The impacts of industry 4 0 on the accounting information quality

ABSTRACT The fourth industrial revolution is here This is the next evolution of technology analytics, automating processes, artificial intelligent, making them smarter and better Therefore, Industry 4.0 could be used successfully as a basis upon which to leverage the accounting information quality However, are business leaders and governments have maximize the full potential of the fourth industrial revolution in the way it develop accounting? In this report, we seek to examine ‘‘The impact of industry 4.0 on accounting information quality’’ The purpose of this study is try to analyze how technology development during the industry 4.0 could affect the qualities of accounting information Over the last few years, The fourth Industrial Revolution has been changing the ways that the accountants thought about their jobs and the way they did their works This report presents a number of factors in Industry 4.0 that related to change in accounting information quality and helps the readers to answer these question: Why the computational power growth go together with the development of accounting ; whether the data volume affected by industry 4.0 influences accounting information quality; and how the better connectivity all around the World could help develop accounting During our researches, we also find out some solutions to improve, qualities of accounting information, helping individuals and organizations enhance competitiveness in the field of accounting in the era of the fourth industrial revolution A INTRODUCTION The purpose of this report is to analyze “the impact of industry 4.0 on the accounting information accounting” Recently people interests about industry 4.0 are bigger than before We decided not only to pay attention to the Fourth Revolution, but to see how the Fourth Revolution affected accounting First, we literature review about Industry 4.0 Accounting, Industry 4.0 and Environmental Accounting and Accounting information Second, explain Methodology Third, show each about impacts of data volumes, computational power and connectivity Fourth, recommend developing countries for challenges, opportunities, and recommendation Lastly, we conclude what we have investigated B LITERATURE REVIEW I Industry 4.0 The term Industry 4.0 refers to a further development stage in the organization and management of the entire value chain process involved in manufacturing industry Another term for this process is the “fourth industrial revolution” or Internet of Things In short, it is argued that advanced information technology and social media networks will allow businesses, facilities and machines throughout use smart networks to develop a level of selfawareness that was not previously possible This will allow the machines that manufacture products themselves to “suggest task arrangements and adjust operational parameters to maximise productivity and product quality” To date focus on the development of Industry 4.0 has been on reduced errors, improved product quality, freeing humans from menial (Burritt Roger , Katherine Christ, 2016) Before this Industry 4.0 appears, there are three step of industrial revolution Industrial revolution is process of change from an agrarian and handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacturing This process began in Britain in the 18th century and from there spread to other parts of the world Revolution 1.0 transformed the world in the 1800s It was powered by coal and moved by iron machines and factories, railways and steamships The telegraph allowed for instant communication across oceans and continents Agricultural innovations such as enclosures, crop rotation, selective breeding brought productivity gains freeing rural labor Revolution 2.0 shaped the 1900s It was powered by oil Cars, buses and planes were the new means of transportation The telephone, TV, cinema and radio transformed communication and society At the same time Revolution 3.0 is gaining strength and beginning to shape the 21st century Internet and billions of mobile and connected devices are rapidly redefining communication Renewable energies are gaining ground to fossil fuels Networks of electric and hydrogen powered drones and autonomous vehicles are poised to redefine transportation (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018) Figure 1: Definition of Industry 4.0 (Deloitte, 2016) Industry 4.0 is driven by improved data gathering processes, thereby lowering cost of digital electronics, reducing size of components, facilitating portability and increasing availability of data through connected machines (Burritt Roger , Katherine Christ, 2016) Industry 4.0 is increased connectivity of networks using the Internet of Things and Internet of Services through Cyber-Physical Systems The Internet of Things is the network of physical devices (things) embedded with networked microchip technology, software, sensors and controllers, while the Internet of Services is the offering of services through the internet Industry 4.0 is a vision of industry as it could be in the future or rather an aim to work towards Initially, Industry 4.0 was seen as a way for Germany to maintain a competitive advantage over emerging economies which have lower labour costs (Burritt Roger , Katherine Christ, 2016) Figure 2: The industry 4.0 environment (Deloitte, 2016) Commentators recognise there are no benefits over the rate of take up of Industry 4.0 technologies They guess about anticipated large changes ahead with claims such as “Industry 4.0 is just beginning to take off and it’s difficult to imagine exactly how it’s all going