The Use of Biig Data, Data Analytics and Cloud Solutions in Accounting Profession

Seajean M. Paloma

Big data is a broad term for any collection of data and information sets so large and complex that it becomes
difficult to process them using conventional data processing system. The challenge includes analysis, capture,
search,sharing, storage, transfer, visualization and privacy violations. The trend to larger data sets is due to the
additional information derivable from analysis of a single large set of related data, as compared to separate
smaller sets with the same total amount of data, allowing corelations to be found to “spot performance
efficiencies and market trends”. On the other hand, we have Cloud Computing wherein there are sharing of
resources to achieve coherence and economics of scale. Cloud Computing is a broader concept of converged
Infrastructure and shared services.

The accounting information systems faces opportunities and challenges due to the use of Big Data. Traditional
information systems rely on very structured data. Inputs have to be accurately introduced into the system in
order to produce meaningful outputs (lists, reports, forecasts, etc.). This is common issue in big data systems:
the source of data is diverse and unstructured, and cannot be processed by relational databases used by
traditional information systemsInstances for challenges pose scarcity of storage since data is being generated
and collection in high volumes and storage solution is both expensive and technical to implement. Another
one is the constraint of cost effectiveness as firms see that these perceived cost are too high to for the analysis
to be adopted. Complexity and high cost incurred in the changes to be made are factors of consideration for
firms to utilize. Firms also are in difficulty of extracting information, though analytics holds the potential of
finding inefficiencies within supply chain, it is often difficult to connect nodes and construct correlation among
complexity.

On the bright side, application of Big data Analytics has various opportunities such that it is capable of
obtaining customers’ assessment of branding and marketing strategy.With social media, information can
spread faster and hence, managing this can handle customers’ expectations by collecting these information
and look for signs of dissatisfactions. Analytics is also widely used in e-Commmerce where companies can
leverage inherent advantage in data collection to tailor unique experience for their clients. It also can counter
threats as companies could turn to analytics for fraud detection through its methodical and efficient tracking
system by analyzing huge financial transaction data for anomaly and inconsistencies, datsasets will help
auditors or accountants to identify possible cases of fraudulent transactions.

The AIS, accounting, and finance research communities have already made progress in how to process
and impound it into research. Accounting model which must evolve/be changed to focus on data content,
atomicity, data linkages, etc. And since big textual data are available to accounting researchers now, text
understanding and vague text understanding can provide the necessary links from textual elements to the
more traditional ERP data. Eventually, the vocalic and video data would also be progressively linked to the
more traditional domains.

In case of asurance procedures, automatic confirmation will limit the need for verification of population and
data integrity. Auditors should seek to verify transactions not with just an invoice and receipt, but with multi-
modal evidence that a transaction took place. Photo, video, GPS location, and other meta data could
accompany transaction data. Auditors may have to be able to acquire extensions of the current corporate
data. New forms of audit evidence are to complement and replace old approaches, and are covering a more
recent set of risks. Public good would be served if large research-oriented public financial related databases
could be made available to the accounting research community. Accounting education will have to evolve
educating faculty, professionals, and students in the issues of Big Data and data analytics.

With the innovation technolpgy, I think it is not possible for me to fill on the gaps of using Big Data Analysis in
the Accounting Information System. There are challenges but more oppprtunities await for the analytics and
definitely, there are so also ways to make them happen and put them into reality. All in all, these big data
purposes and lapses both create opportunities and challenges for current Acxounting Information Systems.
The aim of increasing the applicability of continuous auditing systems to big data is a business phenomenon
that is here to stay, and AIS needs to adapt to its challenges. Still, let us not be dependent alone in these
computer systems to entirely do our jobs. Human resource is still a big factor to greatly help a company in
having an efficient, fraud-free and error reduction system so both of them must always know their roles in
theaspect of accounting inforrmation system.