tiểu luận nguyên lý kế toán the impacts of industry 4 0 on the accounting information quality

ABSTRACT
The fourth industrial revolution is here. This is the next evolution of technology
analytics, automating processes, artificial intelligent, making them smarter and better.
Therefore, Industry 4.0 could be used successfully as a basis upon which to leverage the
accounting information quality. However, are business leaders and governments have
maximize the full potential of the fourth industrial revolution in the way it develop
accounting? In this report, we seek to examine ‘‘The impact of industry 4.0 on accounting
information quality’’.
The purpose of this study is try to analyze how technology development during the
industry 4.0 could affect the qualities of accounting information. Over the last few years, The
fourth Industrial Revolution has been changing the ways that the accountants thought about
their jobs and the way they did their works. This report presents a number of factors in
Industry 4.0 that related to change in accounting information quality and helps the readers to
answer these question: Why the computational power growth go together with the
development of accounting ; whether the data volume affected by industry 4.0 influences
accounting information quality; and how the better connectivity all around the World could
help develop accounting. During our researches, we also find out some solutions to improve,
qualities of accounting information, helping individuals and organizations enhance
competitiveness in the field of accounting in the era of the fourth industrial revolution.


A. INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this report is to analyze “the impact of industry 4.0 on the accounting
information accounting”. Recently people interests about industry 4.0 are bigger than before.
We decided not only to pay attention to the Fourth Revolution, but to see how the Fourth
Revolution affected accounting.
First, we do literature review about Industry 4.0 Accounting, Industry 4.0 and
Environmental Accounting and Accounting information. Second, explain Methodology. Third,
show each about impacts of data volumes, computational power and connectivity. Fourth,
recommend developing countries for challenges, opportunities, and recommendation. Lastly,
we conclude what we have investigated.

B. LITERATURE REVIEW
I. Industry 4.0
The term Industry 4.0 refers to a further development stage in the organization and
management of the entire value chain process involved in manufacturing industry. Another
term for this process is the “fourth industrial revolution” or Internet of Things. In short, it is
argued that advanced information technology and social media networks will allow
businesses, facilities and machines throughout use smart networks to develop a level of selfawareness that was not previously possible. This will allow the machines that manufacture
products themselves to “suggest task arrangements and adjust operational parameters to
maximise productivity and product quality” To date focus on the development of Industry 4.0
has been on reduced errors, improved product quality, freeing humans from menial (Burritt
Roger , Katherine Christ, 2016).
Before this Industry 4.0 appears, there are three step of industrial revolution. Industrial
revolution is process of change from an agrarian and handicraft economy to one dominated by
industry and machine manufacturing. This process began in Britain in the 18th century and
from there spread to other parts of the world. Revolution 1.0 transformed the world in the
1800s. It was powered by coal and moved by iron machines and factories, railways and
steamships. The telegraph allowed for instant communication across oceans and continents.
Agricultural innovations such as enclosures, crop rotation, selective breeding brought
productivity gains freeing rural labor. Revolution 2.0 shaped the 1900s. It was powered by oil.
Cars, buses and planes were the new means of transportation. The telephone, TV, cinema and
radio transformed communication and society. At the same time Revolution 3.0 is gaining
strength and beginning to shape the 21st century. Internet and billions of mobile and
connected devices are rapidly redefining communication. Renewable energies are gaining
ground to fossil fuels. Networks of electric and hydrogen powered drones and autonomous
vehicles are poised to redefine transportation (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018).

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Figure 1: Definition of Industry 4.0
(Deloitte, 2016)
Industry 4.0 is driven by improved data gathering processes, thereby lowering cost of
digital electronics, reducing size of components, facilitating portability and increasing
availability of data through connected machines (Burritt Roger , Katherine Christ, 2016) .
Industry 4.0 is increased connectivity of networks using the Internet of Things and
Internet of Services through Cyber-Physical Systems. The Internet of Things is the network of
physical devices (things) embedded with networked microchip technology, software, sensors
and controllers, while the Internet of Services is the offering of services through the internet.
Industry 4.0 is a vision of industry as it could be in the future or rather an aim to work
towards. Initially, Industry 4.0 was seen as a way for Germany to maintain a competitive
advantage over emerging economies which have lower labour costs (Burritt Roger ,
Katherine Christ, 2016).

