Nearly every accountant has used AI in one form or another, whether for their clients or their own firm, but not necessarily for accounting, according to a
The survey of over 700 practitioners found that 98% of accountants have used AI in the last 12 months. Top use cases, though, had less to do with accounting itself and more with either administrative tasks or financial insights.
When asked how they have used AI in client services, the most common answer was data entry and processing at 69%, followed by fraud prevention and detection at 51% and delivering real-time financial insights at 47%. In contrast, despite being made primarily of repetitive routine tasks, far fewer accountants were using AI for traditional accounting services. Only 30% were using it for tax services, 29% for financial statement preparation and analysis, and 26% for auditing.
When it comes to their own businesses, practitioners are mostly using AI for client interaction. “Managing client portfolios” was cited as the most common internal use case at 65%. The survey found that firms are seeing larger client lists than before, necessitating solutions to manage them: 81% reported their client list has grown in the past 12 months by an average of about 24%.
“Client communication and engagement” ranked at 54%, then “invoicing and payments” (i.e. clients paying the firm) at 53%, then marketing at 43%, and recruitment at 38%. Overall, there does seem to be more willingness to use AI on internal tasks like these versus traditional accounting work — only “notetaking” at 23%, dead last in the list, had less support than tax, financial statement preparation or audit.
Regardless of how they use it, most accountants report operating under some sort of ethics policy or framework regarding AI use. Part of it involves informing clients about how accountants use AI, with 66% of the respondents saying they send out client notices. Meanwhile, 61% say their firm has a code of ethics or set of best practices that guides their use, 57% said they have a committee overseeing ethical use of AI, and 54% said they have had informational trainings.
The poll found great pressure on accountants to keep up with technology like AI: the Intuit poll found 27% of respondents–the most commonly cited answer–said “a failure to keep up with tech advancements” is the greatest threat to the industry’s future. This is far ahead of things like a decreasing focus on value-added services (4%) and increasingly complex accounting standards (10%).
Consequently, there has also been investment in new technologies. On average, respondents report their firms investing $16,000 in accounting or bookkeeping technologies over the last 12 months and planning to invest another $16,000 over the next 12 months (41% work for firms with more than 100 employees; 59% work for firms with 0-99 employees).
Part of this investment aims to address the oft-mentioned talent crisis. If there aren’t enough professionals to go around, accountants say technology will need to fill the void. The survey found 44% strongly agree and 50% somewhat agree that if the workforce does not stop shrinking, accountants will need to rely on technology even more for business success. Meanwhile, tech is also seen as a way to attract more talent. When asked what firms will prioritize over the next year to attract and retain talent, 43% cited technology as an attractor and 31% cited it as a retainer. This ranked in third place, next to opportunities to advance professionally and a competitive salary/salary increases.
Accountants don’t believe technology can solve all their problems. Intuit found 94% of accountants agree that “soft skills are just as important as traditional accounting skills to succeed as an accountant today,” and 95% of accountants agree that “prioritizing human touch and connection with clients and staff is just as much of a competitive advantage as technological capabilities.”
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