Artificial intelligence and the future of the profession

Artificial intelligence has the potential to usher in a bright new era for Chartered Accountants who could enjoy an elevated role in business and finance

Having recently closed a €60 million funding round, AccountsIQ founder and Chief Executive Tony Connolly, FCA, is preparing for significant investment in artificial intelligence (AI), which will, he says, allow the Dublin-headquartered tech venture to “shape the finance function of the future.”

The Series C funding from Axiom Equity, a London-based growth fund, has come at the “perfect inflection point” for AccountsIQ, Connolly says.

“We’ve just hit a critical milestone with over 1,000 customers and users in 80 countries and now we’re poised to take AccountsIQ to the next level,” he says.

The investment will allow AccountsIQ to leverage AI tools into practical, easy-to-adopt services for finance teams, Connolly says. The firm will also use the funding to double its headcount to 200 people in Ireland and other markets.

It is an exciting time for AccountsIQ, which was launched in 2004 by Connolly, with founding members Darren Donohue and Gavin McGahey on board.

By that time, Connolly had qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and then studied systems analysis and design at Trinity College Dublin.

It was while working in practice consulting, designing complex finance systems for large organisations, that he spotted a gap in the market and decided to set up his own company, bringing Donohue and McGahey on board as his first employees.

AccountsIQ is a financial management system (FMS) for international businesses operating across multiple locations and entities.

The platform handles complex financial processes, such as multi-currency consolidation, multi-level approvals and third-party integrations while also automating daily processes for finance teams. 

Looking beyond the hype

The emergence of the web in the early 2000s was the catalyst for the business and Connolly sees similar potential in the emergence of AI and its scope to support and enhance the finance function of today.

“I remember the advent of ‘the cloud’ and knowing it would be the future for AccountsIQ. The challenge then was convincing accountants that taking their data off-premises and putting it online would be safe and secure, but that has completely changed in the years since,” he says.

“Now with AI, we’re seeing a lot of hype and some fear, but we’ve already been on a long journey ourselves with machine learning and automation, so we don’t see AI in 2024 as being ‘revolutionary’.

“We view it today as a catalyst for the further development of automation and machine learning and as a digital assistant we can use to help make the work of finance teams easier. I think that is really what it means for Chartered Accountants generally. 

“It won’t be replacing them. It will just take the drudgery out of processing and recording transactions and managing things like controls and reconciliations.

“That just means that Chartered Accountants and finance teams will have more time to focus on helping to drive their business or organisation forward with access to the right tools and information.”                                                        

AI and financial reporting

Research released in May by KPMG found that AI is already in widespread use in financial reporting in Ireland, with close to two-thirds (63%) of the financial reporting executives and board members surveyed in Irish companies reporting that they were already using or piloting the technology.

AI in financial reporting and audit: navigating the new era surveyed financial reporting executives and board members at 1,800 companies globally, including close to 100 in Ireland.

Among Irish respondents, AI is viewed as a “game-changer,” the research found, with two-thirds reporting that their board had already developed a vision or strategy for AI adoption.

“The adoption of AI today, and its impact tomorrow, is very much on the agenda at board level among the Irish companies we surveyed and their global counterparts,” Niall Savage, National Head of Audit Markets with KPMG in Ireland, says.

The major focus currently is on identifying the most advantageous AI use cases.
“Right now, the emphasis is on learning to understand AI, its capabilities, its limitations, the opportunities it may bring and, indeed, the potential threats,” Savage explains.

“I was heartened to see in our findings that companies are not focusing solely on AI’s potential to cut costs. That would be a mistake, so it’s encouraging to see that they are instead thinking about identifying the opportunities.”

As a technology that is still in its infancy, commercially speaking, AI has scope to encompass much greater capabilities in the future with potential applications of value to companies and their finance teams.

“The tools out there and available for use right now – the likes of ChatGPT – are already showing us the great work AI can do in collating and interpreting data from multiple sources to answer our questions in real-time,” Savage says.

“This is just scratching the surface, however. What businesses are focusing on now is how they can bring all the relevant data together to enable AI to facilitate much faster strategic decision-making in the future – to spot trends, opportunities, anomalies and potential risks, for example.”

For Chartered Accountants and the wider finance team, the upshot will be change – change in the way they work, their capability and their role in the workplace.

“For accountants in the future, there will be less need for research, bringing data together and writing up reports – AI will be able to do all of that far more efficiently,” Savage says.

“In its place, accountants will have more time to focus on more meaningful work. They will not be under as much pressure to use their time to ‘get the numbers right’.

“They will be even more involved in key decisions. They will have even more opportunities to have a place at the top table. The profession could change radically and, I think, very positively.”

Upskilling for the AI world

To benefit from this transition, Chartered Accountants will need to upskill and align their knowledge and experience with AI, a technology that has the potential to elevate their role in business and finance.

“It’s a bit like the rise of Microsoft Excel in the nineties. At that time, even the finest technical accountants had to learn to use this technology – and learn to use it well and use it quickly. AI is the same,” Savage says. 

“There will always be the need for the accountant to verify the information AI is giving them and, ultimately, to make the decisions. The need to exercise caution, judgement and governance will always be the remit of the accountant, even as AI evolves into the future.”  

He continues: “The top use case identified by respondents in our survey was AI’s potential to provide critical, real-time information that can then be interpreted to deliver tangible benefits – for businesses, this might mean understanding where to allocate capital, where to invest or where they might have a problem.

“This will really put Chartered Accountants and Chief Financial Officers across the globe at the coalface of business commercially. We will be the people who interpret the data to bring real value to the organisation. We will continue to be custodians as we are today, but with much more powerful tools at our disposal.”