Figure 2: The industry 4.0 environment

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(Deloitte, 2016)
Commentators recognise there are no benefits over the rate of take up of Industry 4.0
technologies. They guess about anticipated large changes ahead with claims such as “Industry
4.0 is just beginning to take off and it’s difficult to imagine exactly how it’s all going to
develop”
Although this guess, large amounts of money are being invested by governments and
business to try and make the Industry 4.0 vision a reality.
The fourth industrial revolution has been promoted as providing annual efficiency gains
from resource productivity in manufacturing, greater capital intensity and more flexible
models of work organisation through improvements in machine to machine information and
communication technologies (Burritt Roger , Katherine Christ, 2016).

II. Accounting Information Quality
Accounting information of a firm is its financial information which is gathered,
categorized and manipulated for specific uses. Three primary users of accounting information
are Internal users, External users, and Government.
Internal users are executives and managers, employees,… They can use the accounting
information to:

- Assess how management has discharged its responsibility for protecting and
managing the company’s resources

- Shape decisions about when to borrow or invest company resources
- Shape decisions about expansion or downsizing
External users are suppliers, lenders, creditors, customers…they can use accounting
information to answer their questions such as:

- Owners and prospective owners: Has the company earned satisfactory income on
its total investment? Should an investment be made in this company? Should the
present investment be increased, decreased, or retained at the same level? Can the
company install costly pollution control equipment and still be profitable?

- Creditors and lenders. Should a loan be granted to the company? Will the
company be able to pay its debts as they become due?

- Employees and their unions: Does the company have the ability to pay increased
wages? Is the company financially able to provide long-term employment for its
workforce?

- Customers: Does the company offer useful products at fair prices? Will the
company survive long enough to honor its product warranties?

- Governmental units: Is the company, such as a local public utility, charging a fair
rate for its services?

- General public: Is the company providing useful products and gainful
employment for citizens without causing serious environmental problems?
Government agencies that track and use taxes are interested in the financial story of a
business. They want to know whether the business is paying taxes according to current tax
laws.
Accounting information is present in the form of financial statements:

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- Balance Sheet: Summarizes the organization’s assets, liabilities and shareholder’s
equity for a specific moment in time.

- Income Statement: Reports on a company’ income, expenses, and profits over a
period of time. A profit and loss statement provides information on the operation
of the enterprise. These include sales and various expenses incurred during stated
period.

- Statement of Retained Earnings: Reports on the changes in equity of the company
during the stated period.

- Cash Flow Statement: Reports on a company’ cash flow activities, particularly its
operating, investing and financing activities.
The quality of accounting information is an important element when evaluating a firm.
It can influence the cost of capital, both directly and indirectly. The direct effect occurs
because higher quality disclosures affect the firm's assessed covariances with other firms' cash
flows, which is nondiversifiable. The indirect effect occurs because higher quality disclosures

affect a firm's real decisions, which likely changes the firm's ratio of the expected future cash
flows to the covariance of these cash flows with the sum of all the cash flows in the market
(Richard Lambert, Christian Leuz, Robert E. Verrecchia, 2007). In Bardos and Katsiaryna’s
research (2011), they found out that there is a positive relationship between quality of
financial information and liquidity. Liquidity can determine the attractiveness of a firm and its
stock in the market.

C. METHODOLOGY
Survey method
In order to reach these objectives, survey method using questionnaire like online survey
was conducted, which used correlational, descriptive, experimental and documentary analysis.
Descriptive because its main concern is to get the overview of the characteristics of the
problems as well as its case study. This study is also observational because we applied
references from observation. Both quantitative and qualitative research shall be observed as it
will extract view and numerical data.
The survey is conducted within 3 weeks from March 4 to March 25.
Objectives of our survey are accountants, interns in accounting and students who have
chances to get access to accounting. The reason is that they have much knowledge about
accounting, accounting system and accounting information quality. Moreover, in period of
industry 4.0 when new technology is widely applied in accounting, students are considered
more adaptable to use high-technology accounting methods and systems. Most of them are
students and postgraduate students in Foreign Trade University, a university with one of the
largest number of talented students in Vietnam. Consequently, their recommendations and
judgements could be regarded to have high probability of reliability.
We make a survey for 100 people; however, 80% of them are used to give the final
results because 5% of answers are not completely finished and the rest are done by nonaccounting-related people.

