Digital Transformation of Accounting in Industry 4.0 Perspective and an Empirical Study on Turkish Accounting Education

Abstract

Industry 4.0, with the unstoppable development of information technologies and the internet towards the end of the 20th century, is considered an industrial revolution that brings together digital technologies that are constantly increasing in number and variety. As a result of the increase in the use of digital technologies brought by the Industry 4.0, digital transformation, this topic has become increasingly important and begun to take place more in the literature. Studies examining the relationship between the Industry 4.0 and accounting are observed in the literature. However, there were not enough studies in the literature that measured the perspectives of students studying in the business administration departments towards the Industry 4.0 as well as their attitudes toward accounting courses. In this study, the effects of the Industry 4.0 on accounting and the digital transformation of accounting have been evaluated for business administration students. A total of 491 questionnaires were applied to the students of the department of business administration, and IBM SPSS Statistics 22 package program was employed for the reliability analysis of the data obtained from 491 questionnaires. Explanatory factor analysis was benefited to determine the validity of the scalesin the study. In the analysis, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Barlett Test were performed to measure the sample adequacy. According to the results of the analysis, it was revealed that there was a significant difference in the Industry 4.0 in terms of the views of the students studying in the e business administration department according to sex, age, academic year, and grade points average. In addition, it was also revealed that there was a significant difference in attitudes towards accounting courses and the Industry 4.0 among business administration students based on sex, age, academic year, and department.