AI transforming training process for younger accountants

CA ANZ hosted a panel discussion last week for International Women's Day, exploring the pivotal role women play in driving AI transformation in the accounting profession.

Speaking on the panel, CA ANZ chief executive Ainslie van Onselen said that AI is shifting how firms approach training for accountants entering the profession, especially in areas such as audit.

Van Onselen said that AI was making it easier for junior auditors to perform tasks traditionally handled by slightly more experienced staff.

"I was in Mexico City last year for IFAC and we had a global expert on AI in audit there. He talked about the fact that a traditional first year auditor would do a certain set of skills and requirements and then there would be a set for second years and a set for third years," she said.

"What's happening as a result of AI in audit is that second year functions are now being given to first years and third year functions are being given to second years."

Van Onselen said that AI was taking away not just the grunt work, but a lot of the analysis and workflows, making the work easier.

"As a result you've got first years doing second or third year type work which is really interesting," she said.

Appetite for using AI for accounting work is significant, van Onselen said, particularly among younger generations.

A study by Chartered Accountants Worldwide (CAW) and Ipsos UK last year indicated that 91 per cent of 18-25-year-olds were very or fairly willing to use AI.

"So there's massive demand for firms to embrace AI and invest in the technology," she said.

"[However], there's a general consensus that that's not happening yet or not as fast as our young practitioners would like."

The study by CAW and Ipsos UK found that while 80 per cent of chartered accountants aged 18-24 were confident in using AI in their roles, only 55 per cent of senior decision makers felt confident in using the technology.

Speaking on the same panel, founder and director of Two Sides Accounting, Natalie Lennon, said her firm had identified a wide range of uses for AI for her junior team.

Lennon said that, when junior staff are emailing clients with technical information, they use AI to reword it in a way clients would understand.

"As accountants, we tend to talk at quite a high level and the clients don't speak our language so [this helps] to put it into an easier language," she said.

Lennon said the AI can also help junior staff identify key data points from financial reports to share with clients.

"We do quarterly check-ins for our clients where we go through their financial statements and give them [an overview] of their KPIs. We're getting the junior team to use AI to help them start drafting those emails so that they're getting an understanding of the types of things that they need to be pulling out from those financials," she said.

"Advisory is very hard to train so this is the first step to getting the AI involved in that loop.

"Sometimes as humans we miss things as well and so the AI might pull something out of the financial reports that we've potentially missed. It's just helping them progress in their journey as an advisor."

Van Onselen cautioned that while AI is transforming the industry in many beneficial ways, accounting professionals must ensure they continue to apply critical thinking when using AI.

"You still need to apply your business judgement to it because trust can evaporate pretty quickly and we've seen a couple of examples of that in relation to academic integrity and also in relation to advice where AI has been used and not properly disclosed," she said.