The impact of artificial intelligence in detecting manipulations in financial statements

Abstract

This study deals with the impact of artificial intelligence in detecting manipulations in financial statements in Iraqi joint-stock companies. The descriptive analytical approach was used as a general approach for the study, and the questionnaire was used as a tool for collecting primary data, as the questionnaire was distributed to the study community, which includes all (accountants - internal auditors - external auditors - heads of departments - financial managers - assistant managers - managers) in Iraqi joint-stock companies, as 430 questionnaires were distributed to a deliberate sample of individuals who have the practical and scientific experience and knowledge from the study community that enables them to answer the questionnaire questions accurately, and 411 questionnaires were retrieved, and 4 questionnaires were excluded that were not valid for analysis due to lack of answers, thus the number of questionnaires valid for analysis reached 407 questionnaires, and the data were analyzed using the SPSS25 statistical analysis program to test the hypotheses and extract practical results. The researcher reached the following results: There is an impact of artificial intelligence in discovering manipulations in the financial statements of Iraqi joint-stock companies, and there is an impact of artificial intelligence in discovering manipulations in the content of the financial statements, as well as an impact of artificial intelligence in discovering manipulations in the time of the financial statements. Based on the practical results, the researcher presented a set of recommendations, the most prominent of which are: Developing technical equipment and devices with updating artificial intelligence programs and technologies used in Iraqi joint-stock companies in line with the development of artificial intelligence technologies used in global companies to ensure the detection of manipulation in the information content of the financial statements and the time of their presentation to the beneficiaries of these statements from investors and decision-makers, and attracting and recruiting human cadres capable of preparing financial statements based on these technologies, with training new human cadres to increase their experience and ability to do so.