The Emerging Industrial Revolution and the Future of the Accountant in Nigeria.

Abstract:

The study was inspired by the concern for the next industrial revolution of artificial general intelligence with respect to the career of the accountant, given the continuous and increasing automation of the accounting process and systems in the current industrial revolution. Consequently, the study adopted an expost facto design to fathom the career fortune of the human accountant in the emerging industrial era of artificial general intelligence, using ten years personnel cost and net assets data, from the annual accounts and reports of the 7 deposits money banks in Nigeria that had international authorization, as at 31st December, 2022. Linear regression analysis result from SPSS 20.0 disclosed that the effect of the deployment of artificial intelligence on the career of the accountant in the current industrial era is statistically low and insignificant. Accordingly, the study predictively concludes that the technological agenda of the emerging industrial revolution will not impair the job fortune of the accountant. However, the study recommends that, accounting practitioners should proactively develop themselves with relevant soft skills, and deep learning, python and big data programmes in readiness for effective machine collaboration and synthesis, in the emerging industrial era..