Thomas Newman says maybe it’s time to dial down the panic over AI taking your job.
A lot of ACCA students have been asking recently about whether AI is going to wipe out accountancy jobs. A recent Economist cover added fuel to that worry, and I wanted to share a calm read on it. The issue led with a cheery article headlined ‘Prepare for an AI jobs apocalypse’.
While I respect The Economist (I’m a long-time subscriber, after all), they have a history of having been famously wrong, from the death of the euro to repeated predictions of American decline to name just two. And I believe they’re wrong again.
Firstly, The Economist article doesn’t actually represent the consensus view on AI and jobs.
Aside from the CEOs of the frontier AI labs and their investors (who have a big incentive to overstate AI’s impact, given all the capital they’ve thrown at it ahead of IPOs), most commentary from mainstream publications, labour economists, etc., are dialling the panic down, not up. The New York Times and The Ringer have both published articles arguing the opposite side recently.
Secondly, the history of capitalism is a history of innovations that rendered some jobs obsolete, but ultimately ended up creating newer, better jobs that created more wealth and well-being.
That’s the base rate. Why should this time be different?
Even so, let’s assume The Economist is directionally right. What are the implications for accountants and finance professionals?
Without a doubt, labour markets are changing fast. Big 4 firms are restructuring around AI.
Junior tasks that used to fill an accountant’s first 18 months (basic reconciliations, transaction processing, first-draft compliance work) are increasingly being done by machines.
When finance professionals ask me how best to position themselves in the age of AI, I come back to four things:
- Get qualified: ACCA is updating its syllabus for the AI age and continues to be a highly respected credential that commands higher pay, better roles and access to the work AI cannot do. If you haven’t qualified, qualifying is still the highest ROI thing you can do for your career.
- Become ‘AI-fluent’: AI on its own won’t replace you, but an accountant who knows how to use it well might. Fluency is more than using ChatGPT for emails. It’s knowing when to use it, when not to, and how to use it without switching your brain off.
- Sharpen your critical thinking: AI produces volume. It also produces hallucinations, fabricated citations and confident nonsense. EY had to retract a published study recently for exactly this reason. The work of reviewing, challenging and signing off on what AI produces is becoming one of the most valuable things an accountant does.
- Build the soft skills accountants are often accused of lacking: Communication, leadership, business partnering and the ability to sit with a non-finance colleague and translate the numbers into something they can act on is vital. AI can produce a PowerPoint, but it cannot present it, defend it and influence decisions in a room of senior leaders.
Coming soon: I will be releasing a fuller version of this piece as a YouTube video. You can subscribe to the VIVA channel to get notified when it’s live.
- Thomas Newman, Founder, VIVA Financial Tuition