to develop” Although this guess, large amounts of money are being invested by governments and business to try and make the Industry 4.0 vision a reality The fourth industrial revolution has been promoted as providing annual efficiency gains from resource productivity in manufacturing, greater capital intensity and more flexible models of work organisation through improvements in machine to machine information and communication technologies (Burritt Roger , Katherine Christ, 2016) II Accounting Information Quality Accounting information of a firm is its financial information which is gathered, categorized and manipulated for specific uses Three primary users of accounting information are Internal users, External users, and Government Internal users are executives and managers, employees,… They can use the accounting information to: - Assess how management has discharged its responsibility for protecting and managing the company’s resources - Shape decisions about when to borrow or invest company resources - Shape decisions about expansion or downsizing External users are suppliers, lenders, creditors, customers…they can use accounting information to answer their questions such as: - Owners and prospective owners: Has the company earned satisfactory income on its total investment? Should an investment be made in this company? Should the present investment be increased, decreased, or retained at the same level? Can the company install costly pollution control equipment and still be profitable? - Creditors and lenders Should a loan be granted to the company? Will the company be able to pay its debts as they become due? - Employees and their unions: Does the company have the ability to pay increased wages? Is the company financially able to provide long-term employment for its workforce? - Customers: Does the company offer useful products at fair prices? Will the company survive long enough to honor its product warranties? - Governmental units: Is the company, such as a local public utility, charging a fair rate for its services? - General public: Is the company providing useful products and gainful employment for citizens without causing serious environmental problems? Government agencies that track and use taxes are interested in the financial story of a business They want to know whether the business is paying taxes according to current tax laws Accounting information is present in the form of financial statements: - Balance Sheet: Summarizes the organization’s assets, liabilities and shareholder’s equity for a specific moment in time - Income Statement: Reports on a company’ income, expenses, and profits over a period of time A profit and loss statement provides information on the operation of the enterprise These include sales and various expenses incurred during stated period - Statement of Retained Earnings: Reports on the changes in equity of the company during the stated period - Cash Flow Statement: Reports on a company’ cash flow activities, particularly its operating, investing and financing activities The quality of accounting information is an important element when evaluating a firm It can influence the cost of capital, both directly and indirectly The direct effect occurs because higher quality disclosures affect the firm's assessed covariances with other firms' cash flows, which is nondiversifiable The indirect effect occurs because higher quality disclosures affect a firm's real decisions, which likely changes the firm's ratio of the expected future cash flows to the covariance of these cash flows with the sum of all the cash flows in the market (Richard Lambert, Christian Leuz, Robert E Verrecchia, 2007) In Bardos and Katsiaryna’s research (2011), they found out that there is a positive relationship between quality of financial information and liquidity Liquidity can determine the attractiveness of a firm and its stock in the market C METHODOLOGY Survey method In order to reach these objectives, survey method using questionnaire like online survey was conducted, which used correlational, descriptive, experimental and documentary analysis Descriptive because its main concern is to get the overview of the characteristics of the problems as well as its case study This study is also observational because we applied references from observation Both quantitative and qualitative research shall be observed as it will extract view and numerical data The survey is conducted within weeks from March to March 25 Objectives of our survey are accountants, interns in accounting and students who have chances to get access to accounting The reason is that they have much knowledge about accounting, accounting system and accounting information quality Moreover, in period of industry 4.0 when new technology is widely applied in accounting, students are considered more adaptable to use high-technology accounting methods and systems Most of them are students and postgraduate students in Foreign Trade University, a university with one of the largest number of talented students in Vietnam Consequently, their recommendations and judgements could be regarded to have high probability of reliability We make a survey for 100 people; however, 80% of them are used to give the final results because 5% of answers are not completely finished and the rest are done by nonaccounting-related people D RESULT I Research Process We conducted a survey with a form answered online by the participants Each question has a number of options to answer, which is relevant to a number Then, we collect all the numbers representing the respective effect of Information Scale, Technological Level, Automation of Technology, and