Artificial intelligence and data analytics: Ethical implications for accounting

We explore the intersection of ethics and accounting information systems (AIS) with advanced technologies, and the impact on accountants. Ethical considerations evolve among individuals, organizations, and society, and rapid changes in technology influence ethical judgments, ethical decisions, and actions. Some question the ability of the accounting profession to deal with emerging, even disruptive, technologies, which are being seen as both opportunity and threat. Accountants are asked to use ethical judgment and professional skepticism when dealing with technology. Our research question is: What ethical challenges do Big Data analytics and Artificial Intelligence raise for professional accountants, and how can these challenges be overcome? We conduct a review of the academic and practitioner literature on ethics and AIS. We offer a discussion on the impact of disruptive technologies - Big Data and artificial intelligence - on professional accountants, suggesting that, instead of competing, the human and the machine would benefit by working in sync.