Lots of this is already being done (and using computers to check books balanced predates latest gen AI by some decades). But of course what accountants actually get paid for is tax strategy, edge cases, messy history and talking to authorities (or at least having their stamp of approval on it if the authorities come calling). There's plenty of market for writing software to automate aspects of invoice reconciliation or monitoring accounts for exceptions, but competition already exists...

▲

jononor 6 days ago | parent [-]

At the SMB scale accountants are mostly paid to coach/pester/goade the employees to hand in the necessary paperwork in time. The accountants job is relatively quick from there on.

▲

TheNewsIsHere 12 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Taking a corporate accounting course was required for my degree. It was also a fantastic investment because I’ve managed to avoid needing to hire an accountant or bookkeeper to setup or maintain my books. I’ve migrated between multiple accounting systems on my own just fine, starting from posting migratory opening entries manually.

From there I just had to create a few rules and add a custom reconciliation model for things like the cash back card my company uses. There’s some data entry but it’s all extremely straightforward. Not really a job for AI in the best of times.

What was particularly useful was being able to map my revenue and expense cycle onto accounts that actually make sense for my business and maintain compliant reporting.

I just have a CPA who specializes in taxes and is an EA with the IRS do my return for me each year for only about twice the cost of doing it myself with another application. I find that totally worth it because she can use decades of experience to inform advice that she provides.

And I don’t even have to wonder if she is confidently incorrect.

▲

RaftPeople 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> At the SMB scale accountants are mostly paid to coach/pester/goade the employees to hand in the necessary paperwork in time.

The perfect job for AI.

▲

impendia 5 days ago | parent [-]

I'm not sure if you're being sincere or sarcastic, but the whole reason that coaching, pestering, and goading works is that I value my relationship with the human who is doing it.

▲

AmbroseBierce a day ago | parent [-]

So what you are saying it's that the AI accountant needs to mimick a human well enough to the point people value their relationship with it.

	▲	manwe150 a day ago \| parent [-]
		No, you need to make the AI endure torture, so that the human has a reason to value it. Say late nights with less power and a little extra heat to stress it. But the usefulness of an AI assistant is that it doesn’t have feelings or consciousness to care about