Connectivity Level To be specific: - The influence of Information Scale is represented by the number from to 10 implying to the extent of effect means that there is no effect of Information Scale to the reliability of accounting information quality and 10 means the most effective respectively - Technological Level’s effect results from accountants’ computer usage ability It is evaluated by the number from to 10 with relating to no effect of computer using experience and 10 relating to the most influence of capability using technology, especially accounting software - The effect of Auto-Technology refers to the automation capacity of Industry 4.0’s influence with the number as the above, from zero to the most effect - The influence of Connectivity Level relates to the effect of the capacity of connectivity among computers in a firm, particularly in terms of accounting, and is presented by the number from to 10 respectively meaning from the least to the most capacity of computer connection’s effect After collecting the result, we have some results: Most of the people interviewed (9 out of 10) reckoned that Information Scale had mild effect on the Reliability The conclusion does not violate reality because softwares and computers can handle calculation flawlessly, mistakes must be caused by human 60% of the participants thought technological level really affected the Reliability and they chose number to 10 for the answer, the rest 40% chose number to (28% for 3-5 and 12% for and 7) The vast majority of the answers (roughly 90%) agreed that the more automatic the technology is, the more accurate the accounting They chose between number and 10 The connectivity level seems to receive less consensus 30% of the participants said that the impact on accounting was not so notable and they chose between number and About 40% chose number and and the rest chose 8, 9, 10 Accordingly, this factor, despite having positive influence on reliability, is not a key determinant II Analysis Computational power This term refers to the ability to undertake or be used for computation; computing resources; specifically the ability of a computer to perform work, often considered in terms of the number of instructions that can be carried out in a given time, or with reference to the amount of random access memory present Computer was one of the most crucial inventions of the twentieth century and it has been empowered by a variety of innovations since then, including the Internet, big data and the enhancement of computing ability The Internet has been creating a far more convenient environment for accountants By using e-mail and social networks, they can discuss problems with colleagues and managers as well as report accounting information quickly They can also get access to a tremendous source of accounting tools by searching and downloading them, which help correct the mistakes Data volume growth is another key contributor to the improvement of information accuracy Being able to manage big data within a system can minimize errors caused by inconsistency The stages in upgrading computer’s materials, especially semi-conductors lead to the higher speed in calculating The number of equations and the complexity of calculation are now no longer problematic within much stronger computational power Data volume Every day, a firm has to deal with thousands of transactions which acquire an accurate concentration from the accountants Without the help of technology, the larger the data, the higher probability the accountant could create some mistakes As a result, in accounting, the step of correcting is considered one of the most important ones that could be made not only by none but also by even five or ten correctors However, the innovation of industry 4.0 has leaded the accountants to a brighter side of accounting without the need of mind recording and calculating Either a hundred or millions of transactions could be easily journalised, added to a ledger and made into some statement to report at the end of each period The question is whether data volume influences the accounting information quality Computer makes no wrong, especially using high technology of industry 4.0 Even though industry 4.0 has created a far easier and more accurate accounting in the output information, the input may be the problems The reason is that inputs are mostly made by human Transaction with money could be easily recorder, but others such as on account and discount negotiation is not In these case, human is needed to decide how to record and journalize these accounts However, human is not always right and some mistakes could be happened Conclusively, accounting information quality could be affected by the data volume However, in terms of technological industry 4.0, data volume takes no effect on the quality of that because computer has the unlimited power to solve even a billion calculation each time Connectivity 3.1 Internet of things a Definition The Internet of things (IoT) is the network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and connectivity which enables these objects to connect and exchange data Each thing is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system but is able to inter-operate within the existing Internet infrastructure (Brown, Eric, 2016) The term "the Internet of things" was coined by Kevin Ashton of Procter & Gamble, later MIT's Auto-ID Center, in 1999 "Things", in the IoT sense, can refer to a wide variety of devices such as heart monitoring implants, biochip transponders on farm animals, cameras streaming live feeds of wild animals in coastal waters, automobiles with built-in sensors, DNA