Industry professionals and accounting researchers discuss the potential for working together

How AI and emerging technologies are changing the accounting and auditing industry was the topic of a recent discussion between Rutgers Business School researchers and representatives from the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC).

The two groups met to explore opportunities to strengthen the ties between researchers and the internal audit practice, including the possibility of a research partnership. 

“One of the most useful things about visits like this is the opportunity to connect what we are doing in research with problems that organizations are dealing with in practice,” said Miklos Vasarhelyi, a distinguished professor of accounting at Rutgers Business School and director of the Rutgers Accounting Research Center and Continuous Auditing & Reporting Lab (CAR Lab).

The DTCC, a financial markets infrastructure company that provides post-trading processing services, was represented by Managing Director and General Auditor Aaddesh Gandhre and members of the company’s internal audit team. 

In addition to Professor Vasarhelyi, Professor Helen Brown-Liburd joined Rutgers Ph.D. students Jiaqi Sun, Xiaomei Wang, Melissa Dardani, and Siying Wang for the discussion. Heejae (Erica) Lee, now a professor at Grand Valley State University, and Fangbing Xiong, now a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, also participated remotely. 

The academic team shared ongoing research on continuous monitoring, AI-enabled auditing, accounting automation, agentic audit procedures, and predictive analytics. The DTCC team also discussed practical challenges and areas where academic research could potentially be useful.

“It was incredibly valuable to spend time with Professor Vasarhelyi and the CAR Lab team and to see firsthand some of the innovative research their doctoral students are advancing,” Gandhre said. “The demonstrations reinforced how quickly areas such as continuous auditing, data analytics and AI are evolving and the opportunity for practitioners and academics to learn from one another.”

Vasarhelyi agreed. “By hearing directly from the DTCC team, we can identify opportunities for future collaboration and where our research could eventually have practical applications,” he said.