Artificial Intelligence in the Accounting business

More and more accountants are discussing how AI will impact our trade. Can AI learn to keep accounting records and file tax returns? Absolutely. Some firms see this as a realistic threat to their businesses.

Can AI bring the specific knowledge that we offer our clients - what I would call wisdom vs. computation? Will an AI be able to interpret the stress that a decision maker is under, and be able to support them in that moment with our technical skill? Can AI interpret the programmatic intent of an expense? These are human skills, and they are specific to the nonprofit accounting trade. It’s quite likely that AI can overtake a lot of the the for profit accounting function because the narrative is simpler - where does this expense belong on a tax return, based on the vendor? Robots will eventually get really good at that. It’s possible robots will get really good at everything we do as well, but I guarantee it will take them a lot longer.

We’re interested in intelligent software. It’s not likely to threaten our service model, which is human based. Our services are more nuanced than categorization. Very little of our service offering is related to filing tax returns. This puts us in a favorable position to enjoy how technology evolves our trade, rather than being threatened by it.