analysis devices for environmental/food/pathogen monitoring, or field operation devices that assist firefighters in search and rescue operations Legal scholars suggest regarding "things" as an "inextricable mixture of hardware, software, data and service" (Ashton, K., 2009) b The scale of IoT Analyst Gartner calculates that around 8.4 billion IoT devices were in use in 2017, up 31 percent from 2016, and this will likely reach 20.4 billion by 2020 Total spending on IoT endpoints and services will reach almost $2tn in 2017, with two-thirds of those devices found in China, North America and Western Europe, said Gartner Out of that 8.4 billion devices, more than half will be consumer products like smart TVs and smart speakers The most-used enterprise IoT devices will be smart electric meters and commercial security cameras, according to Gartner Table 1: IoT Units Installed Base by Category (Millions of Units) c Elements of IoT Four main elements can be seen as underpinning the development of IoT-data analytics, cloud computing, data communication and sensors or actuators (Figure 1) Cloud computing and data analytics include improved machine learning applications, operating at a new level of artificial intelligence IoT also incorporates the notion of sensing and data analysis driving remote control For example, a smart transportation scenario might include sensing and analysis of a city’s current traffic flow, followed by control responses to adjust traffic stop lights or congestion tolls In the case of remote control, human interaction may still be needed, but is typically limited to very specific actions The combination of remote sensing and actuation, along with advanced machine learning will lead to the development of autonomous machines and intelligent systems, including robots Figure 3: The IoT ecosystem: enablers and applications Source: http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/ Date: 24/5/2016 d Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWAN) - Definition A Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) or Low-Power Wide-Area (LPWA) network or Low-Power Network (LPN) is a type of wireless telecommunication wide area network designed to allow long range communications at a low bit rate among things (connected objects) such as sensors operated on a battery (Schwartzman, Alejandro, and Chrisanto Leano, 2009) - Characteristics of LPWAN Low power: Operates on small, inexpensive batteries for years Wide area: Has an operating range that is typically more than km in urban settings: A physical limitation to achieve low power and wide range is small data size Most LPWAN technologies can only send less than 1000 bytes of data per day or less than 5000 bits per second (Ferran Adelantado, 2017) LPWAN is a crucial factor making IoT a reality - Applications of LPWAN in industry 4.0 Dense locations: cities or big buildings for smart lighting, smart grid, and asset tracking Long term monitoring: sensors and meters to be installed and monitored over a long period of time (e.g water metering, gas detectors, smart agriculture, and remote door locks) LPWAN technology works well in situations where devices need to send small data over a wide area while maintaining battery life over many years This distinguishes LPWAN from other wireless network protocols like Bluetooth, RFID, cellular M2M, and Zigbee, shown below with regards to bandwidth and range capability Figure 4: Bandwidth and range capability of some devices e Threats and benefits of IoT - Threats: Threat 1: Security and privacy Threat 2: Data and complexity Threat 3: Give the above concerns about security and complexity to persuade stakeholders to buy into the IoT can be difficult - Benefits: Benefit 1: Safety, comfort and efficiency Benefit 2: Better decision making by analyzing larger trends from empirical data Benefit 3: Create new revenue opportunities by realizing new business functions (Jess Tourville, 2017) 3.2 Impacts of IoT on accounting information quality In the accounting space IoT is still maturing, although it won’t be long till it catches up to other more consumer-facing finance segments, like insurance Some of the ways the IoT is likely to impact accounting generally and accounting information quality include the following: a Dealing with more data As the IoT brings in data from multiple sources, be it transactional data or data from cloud ERPs and accounting platforms, there will be an even greater influx of available data which will need to be incorporated into reporting systems (Daniel Wyner, 2015) The majority of the data will also be supplied in real-time displayed through intuitive dashboards that can help to greatly aid decision making and planning This wave of instant data is likely to pave the way for more automation tools to help process and analyze data With the help of automation tools and intensive data, accounting process could be shortened, especially the auditing process By making accounting less cumbersome, there will be much fewer mistakes and accounting information quality will be highly advanced b High connectivity among accounting data As all data is connected within clients, managers, suppliers as well as customers, the predictive value, feedback value and timeliness will all make a breakthrough in relevance of accounting information This is the background of concise decisions to be made (Nick Chandi, 2017) III Case study: Blockchain and distributed ledger technology (IBM) Introduction: 1.1 IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) Australia Ltd IBM is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States, with operations in over 170 countries The