Big data utilization and its effects on the controller role
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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
School of Business |
Master's thesis
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Author
Date
2020
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Accounting
Language
en
Pages
72
Series
Abstract
The term big data is fairly new, but seems to be applied in almost every area of human activity at the moment. The reason for this popularity is the exponentially growing amount of information made available by developments in computing and telecommunications technology, particularly the internet and auditing domains. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate how companies utilize Big data in their operations and how it has been effected to controllers’ roles. One examination object in this study is also strategic decision making and controller role in this process. The literature review looks at how researches describe the decision making process, and how they see controller role in it. This thesis based on a qualitative case study and the purpose is to interpret from the case companies collected data from a theoretic perspective. In addition to the literature review, the question is studied in three machine engineering companies by interviewing experts. Machine engineering companies use a lot of data at different stages of the production and supply chain. For this reason, it was topical to include this field as case companies to this study. The empirical part includes eight semi-structured interviews from these companies. The results of the study show that the utilization of big data is still in the early stages of companies, so it has not yet significantly influenced the controller role. However, the utilization of big data is considered very important and companies are working to develop it. Utilizing Big data is believed to have an impact on the controller's role in reducing manual work and providing more up-to-date and comprehensive information smoother and faster. Big data is believed to allow faster access to information, leaving more time for analysis and action development. Controllers tend to be more than just data producers in the decision making process. They are perceived to support management in decision-making, although final decisions are made by company management.Description
Thesis advisor
Vaivio, JuhaniKeywords
controller, management accountant, big data, strategic decision making
