In almost every industry, IT development has a large impact on how doing business have changed. However, in some businesses the effect is even more present than in others. One of these industries is the accounting industry. Some accountants say that their job will become redundant in the next 10 years, due to the introduction of artificial intelligence, cloud software en computers which are way smarter then humans. In this blog, I will discuss the question whether a human accountant will disappear in the next years and will be replaced by computers.
As an accountant, you will have to prepare financial statements or have to check whether financial data presented on financial statements correspond with reality. For centuries, there has been a large deficit in the number of accountants. However, this seems to change. According to Axson (2016), in the next couple of years, 80% of accounting tasks will be delivered with automation. Robots are much faster than humans in checking financial statements, thereby, robots are far more reliable, which is highly important in the, on this topic, highly criticised accounting industry. Should accounting professionals therefore become afraid of losing their jobs?
My answer is no, however the job will look different in ten years. According to Attolini (2014) accounting will not be about tools anymore, but about solutions. Cloud computing and artificial intelligence will encourage this change. New machines will be able to compute large amounts of data almost instantaneously. However, humans will be needed to spot inconsistencies and exceptions to the rules. The humans, accountants, will leverage the machines, software and AI to help them to improve client’s financials. The accounting service will more and more become a consulting service. (Attolini, 2014)
Thus, accountants will spend less time on time consuming tasks, which can now instantly be performed by machines. It will lead to more time to work with clients in more effective ways. So, this will mean accountants will spend more time thinking of what the financial numbers mean for the company. In this field, another shift will be present. Accountants will need to be able to analyse financial data presented by machines. (Big) Data analysis therefore will play a big role in the job description of an accountant of the future. (Reams, 2016)
Besides that, accounting will become more and more focused on ethics. Accounting is not black or white, in many circumstances there is a large grey area. Robots won’t be able to make decisions in this grey areas. Human mind and consideration is needed to fill such ethical grey area. The value of accounting is accountability. Humans will always be needed to held accountable for specific choices. In the short term, computers will not be held responsible for things they have produced or approved. (Hamada, 2014)
In my opinion, technology is never promising on its own. It is for sure that technology have changed and will change the accounting profession. However, in the near future, humans will be needed for accounting solutions, ethical issues and to be held responsible. Therefore, I would say that that AI, cloud computing and smart computers is changing the accounting profession, but is not making it disappear. What do you think of the technological development in this industry? Doesn’t it make accountancy make more appealing, or do you indeed believe accountants will become redundant?
Bibliography
Attolini, G. (2014, September 24). The Evolution of an Accounting Practice: The Impact of Technology. Retrieved from International Federation of Accountants: https://www.ifac.org/global-knowledge-gateway/practice-management/discussion/evolution-accounting-practice-impact
Axson, D. (2016). Finance 2020: Death by digital The best thing that ever happened to your finance organization . Accenture .
Chua, F. (2013). Technology trends: their impact on the global accountancy profession. Accounting Futures Academy. Boston: The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants,.
Hamada, O. (2014, June 19). Will accounting jobs be obsolete in the next 20 years as computers can do it much better? Retrieved from Quora: https://www.quora.com/Will-accounting-jobs-be-obsolete-in-the-next-20-years-as-computers-can-do-it-much-better
Pasqurosa, N. (2016, August 3). How Technology Is Changing The Accounting And Bookkeeping Industry. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2016/08/03/how-technology-is-changing-the-accounting-and-bookkeeping-industry/#547765ca51ba
Reams, L. (2016, October 11). Will Artificial Intelligence And Cloud Accounting Replace The Accountants Of Tomorrow? Retrived from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/2016/10/11/will-artificial-intelligence-and-cloud-accounting-replace-the-accountants-of-tomorrow/#35332ebcca4a
In my opinion the job of an accountant will change due to AI just like many other professions will undergo a change. Many processes are already automated which makes also sense since accountants can focus on more value creating tasks such as giving the company further insights. I agree, they become rather consultants who are the interface between the AI performing the task and the business. There will still be the need of professionals who understand how the programme works and consult the company.
The fact that AI disrupts accounting and auditing is no big news. Professional service firms and auditing firms are preparing for the ongoing disruption by reinventing the services they offer to clients. For example, KPMG announced a partnership with IBM Watson. In the future they will apply IBM’s Watson cognitive computing technology as part of their service offerings especially in audit. KPMG has started delivering innovative business services (Rosati, 2016). IBM Watson can be used to meet security, confidentiality and compliance requirements. IBM Watson provides audit teams with precise measurements which they can use to assess further procedure. With the help of cognitive technologies professionals can gain enhanced insights in processes and financial data.
Reference:
Rosati, K. (2016). KPMG Announces Agreement With IBM Watson To Help Deliver Cognitive-Powered Insights. Available at: https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/49274.wss [Accessed on: 19 October 2017].