring the programmability of management accounting work.
Design/methodology/approach
We build upon the literature on digitalization in management accounting and draw upon the pragmatic constructivist methodology to understand how digitalization takes place at the individual actors' level in accounting practice. The paper uses a data set from an interventionist case study of a machinery manufacturer.
Findings
We examine an actual process of automating management accounting tasks. During this development process, surprisingly, calculation tasks remained more fit for humans than machines though, initially, they were thought to be programmable.
Research limitations/implications
According to our findings, practitioners may interpret experts' nonprogrammable work tasks as programmable and seek to automate them. Only identifying the factual possibilities for automating accounting-related work can lead to automation-improved efficiency. Our findings can be increasingly relevant for advanced analytics initiatives and applications within management accounting (e.g. robotic process automation, big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence).
Practical implications
Practitioners need to carefully analyze the entity they wish to automate and understand the factual possibilities of using and maintaining the planned automatic system throughout its life cycle.
Originality/value
The paper shows that when processes are assessed from a distance, the nonprogrammable management accounting tasks and expertise can become misinterpreted as programmable, and the goal of automating them has little chance of success. It also shows possibilities for human accountants to remain relevant in comparison to machines and paves the way for further studies on advanced decision technologies in management accounting.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
First of all, we would like to express our gratitude to Editor Lee Parker and the anonymous Reviewers for giving invaluable comments that helped us improve the paper. Also, our gratitude goes to TechCo for allowing us access to their operations. We would also like to thank the commentators of earlier versions of this paper: an earlier version of the paper has been commented by Hans Englund and Jonas Gerdin; moreover, the paper has been collegially commented by our fellow scholars Falconer Mitchell, Leena Aarikka-Stenroos, Ulla Saari and Miia Martinsuo, and benefited from comments in the IEM (Industrial Engineering and Management) Research Seminar at Tampere University, Finland, 28th April, 2020. In terms of funding, we acknowledge that the Centre for Technology and Innovation in Finland (TEKES, currently “Business Finland - the Finnish government organization for innovation funding and trade, travel and investment promotion”) funded the research projects which resulted in this paper. Finally, for long-standing support for our work, we wish to thank the whole Cost Management Center (CMC) research group at Tampere University.
Citation
Korhonen, T., Selos, E., Laine, T. and Suomala, P. (2021), "Exploring the programmability of management accounting work for increasing automation: an interventionist case study", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 34 No. 2, pp. 253-280. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-12-2016-2809
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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