Readiness for Implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Accounting Sector of Bangladesh

Abstract

The world is moving at a high pace side by side along with the technological uprising brought about by the ingenious revolution in information technology. The most notable among them is the use of artificial intelligence in business processes and decision-making. Use of AI stretches from accounting to healthcare. This paper meticulously talks about AI and the preparedness of organizational infrastructures in Bangladesh to deploy AI in accounting and finance functions. The methodology employed is a quantitative analysis through a digital survey which is analyzed to reveal objective scoring. Google forms have been prepared with the selected questionnaire and distributed among professionals through professional network. The basis followed for questionnaire were the dimensions of digital readiness level 4.0 model as proposed by studies performed by Pirola et al. (2019). The dimensions were 1. People, 2. Process, 3. Strategy, 4. Technology, 5. Integration. This study unveils strengths in the corporate practices such as security regarding Information Technology, secured data backup, frequent use of ERP, strong collaboration between departments. Weaknesses such as uniform communication is absent within the organization, reluctant to incorporate recent updates in technology, unfamiliarity with AI concepts and outdated cloud technologies within the organizations in Bangladesh. Additional challenges observed were vulnerability and cybersecurity of Information Technology infrastructures, uniform goal incorporating AI tools, through transparency of data and potential displacement of employees performing repetitive jobs. All these weaknesses and challenges have to be addressed to prepare the technological infrastructure of the organizations of Bangladesh for proper adoption of Artificial intelligence in accounting and finance function.