Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the accounting profession like few other advances ever have.
Increasingly, transactions are being coded automatically, reconciliations are handled by software, and anomalies are flagged by algorithms rather than by humans. The efficiency gains from AI are significant and ubiquitous. In order to stay relevant, accountants at all levels of the profession must evolve from number-crunchers and fill-in-the-boxers to creative problem solvers for their clients.
Against this backdrop, we've found that one of the most valuable skills you can have today is something that's not specifically taught in an accounting curriculum but often seen by professors in their best students: curiosity. At its core, curiosity is the intrinsically motivated desire to learn, explore, understand and gain knowledge. In a world where AI produces much of the output, the accountant's role is no longer processing but reviewing the output that AI produces. It doesn't matter if you're a senior partner, a junior accountant or a bookkeeper.
From doer to reviewer
As AI becomes increasingly embedded in accounting systems, more of the task-based "doing" is automated. By the way, this doesn't eliminate the need for accountants — it elevates the need. Instead of preparing financials, (human) accountants increasingly review, interpret and validate what AI produces. They correct it and then present it and explain it to clients. So, the dialogue with clients goes from "what it is" to "what it means for you."
That's because AI, for all its strengths, makes mistakes, needs training, and the software integration crashes. AI works on patterns, probabilities and assumptions. When those assumptions are wrong, the outputs may look plausible on the surface — but upon closer inspection, they're wrong.
That's where human curiosity becomes critical.
Enter the curious accountant (not an oxymoron)
A curious accountant doesn't just accept a number just because the system produced it. He or she asks:
- Does this number make sense?
- What assumptions sit behind it?
- What has changed compared to last month — or the budget?
Curious CPAs have an insatiable drive for knowledge. They seek to understand the underlying principles, regulations and laws governing the accounting profession. They are not content with surface-level knowledge but instead strive to gain a deep understanding of the subject matter.
For example, an AI platform might misclassify manufacturing inputs as repairs and maintenance. The books may still balance, but the accountant needs to see the variance in R&M versus budget. They must investigate what has happened, work out where the costs should be and then recode them. Then they must work out what was causing the error within the AI tool and fix it.
A curious accountant spots the variance. Then they dig.
Curiosity as professional skepticism
Accountants have long been trained to have a healthy degree of skepticism. AI simply raises the stakes. Technology is amazing at identifying patterns at lightning speed, but it cannot understand context the way humans do. It doesn't know when something "feels off." As an accountant, you might have intuition that's unrelated to the simple numbers:
- What kinds of marketing has the client been doing?
- Are there new products introduced or in the pipeline?
- Are there recently discontinued operations?
- Are there macro-economic factors at play (e.g. fuel shortages)?
It's the mindset that asks "why?" instead of accepting what is presented that makes the curious accountant so valuable.
But curiosity alone isn't enough. It needs to be paired with conscientiousness — the discipline to verify, test and follow through. The best accountants in an AI-enabled world combine both:
- Curiosity to question outputs; and
- Conscientiousness to validate them.
Together, these traits turn AI from a risk into a powerful tool.
A curious CPA is genuinely interested in their client's business and seeks to understand it fully. They ask questions, listen actively, and seek opportunities to add value. Curious CPAs are always looking for new ways to improve processes, reduce costs, and increase efficiency. They explore emerging technologies, consider alternative approaches, and are not afraid to challenge the status quo.
The new skill set for accountants in an AI world
If curiosity is the mindset, then capability is the enabler. To challenge AI effectively, accountants need enough technical understanding to interpret what artificial intelligence has done — and how to fix it when it's wrong. That doesn't mean becoming a data scientist, but it does require:
- Understanding how transactions are classified;
- Knowing how systems apply rules and learn from data; and
- Being able to trace outputs back to inputs
The future accountant is part analyst, part investigator. He or she also needs strong numerical reasoning and problem-solving ability because when something doesn't make sense, they need to work backward and reconstruct the truth.
Hiring for curiosity
Now that you've seen the advantage that curiosity gives accountants, you might be wondering how you find people with high levels of curiosity and get them into your organization. We get this question all the time.
In our firm's personality assessment tests, we don't ask about "curiosity" per se. It's very hard for a candidate to answer accurately: "Are you a curious person" or "On a scale of 1-10, how curious would you say you are." Instead, our assessments probe into attributes such as "Openness to Experience" — one's tendency to explore ideas, question assumptions and engage with complexity.
Then, during the working day, it's the candidate who:
- Asks "why does this work?"
- Challenges unclear answers
- Enjoys solving messy, ambiguous problems.
Over the years we've found that candidates with the highest openness to experience, i.e., high levels of curiosity, are not always the candidates with the most polished technical skills. They're the ones most likely to thrive in tandem with AI. You owe it to yourself and your team to get more curious accountants into your organization and help them develop.
The future of accounting isn't about knowing the answer. It's about knowing when the answer might be wrong.
Hiring the accountants of tomorrow
AI will continue to automate more and more areas of the accounting profession. That's inevitable. Again, AI isn't replacing accountants, it is reshaping their role. Routine work will shrink. Judgement, interpretation and oversight will expand. At the center of those attributes sits the engine of curiosity. In an AI-driven world, the most valuable question an accountant can ask remains very simple: "Does this actually make sense?"
Further, curiosity fuels continuous learning. Curious CPAs seek out new learning opportunities, such as attending seminars, reading industry publications and seeking mentorship from experienced professionals. It's part of their DNA. They don't expect their firms to provide all the professional development opportunities they need. They seek them out proactively. They are open to new ideas and perspectives, which broadens their knowledge and understanding of the accounting profession.
Those are the accountants we'd want to hire. How about you?
