Accountants and Auditors

AUTOMATION RISK
CALCULATED
71%
risk level
POLLING
64%
Based on 6,257 votes
LABOR DEMAND
GROWTH
5.6%
by year 2032
WAGES
$78,000
or $37.50 per hour
Volume
1,402,420
as of 2022
SUMMARY
JOB SCORE
4.7/10

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Automation risk

71% (High Risk)

High Risk (61-80%): Jobs in this category face a significant threat from automation, as many of their tasks can be easily automated using current or near-future technologies.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Some quite important qualities of the job are difficult to automate:

  • Persuasion

  • Social Perceptiveness

  • Negotiation

  • Originality

User poll

64% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted that it's probable this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 71% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Accountants and Auditors will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?






Sentiment

The following graph(s) are included wherever there is a substantial amount of votes to render meaningful data. These visual representations display user poll results over time, providing a significant indication of sentiment trends.

Sentiment over time (quarterly)

Sentiment over time (yearly)

Growth

Moderate growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Accountants and Auditors' job openings is expected to rise 5.6% by 2032

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2021 and 2031
Updated projections are due 09-2023.

Wages

High paid relative to other professions

In 2022, the median annual wage for 'Accountants and Auditors' was $78,000, or $37 per hour

'Accountants and Auditors' were paid 68.4% higher than the national median wage, which stood at $46,310

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Volume

Significantly greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2022 there were 1,402,420 people employed as 'Accountants and Auditors' within the United States.

This represents around 0.9% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 105 people are employed as 'Accountants and Auditors'.

Job description

Examine, analyze, and interpret accounting records to prepare financial statements, give advice, or audit and evaluate statements prepared by others. Install or advise on systems of recording costs or other financial and budgetary data.

SOC Code: 13-2011.00

Resources

Can ChatGPT pass an accounting interview?

Here's a video from Certified Accountant Kostadin Ristovski on Chat GPT and accounting, where he asks it questions which an accountant should know the answer to, he's not impressed!

If you're thinking of starting a new career, or looking to change jobs, we've created a handy job search tool which might just help you land that perfect new role.

Search jobs in your local area

Comments

Leave a comment

Thomas Taylor (No chance) says
The increasing use of AI in institutions will not diminish the need for accountants, but rather create a greater demand for highly skilled and certified accounting professionals. As AI becomes more prevalent, there will be a need for accountants who can evaluate whether the software being used meets the necessary performance criteria to consistently generate output that adheres to International Accounting Standards. This will involve auditing the datasets of AI, analyzing its previous inputs and outputs to identify errors and their causes, and developing strategies to improve these digital products and processes. To do this, accountants will need to expand their knowledge of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning concepts.

While accountants are already required to complete continuous education requirements annually, their curriculums will now need to be updated to place a greater emphasis on the management of AI and quality assurance processes to ensure that these systems are performing at a level that meets International Accounting Standards.
Mar 13, 2024 at 05:41 PM
Timothy Blake (Low) says
The accounting process involves the ongoing objective analysis and assessment of financial statements. Objectivity requires accountants to base their findings solely on facts, free from personal biases or external influences. Despite the belief that machines and algorithms are unbiased, AI-generated outputs can still contain systematic errors due to human-created algorithms and potentially flawed datasets. Therefore, accountants must continuously monitor AI outputs to ensure decisions are fact-based and logically sound.

Without accountants' oversight, AI-generated results cannot be reliably verified for accuracy, completeness, reliability, and relevance. With the increasing volume of financial data, the demand for accountants will rise to validate datasets used by AI models for decision-making. Furthermore, there will be an increased need for accountants to evaluate the reliability of outputs produced by AI models.
Mar 10, 2024 at 03:43 PM
Alex (Low) says
Auditing is not able to become a fully automated job due to the way people commit fraud. It can be harder for AI to detect certain types of fraud.
Feb 27, 2024 at 12:29 AM
Pauline Chandler (Moderate) says
Sophisticated accounting programs that can be automatically update when changes to legislation are made. Calculations can be easily uploaded and upgraded. Self-learning capabilities. Qualified people still need to oversee upgrades, etc., and to check the system is 'reading' the correct information in the correct manner.
Feb 15, 2024 at 09:27 AM
Arthur Mckenzie (Low) says
Once technologies become more advanced, individuals will also find more innovative ways to misappropriate funds within the confines of these advances in technology. It will be the role of accountants and auditors to continuously advise and assess whether the technologies installed are serving their purpose and whether true and accurate financial statements are being generated by these technologies. Imagine installing technology only to find out that millions have been lost due to faults arising from technology, and there was no one to continuously assess independently whether the system was carrying out its intended purpose.
Feb 05, 2024 at 05:28 PM
Andrew Davis (No chance) says
The argument that accountants are going to be replaced by artificial intelligence is baseless.

Our society cannot rely solely on the elites' technologies to determine whether they are paying their fair share of taxes. The government will always have to pursue the wealthy to ensure they pay their fair share of taxes, while individuals will always seek legal ways to avoid paying taxes. Advanced technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence will enable individuals to find more innovative ways to evade taxes, making it difficult for authorities to prosecute those who are guilty of tax evasion.

