Perceptions of Robotic Process Automation in Big 4 Public Accounting Firms: Do Firm Leaders and Lower-Level Employees Agree?

Abstract

The use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a recent innovation in the public accounting industry, and the Big 4 firms are at the forefront of its implementation. This paper examines how the adoption and use of RPA is affecting the perceived work experience of firm leaders and lower-level employees at Big 4 accounting firms. We interview 14 RPA leaders, survey 139 lower-level employees, and compare and contrast their responses. We find that the two groups generally agree that RPA is having a positive influence on the profession. Both groups believe that RPA is positively changing the work employees perform and improving employee career prospects. However, while firm leaders believe RPA will improve work satisfaction, lower-level employees report no such improvements. Our insights provide direction for the accounting profession as it increases the use of RPA and for future research studies examining related issues.

Toward understanding the self-efficacy of external auditors during COVID-19: empirical testing of traditional sources and virtual audit proficiency

“…The results show a moderating effect of the type of audit firm affiliation on the association between VAP and the SE of auditors at this time, indicating that when the auditor is affiliated with a big4 audit firm, the effect of VAP on the SE of auditors is more pronounced. This supports the contention that big4 audit firms are more inclined to differentiate themselves by investing in advanced technologies and audit approaches (Christ et al , 2021; Cooper et al , 2021). In relation to the moderating effect of gender and audit partner, the results show an insignificant effect on the hypothesized positive association between VAP and auditors’ SE.…”

“…This finding confirms that only the type of audit firm an auditor is affiliated with is the major moderator variable for the effect of virtual audit and SE of auditors during the pandemic. This is not surprising because big4 audit firms have adopted and implemented advanced technologies prior to this pandemic (Bauer et al , 2022; Cooper et al , 2021). Using moderated multiple regression in STATA, in the unreported results, we also confirmed the moderator effect of audit firm type on the effect of virtual audit and SE of auditors during the pandemic.…”

The Impact of Audit Technology on Audit Task Outcomes: Evidence for Technology‐Based Audit Techniques*

“…Technology can increase audit planning efficiency because technology allows auditors to consider various data sources and enable new risk assessment and planning procedures (Lynch et al 2009; Koreff 2021). Furthermore, technology allows traditional audit procedures to be performed more efficiently (Dowling and Leech 2014; Cooper et al 2019, 2022; M. Eulerich et al 2022; Austin et al 2021; Christ et al 2021). As specific examples, M. Eulerich et al (2022) show that robotic process automation adoption in an IAF reduces the time it takes to calculate distances when evaluating compliance tests for mileage reimbursement, the time to validate documents downloaded from enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, and the time taken to extract information from ERP systems.…”

Impact of Robotic Process Automation on Future Employment of Accounting Professionals

“…Perfunctory tasks will be replaced, higher order thinking skills will be emphasized, leading to enhanced audit quality. The survey conducted by Cooper, Holderness, Sorensen, and Wood [9] reveals that both Big 4 accounting firm leaders and lower-level employees generally find RPA to have a positive influence on the profession. They believe that RPA has and will change the work employees perform from mundane to more valueadded tasks.…”