The effect of using artificial intelligence on the quality of financial reporting: The mediating role of users' trust in accounting systems

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of using artificial intelligence on the quality of financial reporting with the mediating role of user trust. This study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-correlation in terms of method. The statistical population included accountants, experts, and financial managers of companies active in Tehran in 1404. Using the available sampling method, 357 valid questionnaires were used for the final analysis. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of 30 items in three dimensions: "using artificial intelligence", "user trust", and "quality of financial reporting", which was designed based on a five-point Likert scale. The content validity of the questionnaire was examined and confirmed by experts' opinions and the construct validity was verified by confirmatory factor analysis in SmartPLS software. Cronbach's alpha coefficient between 0.84 and 0.91 indicated the desired reliability of the tool.
The findings showed that artificial intelligence has a positive and significant effect on the quality of financial reporting (β=0.343) and user trust plays a strong mediating role in this relationship, such that its indirect effect (β=0.568) is greater than the direct effect. Also, artificial intelligence has a significant effect on increasing user trust (β=0.915) and trust on improving the quality of financial reporting (β=0.621). The model fit indices (SRMR=0.056, NFI=0.91, GOF=0.64) indicate a good fit of the structural model. In general, the results show that improving the quality of financial reporting in the era of artificial intelligence technology depends on the level of user trust in digital accounting systems in addition to technical progress; therefore, strengthening the transparency of algorithms, data security, and compliance with ethical principles in the use of artificial intelligence are essential to increase trust and acceptance of financial systems.