For this reason, accountants and auditors will always be required to verify whether the technologies that are being used to evaluate whether individuals and entities are tax compliant are accurate.
Feb 05, 2024 at 05:14 PM
John Sherman (No chance) says
An auditor is a human being responsible for evaluating the validity and reliability of a company or organization's financial statements. It cannot be a system, process, or methodology. While Artificial Intelligence (AI) can serve as a tool for auditors to evaluate financial statements, it cannot replace the need for human auditors. Even if AI were to carry out the majority of tasks that accountants currently do, more accountants would still be required to audit whether AI is complying with laws and regulations.

Society cannot solely rely on Big Tech to evaluate financial statements, as they have proven themselves to be untrustworthy in many situations. For example, numerous antitrust investigations have been launched against them, revealing unscrupulous behavior. It is questionable whether society would be willing to place all their confidence in the hands of a few Tech billionaires, who will be willing to prioritize their political, corporate, and financial interests over society's well-being.

In conclusion, relying solely on Tech Billionaires and other elites to pay their fair share of taxes and evaluate financial statements poses significant perils. It is crucial to have independent human auditors to ensure accuracy and reliability and prevent conflicts of interest that may arise if the elites desire to further enrich themselves at society's expense.
Feb 05, 2024 at 03:35 PM
Joel Fröding (Highly likely) says
I'm studying accounting & auditing at a Swedish university, and every chance I've gotten to research AI's impact on these businesses have lead me to believe that it is highly likely within 20 years.
Jan 14, 2024 at 09:52 PM
Party Pooper (Low) says
1. There are many fields of accounting specialization. Highly doubt AI grasps the nuances of each. Seriously guys, stop making it obvious you don't work in accounting when you comment.

2. The AI everyone is familiar with right now will get worse over time as they pull bad information, and produce more bad information, which becomes a self-reinforcing cycle. Lazy people producing bad articles by using lazy methods (AI) to write for them, will put out more bad information for the ChatGPT's to train on, making the next most likely word the system pulls up the bad information rather than the good. Frankly, it seems more likely that these systems were as good as they'd ever be before people started abusing them. These companies aren't going to pay experts to identify between good and bad medical or legal information. They're not going to pay to identify good and bad accounting either.

Sorry, future enthusiast tech bros.
Jan 06, 2024 at 02:30 AM
Ivan Cunanan (Highly likely) says
It's pretty repetitive, and you're basically just calculating numbers you see or numbers people give you not making the numbers yourself
Nov 01, 2023 at 02:12 PM
Anonymous Accountant (Moderate) says
Even today using Barcode & PT File, one can enter purchase & sales vouchers containing hundreds of items with ease. Then there is self check out system deployed at retail industry.

Automation is increasing in data entry end of accounting while there are softwares that can generate & process audit trails. Moreover there are several CAATs that can perform audit to large extent.

All one will need in future a person-in-charge for managing the automated accounting process & a small team for auditing the same.
Aug 08, 2023 at 07:08 PM
Guy (Low) says
It is only possible if globally ALL companies uses blockchain, but there are a lot of difficulties to achieve that. Small companies will find it costly and developing countries may lack the encryption to support blockchain as well. Hence, as much as the technology exist to replace accountants BUT practically there is a lot of barriers to do so. Not mention some countries may support crypto currencies while some don’t support, which will also be hindrance for all countries to adopt a same type of blockchain technology.

Therefore, it’s unlikely. Maybe if a huge global catastrophe happen then it may force this change among all countries.
Jul 08, 2023 at 03:22 AM
Elena Gospodinova (Low) says
Because accounting and auditing involves a high degree of analytical and critical thinking based on experience and knowledge. There will be a certain degree of automation but complicated tax services and auditing conclusions will still be a human's job!
Jun 23, 2023 at 03:02 PM
Daniel. (Highly likely) says
At present, take the case of online shopping: from the time the customer places his order up to the time he received it, the sales transaction is almost complete, the recording, posting, summarizing and reporting is practically done via machine AI aided programs, take note that we are in the early stages, technology evolves at a faster pace maybe 3-5yrs will see a great leap.
Jun 09, 2023 at 01:43 PM
Profputr (Highly likely) says
I work with tax accountants and that is what my answer is based on.

The tax code is a series of if-then-else statements. Some of these are complicated but at their base, that's all they are. Computers excel at evaluating these and AI/ML are good at applying decision tree models to situations like these.

Tax accountants will counter saying that automating the tax code will free them up to better serve their clients. However, most accountants aren't trained to do that and couldn't sell air to a drowning person. They will be replaced by intelligent sales support systems and professional sales people.
May 21, 2023 at 02:57 AM
Korey Bradley (Highly likely) says
I think any profession that deals with data and maths are toast, especially if the pay in north of the average current wage in your country.
May 04, 2023 at 05:27 PM
Jacobs (Low) says
Need a lot of face to face interaction
Apr 17, 2023 at 05:47 AM
Dev Gupta (Moderate) says
Because robots can audit companies financial reports and also write a companies accounts also
Apr 03, 2023 at 07:29 AM
Nikhil (Low) says
Economic viability matters. Efficiency doesnt mean effectiveness.
Mar 22, 2023 at 06:03 PM
RS (Highly likely) says
Once all transactions are made with digital money/tokens, and are logged on the Blockchain, then there is no need for accountants and auditors as a simple yet smart AI system like ChatGPT will be able to analyze all transactions and do the job of an accountant and/or auditor in about a minute - with no mistakes - with access to data and data patterns, etc - no human can compare and work at that level ever.
Feb 07, 2023 at 03:06 PM

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