The Big 4 Accounting Firms Are Embracing AI. What Can the Technology Do for Audit & Finance Functions in Smaller Organizations?

Many prominent global companies, including the so-called “Big Four” accounting firms, are making substantial investments in generative AI. PwC has dedicated $1 billion to expand AI capabilities, while Deloitte has established an AI research center, integrating AI into its offerings to support client transformations.

The landscape of tax and accounting is undergoing a transformative shift with the increasing influence of AI and the rising trend of generative AI. Businesses are leveraging AI integration to remain competitive and streamline operations, driven by growing client demand. 

Money is a vulnerable area, highly susceptible to wrongdoing, leading to numerous regulations companies must follow to avoid penalties. These rules focus on accurate financial reporting, necessitating transparent processes for recording and verifying revenue, expenses, assets and liabilities. Managing these regulations can be overwhelming due to the severe consequences of non-compliance. However, AI can help maintain compliance with both general regulations and industry-specific standards.

According to a recent Thomson Reuters report, 78% of respondents believe that generative AI tools like ChatGPT have the potential to enhance legal or accounting work. This growing trend is set to bring transformative changes across industries, enabling advisers to focus on providing insightful analysis and client support instead of tedious data entry tasks.

Transformed accounting with generative AI

Generative AI’s ability to produce synthetic data is invaluable for organizations dealing with data scarcity or confidentiality concerns. By simulating data sets resembling real-world scenarios, tax, audit and accounting professionals gain the power to conduct extensive analyses and simulations while safeguarding privacy and data availability, proving especially useful for scenario planning, risk assessment, and compliance testing. These groundbreaking capabilities of generative AI empower machines to generate authentic and realistic data, including for financial statements, invoices and expense reports. With training on vast datasets, these AI models comprehend the underlying patterns and structures inherent in tax and accounting data.

While some generative AI tools like ChatGPT are accessible to the public, it cannot be overlooked that incorporating generative AI in tax and accounting requires strong data governance and ethical considerations. Ensuring the integrity and quality of generated data, addressing biases and complying with data protection regulations are critical aspects that demand careful attention.

Easing workload demands while overcoming labor shortages

AI plays a crucial role in addressing the scarcity of skilled professionals within the industry. Deloitte reports that 82% of hiring managers in finance and accounting departments of public companies view talent retention as a significant challenge. This, coupled with limited budgets and inadequate technology infrastructure, further intensifies the workload burden many accounting administrators face.

Organizations are turning to automation to streamline manual processes to alleviate these challenges, including gathering signatures, routing, analytics, data entry, reconciliations and financial reporting. By implementing strategies like training and outsourcing, staff members can shift their focus toward value-added work. This enables accounting administrators to concentrate on strategic endeavors like financial analysis, forecasting and decision-making, as automation eliminates repetitive tasks and automates steps in areas such as bookkeeping and tax preparation.

Generative AI, including ChatGPT, brings unprecedented capabilities to the accounting profession, offering enhanced accuracy, efficiency and scalability. However, it is crucial to implement robust data governance and ethical considerations when incorporating generative AI to maintain data integrity and compliance. As global companies make substantial investments in AI, it is evident that strategic AI adoption is becoming a critical component of enterprise success in the tax and accounting domain.