How Fintech is Transforming Accounting, Auditing, and Finance: Exploring its Economic, Social, and Environmental Impact

Call for Papers – How Fintech is Transforming Accounting, Auditing, and Finance: Exploring its Economic, Social, and Environmental Impact

Journal: Journal of Applied Accounting Research
Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Submission window: 6 October 2025 – 1 June 2026

This special issue examines how FinTech and AI are reshaping accounting, auditing, and finance, with a focus on their economic, social, and environmental implications. It invites work that links technological innovation in finance with issues such as financial inclusion, ESG/green finance, sustainability, financial crime, and carbon‑intensive digital infrastructures, aligning closely with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Why this issue matters

• FinTech and AI are introducing blockchain, smart contracts, digital assets, algorithmic analytics, and automated payments, fundamentally changing how financial data are recorded, verified, and reported.

• These innovations enable tokenisation of assets, new funding mechanisms (P2P lending, crowdfunding, ICOs), and real‑time audit and continuous monitoring, but they also raise questions about energy use, data privacy, and ethical risks.

• The journal aims to capture applied, policy‑relevant research that connects technological change in accounting and finance with sustainability, inclusion, and governance themes (e.g., SDGs 1, 8, 9, 10, 13, and 16).

Key topic areas

Papers may address, but are not limited to:

• FinTech and accounting

  • Accounting for digital assets, cryptocurrencies, and tokenised securities.

  • Impact of FinTech on accountability, risk assessment, ESG measurement, and audit quality.

• FinTech and auditing

  • Real‑time and continuous auditing using big data analytics, AI, and blockchain‑based verification.

  • Fraud‑detection algorithms and their effect on assurance and audit quality.

• FinTech and finance

  • Financial inclusion via digital payments, open banking, and mobile‑based finance.

  • Green finance, sustainable investment, and ESG‑oriented FinTech platforms.

  • Cybersecurity, systemic risk, and investor‑protection challenges in FinTech‑driven markets.

• Economic, social, and environmental effects

  • Firm‑ and market‑level performance impacts of FinTech adoption.

  • Social equity, poverty reduction, and wealth distribution in FinTech‑enabled financial systems.

  • Energy consumption and carbon emissions from blockchain mining, data centres, and digital‑finance infrastructures.

• Education and practice

  • Integration of FinTech into accounting and finance curricula, including pedagogical innovation and graduate‑skill development.

  • Case studies and practitioner insights on FinTech implementation in firms and audit/financial institutions.

• FinTech and financial crime

  • How FinTech tools (blockchain, big data, AI) can detect and prevent corruption, money laundering, and fraud.

  • Regulatory and governance challenges in FinTech‑enabled environments.

Submissions may be empirical, conceptual, case‑based, or policy‑oriented, provided they clearly link FinTech with accounting, auditing, or finance and highlight economic, social, or environmental consequences.

Guest editors

• Awad Ibrahim, Senior Lecturer in Accounting, School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, University of Portsmouth, UK

• Joe Cox, Professor of Fintech and Digital Economy, School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, University of Portsmouth, UK

Submission details

• Submission portal: ScholarOne Manuscripts for JAAR:
  https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jaar

• During submission, select the special issue title:
  “How Fintech is Transforming Accounting, Auditing, and Finance: Exploring its Economic, Social, and Environmental Impact”.

• Key deadlines:

  • Opening date: 6 October 2025

  • Closing date: 1 June 2026

• All manuscripts must follow the journal’s Author Guidelines:
  https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/jaar

• Submitted papers must not be under review or published elsewhere.

Papers selected for the SI should be applied and methodologically sound, offering clear implications for practitioners, educators, and policymakers navigating the FinTech‑driven transformation of accounting, auditing, and finance.

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