AI and accountants: A new future

Machines are easing the workload of accountants.

Whereas accounting and finance professionals were once tasked with inputting numbers, processing repetitious transactions or combing data for anomalies, artificial intelligence (AI) programs can instead perform these tedious tasks, freeing up time and resources.

“AI algorithms can analyze really large volumes of data and identify patterns, trends, anomalies and insights,” said Christina Kite, Global Director of Strategy and Operations at Amazon Web Services. “AI will allow for a deeper understanding of what is happening from a business performance standpoint and how leaders like myself can make more informed decisions driven by having the insights automatically generated for us.”

AI is optimizing forecasting, analysis, trend identification, security and compliance and strengthening the work environment for accountants.

While AI streamlines processes, boosts accuracy and delivers source material, accountants provide necessary context and help tell the story of patterns, trends and insights that the software generates.

“AI is taking the mundane out of [accounting] and creating a really wonderful opportunity for the career professional who enjoys numbers to actually have more meaningful and higher-level work,” said Kite.

How accountants leverage AI

Software helps accountants manage and streamline transactions, but AI amplifies that software by mirroring how a human makes decisions, said Kite, opening up new capabilities.

Accountants may use software that performs optical character recognition (OCR), for example — converting an image of text into a machine-readable text format. But AI takes OCR to the next level.

“Today, through the use of AI, we now have intelligent document readers (IDR) that can extract information directly from financial transactions like invoices, receipts or other financial documents and therefore eliminate the need for manual input,” said Kite. “We now have touchless transactions that not only improve accuracy but also remove some of that more tedious and repetitive work.”

Right now, said Kite, accountants read over spreadsheets, reports and pivot tables, looking for patterns, trends and insights. “But this is where AI could be leveraged to create signals, alerts and push the information to the user. For example, wouldn’t it be ideal to log on to your computer and have it say, ‘Christina, good morning. Let me tell your top priorities today based on your risk tolerance so you can prioritize your day and where you should be focused.’ That’s hugely beneficial and the wave of the future.”

The opportunities and challenges of innovation

AI isn’t new — Kite has been using AI technology throughout her more than 30-year career. With recent advancements, however, accountants are finding new ways to use the technology.

“AI is powered by foundation models, which run on deep-learning algorithms. Because of the volume that you get with invoices, the machine continues to learn because you continue to feed it data. It only gets better and better in terms of accuracy,” Kite said.

ChatGPT has garnered quite a reputation for itself and its many uses. ChatGPT can generate outlines for emails or memos or distill bank transaction information into structured files within accounting.

“ChatGPT may process data at lightning speed, but it’s the CPA and [management accountant] who contextualizes it, adding insights and judgment, ensuring businesses not only thrive but also maintain their ethics and integrity,” said Tom Hood, CPA/CITP, CGMA, EVP, Business Engagement & Growth at AICPA & CIMA.

There are challenges and additional ethical considerations with AI — reasons why human intervention is required. The programmer could unintentionally instill their biases into the AI during initial programming. While this may not happen directly in accounting, said Kite, it’s still something to watch for. Plus, accountants must be mindful of privacy when inputting information into the software. Personal client information could fall into the wrong hands.

“This gives the accountant a real chance to be a trusted business adviser because they won’t be mired in chasing after the information. The information is going to be sent to them less through reports and more through pushes, alerts and signals,” she said.

“In the age of AI, the value of an accountant isn’t just in crunching numbers, but in understanding the stories they tell and guiding businesses towards a sustainable future,” said Hood.

Accountants’ judgments are still needed.

Human intuition and judgment are still needed — AI will not replace accountants any time soon. Humans still need to interpret complex financial situations with ethical or strategic considerations.

“A system may not know we’re looking to make an acquisition. That’s where a human would need to be involved because they’ll make decisions with that strategic perspective in mind,” Kite said. As AI makes recommendations, it’s down to accountants to accept those recommendations when making final decisions.

“AI is a powerful tool but not a substitute for human judgement or intuition,” she said.

AI and other machine learning tools are causing rapid changes to the profession, and it will be up to accounting and finance professionals to embrace innovation and leverage their opportunities.