Universitas Gadjah Mada
Faculty of Economics and Business

In the current era, accounting is in a dynamic condition of change, both in terms of knowledge, profession, and so on. Especially in today's digital transformation era, accounting science is growing rapidly and is required to continue to adapt. In response to this, the Master of Science and Doctoral Program (MD) of the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada (FEB UGM) held a scientific discussion webinar, namely the Third Series of MD REFO (Research Forum) on Friday (12/17/2021). This scientific forum brought the topic "Digital Transformation and the Future of Accounting", and moderated by Aviandi Okta Maulana, M.Acc., Ph.D., Lecturer of the Accounting Department FEB UGM. Conducted online, this webinar was attended by 87 participants consisting of various parties, including students, academics, practitioners, and the general public. This third series of MD REFO webinar presents speakers, namely Syaiful Ali, M.I.S., Ph.D., Lecturer of the Accounting Department FEB UGM and Professional Accountant Certification Board.

Starting the webinar with an explanation of Digital Transformation, Syaiful Ali explained that in fact, the digital era has developed since before the pandemic, where many companies made investments in the IT (Information and Technology) field. The process of accelerating digital transformation is finally getting bigger with the pandemic. This is because many changes have occurred, such as social distancing, which has resulted in everything being done digitally. This massive change came to be known as double disruption.

"The pandemic has forced organizations to carry out digital transformations. With the pandemic, the digital transformation process is getting faster, we are experiencing double disruption, firstly related to IT investment, secondly related to restrictions on economic activities that make organizations have to be adaptive to existing changes," said Ali.

These changes are a challenge for the company's resilience. Thus, companies must think about how to survive and continue to adapt. The solution, companies must be adaptive in responding to all changes. One of them is responding to changes in society, including consumer habits, which are starting to switch to digital transactions.

"Digital transformation, triggered by changes that are disruptive and used by the community or consumers, for example social media, analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), these are all technologies that are often used and disrupt consumer behavior," explained Ali.

Especially when business processes are currently shifting to digital, organizations have huge amounts of data. This gap needs to be responded well by the organization. For this reason, Ali believes that organizations need to carry out a strategic response consisting of two strategies, namely a digital business strategy and a digital transformation strategy.

"Digital business is how the organization manages its business model, while digital transformation is the transition from the analog or traditional era to being fully digital," said Ali.

When digital transformation changes, organizations must adapt to some of the changes. One of them is related to organizational structure, organizational culture, leadership, and employee roles and abilities. Companies have several barriers or challenges that limit an organization or company to digital transformation. The changes, according to Ali, are firstly the Inertia organization, a condition where the organization does not want to change because it is comfortable with the existing conditions at that time. In addition, there is the challenge of employee resistance, where employees do not want to make changes. Both of these risks need to be managed in order for organizations to be successful in digital transformation.

"Digital transformation is not just a matter of technology, but without the others (organizational structure, organizational culture, leadership, and employee roles and abilities), it will not provide the value creation we want," he said.

The role of accountants in this case according to Ali, firstly can contribute to the preparation of the strategic response. Accountants who understand technological developments will know what the latest technological developments are and help companies build strategic responses. In the area of value creation, accountants can use Big Data, Data Analytics to build a more Agile organization. In addition, accountants can also play a role in structural changes, helping organizations take advantage of the latest technology.

Ali gave an example that digital transformation in accounting is the processing of accounts payable and receivable, digitization in the procurement process, digitization in the audit process, and so on. According to him, accountants can participate in financial management and digital audit processes. Therefore, it is expected that the ability of accountants in the digital aspect must continue to develop along with the times.

"Accountants in their domain understand accounting knowledge very well and if they add strong digital knowledge, it will be a sweet combination, accountants will continue to play a role in the era of digital transformation," he concluded.

Reportage: Sony Budiarso/Kirana Lalita Pristy