{"id":4360,"date":"2018-05-29T15:55:16","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T19:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/?p=4360"},"modified":"2026-02-12T05:23:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T10:23:01","slug":"what-cpas-need-to-know-about-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/what-cpas-need-to-know-about-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Artificial Intelligence \u2013 what CPAs need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tArtificial Intelligence \u2013 what CPAs need to know\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\tDr. Sean Stein Smith<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

As we move past another busy season, we are seeing a change in the public accounting landscape like never before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenges we are faced with seem to be growing by the day. In the past, it was just staffing shortages and succession issues, which were enough to stress even the most level-headed individual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now those issues have not gone away, but more issues have been added with the coming of artificial intelligence (AI), which is expected to dramatically impact our profession. Given this, one of the latest challenges we have been faced with as firms are how do we transition from compliance-based accountants into proactive advisors<\/a> and entrepreneurial CPAs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question is not: Are these changes coming? But, instead, how can we prepare for them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is critical not to overlook the silver linings and opportunities generated by AI, and how practitioners and organizations can benefit from the adoption of AI<\/a> moving forward. Below is a quick primer on what CPAs need to know about artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what exactly is artificial intelligence (AI)?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

AI is one of those concepts that has received a large amount of attention lately but still seems like an intimidating topic that is hard to get a handle on. Drilling down, however, AI simply represents a computer program or suite of programs that allow computers to replicate human behavior or insights. The implementation of AI across the industry and geographic lines will have profound impacts on accounting, data management processes, and other businesses moving forward. Automating and streamlining the flow of information from the organization to external stakeholders will help CPAs and other accounting professionals interpret, analyze, and report data, while also allowing accountants to provide higher level advice versus traditional number crunching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simply put, AI has the potential to have a powerful impact on the accounting profession as lower-level services and tasks continue to be automated and almost outsourced, to technology and other tools available to market participants. It is one thing to understand these trends; however, it is an entirely different task to implement AI into the business environment. Let\u2019s take a look at a few of the impacts and ramifications that AI will, and already is, having on the accounting profession and the clients served by accountants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the impact for CPAs?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

AI and machine learning<\/a> are already changing our lives every day, even if we don’t realize it, and this technology trend is coming to the accounting profession. Let\u2019s take a look at the way this technology will impact how and what we do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n