Digitalization of financial administration – changing work and learning

Arja Haapakorpi

Digitalization in financial administration services – transformation of the profession

The services of financial administration are increasingly digitalized. At the moment, the traditional “paper-based” mode, focusing on basic accounting services, is increasingly replaced with digitalized systems with the multiple services consisting of consulting of financial administration and legislation and knowledge management. However, the client companies vary as regards their digital infrastructure and related competences, which shape the services provided by the companies in the industry of financial administration. In addition, the professional profile of the companies providing the services vary from simple accounting services to a profile consisting of different disciplines and professional territories, such as administration, legislation, ICT and management. In addition to the single occupational/professional mode or multi-professional mode, the history of the companies is related to the professional transformation. The companies with a short history have started with digitalized infrastructure and those companies with longer history have or are in the process of providing digitalized and related multiplied services. For designing the research problem and methodologies of the transformation of the profession, a theoretical section is first presented.

The transformation of profession is due to the intersecting professional, organizational and industry-specific reshaping, which is interrelated to the introduction of new technologies. First, the transformation of a professional career tends to vary with the profession and the context of work (Brint 2001; Burns 2019). Diversified career trajectories are due to the intersection of professional and organizational reshaping (Burns 2019; Haapakorpi 2012) or industry-specific reshaping (Burns 2019 Brint 2001). Institutional knowledge systems are the source for new types of knowledge work as a new type of knowledge emerges from the knowledge systems based on a continuum of verifiable systems mediated via universities (Brint 2001; see also Švarc 2016). Instead of a solid profession, a multiplicity of professionalities (Evans 2008) emerges with the related intersection.

Second, technology is related to the reshaping of professions. The introduction of new technology is related to the choices made in work organizations, mostly by the management, but, in general, the organizations apply similar technological infrastructures in the industry (Holtgrewe 2007). The routine tasks are replaced with digital technologies, in reverse to the tasks involving complex problem solving and social interaction and discretion (Autor, 2015). The most common change is completing jobs with technology, which increases new tasks related to the new technology (Autor 2015). The jobs may be changed with reorganizing the tasks between different professions and occupations (Fleming 2019).

Work organization, social action and technology are interrelated, and the relationship between human action and technology is interactive (Orlikowski, 2007; Björn and Österlund, 2014; Gherardi, 2015). With the digital work environment, professionals become mutually bound, which shapes work processes and social relations.  Community of practice – theoretical approach emphasises the texture of social, situated practices, knowledge and materiality, which promotes shared learning at work sites (Gherardi et al. 1998). However, the learning is conditioned with social relations, human interests and technological prerequisites. Humans are engaged to different communities of practice and knowing, and apply different strategies based on their interests. Inclusion and exclusion of practice-knowledge communities, based on social relations (Gherardi 1998), create inter- and intra-relational hierarchies at work sites.

The studies on professional work in financial administration services show changes from routine work to technology-assisted tasks adjusting the work processes in digitalized systems, constructing joint working methods with the increasing bonds in the work community and learning new knowledge areas and reshaping professional identity (Bordi et al 2021). However, the opportunities for learning the new working methods and inclusion into learning communities are not always equal for all due to the methods work organization and task division (Bordi et al 2021).

On the basis of the literature review, the following assumptions are made. First, the professional tasks in the industry become diversified in relation to the digitalization, in other words by technology-assisted tasks and new tasks related to digitalization. Second, the professional positions are differentiated with both organizational and professional hierarchies. Third, these trends are not determinate, but related to the style of management, client companies, goals for organizing work, the relations in the professional community and the labour market. The research problem deals with the transformation of profession in financial administration services, which is due to intersection of professional, industry-specific, company-related and technological changes. The research focuses on following questions i) how the work and organization of work change with digitalization and managerial strategies ii) how the relations in the work community change iii) what kinds of new divisions and hierarchies emerge?

The data is sourced from the research project “Digitalization of financial administration and community of learning – action research 2024-2026”. The data come from interviews to 6-10 companies providing services of financial administration, which vary with their technology and profile. The management and personnel are interviewed.