The adequacy of academic curricula for digital transformation in the accounting education

The accounting profession is going through a changing phase and transformation due, in particular, to the technological evolution, which the accounting teaching cannot be left out. The objective of this study is to analyze the adequacy of accounting teaching in Portugal, in preparing students with technological and digital skills that respond to the current and future challenges of the job. To this end, semi-structured interviews were carried out with people who deal with accounting professionals, as well as focus groups, in which professors, students and recent graduates in accounting participated. The evidence allows us to conclude that the accountant of the future will have a more technological profile, with knowledge in business intelligence, big data and analytics, and data mining. The accounting profession can find in digital transformation an important opportunity to expand its functions, more related to the treatment and analysis of large amounts of data. However, for this, higher education must update its curricular plans in the area of information and communication technologies (ICT), with content suitable for the digital transformation.