Measuring the impact of industry 4.0 on the accounting profession with the technology acceptance model

Innovations in technology and science have led to the formation of industrial revolutions. There have been three industrial revolutions from 2011 to the Hannover/Germany fair. Every industrial revolution that takes place has political, social and economic effects. The most important feature that distinguishes Industry 4.0 from other industrial eras is that it has influenced a wide range of both production and service sectors. This is due to the fact that Industry 4.0 is the intersection point of multi-disciplines such as autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, internet of things, cyber-physical networks, engineering, technological innovations and software. As all accounting transactions in daily life have been moved to the digital field, it has become a necessity for professional accountants to follow all legal regulations as well as develop their hardware and software competencies. The aim of this research is to determine the effects of the perceptions, attitudes, intentions and actual behaviors of the accounting professionals registered in Gaziantep Chamber of Certified Public Accountants (GSMMMO) and Gaziantep Chamber of Certified Public Accountants (GYMMO) against the information technologies of Industry 4.0 accounting science. In addition, in this study, the level of importance of Industry 4.0 components of digital technology use in accounting processes by professional accountants and the obstacles put forward in the light of technological developments were investigated. The model was created by adapting the obstacle variable to the model, adhering to the Technology Acceptance Model (TCM) implemented in 1989. Data were obtained from 434 participants through a questionnaire in January and March 2021. The obtained data sets were analyzed with the statistical package program. In this study, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied. T-test, one-way analysis of variance was performed based on the demographic characteristics of the participants. Correlation and regression analyzes were conducted to investigate the effects of professionals on perception, attitude, intention and behavior levels. As a result of the analysis, the adapted model was validated in 6 dimensions, and it was determined that the professional accountants showed a high level of compliance in adopting technological developments. Keywords: Industry 4.0, Technology Acceptance Model, Accounting Profession.