In the fast-changing digital era, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and data

Keywords: Employability, emerging technology skills, organisational support, accounting profession

Employability refers to the ability to match individual skills with the employers’ requirements for potential hiring

decisions (Ghani et al., 2024). The accountants’ employability is significantly affected by the rapid

advancements in technologies. Although automation has sparked considerable debate over the potential

obsolescence of the accounting profession, the demand for accountants remains strong, given their vital role in

delivering strategic financial insights and managing complex analytical tasks (Derks, 2024). Indeed, the roles

and skills expectations of accountants have changed due to the integration emerging technologies like AI,

blockchain, and data analytics into business processes (Coman et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2020). Consequently,

they must now be capable to know and work with these emerging technologies to meet the employers’ and jobs’

Moghli, 2015), and employees mental health and wellbeing (Bharathi & Sujatha, 2024). Beyond understanding

the effects of the emerging technology skills on accountants’ employability, it is crucial to examine the potential

moderating role of organisational support. Organisational support includes people, policies, and procedures

which could serve as a driving force in encouraging employees to adopt and utilise emerging technologies. This

is achieved by highlighting their value, clearly communicating their relevance, and cultivating a workplace

culture that reinforces the importance of these skills (Arisandi & Mujanah, 2023; Saks, 2006). This may help

secure their job from being replaced by technology or by another potential employee who possesses these skills,

thereby improving their employability.

The perceived organisational support (POS) is developed by Robert Eisenberger and his colleagues in the 1980s.

In their study, they introduced POS as the extent to which employees believe that their organisation values their

Therefore, between the perceived effects of emerging technology skills on the perceived employability among

Malaysian accountants with the moderating effects of organisational supports yet to be explored. Most of the

studies seemed to focus on the importance of these skills in the digital era but ignore the effects of these skills

to their employability. Therefore, this study explores the emerging technology skills, both know and understand;

use and apply, particularly on AI, blockchain, and data analytics on Malaysian accountants’ employability, with

the moderating role of organisational support. As mentioned in the previous studies, although various

organisational functions contribute to employee development This study specifically examines the moderating

effect of perceived organisational support (POS) on the perceived effects of emerging technology skills among

Malaysian accountants’ perceived employability. Organisational support is positioned as a moderating factor,

strengthening the extent to which these elements translate into enhanced employability by fostering an

Researchers highlight five traits to define emerging technologies. These include innovative, progress rapidly,

have harmony, hold great opportunity, are full of uncertainty and matter greatly to the market and society (Rotolo

et al., 2015). In the digital era, accountants need to be knowledgeable in many new technologies as the field

undergoes continued changes (Tiron-Tudor et al., 2022). These skills include understanding and being able to

use and apply emerging technologies tools such as AI, data analytics, and blockchain when performing their

work (Tiron-Tudor et al., 2022).

Being employable matters greatly when people leave college or university and seek work or when they start

working in a new organisation. It matters greatly for employers wanting to employ employees who can use their

employability) and from the diverse ways analyses are performed, depending on the target population (i.e., job

seekers, employees, and students). Even so, the majority of researchers believe that being able to keep one’s job

and get a new one is part of perceived employability (Hillage & Pollard, 1998; Vanhercke et al., 2014). In 2007,

Rothwell et al. introduced a scale that measures someone’s view of their own employability, considering

employability. The scale is regularly used by researchers studying how people view their ability to get a job

(Vermeeren & Hejiden, 2022; Chun & Jyung, 2021). Today, employability is more important, in part because

of industry 4.0 which is bringing major changes to many industries and what employers seek in their workers.

The concept of perceived employability held in this study is an individual’s belief that they can keep their present

job.

As new technologies and job requirements appear rapidly, this belief grows more significant. The theoretical

basis of perceived employability can be found in the Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1993; Schultz, 1961). This

to their company (MIA, 2021, 2023; Ernst & Young Singapore et al., 2022). This matters most when looking at

perceived employability, since it comes from someone judging if they have the necessary skills for their present

job. Many studies have found a strong link between human capital and an individual’s chance of getting or

keeping a job (Berntson et al., 2006, Becker, 1993; Yang et al., 2002). Thus, those accountants who are trained

in emerging technology skills often seek chances to improve their knowledge and this increases their belief that

they are employable at their organisation.

