AI in advisory: What work is at risk for accountants?

While artificial intelligence is slowly making its way into advisory services (see “Staying ahead of AI“), not every field is at risk. The ones that will survive are those that are based on deep relationships that provide the professional the context necessary to fully understand a client’s financial situation and become the trusted professional who is the first one they call with questions, concerns and ideas. We’ve seen how people achieve this in forensic accounting, estate planning, valuation and M&A advisory as just a few examples. 

The ones that will not, on the other hand, are those that are primarily transactional and rely heavily on data analytics to deliver insights and advice. For example, the kind of financial planning and analysis that consists mainly of giving a firm some business data and receiving a report with charts and graphs in return is already being disrupted by AI and likely will not survive much longer. 

What else is at risk? What else fits this description? What other advisory services should accountants no longer take for granted as part of their domain? Randy Johnston, executive vice president at accounting education and consulting firm K2 Enterprises, has observed a number of advisory fields that are starting to experience AI disruption and will need to either adapt or be eroded away in time. They include: