Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Accountants?
Long Story Short: AI may reduce the need for accountants to do process-driven or repetitive bookkeeping tasks, but not higher-value accounting tasks. In the past accountants focused much of their time on minor roles, such as data entry, and less time on primary roles. New technologies took over those, but human accountants are still needed to …
- Analyse and Interpret Data
While technology has usurped time-intensive manual accounting tasks like expense management, tax preparation, audits, payroll, and banking, it’s highly unlikely for Artificial Intelligence to replace the human elements of accounting. Trained human accountants will always be needed to analyse and interpret data. Our experience and knowledge cannot be replaced when it comes to scrutinising balance sheets, making educated judgments, or making cash flow forecasts.
- Business Trusts Human Experience and Instinct
AI cannot replace human experience. It can evaluate numbers faster than an accountant but can’t step onto the plate of past experiences and making connections with clients. Human compassion and interaction comes to play in assisting, communicating and understanding clients’ needs and aspirations.
AI is not in a position to understand or interpret the emotions clients experience in managing and building a business. It can’t look them in the eyes when talking about their business. Moreover, human trust will never be replicated by AI.
Clients trust is vested in a firm because they know the people who work there, who knows their business, and their professional and personal goals. These are some of the things AI simply cannot replicate. Accountants will always be needed to guide business owners and businesses in making sound decisions.
Adding AI to Accounting Operations and what This Means for Businesses:
- Increased Efficiency and Accuracy
Some repetitive tasks in accounting are prone to human error, and is understandable especially when capturing data all day lomng. An item can be placed on the wrong line in a spreadsheet, gets duplicated, or a keystroke is missed. Automating these tasks and using AI data will drastically reduce ‘wasted time’. Imagine if you will, spending only one hour a day verifying numbers instead of four hours without technology. Instead the human brain can engage in higher level strategic and creative thinking inside the box to the benefit the company’s business.
- More and Happier Clients
Increased accuracy and efficiency causes a ripple effect in the accounting profession and can lead to more and happier clients. With time-consuming and mundane accounting jobs and tasks out of the way, accountants can invest their time in strategic features to proactively benefit clients’ businesses.
Artificial Intelligence Will Help Accountants, Not Replace Them
So, will accountants be replaced by AI for accountants to become obsolete? The short answer is no. Instead, Artificial Intelligence will create more value to accounting professionals’ lives. It will make the basic accounting tasks faster and executed more efficiently. Its value proposition? Allowing accountants to focus on high-impact and high-quality strategically beneficial commercial features. This is the future of accounting.