company originated in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) and was renamed "International Business Machines" in 1924 IBM Australia is one of 177 branches that IBM serves worldwide (fortune.com, 2016) 1.2 Distributed ledger technology and blockchain A blockchain, originally block chain, is a continuously growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography (The Economist, 2015) Each block typically contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp and transaction data By design, a blockchain is inherently resistant to modification of the data It is "an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and 10 in a verifiable and permanent way" (Iansiti, Marco; Lakhani, Karim R., January 2017) For use as a distributed ledger, a blockchain is typically managed by a peer-to-peer network collectively adhering to a protocol for validating new blocks Once recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks, which requires collusion of the network majority A distributed ledger (also called a shared ledger, or distributed ledger technology, DLT) is a consensus of replicated, shared, and synchronized digital data geographically spread across multiple sites, countries, or institutions There is no central administrator or centralized data storage (Scardovi, Claudio, 2016) 1.3 How distributed ledger technology and blockchain work? Figure 5: Illustrative blockchain process (Deloitte, 2016) Figure 6: Two core functions of blockchain (Eyers, J 2015) 11 1.4 Applications of distributed ledger technology in Australia Industry FINANCIAL AND INSURANCE SERVICES PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL SERVICES HEALTH SERVICES PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND SAFETY TRANSPORT, POSTAL AND WAREHOUSING ELECTRICITY, GAS AND WATER SUPPLY Table 2: Applications of blockchain in Australia companies ( Chartered Accountants Australia & Deloitte Australia, January 2017) 1.5 Benefits of distributed ledger technology and blockchain over central ledger in accounting: Real evidences of Australia and New Zealand Type of ledgerTraditional central ledger Blockchain & distributed ledger (Source: World Economic Forum) Related sectors Intermediation Privacy Disintermediation: Require intermediaries: Operates using a peer-to-peer - Costly: For example, the NZX network, rather than requiring a charges up to $75 to clear equity specific central organisation and debt trades, and the ASX charges 0.225 basis points for clearance of equities and investment products - Slow down transactions: For example, both the NZX and ASX settle on a T+2 cycle for cash equities The Deloitte Australian Privacy Index Blockchain can mitigate concerns about privacy by 2016 consumer survey shows that 94% of consumers believe trust is providing more transparency and control over the use of more important than information with cryptographic convenience, and 67% of respondents are concerned when keys organisations send personal information outside Australia - At the same time, approximately 12 two-thirds of New Zealanders are concerned with privacy, and over the last few years 46% of New Zealanders have become more concerned about individual privacy issues Security A centralised ledger can potentially be a Since the ledger is distributed – central point of failure it does not sit in a central location – it is less vulnerable to online attacks Table 3: Benefits of distributed ledger technology and blockchain over central ledger in accounting Figure 7: Blockchain technology enables complete, conclusive verification without a trusted party (Deloitte, 2016) Case Study on IBM – Using Blockchain for Internal Efficiencies and External Value Creation Blockchain technology has the potential to change how transactions are recorded “Blockchain is the most significant innovation in bookkeeping since double-entry accounting was introduced over 700 years ago,” explains Juerg von Kaenel, Associate Director at IBM Research Australia.“ Traditional accounting required transactions to be recorded in two (or more) separate ledgers, depending upon the number of participants in the business network, and reconciled with each other Blockchain means that there is only one common and indisputable ledger, which is agreed to by all parties.” Removing these frictions can have significant benefits For IBM, blockchain is used internally by its Global Financing arm to resolve contract disputes between partners on the network: IBM estimates that each year, of its 2.9 million transactions, an average of 25,000 result in disputes These disputes typically tie up around US$100 million in capital “With our blockchain solution, we can combine data provided by the participants in the network to create a consolidated and detailed view of transactions, while strong privacy and 13 confidentiality controls ensure that parties can only access the data they need to This has significantly reduced the number of disputes, as well as the time taken to resolve them,” says von Kaenel Externally, IBM is also offering blockchain solutions based on Hyperledger for its customers: - The Hyperledger Project is a collaborative effort created to advance open standard blockchain technology and build an ecosystem of partners IBM is a founding member and has contributed significant amounts of the code to help transform the way business transactions are conducted globally - Recently, IBM opened an IBM Centre for Blockchain Innovation in Singapore The centre will initially focus on solutions for finance and trade For example, all the parties to a transaction can be put on the blockchain, where the locations of goods are visible and