In this article Kurt Rathmann CEO and Co-Founder ScaleFactor expalins that as technology innovation increases, accountants will become responsible for higher-cognitive tasks, ensuring that algorithms and other learnings and executing processes perform correctly — delivering predictive and suggestive insights for business outcomes. The new workforce isn’t human or AI, it’s a hybrid of both.
Here’s a fantasy most accountants can probably get behind: in the not-too-distant future, accountants get to shed misnomers like bean counter or number cruncher.
In a typically stalwart profession, technology and innovation are bringing about much needed change. Artificial intelligence (AI) for example, while far from replacing accountants, is helping them emerge as the creative, customer-centric and big picture professionals that they truly are. But to date, 80% of businessesOpens a new window are uncertain about the ROI for AI. The benefits of being an early adopter are clear.
No longer forced to hide behind stacks of receipts, spreadsheets and tax bills, the power of AI is invigorating and elevating traditional accounting practices. As innovation becomes commonplace in the profession, accountants roles in organizations will shift, ranking their contributions alongside CFOs and finance strategists.
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Putting the Data to Work
It’s not paperwork or data that defines a company. Rather, the insights buried within the documents that can be extrapolated to steer the ship. The magic of AI is its ability to tackle tidal waves of data and make instantaneous sense of it all. AI collects data, analyzes it and reveals patterns. Large data sets from accounting, auditing and finance records can be leveraged by AI or machine learningOpens a new window (ML) algorithms to reveal anomalies, patterns and insights giving real-time information for business making decisions.
When utilized by accounting professionals, AI can assume the drudge-like underpinnings of a business. The digital transformation of accounting enables AI to strengthen services and deliver future-ready accounting services. Not to mention, in today’s cloud and SaaS-based business environment, there’s an abundance of data to work with and those that don’t learn how to deal with the uptick of spreadsheets and documents will get stuck in the bog.
How AI Applies to Accounting
It’s not a question of replacing jobs but rather of reassigning workloads. AI software can provide a company with an instant interpretation of even its most complex and varied financial documents. The paperwork a glassy-eyed accountant used to pore over every 12 months can now be given a 360-degree read in seconds. Chatbots can assist in fielding routine questions from clients regarding account status or financial schedules.
A startup could use AI to generate customized monthly revenue reports in a fraction of the time. An agency could work similar magic with client billing numbers. If accountants are freed up to devote less of their energy to the tedium of paperwork and calculations, if they’re empowered with clearer, faster pictures of a company’s financial wellness, that allows for more sophisticated, energized work with colleagues and customers.
When the more mundane accounting tasks are given over to machines, humans are free to take on more client-based or creative engagements. When payroll is streamlined and automated, everyone’s day is easier. When the auditing process is handled with efficiency, it allows for clarity and grace in the human conversations around it.
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Value-Based Business
AI augments work in all sectors. In accounting, time will no longer be spent exporting data, fumbling with spreadsheets, and performing complex calculations to find answers that enable a business to make better decisions regarding its financial health. Accountants will be free to use higher value skills like building relationships with clients, streamlining operational efficiencies, and, in turn, increasing revenue.
Information is power, but it’s up to people to put it to use. Used strategically, AI provides space to deepen human relationships. As the demands and expectations of the accounting profession shift, accountants must approach the future from a place of curiosity and openness. Change is an opportunity for growth.
Stepping Forward
While not every accounting task is ready for AI right now, the current realities are that the field involves a high number of repeatable tasks. As technology innovation increases in this realm, accountants will become responsible for higher-cognitive tasks, ensuring that algorithms and other learnings and executing processes perform correctly — delivering predictive and suggestive insights for business outcomes. The new workforce isn’t human or AI, it’s a hybrid of both.