AI Effect: Accountants Expect NEW TYPES of Jobs

Can (will) AI do my work?

This question has been on top of the mind for almost every worker who uses computers to produce their work.

Accountants, of course, cannot produce any (billable) work without using computers.

• A new 2023 research examining the potential implications of large language models (LLMs), such as Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPTs), on the U.S. labor market revealed that accountants, auditors, and tax preparers are among the occupations MOST exposed to Artificial Intelligence (AI). An innocuous note in the research summary states that the projected effects span all wage levels, with higher-income jobs potentially facing greater exposure to LLM capabilities and LLM-powered software. What it means is that the “expert” jobs are also not immune to the effects of AI.

• OpenAI showcased the ability of GPT-4, the next version of ChatGPT, to compute taxes.

• Then came the news about BloombergGPT, purpose-built from scratch for the finance domain (industry-specific AI).

OpenAI’s 2023 research paper seems to point to a generic direction that AI will impact most jobs that require handling data to produce work. Accountants, knowing that they deal with data to produce any (billable) work, are getting more aware of the likely impact of AI on their work. And hence, they expect that their work will change in the AI-driven world.

Where is this AI World going, and what does it (really) mean for accounting professionals?

What is your professional opinion?

This is the question I asked in a LinkedIn poll posted on an accountants-specific group. Here are the results from the survey.

Expect new types of accounting jobs.

While writing my new book, Rise of The AiCCOUNTANTS™, I invested a significant amount of time and effort researching and studying the finer nuances of how AI tools are created, how AI learns on its own, how AI works, what are the inherent strengths and weaknesses of AI – and how all of it will impact the future of accountants and the accounting profession.

There are two fundamental aspects of how people see AI:

1. People overestimate their understanding of AI tools. A user of a software tool gets “used” to it, not necessarily fully, really knowing how it works.

2. People underestimate the power of AI. A user of AI tools, not necessarily entirely, really knows what AI is currently/can in the future be capable of.

Given these two defining aspects of our relatively new experience with AI, we tend to quickly conclude that AI can/will replace (a lot of) jobs. But, when it comes to imagining what will happen because of that, we tend to have a foggy vision.

Contrast this with what Google's CEO recently said about AI:

I feel #Accounting #Audit #Tax tech vendors need to involve #accountants in the development of AI-infused solutions for the accounting profession. Do you agree?

AI will impact most jobs that require handling data to produce work

The initial result from the poll revealed that:

• 2 in 3 accountants expect new types of accounting jobs to emerge.

• 1 in 6 accountants feels AI will have no material impact on accounting jobs.

• 1 in 6 accountants feels there will be accounting job losses.

The poll results seem to indicate that accountants are:

• getting more aware of the possible impacts of AI,

• looking at AI as a tool that will significantly increase productivity and efficiency,

• and hence expect new types of jobs that will need human expertise and supervision.

Your career stage may define your AI response.

I did a quick, snap review of the respondents of each of the three poll responses mentioned above. It appears that their career stages may have defined their responses. Here are my observations:

• Mid-career accountants predominantly expect new types of accounting jobs to emerge.

• Accountants in specialist roles feel AI will have no material impact on accounting jobs.

• However, early career accountants feel there will be accounting job losses.

The million (no, multi-billion) dollar question.

That is the million (no, multi-billion) dollar question; the answer is anybody’s guess.

Not really.

Survival instinct can make humans react instinctively to new situations, especially those with threat vibes. But what if you are trained to combat threats? You will respond, not react, using your training and practice.

Staying on top of AI developments in the accounting field is an essential survival instinct recalibration for accountants. You’d want to consider AI as evolutionary – no, revolutionary, for productivity and efficiency in accounting, including for insights and advisory work.

If you know, understand, and are prepared for the new possibilities, you will not guess what will be the new types of accounting jobs. You will start getting ready for them. In my AiCCOUNTANTS™ book, I wrote a section on AI and the future of accounting, including some likely new types of jobs for accountants. It is essentially based on learning how AI is created and how AI learns and works – and relating that learning to accountants' work.

Fortunately, accounting technology providers have been increasingly infusing AI into the day-to-day software solutions accountants use. Using every AI feature is a bare minimum preparatory step you can take toward your AI future.

The first step into the unknown is to become familiar with the AI terrain. The AiCCOUNTANTS™ book is available on Amazon, Google, and Apple Books. GET YOUR COPY NOW to get started on your foundational understanding of AI.

About the Author: Hitendra R. Patil is the author of “Rise of The AiCCOUNTANTS™ - The What, Why, and How of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Exclusively for Accountants.”