D. RESULT
I. Research Process
We conducted a survey with a form answered online by the participants. Each question

has a number of options to answer, which is relevant to a number. Then, we collect all the

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numbers representing the respective effect of Information Scale, Technological Level,
Automation of Technology, and Connectivity Level. To be specific:
- The influence of Information Scale is represented by the number from 0 to 10
implying to the extent of effect. 0 means that there is no effect of Information Scale to the
reliability of accounting information quality and 10 means the most effective respectively.
- Technological Level’s effect results from accountants’ computer usage ability. It is
evaluated by the number from 0 to 10 with 0 relating to no effect of computer using
experience and 10 relating to the most influence of capability using technology, especially
accounting software.
- The effect of Auto-Technology refers to the automation capacity of Industry 4.0’s
influence with the number as the above, from zero to the most effect.
- The influence of Connectivity Level relates to the effect of the capacity of connectivity
among computers in a firm, particularly in terms of accounting, and is presented by the
number from 0 to 10 respectively meaning from the least to the most capacity of computer
connection’s effect.
After collecting the result, we have some results:
Most of the people interviewed (9 out of 10) reckoned that Information Scale had mild
effect on the Reliability. The conclusion does not violate reality because softwares and
computers can handle calculation flawlessly, mistakes must be caused by human.
60% of the participants thought technological level really affected the Reliability and
they chose number 8 to 10 for the answer, the rest 40% chose number 3 to 7 (28% for 3-5 and
12% for 6 and 7).
The vast majority of the answers (roughly 90%) agreed that the more automatic the
technology is, the more accurate the accounting. They chose between number 8 and 10.
The connectivity level seems to receive less consensus. 30% of the participants said that

the impact on accounting was not so notable and they chose between number 3 and 5. About
40% chose number 6 and 7 and the rest chose 8, 9, 10. Accordingly, this factor, despite having
positive influence on reliability, is not a key determinant.
II. Analysis
1. Computational power
This term refers to the ability to undertake or be used for computation; computing
resources; specifically the ability of a computer to perform work, often considered in terms of
the number of instructions that can be carried out in a given time, or with reference to the
amount of random access memory present.
Computer was one of the most crucial inventions of the twentieth century and it has
been empowered by a variety of innovations since then, including the Internet, big data and
the enhancement of computing ability.
The Internet has been creating a far more convenient environment for accountants. By
using e-mail and social networks, they can discuss problems with colleagues and managers as
well as report accounting information quickly. They can also get access to a tremendous
source of accounting tools by searching and downloading them, which help correct the
mistakes.
Data volume growth is another key contributor to the improvement of information
accuracy. Being able to manage big data within a system can minimize errors caused by
inconsistency. The stages in upgrading computer’s materials, especially semi-conductors lead

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to the higher speed in calculating. The number of equations and the complexity of calculation
are now no longer problematic within much stronger computational power.

2. Data volume
Every day, a firm has to deal with thousands of transactions which acquire an accurate
concentration from the accountants. Without the help of technology, the larger the data, the

