Generative AI and ChatGPT in Accounting Education : A Scoping Review

Abstract

The public release of ChatGPT in November 2022 accelerated the adoption of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in higher education, producing a fragmented but rapidly growing body of research on its role in accounting education. Individual studies have examined technology acceptance, academic integrity, assessment, and curriculum design, but no prior synthesis has mapped this evidence as a distinct field. This study aimed to map the scope, methodological characteristics, and thematic landscape of research on GenAI and ChatGPT in accounting education published between January 2022 and July 2026. A scoping review was conducted following the framework of Arksey and O'Malley, refined by Levac et al. and the Joanna Briggs Institute, and reported per the PRISMA-ScR guideline, with literature searched across Lens.org, ERIC, Google Scholar, and Scopus-indexed metadata and evidence synthesised thematically. From 149 records identified, 33 studies across 19 countries and 31 journals met the eligibility criteria, over four-fifths published in 2025-2026. The literature clustered into nine themes, led by technology acceptance (27.3%) and academic integrity and ethics (18.2%), and was dominated by quantitative survey designs (60.6%) grounded in technology-acceptance theories. Findings show GenAI research is shifting from adoption toward responsible educational integration, with GenAI functioning most productively as a cognitive scaffold rather than a substitute for accounting competence. The review concludes that accounting education should move from an adoption-centred model toward a responsible-integration model combining technology acceptance with assessment redesign, curriculum transformation, lecturer readiness, and protection of professional judgement, and proposes a research agenda emphasising longitudinal, comparative, and intervention-based studies.