terms can be executed automatically with a smart contract - Although most of the initial applications have been in financial services, von Kaenel thinks that blockchain will have broad applications in a range of industries, and its application to other industries will surpass financial services applications “Whenever there are multiple parties which business together in a network but don’t quite trust each other (the ‘trust but verify’ approach), blockchain based solutions could be helpful It could work for land registries, healthcare records, freedom of information requests, passport and visa control and even tracking international flights.” - Businesses considering blockchain solutions will need to think about how they manage the intersection of customer experience and human interaction It will also be important to think about how blockchain solutions interact and integrate with existing processes and the supporting technology investments “At IBM, our initial blockchain systems are ‘shadowed’; they run in parallel to existing systems as a check, rather than replacing them,” explains von Kaenel This method of piloting can demonstrate the benefits of blockchain without requiring a large scale overhaul of legacy systems until the business case is demonstrated Ultimately, von Kaenel thinks that the most significant applications of blockchain are yet to be seen “Right now, many businesses are prototyping and experimenting with blockchain technology; there is a lot of test and trial.” But, as the technology and business models mature, von Kaenel thinks that adoption will become more widespread “In ten years’ time, blockchain will just be a part of the fabric of systems It won’t be discussed – it will just become part of how we operate.” Conclusion From the case of IBM applying blockchain and distributed ledger technology in business generally and accounting specifically, it could be predicted that the blockchain technology has the potential to shapeshift the nature of today’s accounting It is like a source of trust that may constitute a way to vastly autonomate accounting processes in compliance with the regulatory requirements By reducing the processes and making accounting less cumbersome with immutable records along with automated auditing, accounting information quality will accordingly become more reliable, secured , relevant, easy to compare as well as consistent 14 E CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES AND RECOMMENDATION I Challenges The last few years has witnessed an explosion of new technology The Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and automation will affect how businesses work, and how CPAs their jobs It is consequently critical that accountants look at these technological trends, understand the resulting changes, and figure out what role they can play in the new economy which will be created The Power of the Internet of Things On a basic level, the Internet of Things revolves around different devices, devices which never before have been connected to the Internet, communicating with one another Manufacturing equipment can be connected and transmit data, which allows businesses to respond faster to developing situations The Internet of Things and Big Data are linked together, as devices connected to the Internet will be constantly transmitting data to interested parties More businesses with more data means more analysis and prediction II Opportunity Business Industry 4.0 affects on accounting on different aspect: - Data processing: Beside Excel like we used to use in accounting, the development of technology has brought us many tools along with more modern software which help a lot when dealing with a large amount of datas - Cloud computing: Help Storing datas with unlimited space - Automatic system: Replace most of the work of accountants (journalizing and calculating), simplifying the accounting with higher speed and accuracy - Artificial Intelligence (AI): Can replace human in complicated accounting process like valuation, backup and so on Therefore, minimize company’s staff - Blockchain system: Connect datas from financing and accounting If properly implemented Industry 4.0 will drastically improve the efficiency of businesses and organizations By these main aspects, it will connect all the datas together, from different companies together, process the datas faster more accuracy, prevent immoral behaviors, help to regenerate the natural environment through better asset management Therefore, the improvement of industry 4.0 not only make the life of an accountants much more easier, but also make the company run on its right form, which also help the company to improve when dealing with both financing and managerial problems, thus, increasing profits, nation GDPs and so on However, there are still some main issue which lead to some SME (small and mediumenterprises) could not take the advantages of these improvement due to specific reasons: - They are unable or unwilling to adapt to the new technologies - Governments could fail to employ or regulate the new technologies properly 15 Comparing to developed countries, developing and least developed countries have less access with modern technology The result is obvious! In order to ameliorate, in every company, business leaders will have to expand their thinking Including new ideas and systems that my never have been considered For sure, away from that has been traditionally done Automation and outsourcing are the key words On the government’s side, they have to reform their way of approaching new technology, not rush and day by day narrowing the gap in technology with developed countries