higher probability the accountant could create some mistakes. As a result, in accounting, the
step of correcting is considered one of the most important ones that could be made not only by
none but also by even five or ten correctors.
However, the innovation of industry 4.0 has leaded the accountants to a brighter side of
accounting without the need of mind recording and calculating. Either a hundred or millions
of transactions could be easily journalised, added to a ledger and made into some statement to
report at the end of each period.
The question is whether data volume influences the accounting information quality.
Computer makes no wrong, especially using high technology of industry 4.0. Even though
industry 4.0 has created a far easier and more accurate accounting in the output information,
the input may be the problems. The reason is that inputs are mostly made by human.
Transaction with money could be easily recorder, but others such as on account and discount
negotiation is not. In these case, human is needed to decide how to record and journalize these
accounts. However, human is not always right and some mistakes could be happened.
Conclusively, accounting information quality could be affected by the data volume.
However, in terms of technological industry 4.0, data volume takes no effect on the quality of
that because computer has the unlimited power to solve even a billion calculation each time.
3. Connectivity
3.1. Internet of things
a. Definition
The Internet of things (IoT) is the network of physical devices, vehicles, home
appliances and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and
connectivity which enables these objects to connect and exchange data. Each thing is uniquely
identifiable through its embedded computing system but is able to inter-operate within the
existing Internet infrastructure. (Brown, Eric, 2016)
The term "the Internet of things" was coined by Kevin Ashton of Procter & Gamble,
later MIT's Auto-ID Center, in 1999. "Things", in the IoT sense, can refer to a wide variety of
devices such as heart monitoring implants, biochip transponders on farm animals, cameras
streaming live feeds of wild animals in coastal waters, automobiles with built-in sensors,
DNA analysis devices for environmental/food/pathogen monitoring, or field operation devices

that assist firefighters in search and rescue operations. Legal scholars suggest regarding
"things" as an "inextricable mixture of hardware, software, data and service". (Ashton, K.,
2009)
b. The scale of IoT
Analyst Gartner calculates that around 8.4 billion IoT devices were in use in 2017, up
31 percent from 2016, and this will likely reach 20.4 billion by 2020. Total spending on IoT
endpoints and services will reach almost $2tn in 2017, with two-thirds of those devices found
in China, North America and Western Europe, said Gartner. Out of that 8.4 billion devices,

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more than half will be consumer products like smart TVs and smart speakers. The most-used
enterprise IoT devices will be smart electric meters and commercial security cameras,
according to Gartner.

Table 1: IoT Units Installed Base by Category (Millions of Units)
c. Elements of IoT
Four main elements can be seen as underpinning the development of IoT-data analytics,
cloud computing, data communication and sensors or actuators (Figure 1).
Cloud computing and data analytics include improved machine learning applications,
operating at a new level of artificial intelligence. IoT also incorporates the notion of sensing
and data analysis driving remote control.
For example, a smart transportation scenario might include sensing and analysis of a
city’s current traffic flow, followed by control responses to adjust traffic stop lights or
congestion tolls. In the case of remote control, human interaction may still be needed, but is
typically limited to very specific actions. The combination of remote sensing and actuation,
along with advanced machine learning will lead to the development of autonomous machines
and intelligent systems, including robots.

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Figure 3: The IoT ecosystem: enablers and applications
Source: Date: 24/5/2016
d. Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWAN)

- Definition
A Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) or Low-Power Wide-Area (LPWA)
network or Low-Power Network (LPN) is a type of wireless telecommunication wide area
network designed to allow long range communications at a low bit rate among things
(connected objects) such as sensors operated on a battery. (Schwartzman, Alejandro, and
Chrisanto Leano, 2009)

- Characteristics of LPWAN
Low power: Operates on small, inexpensive batteries for years.
Wide area: Has an operating range that is typically more than km in urban settings: A
physical limitation to achieve low power and wide range is small data size. Most LPWAN
technologies can only send less than 1000 bytes of data per day or less than 5000 bits per
second. (Ferran Adelantado, 2017)
LPWAN is a crucial factor making IoT a reality

- Applications of LPWAN in industry 4.0
Dense locations: cities or big buildings for smart lighting, smart grid, and asset tracking.
Long term monitoring: sensors and meters to be installed and monitored over a long
period of time (e.g. water metering, gas detectors, smart agriculture, and remote door locks).
LPWAN technology works well in situations where devices need to send small data
over a wide area while maintaining battery life over many years. This distinguishes LPWAN
from other wireless network protocols like Bluetooth, RFID, cellular M2M, and Zigbee,
shown below with regards to bandwidth and range capability.

