Impact of Information Technology on Public Accounting Firm Productivity

In recent years, information technology (IT) has played a critical role in the services provided by the public accounting industry. However, no empirical research has evaluated the impact of IT on public accounting firms. This study focuses on five offices of an international public accounting firm that recently made large IT investments, primarily in audit software and knowledge-sharing applications. Both qualitative and quantitative information from the research site are analyzed to estimate the change in productivity following the implementation of IT. The results from both regression analysis and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) indicate significant productivity gains following IT implementation, documenting the value impact of IT in a public accounting firm.