As of April 2024, 66% of businesses surveyed were still experiencing challenges in sourcing staff. In July, a new study revealed that accountants and bookkeepers are emerging as ‘trailblazers’ in AI usage, adopting the technology at a faster pace than other sectors. Conducted by Sage, Demos and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the research shared that “AI-enabled practices expect to hire ten times more employees and triple their revenue growth compared to non-users.”
At the time of the study’s publication, King Charles III emphasised the Labour government’s commitment to “prioritising wealth creation for all communities,” through initiatives such as the draft Audit Reform Bill. This vital timing has placed generative AI as one viable solution to generate economic growth and profit across the UK. The study states that “AI adoption in UK accounting practices could add £2 billion to GDP, boost exports by £238 million and create almost 20,000 jobs.”
We’ll explore current views on generative AI in accounting, its impact on jobs in London’s audit and tax sectors and how it may promote flexible working across the city.
How do in-house and private tax practitioners feel about AI?
In the aforementioned July report, 61% of accountants believed that AI will “create more opportunities than risks.” In the same month, a survey by London-based tax intelligence and training provider, Tolley, reflected a similar outlook. Gathering answers from 446 UK tax professionals across private and in-house practices, their key findings included:
- 66% were either already using – or will soon use – AI for work purposes
- 91% used generative AI primarily for research
- 87% used AI for ‘grunt work’, such as drafting documents, while 80% similarly used it to prepare briefs and letters.
- 43% of in-house practitioners had already made AI-related changes to their day-to-day roles
- In private practice, this was true for 32% of tax professionals.
As for any reservations, 79% of respondents voiced concerns about the ethics and trustworthiness of generative AI, with 27% specifically worried about AI hallucinations (fabricated content). However, 71% stated they would be either ‘somewhat’ or ‘completely comfortable’ using a generative AI platform that was “fine-tuned for the tax market and grounded in proven, authoritative tax research and guidance content.”
How could AI influence and evolve roles across tax and audit?
As reflected by Tolley’s data, generative AI in tax functions will likely be used for ‘grunt work’, freeing up time for more complex and engaging tasks. Sharing his perspective, George Moss, Practice Manager at Bee Motion, recently told Accountancy Age; “In the future, I imagine accounting firms buzzing with human interaction, where technology takes care of the mundane tasks and frees up time to engage more with clients and advise on business growth.”
The roles that generative AI can take on across tax and audit include, but aren’t limited to:
Tax
- Automated tax filing
- Aiding accuracy and compliance
- Predictive planning; using algorithms to analyse historical tax data and predict liabilities
- Using new data to identify emerging patterns and trends
Audit
- Data analysis
- Identifying discrepancies and errors, aiding accurate financial reporting
- Monitoring real-time transactions; flagging unusual activity and potential fraud, aiding early detection
- Natural Language Processing (NLP); analysing documents to identify key terms, obligations and inconsistencies, speeding up the review process.
In July, KPMG International announced the integration of generative AI into their global smart audit platform. This move will evolve the roles of 90,000 auditors, in a bid to improve audit quality and efficiency.
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