Purpose

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the last time a crisis affected businesses worldwide by putting economies into hibernation was in 1918 – the Great Influenza Pandemic. Environmental, social and governance frameworks require businesses to respond to such crises as it significantly changes the business environment. With approximately 2.84 million accountants existing across 130 countries, this study aims to determine whether the accounting profession responded to this crisis. As these responses can provide insights into the type of activities accountants performed during the lockdown, the authors analysed them for emerging themes and identified changes in the way that accountants performed tasks.

Design/methodology/approach

Using search engines, the authors examined publicly available secondary sources such as websites of professional bodies, the Big Four and mid-tier accounting firms and government organisations using the keyword “COVID-19” to identify responses on issues faced by accountants during the 2020 lockdown period in New Zealand. The authors used interpretive text analysis to examine the responses for emerging themes.

Findings

The accountants’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic emphasised information technology and soft skills but most importantly the interaction, integration and immersion of technical skills with information technology and soft skills. The findings also highlight changes in the way accountants performed their tasks.

Originality/value

The study insights enable accounting academics to better understand the interconnection between hard and soft skills for incorporating it in syllabi, thereby preparing students for future roles. In addition, the study findings will assist both practitioners and researchers to explore the emerging changes in the way accountants perform their tasks.

中文翻译：

---

会计师如何应对 COVID-19 大流行造成的财务影响

目的

在 COVID-19 大流行之前，上一次危机通过使经济进入休眠状态影响全球企业是在 1918 年——大流感大流行。环境、社会和治理框架要求企业应对此类危机，因为它会显着改变商业环境。130 个国家约有 284 万名会计师，本研究旨在确定会计行业是否应对了这场危机。由于这些回答可以深入了解会计师在锁定期间执行的活动类型，因此作者对它们进行了分析以寻找新出现的主题，并确定了会计师执行任务的方式发生的变化。

设计/方法/途径

使用搜索引擎，作者使用关键字“COVID-19”检查了专业机构、四大和中级会计师事务所和政府组织等公开可用的二级资源，以确定对会计师在 2020 年封锁期间面临的问题的回应在新西兰的时期。作者使用解释性文本分析来检查对新兴主题的回应。

发现

会计师对 COVID-19 大流行的反应强调了信息技术和软技能，但最重要的是技术技能与信息技术和软技能的互动、整合和融合。调查结果还强调了会计师执行任务方式的变化。

原创性/价值

研究见解使会计学者能够更好地理解硬技能和软技能之间的相互联系，以便将其纳入教学大纲，从而为学生未来的角色做好准备。此外，研究结果将有助于从业者和研究人员探索会计师执行任务方式的新变化。