Through a comprehensive bibliometric analysis, this chapter aims to explore the intersection between accounting, sustainability, and artificial intelligence (AI), examining the temporal evolution of publications in the field of business, management and accounting. Trends, emerging themes, and knowledge gaps are identified, providing a panoramic view of the current research landscape. The results reveal a growing convergence between accounting, sustainability, and AI, indicating a growing interest in these domains when considered as a whole. They also show that most studies are co-authored and have an article-type nature. This chapter contributes to the knowledge and understanding of the scientific production that crosses the area of accounting for sustainability and AI, towards the Sustainable Development Goals. It offers valuable insights for academics, providing a solid understanding of research streams and promising future directions at the intersection of accounting, sustainability, and AI. It also guides practitioners in decision-making and policy formulation.
TopIntroduction
In the last decade, the need for “artificial intelligence” systems, a term used by John McCarthy in 1956 in a research project at Dartmouth (McCarthy et al., 2006; Dhamija & Bag, 2020), has been increasing in organisations. As accounting is based on daily business and commercial transactions, all AI-based software reduces task time, leaving humans to solve other accounting and management tasks (Khan et al., 2023). Hence, in recent years, the convergence of accounting, sustainability and artificial intelligence (AI) has stood out as a dynamic and constantly evolving field of research. Interest in this field has been driven by the need to address complex challenges, such as integrating sustainable practices into accounting operations and applying advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to improve responsible and sustainable organisational decision-making.
In 2015, the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit launched the SDGs, adopting a universal approach to the Sustainable Development Agenda (Agenda 2030), ushering in a new era of global development goals to solve the world's most pressing problems. Also, since 2015, the progress of AI has been rapidly increasing, contributing to the development of accounting firms and other organisations due to less human capacity and lower chances of errors (Khan et al., 2023). Understanding the implications of AI for sustainability is key, as harnessing these technologies shapes operations and policies that can promote sustainable digitalisation and automation practices (Ghobakhloo et al., 2023). AI has a significant impact on most social and economic sectors and this effect is expected to increase in the near future (Zhao & Fariñas, 2023).
While the integration of AI in the implementation of the SDGs represents a modern and effective approach to tackling the complex challenges of sustainable development, accounting plays a fundamental and comprehensive role in implementing the SDGs. Accounting can play a crucial role in the SDG agenda, namely by helping to measure the impact of organisational activities, monitoring the progress and effectiveness of sustainable initiatives, transparently reporting the impact of activities, integrating sustainability criteria into decision-making, and promoting sustainable organisational practices.
Using AI capabilities in accounting practices makes it possible to strengthen efforts to achieve the goals outlined by the international community at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit through innovative approaches and advanced technologies. AI enables accounting to transform the way organisations measure, monitor, report and manage their performance. AI facilitates and enables efficient data analysis and sharing between organisations and countries, which promotes global collaboration to achieve the SDGs through accounting for sustainability. Sustainability accounting can help organisations achieve the SDGs (Scarpellini, 2022). IA can be applied to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes (Zhao & Fariñas, 2023). However, as technology and new techniques become increasingly popular in the field of accounting, successful application will require different skills from those taught in business schools (Agustí & Orta-Pérez, 2023).