Empirical and Theoretical Relationship between FinTech and Accounting Practices: Evidence from Mena Countries

Abstract

Abstract New technology innovations are a great opportunity for improving accounting practices e.g. financial technology tools specialize in recording and verifying companies' transactions ensuring transparency, accountability, and security of financial data. Therefore, this study focused on the effect of financial technology on accounting practices in different Mena countries, the current study used performance management, financial reporting, firm budgeting, and risk fraud management to measure the accounting practices, while financial technology adopted the blockchain and big data analysis. This study surveyed chartered and qualified accountants in four Mena countries: Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt within 215 questionnaires by using a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach to test the hypotheses. The results show a positive and significant impact of blockchain and big data in all accounting practice measures. Furthermore, the result confirmed that accountants who use financial technology tools help firms to reach deeper insight, forecast outcomes, and minimize the processes routine.