Cultivating a Digital Mindset: Essential Skills for the Modern Professional

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology by the accounting profession is set to increase over the coming years so cultivating a digital mindset and making sure you’re armed with the right skills will be essential for success. Here, we take a look at the adjustments accountants will need to make to make sure they have the ability to make the most of the rapidly changing technology.

Maximise the benefits

The next few years will see a range of new AI tools become available to accountants. It will be essential that accountants ask themselves how they can maximise the benefits from each tool. In addition, they will need to weigh up where the use of such tools is both ethical and appropriate. This will require a change in mindset in order to adjust to the power and capabilities of the AI toolset.

Making an impact

AI technologies are already making an impact on the accountancy profession. The big firms have begun investing in the technology while third-party providers are also ramping up their offerings.

Automated document review is one field where AI is already being used. It can identify relevant information in large documents and also to process the unstructured data that is held in documentation.

It is also being used in areas such as financial risk discovery, tax reviews and small business accounting.

More to come

The tasks noted above are just the beginning for AI in accountancy. AI technology can aid with research, automate transactions or process PDF invoices. It can also generate risk assessment or modelling scenarios.

Meanwhile, it is helping boost productivity in areas like writing emails, where AI has already been shown to make productivity gains of up to 30-40%.

Lack of accuracy

A lack of accuracy is one of the well-documented risks associated with AI tools. In addition to the risk of AI hallucinations – where AI creates supposedly real-life scenarios that never happened – the technology is also exposed to confidentiality concerns, biased data outcomes and deepfakes.

Judgement and scepticism

Consequently, the ability to work effectively with AI is going to be an especially important skill in the next few years.

Although this will mean developing the technical skill to use the tools successfully it will also put emphasis on honing vital parts of an accountant’s existing skillset.

Human skills including analytical judgement and professional scepticism will be crucial to the safe use of the technology. In addition, people skills will be a key part of the accountant’s armoury because AI can’t build relationships and it can’t communicate properly with clients.

Improve your digital mindset and skills with Mercia

Mercia’s Digital Mindset and Skills course is part of a series in which Daniel Clark helps firms and professionals understand and develop the skillsets that will enable them to thrive in a world shaped by rapidly changing technology.