Esplorare l'intersezione tra intelligenza artificiale, etica e dinamiche della forza lavoro nelle moderne pratiche contabili.

Industry 4.0 looms large in one corner, necessitating a metamorphosis in the accounting and auditing discipline. We advocate for cross-disciplinary collaboration, urging academia, regulators, and professional bodies to prepare for seismic shifts. The evolving landscape demands curriculum adjustments, policy revolutions, and a reimagining of professional development. Welcome to the era of professional hybrids guiding us through uncharted territories of big data, blockchain, and AI in the fourth industrial revolution. However, tread carefully – the double-edged sword of AI signals a potential upheaval in our familiar accounting and auditing profession. Simultaneously, our exploration navigates the ethical dimensions of AI integration into accounting decisions. Grounded in Rest's four-component model, we embark on an interpretative journey through accounting research. Our narrative review spanning 2015–2020 uncovers key challenges: objectivity, privacy, transparency, accountability, and trustworthiness. The revelation? AI, standing alone, lacks an ethical foundation. We advocate for shared responsibility between humans and AI, urging adaptability in governance and auditing processes to uphold ethical decision-making. Complementing this, our research delves into the evolving landscape of roles and tasks within the accounting profession amid the digital transformation fuelled by AI. Through a Delphi study and expert workshops, we pinpoint imminent shifts in tasks and skills, where AI-based technologies impact existing roles while creating new ones. This intrafirm perspective analysis contributes valuable insights for future research on AI's influence on organizations and society.