The Dark Side of Robotic Process Automation (RPA): Understanding Risks and Challenges with RPA

IF 2.2 4区管理学 Q2 BUSINESS, FINANCE

Accounting Horizons Pub Date : 2023-06-23 DOI:10.2308/horizons-2022-019

Marc Eulerich, Nathan Waddoups, Martin Wagener, David A. Wood

引用次数: 2

Abstract

Auditors and corporate accountants are rapidly adopting robotic process automation (RPA) to assist with accounting tasks. The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of the risks and challenges associated with RPA. This is particularly important given most existing reports focus on the benefits of using RPA. We interview multiple professionals to ascertain challenges, drawbacks, or pitfalls of using RPA. We identify five key challenges related to RPA usage: (1) RPA is often used as a quick-fix Band-Aid instead of fixing core system issues, (2) RPA can cause serious control and security issues, (3) the true cost of RPA is often misunderstood and understated, (4) RPA governance is complicated and challenging, and (5) RPA usage can lead to a loss of process knowledge. Raising these issues should allow practitioners to make more informed decisions regarding RPA implementations and help inform them regarding the problematic areas that require better governance.

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机器人过程自动化(RPA)的阴暗面:了解RPA的风险和挑战

审计员和公司会计师正在迅速采用机器人流程自动化(RPA)来协助会计任务。本文的目的是增加对与RPA相关的风险和挑战的理解。鉴于大多数现有报告都关注使用RPA的好处，这一点尤其重要。我们采访了多位专业人士，以确定使用RPA的挑战、缺点或陷阱。我们确定了与RPA使用相关的五个关键挑战:(1)RPA经常被用作快速修复的创可贴，而不是解决核心系统问题;(2)RPA可能导致严重的控制和安全问题;(3)RPA的真实成本经常被误解和低估;(4)RPA治理复杂且具有挑战性;(5)RPA的使用可能导致流程知识的丢失。提出这些问题应该允许从业者对RPA实现做出更明智的决策，并帮助他们了解需要更好治理的问题领域。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Accounting Horizons BUSINESS, FINANCE-

CiteScore

3.80

自引率

4.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Accounting Horizons is one of three association-wide journals published by the American Accounting Association AAA. This journal seeks to bridge academic and professional audiences with articles that focus on accounting, broadly defined, and that provide insights pertinent to the accounting profession. The contents of Accounting Horizons, therefore, should interest researchers, educators, practitioners, regulators, and students of accounting.