A Commentary on Post‐Pandemic Challenges and Opportunities for the Accounting Profession: Insights from a Systematic Literature Review*

Abstract

This empirically grounded commentary explores the impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the strategic direction of Canada's accounting profession and highlights opportunities and challenges that lie ahead in the post‐pandemic era. We undertake a systematic literature review using deductive and inductive approaches within both the academic accounting literature and a selection of publications targeting accounting practitioners. Our deductive framework uses Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada's (CPA Canada) Foresight initiative, while our inductive approach identifies themes that do not fit within the Foresight initiative. We conclude that the accounting profession will be challenged to balance the pursuit of new opportunities arising from disruptive technologies, real‐time data, and new organizational value drivers while simultaneously reflecting its roots in financial reporting, auditing, and taxation. Our findings also suggest that the profession should pay more attention to the human aspects of the profound changes that are underway. Specifically, the profession focuses heavily on how accountants' work will change due to disruptive forces but not enough on how these changes impact accountants from a broader human resource management perspective (e.g., mental health challenges, alternative work arrangements, retraining, and upskilling). Our work differs from prior reviews as we incorporate both academic accounting and accounting practitioner‐focused publications to propose a research agenda intended to encourage more practically relevant accounting research.