AI and the Accounting Profession: Views from Industry and Academia

Abstract

Anecdotal and empirical evidence indicates that the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) within accounting firms and accounting departments leads to improvements in efficiency (better or more services with fewer accounting professionals), a gradual increase in the share of AI workers, and a decrease in junior accounting employees. Suppose this trend continues; would this signal the beginning of an era of diminishing demand for new accounting professionals and a shift in the required skill set of new accounting employees? The aim of the workshop, which by happenstance occurred the same week when OpenAI introduced ChatGPT, was to bring together Accounting Information Systems (AIS) researchers and representatives from leading accounting firms to have a conversation on the implications of AI for the accounting profession and related research opportunities. While the panelists at the time had no way of knowing the capabilities of generative AI models, like ChatGPT, their main message was timely and appropriate: Accountants with AI will replace accountants.

Keywords: AI, ML, Accounting