Why accountants need AI skills

Narayanan Vaidyanathan

The traditional career paths of accountancy profession are changing fast. Employers are expecting more from those who join the profession and individuals are also seeking to have a professional role for a longer part of their lives, as the demographics of the working population change.  Blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), human-centered design are some of the top skills required going forward and the demand for talent with these skills is growing 3X.

The role of artificial intelligence has become pronounced in accounting and thus, those wanting to enter this field have to be hands on with AI and machine learning tools.  Finance professionals can benefit from the ability of technologies such as ML to support them in the intelligent analysis of vast amounts of data. 

Important skills 

It is important for students today to appreciate the value AI will help to bring to the work they will do in the future — from generating valuable insights for business decision-making, to fraud detection, to risk assessment to understanding complexities in taxation and also with more effective non-financial reporting. Hence the accountancy professional of the future needs to understand how AI and machine learning works, especially given its role in influencing the trust we have in the decisions made by these systems. 

Mitigating risks

Professional accountants must also consider potential risks that could arise from decisions made by an algorithm. With machine learning there is the risk of unintended consequences; for example, when bias in the input data used by an algorithm creates unfair or unacceptable outcomes. Therefore, it is important for students to develop a core understanding of these types of emerging technologies. The profession can truly benefit from the ability of these technologies to support them with intelligent analysis of vast amounts of data.

Ethical behaviour

In a fast-evolving digital age, various stakeholders will continue to invest their trust in accountants if they believe that the individual will always act in an ethical manner. Ethical behaviour helps to build trust in the digital age, as the ability of professional accountants to create value depends crucially on their ability to win the trust of their stakeholders. 

As the global workplace and businesses evolve so will the expectations placed upon future professional accountants. They will require the competencies, skills and outlook to meet more requests from diverse stakeholders for comprehensive and forward-looking information and more frequent ad hoc reporting. 

All professional accountants will be expected to look beyond the numbers, collaborate with other parts of the business and think and behave more strategically. 

A successful accountant of the future will be one who recognises the need to develop his skills continuously taking into consideration the changes in the business environment. 

 — The writer in Head of Business Insights, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants - ACCA