Table 2 Roles, related tasks, human and... | Emerald Publishing

Table 2

Roles, related tasks, human and AI-based actors in accounting

Roles: tasks	Actor	Current actors	Actors in the year 2030
1. Transaction recorder: recording transactions, posting to account and reconciling and balancing accounts		Humans screen documents, post them to the correct account and manually reconcile and balance accounts supported by software tools (for example, booking software)	AI-based technology (for example, a smart software robot) which extracts information from machine-readable digital data formats as a self-learning system, posts it to the correct account; humans will supervise the results and take care of exceptional cases the AI-based technology is not able to solve
2. Data and information manager: collecting and selecting data for information gain		Due to their expertise, humans collect and select the data used for valuation, forecasting, risk mitigating …, they use mainly internal data from historical transactions and/or selected external structured data	Free data exchange standards enable AI-based technology such as automated feature tools to collect and suggest internal/external and unstructured/structured data relevant for the task; humans decide about the usage and/or supervise the selection of data
3. Data miner: data mining (analysing) to optimise costs, generate sales, forecast, mitigate risk or detect fraud and guarantee compliance		Humans fulfil this role by analysing mainly historical internal structured data using spreadsheets and descriptive analytics	AI-based technology (such as business intelligence tools) uses predictive analytics tools to analyse and recognises anomalies, interrelations, trends and patterns within big data; humans can focus on major incidents
4. Dashboard designer: reporting and visualisation of data		Humans use software tools (such as Excel, PowerPoint) and standardised formats to report and visualise the data on a regular basis	Humans design interactive dashboards with AI-based tools, which meet the needs of the user in an iterative way in nearby real time
5. Advisor: interpret the data and decide or advise/communicate to stakeholders		Humans interpret the data due to their individual experience in the field	AI-based technology suggests data-driven decision options based on prescriptive analytics, humans interpret the AI outcome and understand the overall engagement process and have to weigh up options and decide or communicate to stakeholders and advise due to their expert knowledge and experience
6. AI technology expert: training and supervising AI-based digital technologies		Not necessary right now	Humans train and supervise AI-based technologies, such as a trainee, in a specific task and how to interact with humans to provide human and AI-based technology collaboration
7. Process manager: selecting processes for automation and the corresponding AI-based technology or components		Not necessary right now	Humans using AI-based process mining tools identify processes for automation, select the relevant AI technology or component and make sure that the collaboration of AI-based technology and humans work
8. Legal and ethical supervisor: guiding and monitoring legal and ethical requirements		Not necessary right now	Humans are responsible to guide AI-based technology and monitor whether the data-driven decisions made by humans meet legal and ethical requirements

Roles: tasks	Actor	Current actors	Actors in the year 2030
1. Transaction recorder:recording transactions, posting to account and reconciling and balancing accounts		Humans screen documents, post them to the correct account and manually reconcile and balance accounts supported by software tools (for example, booking software)	AI-based technology (for example, a smart software robot) which extracts information from machine-readable digital data formats as a self-learning system, posts it to the correct account; humans will supervise the results and take care of exceptional cases the AI-based technology is not able to solve
2. Data and information manager:collecting and selecting data for information gain		Due to their expertise, humans collect and select the data used for valuation, forecasting, risk mitigating …, they use mainly internal data from historical transactions and/or selected external structured data	Free data exchange standards enable AI-based technology such as automated feature tools to collect and suggest internal/external and unstructured/structured data relevant for the task; humans decide about the usage and/or supervise the selection of data
3. Data miner:data mining (analysing) to optimise costs, generate sales, forecast, mitigate risk or detect fraud and guarantee compliance		Humans fulfil this role by analysing mainly historical internal structured data using spreadsheets and descriptive analytics	AI-based technology (such as business intelligence tools) uses predictive analytics tools to analyse and recognises anomalies, interrelations, trends and patterns within big data; humans can focus on major incidents
4. Dashboard designer:reporting and visualisation of data		Humans use software tools (such as Excel, PowerPoint) and standardised formats to report and visualise the data on a regular basis	Humans design interactive dashboards with AI-based tools, which meet the needs of the user in an iterative way in nearby real time
5. Advisor:interpret the data and decide or advise/communicate to stakeholders		Humans interpret the data due to their individual experience in the field	AI-based technology suggests data-driven decision options based on prescriptive analytics, humans interpret the AI outcome and understand the overall engagement process and have to weigh up options and decide or communicate to stakeholders and advise due to their expert knowledge and experience
6. AI technology expert:training and supervising AI-based digital technologies		Not necessary right now	Humans train and supervise AI-based technologies, such as a trainee, in a specific task and how to interact with humans to provide human and AI-based technology collaboration
7. Process manager:selecting processes for automation and the corresponding AI-based technology or components		Not necessary right now	Humans using AI-based process mining tools identify processes for automation, select the relevant AI technology or component and make sure that the collaboration of AI-based technology and humans work
8. Legal and ethical supervisor:guiding and monitoring legal and ethical requirements		Not necessary right now	Humans are responsible to guide AI-based technology and monitor whether the data-driven decisions made by humans meet legal and ethical requirements