Quantum information and accounting

Joel S. Demski, Stephen A. FitzGerald, Yuji Ijiri +2 more

Joel S. Demski, Stephen A. FitzGerald, Yuji Ijiri +2 more

John C. Fellingham, Haijin H. Lin, Douglas A. Schroeder

Joel S. Demski, Stephen A. FitzGerald, Yuji Ijiri +2 more

This present paper is a sequel to the paper prepared last summer by the same five authors, entitled "Quantum information and accounting information: Their salient features and conceptual applications. " This first paper has been published in the July-August issue of the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy and is available online at sciencedirect.com by Elsevier. The

Marina Teller

Fatemabibi Abubaker Salehbhai

The complex of processes involved yields Accounting Information Systems (AIS), whereby financial data is recorded, processed, and stored that has important implications not only for decision-making, but also regulatory compliance and stakeholder assurance. While accounting practices have moved towards a digital transformation, accounting systems are increasingly susceptible to advanced cyber threats, data breaches, and financial manipulation. In this paper, a new paradigm of Quantum-Secured Accounting Information Systems (AIS) is proposed as a preventive framework aimed at dealing with the novelty of cybersecurity threats posed by quantum computing. It discusses and critiques how classical crypto-based AIS are open to exposures of some very serious threats and then outlines the ideas for a quantum security aware framework addressing financial data integrity, audit reliability, confidence by stakeholders. By compiling existing interdisciplinary literature, spanning accounting through cybersecurity to quantum technology, the paper constructs a multi-layered architecture of AIS secured with quantum technologies that includes data protection, access control and audit compliance. The paper further relates the implications of these systems for financial reporting, auditing and corporate governance while identifying primary challenges to adoption in terms of infrastructure costs and skills shortages are identified as well as legacy system integration challenges and a lack of quantum standards specific to the accounting profession. Finally, it provides guidelines for future research to empirically test organizational readiness and the impacts of classical vs. quantum secured AIS on audit quality and preventing fraud especially in developing countries. This research contributes to AIS literature by proposing a future-oriented framework that readies accounting systems for the post-quantum era