Big Questions in AIS Research: Measurement, Information Processing, Data Analysis, and Reporting

Basu (2008) chaired a panel on ‘‘Big Unanswered Questions in Accounting,’’ which was subsequently published as a series of six commentaries in Accounting Horizons. In that spirit, and motivated by the unprecedented pace of change in technology, the current editorial raises questions regarding analytic and information technology issues. In previous editorials, a set of emerging issues was discussed: (1) the context of the AIS field in an age of rapid change and evolution (Vasarhelyi 2012a), (2) the role of financial accounting standards in a database-oriented world (Vasarhelyi 2012b), (3) the potential for formalization of standards whereby soft and hard intelligent agents can perform much of the work (Vasarhelyi 2013), and (4) the emerging opportunities being presented by big data and the associated potential implications for accounting and auditing (Moffitt and Vasarhelyi 2013). This editorial addresses major questions that could dramatically and fundamentally alter the accounting discipline. Accounting is a field of data, information processing, measurement, analysis, and reporting. Unfortunately, technology has often been used to simply automate existing manual processes and methodologies, instead of first restating problems and reengineering processes in light of new technologies and capabilities. This editorial poses and explores the following big questions that emerge from the five aforementioned attributes of accounting: