Research from cloud accounting provider iplicit has revealed concerns about accountancy and finance jobs – as well as job stability and longevity for current practitioners.
According to a survey of 250 UK-based mid-market finance leaders, only 14 per cent view traditional accounting skills as important for the next generation of finance professionals. In contrast, proficiency in AI and automation (41 per cent) and cybersecurity and data governance (39 per cent) are viewed as significantly more important.
Over half (51 per cent) of finance leaders believe AI is already a threat to entry-level jobs in the profession, and 52 per cent think it could eventually impact senior roles too. Of those with plans to adopt AI, 32 per cent say they are concerned about their role being automated or reduced in scope.
However, the overwhelming view is that the profession is evolving, rather than disappearing. “It is easy to get caught up in some of the negative noise around AI and digital agendas right now,” comments Louise Sayers, Head of People, Culture and Purpose at BDO. “Someone proficient in automation, AI and digital tools still needs the foundational knowledge to verify outputs, understand the logic behind what AI is doing and catch errors when they occur. Today’s candidates will be managing AI tools from day one – but without that grounding in the basics, how can you verify what it’s telling you is right?”
Catherine Thompson, who pivoted her career as an Accountant in Industry to Solutions Consultant at iplicit, says: “The fundamental principles of accounting are as important as ever. What AI has replaced is the grind. I used to spend days doing manual reconciliations, calculations and data input – hours of work that, looking back, a well-configured automation could handle in minutes. But that shift creates a new expectation: finance professionals need to understand how the automation works, evaluate the outputs and apply human intuition to guide the strategic conversation. That’s where the value is now.”
Louise Sayers draws a parallel with previous technological shifts: “Double-entry bookkeeping was created centuries ago, and there’s a reason it has held true across every digital revolution since. People said Excel would take away the need for manual work – and it did change things, but not for the worse. It meant people were able to do more. AI and automation are headed the same way. They will change what we do, but they won’t take away the need for foundational understanding.”
In addition to changing existing roles, the emergence of AI is also creating new ones. iplicit’s research found that 67 per cent of finance leaders say their organisation is already creating new finance roles because of AI. Among those who have fully adopted it, that figure rises to 85 per cent.
Louise Sayers points to the growth of digital transformation and innovation functions at BDO as evidence: “If you look back ten years or so, professional services firms may have had small teams looking at innovation and digital tools for internal use. Today it would seem extraordinary not to have a dedicated group of people internally innovating and creating tools to help do jobs more efficiently. We now have around 150 people in digital transformation and innovation teams developing BDO’s own AI and automation tools – as well as teams advising our own clients on their own Digital Transformation including cyber security, AI, automation etc. This is a shift from the types of jobs we’d have seen in the industry 15 years ago.”
“The profile of future finance professionals is evolving,” says Rob Steele, CFO at iplicit. “Similar to the emergence of the RevOps specialist within the modern sales team – someone who can act as a data professor, turning numbers into science – finance professionals will increasingly be tasked with translating accounting numbers into something that’s really valuable for the entire organisation.”
Encouragingly, concern about job replacement falls significantly as AI familiarity grows. Of those planning to adopt AI, 32 per cent worry about their role being automated or reduced in scope. Among those who have fully adopted it, that figure drops to just 17 per cent.
