While virtually every accountant by now has heard the exhortation to use AI in their practice, many remain mystified as to how to even get started. Speakers at Woodard's Scaling New Heights conference in Orlando noted that while using AI certainly can be complicated, even simple applications can have impressive results.
TJ Lewis, innovation strategist with accounting-focused cloud services provider Rightworks, said that the best way to familiarize yourself with AI is to simply use AI, not only at work but personally as well, adding that "it really is that simple."
"Because, really, until you use it you can watch all the videos you want but it [won't] get to the point where you're understanding how it works and how to interact with it. It can still feel a little formal. I think you won't understand what it can do for you," he said.
But use AI how? For those who have no idea how to even get started with AI, he said a good place to start would be simply asking it to help you write an email. He said to take a message from a client (with personal details removed, if using a public model) and copy it into ChatGPT or a similar model and "just say 'help me with this.'" Whether it actually helps answer a client query or simply makes your reply sound better, it will be useful. He added that people could also use it for personal things like "plan my summer vacation, where should I go?" or research like "summarize a piece of legislation that comes out, give me the three key points that I need to be able to communicate to clients."
"Anything like that. There's very easy ways to start. And I think often people are overcomplicating it, they go 'I have to make it do all these wonderful things," he said, noting the importance of resisting this thought.
Another speaker, Ariege Mishergi—the senior vice president and general manager of AP, AR and the accountant channel for payments solution provider Bill—made a similar point during her own presentation, saying that even if one is intimidated by some of the more advanced uses of AI, there are a number of simple use cases that firms can implement for great results, especially if they're new to the technology.
"Start with areas that are repeatable and predictable processes, things like AP automation, data extraction, routine client communications. These are really, really low hanging fruit, where AI can deliver immediate value," she said.
Lewis noted, though, that even with these simple use cases many firm leaders still hesitate. The most common concerns he has seen are privacy risks for both the firm and the client, lack of transparency in the way the models work, the risk of biased results, as well as questions over how much they can really rely on the bots. In such cases, Lewis said having guardrails can do much to set minds at ease. He urged firms to develop AI policies outlining how the technology should and should not be utilized in order to bolster security, reduce liability, and set the right tone for responsible use.
Mishergi said that another way to ease into AI and overcome anxiety is to select solutions that suggest, rather than apply changes, which ensures the human always remains in control. Over time, as their comfort builds, they may trust bots to do more on their own, "but as a starting point, maintain that control and look for AI suggestions."
So then, once a firm is more comfortable and familiar with AI, what would be the practical steps to integrate it more fully into its workflows? Lewis said the first thing to do is to designate someone in the firm as responsible for understanding what AI is capable of and how it fits within the practice, an "AI champion" who he said should be "inspirational, motivational, etcetera, but also really understands what goes on in your firm because they're going to be the ones helping across the board."
Mishergi said it all starts with the tech stack. Only about a third of accountants require clients to use their recommended tech stack, something that she said may be client friendly but is holding firms, as "without a unified tech stack you're constantly reinventing the wheel," as the firm must constantly adapt to their technology.
"If your practice is bouncing between different tools your clients prefer, like without any uniformity, it's going to be increasingly difficult for you to scale and to incorporate new technologies. So as a starting point, almost as a step zero in this conversation, start working toward having a single, unified tech stack in your practice. If you want to scale, standardize: that's the foundation for AI," she said.
Similarly, Lewis pointed out that the more data an AI has access to, the more context it can account for, which means the better the quality of its outputs.
"I was talking to a firm that said, you know, they're dealing with 20 some applications that their client information is in. Whether it's your practice, your tax office or your general ledger the more that we can pull all this information from across the board into something where they're all connected… If we can do that in a secure way, we can mine all that information for responses, that's incredibly powerful," he said.
Just as vital to Mishergi is choosing the right partner. With so many vendors offering so many flavors of AI today, it can be difficult to determine who is reliable to work with, so she suggested starting with the basics. How well do they protect client data? Do they work with your existing tech stack and apps? Does their solution solve real problems, or does it just look good in a demo? And how much human oversight is there and can humans override the system when needed?
"But what I really think separates the good from the great is choosing partners who really get accounting professionals: your work, your relationships, your clients, your employees, your goals. They really understand. I've seen too many well intentioned teams over promise and under deliver, because they just don't totally understand the history of this profession. Look for companies with a proven track record in this space, the ones who've consistently been solving problems that are actually in your core areas of challenge. One key way to do this is to listen to how company leadership, particularly founders and CEOs, talk about you, talk about accounting professionals. Do they treat you like a user persona or like a partner in a mission?" she said.
As one gets deeper into AI, she said ultimately firm owners should reconceive their own role and the role of their professionals. While traditionally accountants are in the business of execution tasks, as AI becomes capable of handling more and more jobs, the humans will slowly transition into more orchestration and coordination of tasks that AI will execute.
"As AI helps you shift away from the role of a manual processor, you're going to find yourself playing the assistant orchestrator role. You'll be designing and directing systems that work on your behalf. Now your new value becomes twofold. This is your new value proposition. It's first the ability to configure the right AI workflows for each of your clients needs, and that requires an understanding of the technology, the tools, of course, of the profession and also of the client. The second is your ability to apply judgment with context and trust on the things that can't be automated. And with AI managing the mechanical, you get a lot more space with the analysis and for the relationship building," she said.