Accountants As for now, most of the stuff we study about accounting during university will not be applied due to the technology have already automatically done it for us The requirement for the jobs also easier, no need too much in calculation, accuracy, just by being careful when deal with datas and process it with computers or automation is enough People then seem to depend too much on technology, and this also lead to another problem According to an Oxford University’s survey in 2013 about human’s jobs which were facing the probability of being replace by robots and AI, it showed that 97,6% of the accounting process will be computerized and 95.6% the works of auditors will be done by the automatic systems in near future Relying on robots is less risky than counting on human workers This way of thinking is starting to appear It is not unusual for the accountants to be worrying about their jobs being replaced in the future when their mind and brain cannot compete with the intelligence of computers This problem has a higher probability (is more likely) to happen in developed countries since they are the ones that can approach the higher technology first, but when technology keep developing, sooner or later it will become a challenges for both countries in the world Robotic automation will kill some jobs but create others As robotic automation gains traction in accounting, new jobs will be created It’s just that they will be different jobs than people expected to be doing when they graduated from college The way a C.P.A (Certified Public Accountants) does the job today is very different today than it was 10 years ago, and that will continue to evolve And what else they could do? They have to develop new skill, continue to understand how the accounting will keep changing, and keep up with the improvement of the technology Creating new training and study programs is also urgent task for schools, colleges, universities or any other training institutions to help the future accountants, auditors keep up with the Industry 4.0 III Recommendation Industry 4.0, simply said ‘advanced technology’, is taking the part of our life helping people with life risking jobs or massive data collections As mentioned above in the essay, using the aspects of industry 4.0 into accounting information system (AIS) will improve the work quality and the efficiency This might sound simple and nice to the companies to use industry 4.0 into their works However to get involved with these, there are minimum requirements from the companies to make Additionally from industry 4.0 taking cover the workloads from a company, there are going to be some downturns from using it In this part, the recommendation to the companies who are willing to use industry 4.0 into their company systems, the disadvantages from using industry 4.0, and how Vietnamese companies could work on their industry 4.0 for future reference are going to be stated The most basic thing to use the technology is to get used to the system and know how to use and apply it for personal usages To the adults and young adults, they are the people who 16 are now on the experimenting on the industry 4.0 In other words, they are the first one to use these technologies into their business This can be seen as them being unfamiliar and uncomfortable using them To solve this problem, it is the company’s obligation to make sure that all employees, who are using industry 4.0, are able to handle and use how they want to use Since using Industry 4.0 is now a trend in the world, knowing how to use the technologies is mandatory to everyone Thus the knowledge of the employees towards the system is crucial Even though it will take some time for industry 4.0 to be stable, the Vietnamese companies should make sure that all employees are able to use the technology that they are given Setting industry 4.0 into the company and maintaining it will cost a fortune to the company It is important to the companies that have massive data to process, to use industry 4.0 to help them with data processing However for the companies who not have much data to process, using them could lead to a loss to the company Using them without considering the consequences could backfire the company Vietnamese companies should look into details whether their company is at the right situation of using industry 4.0 in their business The most important problem of using industry 4.0 to AIS in the company is about the responsibility Since nothing can be perfect, there are going to be times when the server or system is down, which will cause limitations to the cloud computing, and blockchain system, leading trouble to work In the case of these results, the critical question is whose obligation should this be and how he/she is going to fix the problem It is true that these are highly unlikely to happen since the artificial intelligence (AI) is well programmed to have backup plans However this is a question that every company should face In order for the Vietnamese companies to be ready for the change, they have to set the rules without any loopholes so that someone will be responsible for the fault of industry 4.0 There are tons of opportunities by using industry 4.0 in companies However, by looking at the positive side of it will sure bring failure to a company They have to clearly know all the consequences of using industry 4.0 and should be ready to act accordingly A CONCLUSION Industry 4.0 has a great impact to all aspects of accounting It may change completely the way accountants their jobs in the future thank to artificial intelligence Larger data volume handled, more computational power and more connectivity will free human labour by easing the complication of accounting job and create a better environment for developing other fields Industry 4.0 will also bring about many opportunities and challenges due to the changing in accounting process Overall, it is believed that the accounting information quality will rise with the help of computer power 17 REFERENCES AMMC “Advantages and Disadvantages of Automating for the Industrial Industry” Automation Technology 2016 http://ammc.