Discursive analysis of the legitimization of AI in accounting and auditing: an outstanding article

Two faculty members from HEC Montréal and a PhD student won an award for the best article published in the academic journal Audit, Comptabilité, Contrôle : Recherches Appliquées (ACCRA) in 2025. 

The recipients are Professors Simon Dermarkar and Mouna Hazgui, both from the Department of Accounting, and PhD student Francis Petauton. The award-winning article is entitled “Légitimer l’intégration de l’intelligence artificielle dans l’audit et les services professionnels : une analyse discursive des récits des Big Four” [Legitimizing the Integration of Artificial Intelligence in Auditing and Professional Services: A Discursive Analysis of the Big Four Narratives]. The award was presented to them by the Association française de comptabilité, which publishes ACCRA.

Justifying the integration of AI in professional services

The research team conducted an analysis of the four major professional services firms (PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG), to identify discursive strategies for legitimizing the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in auditing and, more broadly, in professional services. 
To conduct its study, the trio compiled around forty official documents from these firms related to the topic of AI. In addition to this, interviews were also conducted with digital transformation leaders in these major groups. Three primary mechanisms were identified and subsequently mapped:

• Rationalization, highlighting efficiency gains and the inevitability of AI
• Moralization, emphasizing ethical risk management
• Authorization, drawing on expertise and a dominant market position

The study helps shed light on how the Big Four legitimize the integration of AI into their services, and also how they influence society as a whole in its use of this technology.

It also enriches the debate on digital transformation by highlighting the role of narratives in building technological legitimacy, revealing the tensions between technological innovation, symbolic legitimation and power dynamics.