When Data Become Ubiquitous, What Becomes of Accounting and Assurance?

ABSTRACT Big Data and the data analytical software for analyzing it have developed far enough that some trends have emerged. People are clever. Leave them alone with resources and they will do interesting things with them, giving both intended and unintended consequences. This commentary stems from the 2016 Journal of Information Systems Research Conference (JISC2016) on Big Data. It highlights the landscape of Big Data, including how organizations are starting to use data in different ways. While it is true that some of what this commentary offers does not, strictly speaking, require Big Data with respect to volume, diversity, and structure, the connotations that Big Data bestowed have prompted new ways to stage and use data. For example, “70% of firms now say that big data is of critical importance to their firms” (Malone 2016). The articles in this issue were presented as papers at JISC2016. They treat different aspects of the growing availability and use of data in organizations.