Issue: 2021/Vol.31/No.3, Pages 23-39
INTERNET OF THINGS IN THE ACCOUNTING FIELD – BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES
Anna Karmańska
Cite as: A. Karmańska. Internet of Things in the accounting field – benefits and challenges. Operations Research and Decisions 2021: 31(3), 23-39. DOI 10.37190/ord210302
Abstract
The main objective of this paper is to identify the benefits and challenges of the Internet of Things (IoT) application in the accounting field of organisations. The study adopts a questionnaire and an interview technique in a company from the road transport sector. The questionnaire research sample includes 151 accounting practitioners and students. Data are collected through the use of an online survey. A principal axis factor analysis with the Promax rotation is conducted to assess the underlying structure for the items of the questionnaire. The research outcomes indicate that, in the opinion of accountants and students, the IoT adoption enables the organisation to perform enhanced reporting analysis based on a large amount of data gained through sensors (mean = 3.98), access to data through cloud computing (3.97), and accounting process automation (3.95). From the point of view of managers, the most important benefit is the increase in employee productivity and asset management. The respondents indicate the following aspects as challenges: the creation of infrastructure for the adoption of new technology, which accounted for 40.22% of the variance, and cyber security, loss of privacy (7.23% of the explained variance). The findings reveal benefits and challenges for IoT adoption and could support managers in deploying new technology in their organisations. The research limitation concerns the fact that this study focuses on respondents from Poland.
Keywords: Internet of Things, accounting, Industry 4.0
Received: 29 November 2020 Accepted: 2 July 2021