{"id":1959,"date":"2022-07-09T05:44:30","date_gmt":"2022-07-09T05:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.upliftprofessionals.in\/blog\/?p=1959"},"modified":"2025-09-26T13:51:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T08:21:16","slug":"the-impact-of-ai-and-robotics-in-accounting-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.upliftprofessionals.in\/blog\/2022\/07\/the-impact-of-ai-and-robotics-in-accounting-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Impact of AI and Robotics in Accounting Jobs | Uplift Professionals"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the branch of computer science concerned with making computers behave like humans. AI refers to the ability of machines to perform cognitive tasks like thinking, perceiving, learning, problem solving and decision making. AI refers to the ability of machines to perform cognitive tasks like thinking, perceiving, learning, problem solving and decision making. Initially conceived as a technology that could mimic human intelligence. AI has evolved in ways that far exceed its original conception. With incredible advances made in data collection, processing and computation power, intelligent systems can now be deployed to take over a variety of tasks, enable connectivity and enhance productivity. Robotics is a branch of AI, which is composed of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Computer Science for designing, construction, and application of robots.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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As AI\u2019s capabilities have dramatically expanded, so have its utility in a growing number of fields. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are leading to the emergence of a new class of robot. These are machines that go beyond the traditional bots running preprogrammed motions; these are robots that can see, learn, think, and react to their surroundings. Machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing are subcategories of AI. Furthermore, we can consider robotics as a subcategory of AI. Thus, it indicates that AI is a vast area that covers many aspects. Moreover, there are various applications of AI, such as games, self-driving cars, and robots.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Flip Side<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The 1984 movie, The Terminator, portrays a dystopian future where robots and intelligent machines seize control of the world. In the movie, an intelligent killer robot \u2014 a terminator \u2014 is sent back in time from the early-21st century to change history. Now clearly, none of that has come even close to coming true, but what is clear is that technology will disrupt our future in ways we can\u2019t yet predict. The idea that \u201cthe robots are coming for our jobs\u201d is one disassociated from the reality of these technologies. That said, it\u2019s a fact that accounting is changing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The salient question is how AI is changing accounting, how AI innovation can change accounting jobs, and what accountants need to do to thrive during this digital revolution?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Automated Accounting-the Perspective<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u00b7\u00a0Perhaps the most pessimistic view of the future of accounting comes from a website tool developed by Deloitte and Oxford University that predicts the likelihood that a robot will take your job. According to that tool, accountants have a 95% chance of losing their jobs to robots.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u00b7\u00a0Taking a more optimistic view, a study by the Brookings Institution predicted that occupations with a high percentage of repetitive tasks may be at a high risk of automation, while those that require a high level of education \u2014 such as accountants \u2014 will be pretty safe. However, a later study by that same Brookings team found that advances in artificial intelligence may make better-paid and better-educated workers the most vulnerable.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Impact of Automation on Accounting<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Until the advent of computers and Excel, most accountants did their work pretty much the same way as double-entry bookkeeping in 1494. Ledger sheets, pens, and adding machines were the tools of the trade. The development of QuickBooks in the early 1990s put computerized bookkeeping within the reach of small businesses who couldn\u2019t afford the expensive mainframe computers and ERPs used by finance departments at Fortune 500 companies.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Now, thanks to accounting workflow automation, bookkeepers don\u2019t need to spend hours and days on data entry when bank feeds can pull financial data into an accounting system in minutes. Automation streamlines processes and converts inefficient, error-prone, labor-intensive processes into efficient, error-free processes that need very little human intervention. Automation doesn\u2019t just save time, but it also gives you more accurate numbers. Real-time updates mean that business owners always know what their numbers are. Automation in accounting has been made easier by the development of APIs, or application programming interfaces, which allow different pieces of software to interact with your accounting system. Before APIs, connecting two systems often required coding. Now, you can largely plug and play to create automated workflows quickly and easily. Applications like Expensify and Dext use APIs to push data from PDFs and photos of invoices and receipts into the general ledger. APIs also make bank feeds possible, so that transactions from bank accounts and credit cards can be directly downloaded into an accounting system.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Accounting firms use automation to extract information from tax documents and import it directly into tax returns. Finance professionals use automation to extract data from contracts and leases to create the journal entries and footnotes required by accounting standards. Business owners use automation to keep an eye on their business needs in real time. Today, many accounting tasks can be automated, as this graphic from McKinsey shows:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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