Accounting is being transformed at a fast pace due to the advancement in technology such as AI, blockchain and

data analytics. The rise of digital tools means that tasks done by accountants are becoming automated which is

Traditionally, accountants performed most tasks manually and in a repetitive way (Zainuddin et al., 2014).

Accountants are now required to understand and analyse data, offer ideas for the company’s future and help

make important decisions. This shift requires a new set of skills, including understand AI, data analysis, and

blockchain have the skills to actually use them (Ernst & Young Singapore et al., 2022).

Employability describes an employee’s readiness to improve in response to organisational changes and remains

valuable in their current role. As technology keeps developing, accountants who adapt to new technologies and

gain the skills needed will be better prepared for working inside their companies. Thus, enhance their

employability.

Employers are looking for accountants who are capable of using technology, both to simplify work and produce

useful financial insights. With the help of new technologies, accountants are shifting from doing the routine

The Big Four accounting companies (Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Ernst and Young (EY), and

implementation in the primary business operations as one of the reasons that will ensure their success in the

future of the accounting profession.

Deloitte has adopted its Insight-Driven Organization (IDO), which has incorporated the aspects of analysis, data,

and reasoning every day in its decision-making to transform rising data volumes into quantifiable business worth

(Zhang et al., 2020). Deloitte invented the voice analysis platform Behaviour and Emotion Analytics Tool

(BEAT), a deep learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP)-driven risk management tool, in risk

management. BEAT tracks the voice interaction of customers, calculates high-risk interaction (such as regulatory

compliance in signed contracts), and is able to analyse more than 30 languages and 30 behavioural indicators

(Zhang et al., 2020). Deloitte developed an automated document review platform through NLP innovations to

process in and out all forms of unstructured data cheaply and precisely. Regarding the blockchain, Deloitte has

Blockchain laboratories across the world (e.g., in New York, Dublin, and Hong Kong). It has created over 30

models related to blockchain in the area of digital identity, international payment, fraud identification, and trade

finance (Zhang et al., 2020).

PwC is using the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology especially in matters touching on tax, e.g., data

gathering, inclusion in tax returns, reviewing of trial balance sheets and supporting the preparation and adjusting

of tax returns (Hasan, 2022). In its case related to auditing, PwC created an AI audit lab and created the GL.ai

NLP to determine information within existing contracts like in the case of lease contracts when new regulations

are established, which has proved to be more efficient than the traditional human teams (Hasan, 2022). Within

the blockchain environment, EY created the Blockchain Analyzer, auditing technology that is the basis of

performing detailed analysis of cryptocurrency operations and auditing blockchain assets, liabilities, equity, and

interconnectedness and velocity). This model enhances quality of the audit in the sense that it helps in the

identification of the risk clusters. Some of the tool’s KPMG uses RPA technology such as K-analyzer, tax

analytic software downloads data in the corporate ERP system to create a clear audit trail by analysing thousands

of transactions in a short time, eliminating errors. The other RPA is the FBT Automator which is used in

compliance with the Fringe Benefits tax and the Payroll Tax Automator which can be used to automatically

The organisational support theory (OST) is the theory formulated by Eisenberger et al. in 1986. The premise of

this theory is perceived organisational support (POS) in which employees are supported when they think that the

organisational support Malaysian context. Such contribution will contribute to the Human Capital Theory and

Organisational Support Theory using evidence in the accounting profession of Malaysia. In practice, the research

results are likely to show that accountants that have and use technology-related competencies view themselves

as better employable especially in cases where their organisations offer ongoing learning support and digital

resources. Such results will probably lead accounting companies to formulate strategic moves encouraging

oriented workforce is developed to provide the ability to cope with the opportunities and threats of technological

disruption. The study has potential to be expanded in future research by studying the sectoral variation or

examining the longitudinal impacts of technology adoption on career sustainability.