The accounting system and its specialists versus the VUCA environment

The acronym VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) defines four challenges that business units are forced to face in today’s – volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment. This concept is reflected not only in the context of business strategy or management, but also in accounting. Each variable contributes to running a business, managing it and making decisions within it in a certain way.The purpose of the article is to answer the question of whether the accounting information system and its specialists are prepared to function in the business environment under VUCA conditions.The considerations carried out in the article are concerned with identifying the way in which the variables of VUCA affect the accounting system, identifying the tools used to mitigate the effects of VUCA, and pointing out the necessary participation of accounting professionals in the environment, identifying their characteristics and skills in the VUCA world. In illustrating the selected aspects, the literature on the essence of VUCA, the tools of the accounting information system that can be used in a VUCA environment was used, including the institutional regulations issued during the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The considerations were supplemented with the results of research conducted in the area of issues concerning the characteristics of leaders in the VUCA world. The results were used to determine the hierarchy of characteristics of accounting professionals in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment.The research findings indicate that accounting, as an informational system, demonstrates adaptability in any conditions, providing reliable and useful information regardless of its nature and the changing regulations. A key role in this process is played by specialists, whose competencies and willingness for continuous improvement enablethem to effectively identify, record, and report information, evenin a dynamic and unpredictable environment.