Big Data And Decision Making Among Accountants In Multinational Companies In Ghana

Abstract

Big data analytics is one of the reliable means of data management techniques used in most transnational corporations. In Ghana, there have been efforts by multinational companies to efficiently outsource, store, analyse and use big data for various decision-making protocols. However, accountants’ low level of expertise in data management techniques has resulted in several challenges in big accessing, analysing, and making empirical decisions with big data. This qualitative study employed the case study design while purposively sampling twelve respondents from multinational companies in Ghana to assess big data management techniques in multinational companies and the challenges that are associated with them. Data was elicited from respondents through face-to-face in-depth interviews with specially designed interview guide. Findings reported by the study revealed that, multinational companies in Ghana resort to the use of big data analytical systems such as Tableau, SAP, AQUILLA and EPC for data sourcing and storage. Moreover, it was revealed that accountants in multinational companies greatly depend on big data analytics for making various strategic, managerial, and financial regulatory decisions and analysis. Notwithstanding that, it was established that there are a wide range of adversities in using big data in multinational companies. Such of these challenges include data redundancy, privacy concerns and low level of expertise that make the application of big data in financial analysis, projections and decision making less accurate and reliable. In an attempt in overcoming such challenges, the study recommends that; multinational companies should invest in human resource training in order to equip staff with the needed sills to manage big data. Furthermore, analytical systems developers ought to update existing softwares in order to reduce data edundancy and improve data recovery. Lastly, government in consultation with stakeholders should prioritize data privacy and hence ensure adequate advancement of technological infrastructure.