Authors: Panagiotis Papadeas

Title: Artificial Intelligence and critical thinking in Accounting

Abstract

Accounting has been using technology in recent decades to reduce the time of auditing and conventional data processing from several months to a few weeks. It is therefore of particular interest to note the difficulty of depicting financial (accounting) information in business entities within the new globalized environment and the developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The research process has turned to the field of Neurofinance, which aims to verify the observed behavioral patterns through experiments. This obviously helps to improve the investment process, through understanding how decisions are made, which to a significant extent appear as repetitive actions of the individual performed automatically or subconsciously. In the field of financial accounting, automatic actions are related to the increased or not subjectivity in the process of estimating the useful life of an asset, the presentation of financial assets as Current or Non-Current Assets, the creation or not of possible future economic benefits from an intangible asset, the recognition of provisions, etc. Also, the controlled actions concern the mandatory detailed procedures for updating records and submitting tax returns, i.e., the implementation of legislation at national, community and international level.

This study concludes that AI minimizes the time of mandatory accounting procedures. However, it cannot substitute for human intelligence and creativity, nor for the ability to formulate original hypotheses, questions and suggestions-answers to key dilemmas of estimation, choice or recognition.