Figure 4: Bandwidth and range capability of some devices
e. Threats and benefits of IoT

- Threats:
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Threat 1: Security and privacy.
Threat 2: Data and complexity.
Threat 3: Give the above concerns about security and complexity to persuade
stakeholders to buy into the IoT can be difficult.

- Benefits:
Benefit 1: Safety, comfort and efficiency.
Benefit 2: Better decision making by analyzing larger trends from empirical data.
Benefit 3: Create new revenue opportunities by realizing new business functions.
(Jess Tourville, 2017)
3.2. Impacts of IoT on accounting information quality
In the accounting space IoT is still maturing, although it won’t be long till it catches up
to other more consumer-facing finance segments, like insurance. Some of the ways the IoT is
likely to impact accounting generally and accounting information quality include the
following:
a. Dealing with more data
As the IoT brings in data from multiple sources, be it transactional data or data from
cloud ERPs and accounting platforms, there will be an even greater influx of available data
which will need to be incorporated into reporting systems. (Daniel Wyner, 2015)
The majority of the data will also be supplied in real-time displayed through intuitive
dashboards that can help to greatly aid decision making and planning. This wave of instant
data is likely to pave the way for more automation tools to help process and analyze data.

With the help of automation tools and intensive data, accounting process could be
shortened, especially the auditing process. By making accounting less cumbersome, there will
be much fewer mistakes and accounting information quality will be highly advanced.
b. High connectivity among accounting data
As all data is connected within clients, managers, suppliers as well as customers, the
predictive value, feedback value and timeliness will all make a breakthrough in relevance of
accounting information. This is the background of concise decisions to be made. (Nick
Chandi, 2017)
III. Case study: Blockchain and distributed ledger technology (IBM)
1. Introduction:
1.1. IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) Australia Ltd.
IBM is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New
York, United States, with operations in over 170 countries. The company originated in 1911
as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) and was renamed "International
Business Machines" in 1924.
IBM Australia is one of 177 branches that IBM serves worldwide (fortune.com, 2016)
1.2. Distributed ledger technology and blockchain
A blockchain, originally block chain, is a continuously growing list of records,
called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography (The Economist, 2015). Each
block typically contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp and
transaction data. By design, a blockchain is inherently resistant to modification of the data. It
is "an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and

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in a verifiable and permanent way" (Iansiti, Marco; Lakhani, Karim R., January 2017). For
use as a distributed ledger, a blockchain is typically managed by a peer-to-peer network
collectively adhering to a protocol for validating new blocks. Once recorded, the data in any
given block cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks,

which requires collusion of the network majority.
A distributed ledger (also called a shared ledger, or distributed ledger technology, DLT)
is a consensus of replicated, shared, and synchronized digital data geographically spread
across multiple sites, countries, or institutions. There is no central administrator or
centralized data storage (Scardovi, Claudio, 2016).
1.3. How distributed ledger technology and blockchain work?

Figure 5: Illustrative blockchain process
(Deloitte, 2016)

Figure 6: Two core functions of blockchain
(Eyers, J. 2015)

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1.4. Applications of distributed ledger technology in Australia
Industry
FINANCIAL AND INSURANCE SERVICES

PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL SERVICES
HEALTH SERVICES
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND SAFETY
TRANSPORT, POSTAL AND WAREHOUSING
ELECTRICITY, GAS AND WATER SUPPLY
Table 2: Applications of blockchain in Australia companies
( Chartered Accountants Australia & Deloitte Australia, January 2017)
1.5. Benefits of distributed ledger technology and blockchain over central ledger in
accounting: Real evidences of Australia and New Zealand
Type of ledgerTraditional central ledger

Blockchain & distributed
ledger
(Source: World Economic
Forum)
Related sectors
Intermediation

