Tax season is the ideal time for tax, accounting, and finance professionals to consider how AI can be a true “force for good” in their practices. AI adoption is accelerating rapidly in tax and accounting, with professionals increasingly optimistic about how it will benefit their work, according to the latest Future of Professionals Report from the Thomson Reuters Institute. This guide will discuss how tax, accounting, and finance professionals can maximize AI’s many benefits—and address the legitimate concerns they have about this evolving technology. See our Full Guide

AI tools—specifically, generative AI (GenAI)—are impacting the tax profession in transformative ways, from how tasks are performed and how clients are served to the skill sets that are now required. If there’s one word that can summarize that impact, it’s efficiency.

The Time Crunch: AI as a Solution

Professionals in tax, accounting, and finance are renowned for their rigorous attention to detail. Painstaking research, meticulous document assembly, and comprehensive data analysis are all critical components of their work. However, the considerable time invested in these crucial tasks often limits their ability to focus on higher-value, strategic services. The Future of Professionals Report highlights this concern, revealing that a higher percentage of tax and accounting practitioners, compared to other professions, believe that a shortage of skilled talent is likely to have a high or transformational impact on the future of their work. For these professionals, time is truly money.

Unlocking Efficiency: How AI Benefits Tax and Accounting Practices

Several ways tax and accounting professionals can leverage AI’s time-saving capabilities. Here are a few:

  • Predictive Modeling for Financial Insights: Powerful AI algorithms, combined with access to vast datasets, enable AI to understand and respond to requests and prompts in ways that make their answers reliable and useful. AI also can power predictive modeling to glean insights from clients’ historical data, as well as external and non-financial sources, to identify expense reductions and income opportunities for clients’ businesses.
  • Automated Technical Research: Technical research in tax often involves multiple searches, a painstaking review of relevant materials, and a summary presented in a format that clients and colleagues can understand. All this can take hours, even for an experienced tax researcher. When automated by AI, this process is much faster and less tedious.
  • Streamlined Compliance and Return Preparation: AI’s capabilities can make conducting bookkeeping, compliance, and return preparation more efficient. With tax season underway, tax professionals can leverage AI to automate repetitive tasks and optimize workflows, thus speeding up tax preparation and reducing stress levels (their own and their clients).

AI in Action: Transforming Audits

The efficacy of AI on tax and accounting use cases is perhaps most visible in its applications in audits. Reviewing documents such as contracts and financial statements is frequently tedious and potentially prone to error. AI tools can quickly extract complex data, freeing up time that might have been spent on oversampling. AI’s analytic prowess also can help auditors identify potential risks by uncovering patterns, trends, and anomalies that might go unnoticed during manual reviews.

Beyond efficiency gains, AI is also proving invaluable in clarifying complex tax and finance challenges. As one corporate tax accountant noted in Thomson Reuters’ 2024 Generative AI in professional services report: “I have used ChatGPT for VAT compliance and have found it useful, particularly with international transactions where information and guidance from tax authorities based overseas can be difficult to find.”

Due Diligence and the Rise of the GenAI Assistant

Tax and accounting professionals who are intrigued by the opportunities that AI can deliver will naturally need to conduct due diligence on potential tools. One type of AI that deserves close scrutiny is a GenAI assistant. An AI-powered tax assistant can automatically deliver professionally summarized answers along with links to relevant editorial content and source materials, even transforming reporting and compliance.

A GenAI assistant developed specifically for tax and accounting practices also can reduce the chance of inaccurate answers, thus mitigating potential risks to clients or companies while saving time and resources.

The Path Forward: Integrating AI for Future Success

AI is emerging as a crucial tool for tax and accounting professionals who face challenges with time-intensive tasks and talent shortages. The technology offers significant benefits in automating technical research, document review, and data analysis, allowing tax professionals to focus on higher value-work while ensuring accuracy and comprehensive analysis. Bringing together generative AI, trusted content, and expert insights, professionals can enhance their services and client relationships.

By opening up more hours for tax and accounting professionals, AI can make their client relationships more profitable. Not only can they respond more quickly to client needs and inquiries—they can provide new and beneficial service offerings. Smaller-size firms can also benefit, leveling the playing field by providing access to powerful tools previously only available to larger organizations. This democratization of technology is poised to reshape the landscape of the tax and accounting professions, empowering professionals to future-proof their practices and thrive in an increasingly complex world.