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Accounting in Disigital

The document discusses how AI and automation will transform accounting and finance jobs by taking over repetitive tasks like data entry and number crunching. This will allow human professionals to focus on higher-level work like analysis, strategy, and client services. While some jobs may be lost, new roles and opportunities will emerge in finance and other fields as automation creates new types of work that have not been invented yet. The key is for humans and machines to work together, with each focusing on the tasks they are best suited for.

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70 views4 pages

Accounting in Disigital

The document discusses how AI and automation will transform accounting and finance jobs by taking over repetitive tasks like data entry and number crunching. This will allow human professionals to focus on higher-level work like analysis, strategy, and client services. While some jobs may be lost, new roles and opportunities will emerge in finance and other fields as automation creates new types of work that have not been invented yet. The key is for humans and machines to work together, with each focusing on the tasks they are best suited for.

Uploaded by

suhail
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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First of all we must understand that it will transform the accounting

and finance jobs. The AI and automation will be used to do the


repetitive tasks like number crunching, gathering data, etc. However
the other part of job which is generating insights, analysing data and
creating a strategy on that basis will still be here.

It turns out that we might be at the perfect storm where how we store
and access financial information combined with the maturation of
tech capabilities are all in place to accelerate the digital
transformation of accounting and finance. Just as others who faced
the prospect of machines taking over jobs that used to be done by
humans, accounting and finance professionals might anticipate the
reality of 4th Industrial Revolution with fear. Actually, when machines
take over repetitive, time-consuming and redundant tasks, it will free
human finance professionals to do higher level and more lucrative
analysis and counselling for their clients. Let’s take a look at just of
the few opportunities that are now available thanks to the digital
transformation of accounting and finance.

 ADOBE STOCKAs machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI),


applications continue to increase and impact accounting and finance
responsibilities, the human professionals have an opportunity as well.
Not only will they be more productive and proficient, but they will be
able to handle more clients and deliver more value because they can
determine actionable insight rather than just crunch numbers.
Machines will be able to propel innovation in the industry.

Who wouldn’t want to leave bank reconciliations to a machine? Even


though machines will become an accounting professional’s most
valued colleague in the future, there’s nothing that can replace the
emotional intelligence humans bring to the job.

Accounting Tasks Machines Can Do


Not only will machines free up humans to take on other tasks,
automating accounting processes will help improve operations and
reduce costs. And, since automation will ultimately infiltrate most
divisions in a company, financial leaders who embrace the change are
gaining expertise that will make them valuable in future business
process transformations.

Accounts payable/receivable processing: There are already AI-


powered invoice management systems available that can make
invoice processing much more streamlined thanks to digital
workflows that are implemented. They can learn the accounting
codes that are appropriate for each invoice.

Supplier onboarding:  Machines can vet new suppliers by checking


their credit scores or tax information and set them up in the system
without human involvement and even query portals to get all the
necessary information.

Procurement: The procurement and purchasing processes for most


organizations are filled with paperwork and use different systems and
files that are not compatible with one another. As machines through
APIs are able to be integrated and the unstructured data is processed,
the procurement system will eventually become paperless. Robots are
ideally suited to tracking price changes among a number of suppliers.

Audits: Digitalization of the audit process will help increase its


security by allowing a digital trail of when and by whom each file was
accessed. Instead of searching file cabinets for the documentation
that is required during an audit, auditors will be able to leverage the
digital files. A more digital audit improves the efficiency and accuracy
of audits and makes an audit of 100% of a company’s financial
transactions possible instead of just a sample.
Monthly/quarterly close process: The faster you can get the numbers,
the more time your organization has to think strategically about what
to do with the numbers. Machines can post data from a number of
sources, consolidate and reconcile it. Not only will your
monthly/quarterly close process be speedier, it will also be more
accurate thanks to the support of machines in the process.

Expense management:  Reviewing and approving expenses to ensure


they are compliant with your organization’s policies is time-
consuming for your accounting team. Machines can read receipts,
audit expenses and alert humans when a possible infraction has
occurred.

AI chatbots: Chatbots are used to efficiently solve common questions


or queries from customers including the latest account balances,
when certain bills are due, the status on accounts and more.

The key to the digital transformation of accounting and financing is


pairing people and machines together allowing each one to contribute
in areas they are best skilled at. Machines can efficiently and
accurately analyze a tremendous amount of data, they can spot
patterns in the data and learn how to treat various kinds of data. With
machines taking care of the mind-numbing and monotonous tasks,
human accounting and financial professionals will be free to take on
tasks they are better suited for like analysis

A second thread is for AI, automation and robotics to create new jobs and
careers, both in finance and elsewhere. While there is no doubt that automation
will destroy whole sectors of repetitive-type work, it will simultaneously
enable us to perform tasks we haven’t even thought of yet.
A report from the World Economic Forum concluded that by 2025 machines
will do more tasks than humans, but the robot revolution, or fourth industrial
revolution, will still create 58-million new jobs in the next five years.

Automation is not intelligence

Automation has been increasing for many decades — but automation is not
intelligence. It is the addition of more cognitive capabilities in technologies that
will allow companies to reconfigure their human capital requirements.
Accounting is no exception.

By using accounting software and cloud computing, the modern finance chief
can spend their time not simply keeping files, books and tax returns in order,
but gathering immense amounts of data and making computations more quickly
and easily. The bulk of their time can now be spent analysing the data to
discover ways for the business to improve operations and plan strategically.

There is ample historical evidence that innovation does not destroy jobs. For
instance, in 1910 manufacturing, transport, retail and domestic services were
the big employers in developed economies. Inventions such as the washing
machine, dishwasher, microwave and electric stove put an end to domestic
service as a large employer.

Yet, the big economies didn’t experience huge waves of unemployment,


because new careers in professional services  that didn’t exist in 1910 were
invented. Similarly in the 1980s, secretaries were one of the largest categories
of employees with entire rooms of typewriters and filing cabinets. Yet again,
there was no collapse in employment when desktops replaced them — as new
employment categories emerged.

Finance leaders, who, according to a new Sage research report are taking centre
stage in the rollout of digital transformation projects, need to convince
company employees that digital transformation is a career opportunity for
employees to upgrade their expertise to suit the marketplace of the future.
Finance professionals will not lose their jobs, but they will have an opportunity
to learn new things and become advisers and strategic leaders in their
companies. For example predictive analytics can be learnt as a skill to be better
at analysing data and generate useful insights.

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