Privacy

Disintermediation:
Require intermediaries:
Operates using a peer-to-peer
- Costly: For example, the NZX
network, rather than requiring a
charges up to $75 to clear equity
specific central organisation.
and debt trades, and the ASX
charges 0.225 basis points for
clearance of equities and investment
products.
- Slow down transactions: For
example, both the NZX and ASX
settle on a T+2 cycle for cash
equities.
The Deloitte Australian Privacy Index Blockchain can mitigate
concerns about privacy by
2016 consumer survey shows that
94% of consumers believe trust is providing more transparency
and control over the use of
more important than

information with cryptographic
convenience, and 67% of
respondents are concerned when keys
organisations send personal
information outside Australia.
- At the same time, approximately

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two-thirds of New Zealanders are
concerned with privacy, and over
the last few years 46% of New
Zealanders have become more
concerned about individual
privacy issues.
Security
A centralised ledger can potentially be a
Since the ledger is distributed –
central point of failure.
it does not sit in a central
location – it is less vulnerable to
online attacks.
Table 3: Benefits of distributed ledger technology and blockchain over central ledger in
accounting

Figure 7: Blockchain technology enables complete, conclusive verification without a
trusted party
(Deloitte, 2016)
2. Case Study on IBM – Using Blockchain for Internal Efficiencies and External Value

Creation.
Blockchain technology has the potential to change how transactions are recorded.
“Blockchain is the most significant innovation in bookkeeping since double-entry accounting
was introduced over 700 years ago,” explains Juerg von Kaenel, Associate Director at IBM
Research Australia.“
Traditional accounting required transactions to be recorded in two (or more) separate
ledgers, depending upon the number of participants in the business network, and reconciled
with each other. Blockchain means that there is only one common and indisputable ledger,
which is agreed to by all parties.” Removing these frictions can have significant benefits.
For IBM, blockchain is used internally by its Global Financing arm to resolve contract
disputes between partners on the network:
IBM estimates that each year, of its 2.9 million transactions, an average of 25,000 result
in disputes. These disputes typically tie up around US$100 million in capital. “With our
blockchain solution, we can combine data provided by the participants in the network to
create a consolidated and detailed view of transactions, while strong privacy and

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confidentiality controls ensure that parties can only access the data they need to. This has
significantly reduced the number of disputes, as well as the time taken to resolve them,” says
von Kaenel.
Externally, IBM is also offering blockchain solutions based on Hyperledger for its
customers:

- The Hyperledger Project is a collaborative effort created to advance open standard
blockchain technology and build an ecosystem of partners. IBM is a founding
member and has contributed significant amounts of the code to help transform the
way business transactions are conducted globally.

- Recently, IBM opened an IBM Centre for Blockchain Innovation in Singapore.
The centre will initially focus on solutions for finance and trade. For example, all
the parties to a transaction can be put on the blockchain, where the locations of
goods are visible and terms can be executed automatically with a smart contract.

- Although most of the initial applications have been in financial services, von
Kaenel thinks that blockchain will have broad applications in a range of
industries, and its application to other industries will surpass financial services
applications. “Whenever there are multiple parties which do business together in a
network but don’t quite trust each other (the ‘trust but verify’ approach),
blockchain based solutions could be helpful. It could work for land registries,
healthcare records, freedom of information requests, passport and visa control and
even tracking international flights.”

- Businesses considering blockchain solutions will need to think about how they
manage the intersection of customer experience and human interaction. It will also
be important to think about how blockchain solutions interact and integrate with
existing processes and the supporting technology investments. “At IBM, our
initial blockchain systems are ‘shadowed’; they run in parallel to existing systems
as a check, rather than replacing them,” explains von Kaenel. This method of
piloting can demonstrate the benefits of blockchain without requiring a large scale
overhaul of legacy systems until the business case is demonstrated. Ultimately,
von Kaenel thinks that the most significant applications of blockchain are yet to
be seen. “Right now, many businesses are prototyping and experimenting with
blockchain technology; there is a lot of test and trial.” But, as the technology and
business models mature, von Kaenel thinks that adoption will become more
widespread. “In ten years’ time, blockchain will just be a part of the fabric of
systems. It won’t be discussed – it will just become part of how we operate.”
3. Conclusion
From the case of IBM applying blockchain and distributed ledger technology in

business generally and accounting specifically, it could be predicted that the blockchain
technology has the potential to shapeshift the nature of today’s accounting. It is like a source
of trust that may constitute a way to vastly autonomate accounting processes in compliance
with the regulatory requirements. By reducing the processes and making accounting less
cumbersome with immutable records along with automated auditing, accounting information
quality will accordingly become more reliable, secured , relevant, easy to compare as well as
consistent.

