The rapid diffusion of artificial intelligence is reconfiguring accounting work at its foundations. Routine tasks are being absorbed by machines, while judgment, interpretation, and ethical reasoning are being pushed to the foreground. Yet curricula in Korean universities remain anchored in bookkeeping conventions designed for a world that no longer exists.
This study examines how AI adoption is reconfiguring accounting work, diagnoses the limitations of current liberal arts accounting education in Korean universities, and proposes an integrated framework for educational reform.
Drawing on a systematic review of international and domestic scholarship and policy reports issued by major professional accounting bodies, the analysis reveals a structural shift. Automation is displacing repetitive computation, while demand is rising for professional judgment, critical thinking, data analytics, and ethical decision-making. Current Korean university accounting education, however, exhibits layered limitations: a bookkeeping-centered curriculum, a gap between theory and practice, underdeveloped higher-order competency training, and the formalization of ethics instruction.
Building on this diagnosis, we propose five directions for reform: curricular redesign around digital competencies; pedagogical innovation through active learning and technology-enabled instruction; a transition toward competency-based education; the expansion of industry-academia collaboration; and the integration of AI ethics and professional responsibility.
This study makes three contributions. Empirically, it consolidates scattered evidence on AI-driven shifts in accounting tasks and competencies. Conceptually, it reframes general accounting education as a formative platform for judgment, analytics, and ethical reasoning.
Theoretically, it offers a foundation for subsequent empirical inquiry into accounting pedagogy under AI mediation.