ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) is everywhere, completing tasks faster and doing jobs traditionally done by humans.
The Wimbledon tennis tournament has recently announced that line judges, who customarily wore chic uniforms, will be replaced by AI technology in 2025. As a tennis fan, this has also led me to think, is AI also soon taking over my profession — accountancy?
But I believe AI will not render the accounting profession obsolete. Instead, it will reshape and enhance the contributions and value of the profession. It will elevate accountancy as a profession.
The value of the accounting profession is measured by its contributions to the efficient functioning of businesses, markets, regulation and the overall economy. Accountants can enhance this value by harnessing the power of AI as a tool. Accountants should treat AI as an ally and work alongside it.
The capability of AI to perform traditional accounting work is extraordinary and astonishing. And that's an understatement. AI can automate data entry from accounting documents, categorize and track expenses, generate invoices and payment reminders, reconcile accounting records with bank statements, send vendor and customer's statements of accounts, generate financial reports such as balance sheets and income statements, calculate taxes and generate tax returns, generate financial budgets and forecasts, discover unusual patterns and red flags of fraud, provide financial advice and answer to queries, calculate payroll, organize and retrieve financial documents. These are just the beginnings of what AI can do.
So, how does an accountant find and offer value when AI can do it with more efficiency and accuracy?
AI will empower accountants by automating repetitive tasks such as performing data entry, doing debit and credit bookkeeping, preparing tax returns and information returns, etc. Accountants can leverage this situation by transitioning to more value-adding roles such as advisory, strategy and analytical.
Though AI is extremely impressive at processing large data and automating routine tasks, it lacks the human factor. AI does not possess the professional judgment skills of accountants that deal with nuances of transactions and emotions involved in human interactions.
Humans are still indispensable in dealing with personalized transaction and communication, complex decision-making and regulatory interpretation.
Accountants of the future
Accountants, however, need to up their game. They need to upskill, re-skill and even cross-skill. Learning data and business analytics, systems analysis and cybersecurity will be very valuable to accountants of the future.
The traditional skill sets of accountants that focused on manual processes, compliance, financial reporting and strategy will not be enough to meet the service requirements of stakeholders. Gathering and summarizing financial data to manually prepare financial statements — such as balance sheets, income statements and cash flow statements — and preparing tax returns will prove to be very time-consuming and inefficient in the age of AI. Results of manual auditing, unless for financial statements of small companies, will be perceived as unreliable.
The business and economic landscape have evolved with AI. So should the accountancy profession, to stay relevant. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders to do their part to respond to the changing times. Regulators are starting to take appropriate actions.
The move of the Board of Accountancy to include topics on data analytics and information systems and controls in the recently released draft syllabi for October 2028 Licensure Examinations for Certified Public Accountants is certainly in the right direction. The Department of Trade and Industry recently launched the National AI Strategy road map 2.0 and the Center for AI Research in July 2024. The Department of Information and Communications Technology and the Department of Science and Technology also have initiatives and programs pertaining to AI. Academic institutions should incorporate the use of AI in their programs and course syllabi. Accounting firms and the private sector should include AI-related topics in the training programs of their accountants.
Change is inevitable. Nobody knows what the future holds. But those who cannot adapt in time are doomed to be left behind. They may find themselves in a not-so-desirable position.
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Leomar R. Cabarles, CPA, FMVA, CBCA, CMSA is a partner of A.M. Yu & Associates, the president of Accountancy Review Center of the Philippines (ARC) and a member of the Association of CPAs in Public Practice (Acpapp). His opinion does not reflect in any way those of these institutions.
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