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E. CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES AND RECOMMENDATION
I. Challenges
The last few years has witnessed an explosion of new technology. The Internet of
Things (IoT), Big Data, and automation will affect how businesses work, and how CPAs do
their jobs. It is consequently critical that accountants look at these technological trends,
understand the resulting changes, and figure out what role they can play in the new economy
which will be created.
1. The Power of the Internet of Things
On a basic level, the Internet of Things revolves around different devices, devices which
never before have been connected to the Internet, communicating with one another.
Manufacturing equipment can be connected and transmit data, which allows businesses to
respond faster to developing situations.
The Internet of Things and Big Data are linked together, as devices connected to the
Internet will be constantly transmitting data to interested parties. More businesses with more
data means more analysis and prediction.

II. Opportunity
1. Business
Industry 4.0 affects on accounting on 5 different aspect:

- Data processing: Beside Excel like we used to use in accounting, the development
of technology has brought us many tools along with more modern software which
help a lot when dealing with a large amount of datas.
- Cloud computing: Help Storing datas with unlimited space.
- Automatic system: Replace most of the work of accountants (journalizing and
calculating), simplifying the accounting with higher speed and accuracy.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): Can replace human in complicated accounting process
like valuation, backup and so on. Therefore, minimize company’s staff.
- Blockchain system: Connect datas from financing and accounting.
If properly implemented Industry 4.0 will drastically improve the efficiency of
businesses and organizations. By these 5 main aspects, it will connect all the datas together,
from different companies together, process the datas faster more accuracy, prevent immoral
behaviors, help to regenerate the natural environment through better asset management.
Therefore, the improvement of industry 4.0 not only make the life of an accountants much
more easier, but also make the company run on its right form, which also help the company to
improve when dealing with both financing and managerial problems, thus, increasing profits,
nation GDPs and so on.
However, there are still some main issue which lead to some SME (small and mediumenterprises) could not take the advantages of these improvement due to specific reasons:
- They are unable or unwilling to adapt to the new technologies
- Governments could fail to employ or regulate the new technologies properly.

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Comparing to developed countries, developing and least developed countries have less
access with modern technology. The result is obvious!
In order to ameliorate, in every company, business leaders will have to expand their
thinking. Including new ideas and systems that my never have been considered. For sure,
away from that has been traditionally done. Automation and outsourcing are the key words.
On the government’s side, they have to reform their way of approaching new technology, do

not rush and day by day narrowing the gap in technology with developed countries.
2. Accountants
As for now, most of the stuff we study about accounting during university will not be
applied due to the technology have already automatically done it for us. The requirement for
the jobs also easier, no need too much in calculation, accuracy, just by being careful when
deal with datas and process it with computers or automation is enough. People then seem to
depend too much on technology, and this also lead to another problem.
According to an Oxford University’s survey in 2013 about human’s jobs which were
facing the probability of being replace by robots and AI, it showed that 97,6% of the
accounting process will be computerized and 95.6% the works of auditors will be done by the
automatic systems in near future.
Relying on robots is less risky than counting on human workers. This way of thinking is
starting to appear. It is not unusual for the accountants to be worrying about their jobs being
replaced in the future when their mind and brain cannot compete with the intelligence of
computers.
This problem has a higher probability (is more likely) to happen in developed countries
since they are the ones that can approach the higher technology first, but when technology
keep developing, sooner or later it will become a challenges for both countries in the world.
Robotic automation will kill some jobs but create others. As robotic automation gains
traction in accounting, new jobs will be created. It’s just that they will be different jobs than
people expected to be doing when they graduated from college. The way a C.P.A (Certified
Public Accountants) does the job today is very different today than it was 10 years ago, and
that will continue to evolve. And what else they could do? They have to develop new skill,
continue to understand how the accounting will keep changing, and keep up with the
improvement of the technology. Creating new training and study programs is also urgent task
for schools, colleges, universities or any other training institutions to help the future
accountants, auditors keep up with the Industry 4.0.
III. Recommendation
Industry 4.0, simply said ‘advanced technology’, is taking the part of our life helping
people with life risking jobs or massive data collections. As mentioned above in the essay,

