Digitalization as Catalysts of Change in Finance, Accounting, and Reporting: Uncovering Symbiotic Relationships Among Financial Factors

Abstract This research aimed to explore and discover the symbiotic relationship between the financial factors DECP (Digitalization of Expenses and Cost Planning), DTFRM (Digitalization of Transactions, Financial Reporting, and Monitoring), and DITDM (Digitalization for Improvement, Transparency, and Decision Making) in the context of digitization as a catalyst of change in the field of finance, accounting, and reporting. The data were collected during the years 2022/23 from 370 experts in finance, accounting, and auditing of businesses in Kosovo, while their processing was done through exploratory factorial analysis (EFA), confirmatory factorial analysis (CFA), and modeling of structural equations (SEM) using SPSS and AMOS programs. The results indicate that there are symbiotic relationships through direct and indirect effects on the factors, therefore digitalization has a positive effect on finance, accounting, and reporting. Specifically, the digitalization of expenses and cost planning (DECP) has a direct effect on the digitalization of transactions, financial reporting, and monitoring (DTFRM). This effect contributes to improvement, transparency, and decision making (DITDM). However, the DTFRM factor does not have a direct effect on the DITDM factor but has a mediated effect on the effect of DECP on DITDM. This means that in order to enhance improvement, transparency, and decision making (DITDM), the digitalization of expenses and cost planning (DECP) should also include financial transactions, financial reporting, and control processes (DTFRM). Therefore, the study highlights that digitalization plays a significant role in improving financial, accounting, and auditing processes as a strategic move to enhance their financial management capabilities, transparency, decision making, and control. For future studies, it is emphasized to conduct in depth research and analysis to better understand the complex relationship between DTFRM and DITDM.