Chartered Accountants Ireland

Chartered Accountants Ireland welcomes the advance of AI and sees it as a significant opportunity for the profession. 

With every advance in technology over the course of the Institute’s 136-year history, the profession has adapted. 

“The pace and advancement of AI is an aid to the accountant who can entrust the tools to perform functions that previously required manual input,” says Ian Browne, Director of Education at Chartered Accountants Ireland. 

“In this way, we see the advancements in AI as an enabler for new economic activities for the profession.”

Since 2017, the Institute’s Education Department has been reforming the educational syllabus for its primary qualification, with the introduction of principles-based teaching materials in several areas.

This work has spanned data analytics, data visualisation, robotic process automation, blockchain, cryptocurrency, sustainability – and AI. 

Launched in 2019, the evolved syllabus reflects the lived experience of the accountant in practice and industry, Browne says. 

Two years ago, the Education Department formalised the findings of a major research project.

Project Athena proposed to teach the latest advances in technology and emerging accounting practice, while incorporating emerging trends in accountancy, using a blend of the most up to date technology and teaching pedagogy.

“The Education Department has been preparing the output of Project Athena with the launch of a new multi-disciplinary qualification beginning in September 2025,” explains Browne.

“Part of the remit of the Education Department is to ensure that we keep abreast of technological developments, assess their future value and determine how they will affect the lived experience of a Chartered Accountant. 

“Only then do we consider when to add the underlying principles of these advancements to the Chartered Accountant qualification. It can be easy to get carried away by the hype cycle attached to new developments in technology, but we only add new elements to syllabi that can meaningfully add tangible value to our students and economic value to the profession.”

AI and attracting younger candidates

In June, Belfast-based RBCA announced a £50,000 investment in AI. Partnering with Xero, the Chartered Accountancy firm will use the technology to reduce manual tasks and administration, automate bookkeeping and generate reports and forecasts.

RBCA founder Ross Boyd believes the investment will allow his team of 20 to focus more on servicing and consulting with existing clients, while also building new business relationships.

“When used correctly, I think AI can transform the professional services sector for the better by removing the focus on repetitive, routine tasks, such as data entry and document processing. It can free up employees to focus more on complex and relationship-led tasks,” Boyd explains.

However, while AI can learn from data and make predictions, it will “never replace the value of human judgement,” Boyd says.

“Chartered Accountants will need to respond to AI, and its increasingly prevalent place in our work, by adapting, training and upskilling. There is no way around that, as far as I can see, but AI will not replace the role of the Chartered Accountant.

“It may remove the burden of repetitive and time-consuming activities for Chartered Accountants, giving us more capacity to tackle the challenges only the human condition can master, but I cannot see it replacing what we do.”

Boyd believes the emergence and uptake of technologies such as AI in the profession may even help to attract younger candidates in the future.

“At the end of the day, we live in a technologically minded world, so it’s time to accept new opportunities,” he says.

A survey of 2,000 accountants in the UK carried out last year by Intuit QuickBooks found that 92 percent had experienced hiring challenges. 

“We have to provide the right learning environment for young people who have grown up using technology to do tasks and solve tasks. Gen Z, now aged up to 26, are becoming more present in the workforce and will account for 27 percent by 2025,” Boyd says.

“To continue to attract young people to accounting, I think it’s important that we harness the benefits of technology to position the role – not as monotonous and gruelling – but as interesting, varied and strategic. That is where AI comes in.”

Elevated role for Chartered Accountants

Brian O’Malley, Senior Manager, Private Client Services – Tax and Law, at EY Ireland, agrees that AI will bring a more strategic, higher value focus to the role of the Chartered Accountant.

“Generative AI (GenAI), in particular, is a revolutionary tool for the accounting profession that has the potential to boost productivity, increase revenue and manage risk,” O’Malley says.

“As GenAI becomes more prevalent in the years ahead, I think we will see a shift in the role of the ‘traditional’ accountant as the technology assists more and more with quantitative and routine tasks.

“We will instead be freed up to spend more time on qualitative work requiring a focus on communication, leadership and ethical decision-making skills.”

Accountants who embrace AI by developing the necessary skills to manage and interpret the output of AI systems will be well-positioned to offer greater value. 

“Navigating the intricacies of AI outputs responsibly and ensuring that AI-generated insights align with overall business objectives and regulatory requirements, will become a key aspect of our role,” O’Malley says.

EY has invested more than €1.3 billion in AI globally, encompassing technology and services, and last year launched EYQ, its own large language model.

“I use EYQ myself regularly to assist with administrative tasks and carry out research safely and securely,” says O’Malley, who is based at the firm’s Southeastern headquarters in Waterford city.

“AI has brought a sense of excitement to the Southeast in that both large multinationals and SMEs are keen to explore it and ‘unlock its power’ to enhance their everyday business operations,” he says.

“This was evident at our recent EY Waterford Generative AI event, which was aimed at helping our local business community to better understand how they can implement it. 

“The event was attended by many local businesses, demonstrating the strong interest in the technology and its potential.”

This eagerness to harness AI among businesses in Ireland will only benefit Chartered Accountants in the future, O’Malley believes.

“If you consider the world in which we work, it is fast-paced and constantly changing, especially from a regulatory perspective. AI has the potential to provide us with the necessary resources to thrive in the modern business world.

 “It can help Chartered Accountants to meet our clients’ changing needs and act as strategic partners to businesses as they seek to capitalise on opportunities. 

“By effectively harnessing  AI, I think many Chartered Accountants will see their role expand beyond financial statements to encompass that of trusted advisor, strategist and business solution provider.”