The Impact of Digital Economy on Accounting Competencies Development

Professional competency transformation in the digital economy development process is inextricably linked with the future profession configuration. The situation is complicated by uncertain profession prospects due to conflicting forecasts and the lack of comprehensive system solutions in this area. The research objective is to analyze the accounting development prospects based on the general neoclassical structural concept and to outline the directions for competencies development in each area of accounting: theory, practice, and methodology. To study the accounting profession prospects in terms of relevant digital economy options, we used the epistemology and science philosophy methodology, the concepts of economic theory, and political economy provisions. The main result is the provision on the rising value of accounting competencies influenced by the widespread use of digital technologies. This conclusion is based on the following factors. Descriptive methodology is consolidated at the national and international levels, as a result of which the value of professional judgment increases. Digital technologies reduce routine work and stimulate the development of creative accounting activities. This entails growth in professional judgment competence, which extends to the entire neoclassical scientific organization triad. In the theoretical scope, digital technologies stimulate competencies in the form of developed knowledge, providing a holistic view of economic relation patterns, and explaining the methods, techniques and rules for accounting process implementation. In the practical field, digitization produces digital skills development. Exemption from the routine accounting practice leads to labor process restructuring and an increase in the intellectual component and value of mental abilities. In the methodology field, knowledge at the junction of fundamental theoretical accounting issues with a simultaneous confident understanding of the digital economy functioning (as a whole and across its individual elements) is supposed to be in demand. The proposed systematic approach removes uncertainty and opens up accounting prospects, makes it possible to outline the directions of relevant specialist training in the field of mental digital economy reflection, and contributes to enhancing the accounting profession’s prestige.