using the aspects of industry 4.0 into accounting information system (AIS) will improve the
work quality and the efficiency. This might sound simple and nice to the companies to use
industry 4.0 into their works. However to get involved with these, there are minimum
requirements from the companies to make. Additionally from industry 4.0 taking cover the
workloads from a company, there are going to be some downturns from using it. In this part,
the recommendation to the companies who are willing to use industry 4.0 into their company
systems, the disadvantages from using industry 4.0, and how Vietnamese companies could
work on their industry 4.0 for future reference are going to be stated.
The most basic thing to use the technology is to get used to the system and know how to
use and apply it for personal usages. To the adults and young adults, they are the people who

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are now on the experimenting on the industry 4.0. In other words, they are the first one to use
these technologies into their business. This can be seen as them being unfamiliar and
uncomfortable using them. To solve this problem, it is the company’s obligation to make sure
that all employees, who are using industry 4.0, are able to handle and use how they want to
use. Since using Industry 4.0 is now a trend in the world, knowing how to use the
technologies is mandatory to everyone. Thus the knowledge of the employees towards the
system is crucial. Even though it will take some time for industry 4.0 to be stable, the
Vietnamese companies should make sure that all employees are able to use the technology
that they are given.
Setting industry 4.0 into the company and maintaining it will cost a fortune to the
company. It is important to the companies that have massive data to process, to use industry
4.0 to help them with data processing. However for the companies who do not have much
data to process, using them could lead to a loss to the company. Using them without
considering the consequences could backfire the company. Vietnamese companies should
look into details whether their company is at the right situation of using industry 4.0 in their
business.

The most important problem of using industry 4.0 to AIS in the company is about the
responsibility. Since nothing can be perfect, there are going to be times when the server or
system is down, which will cause limitations to the cloud computing, and blockchain system,
leading trouble to work. In the case of these results, the critical question is whose obligation
should this be and how he/she is going to fix the problem. It is true that these are highly
unlikely to happen since the artificial intelligence (AI) is well programmed to have backup
plans. However this is a question that every company should face. In order for the Vietnamese
companies to be ready for the change, they have to set the rules without any loopholes so that
someone will be responsible for the fault of industry 4.0.
There are tons of opportunities by using industry 4.0 in companies. However, by
looking at the positive side of it will sure bring failure to a company. They have to clearly
know all the consequences of using industry 4.0 and should be ready to act accordingly.

A. CONCLUSION
Industry 4.0 has a great impact to all aspects of accounting. It may change completely
the way accountants do their jobs in the future thank to artificial intelligence. Larger data
volume handled, more computational power and more connectivity will free human labour by
easing the complication of accounting job and create a better environment for developing
other fields. Industry 4.0 will also bring about many opportunities and challenges due to the
changing in accounting process. Overall, it is believed that the accounting information quality
will rise with the help of computer power.

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APPENDID
1. How old are you?
___________________________________________________________________________
2. If you are a student, what is your major?
___________________________________________________________________________
3. If you are a postgraduate student, what is your job?
___________________________________________________________________________
4. To what extent do you think Accounting Information Scale or the Number of
Accounting Transactions can affect the Reliability of Accounting Information?
No effect
The most effect
0

10
Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο
5. To what extent do you think Accountants’ Technology Level can affect the Reliability
of Accounting Information?
No effect
The most effect
0
10
Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο
6. To what extent do you think Automatic Technology 4.0 in a firm can affect the
Reliability of Accounting Information?
No effect
The most effect
0
10
Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο
7. To what extent do you think Connectivity Capacity of all computers in a firm can
affect the Reliability of Accounting Information?
No effect
The most effect
0
10
Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο Ο

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