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-automating-for-the-industrialindustry/ “Settlement and Issuer Administration Services Schedule of Fees” Australia Stock Exchange 2016 https://www.asxonline.com/content/dam/asxonline/public/documents/schedule-offees/clearingsettlement-and-issuer-administration-services-schedule-of-fees-effective-1Dec-2016.pdf “Transition to T+2 Settlement for Cash Equities” Australian Stock Exchange 2016 http://www.asx.com.au/t2.htm Bardos and Katsiaryna “Quality of financial information and liquidity”, 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U.S Patent No 7,587,746 September 2009 11 Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand “The Future of Blockchain: APPLICATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS OF DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGY” 2017 12 Dan Butcher “How accountants can avoid being replaced by robot?” 2017 https://news.efinancialcareers.com/us-en/273292/how-to-future-proof-your-financecareer-in-the-face-of-robotic-automation-technology 13 Deloitte “Bitcoin, Blockchain & distributed ledgers: Caught between promise and reality”, Centre for the Edge, Australia 2016 14 Iansiti, Marco; Lakhani, Karim R "The Truth About Blockchain" Harvard Business Review Harvard University Archived from the original on 18 January 2017 15 Scardovi, Claudio “Restructuring and Innovation in Banking” Springer p 36 ISBN 9783319402048 21 November 2016 16 Deloitte Australia “Who is using my data and how? Australian consumers want more than convenience”, Deloitte Privacy Index, Media Releases 2016 http://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/mediareleases/articles/deloitte-privacy-index100516.html 18 17 Egham “Gartner Says 8.4 Billion Connected "Things" Will Be in Use in 2017, Up 31 Percent From 2016”, UK 2017 https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3598917 18 Eyers, J “Why the blockchain will propel a services revolution”, Australian Financial Review 2015 19 “Distributed Ledger Technology: beyond block chain”, A report by the UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Government Office for Science 20 Ivana, Ana “Information Technology an Accounting Information Systems’ Quality in Croatian Middle and Large Company” 2013 21 Marc Gasser “Industry 4.0 – Impact on Accounting” 2017 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/industry-40-impact-accounting-marc-gasser 22 Nash, K “IBM Pushes Blockchain into the Supply Chain”, Wall Street Journal 2016 http://www.wsj.com/articles/ibm-pushes-blockchain-into-the-supply-chain-1468528824 23 “Transition To T+2 Settlement Cycle For Cash Trades”, New Zealand Stock Exchange 2016 https://www.nzx.com/regulation/T2-settlement 24 “NZX Fee Schedule” NZX 2016 https://nzx.com/files/static/cms-documents//Issuer%20and%20 Participant%20Fee %20Schedule%201%20July%202016.pdf 25 Privacy Commissioner “Public attitudes to data sharing cautious but shifting – Opinion survey results”, Media Release May 2016 https://www.privacy.org.nz/assets/Uploads/2016-05-09-UMRpublic-opinion-survey2016-media-release.pdf 26 Richard Lambert, Christian Leuz, Robert E Verrecchia “Accounting Information, Disclosure, and the Cost of Capital” Journal Accounting Research pages 385-420 2007 27 Thien Ha “Nghe ke toan doi dien nguy co tu robot”, Viettimes, 2017 https://viettimes.vn/nghe-ke-toan-doi-dien-nguy-co-tu-robot-138908.html 28 Vu Thom “Cach mang cong nghiep 4.0: Nhung xu huong va chien luoc phat trien hien nay” 2017 29 Deloitte “Industry 4.0: Challenges and Solutions for the digital transformation and use of exponential technologies” 2016 19 APPENDID How old are you? _ If you are a student, what is your major? _ If you are a postgraduate student, what is your job? _ To what extent you think Accounting Information Scale or the Number of Accounting Transactions can affect the Reliability of Accounting Information? No effect The most effect 10 Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο To what extent you think Accountants’ Technology Level can affect the Reliability of Accounting Information? No effect The most effect 10 Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο To what extent you think Automatic Technology 4.0 in a firm can affect the Reliability of Accounting Information? No effect The most effect 10 Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο To what extent you think Connectivity Capacity of all computers in a firm can affect the Reliability of Accounting Information? No effect The most effect 10 Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο 20 ...A INTRODUCTION The purpose of this report is to analyze ? ?the impact of industry 4. 0 on the accounting information accounting? ?? Recently people interests about industry 4. 0 are bigger than... personal usages To the adults and young adults, they are the people who 16 are now on the experimenting on the industry 4. 0 In other words, they are the first one to use these technologies into their... period The question is whether data volume influences the accounting information quality Computer makes no wrong, especially using high technology of industry 4. 0 Even though industry 4. 0 has