From Expert Consensus to User Perception: How Financial Staff and Independent Auditors Perceive Cloud Accounting Services Risk in the Petrochemical Industry

Mansour  Heydari; Mohsen Azhdar; Iraj  Torabi

Authors

Mansour Heydari Ph.D. Student, Department of Accounting, ShK.C., Islamic Azad University, Shahr-e Kord, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0433-2334
Mohsen Azhdar Department of Accounting, ShK.C., Islamic Azad University, Shahr-e Kord, Iran https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0596-1723
Iraj Torabi Department of Accounting, ShK.C., Islamic Azad University, Shahr-e Kord, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2531-2434

Keywords:

Cloud accounting, risk assessment, risk perception, independent auditors, PLS, SEM, petrochemical industry

Abstract

Cloud accounting moves sensitive financial data and processes beyond organizational boundaries, and the risks arising from this transfer are usually identified and prioritized on the basis of expert judgment. This study examines whether a risk framework derived from expert consensus is also supported from the perspective of those who prepare and audit cloud-hosted financial information, and whether the pattern of its dimensions as perceived by these two groups is aligned with expert priorities. A seven-dimension framework of cloud accounting services risk, developed in a prior qualitative study through thematic analysis and the fuzzy Delphi method, was operationalized as an 82-item questionnaire. Data were collected from 154 respondents in the Mahshahr Petrochemical Special Economic Zone, Iran, comprising 88 financial staff of petrochemical companies and 66 independent auditors. A reflective–reflective higher-order model was estimated separately for each group using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), and the loading patterns were compared across the two groups and with the expert ranking. The results indicate that all seven dimensions had high and significant loadings on overall risk in both groups (0.76 to 0.95). In an exploratory inspection, the loadings fell into two clusters: five dimensions with loadings of 0.90 to 0.95, and the security and data and service quality dimensions with loadings of 0.76 to 0.78. Security risk, ranked first by the experts, fell into the lower cluster in both groups, and the correlation between user and expert rankings, whether based on factor loadings or on mean scores, was close to zero and non-significant. The loading pattern and the overall level of perceived risk were nearly identical for financial staff and auditors (t = 0.173, p = 0.863). The study tests an expert-derived framework among preparers and auditors in a heavy process industry operating under international sanctions and provides preliminary evidence of misalignment between expert priorities and users' perceptions. The findings are exploratory, and the structure of the dimensions should be confirmed through item-level analysis in future research.

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