By Richard Lynch, CPA
The state of the accounting landscape reminds me of two siblings who play sports.
The older sibling is a good athlete. They worked hard to perfect their craft and learned from their mistakes the tough way. While they were on this journey, the younger sibling watched and learned every pass, trick play, and peak performance strategy. When it was the younger siblings’ time to get on the field, they had their older siblings’ playbook; they are further ahead in their skills and strength because they used that playbook to act strategically, advancing their capabilities at a much faster pace saving energy and time across their overall effort. Their progression toward mastery of the sport was not handed to them, but they started on a higher platform then those that came before them.
This dynamic is emerging with entry-level accountants making their workforce debut alongside the adoption of artificial intelligence. It takes years to learn the ins and outs of accounting and even longer to build a consultative mindset. However, the idea of “super-consulting” is just that: taking the menial work of becoming an accountant out of the equation and putting entry-level accountants on a path toward developing deeper analytic and intuitive skills faster with AI.
An accountant or future super-consultant with 10 years of AI-infused experience in 2036 will look much different than a present-day accountant with the same amount of experience. Here’s how.
Benefits of AI: the path toward super-consulting
First, our workforce has historically operated as a pyramid structure. We hire at high levels, and through self-selection as well as capability, we narrow down professionals capable of the next level through skillset and desire, repeating this throughout an accountant’s career. Today, there’s a smaller group entering our workforce. Some worry about the volume but, in reality, this has created a new structure with overwhelming positives.
Instead of focusing on the number of hires, we can focus on the number of tasks entry-level accountants can do because they can leverage AI to help them. They’ll be expected and trained to do higher level tasks alongside technology versus “earning their keep”, wasting valuable time and resources instead of furthering their development. If we build this foundation at an expedited pace, we’ll see entry-level accountants develop much more rapidly; for example, we’ll see them work with clients directly earlier on in their career. If we are exposing them to more complex scenarios and engaging situations, their capability builds quicker, creating more agile, tech-savvy accountants with the consultative experience to the boot.
That said, accounting is still bound by fundamentals and compliance; critical skills not to be overlooked by the onslaught of AI. For example, assurance professionals must know risk-based auditing approaches, proper standard implementation, account structures, and materiality impacts. However, a client is paying for the derivative of that of the output, not the steps taken on how to get there.
Let’s consider an entry-level accountant who needs to look for high risk or outlier journal entries for a large organization that are posted on a varying basis. When they try to separate them into what represents high risk, the task becomes purely administrative. With room for error, the test could take upwards of 30 hours. Instead as a super-consultant, they use AI to cut the time it takes to complete this task by 70%, speeding up the time to value and saving the headache of repeatedly reviewing entries. With less arduous impact on the accountant’s time, energy, and effort, the use of technology helps improve not only concentration but overall output for the client.
The quicker AI gets us to having the information to provide strategic consulting, information to make management decisions, and details surrounding financial performance, versus the time spend on gathering and inputting, the better consultants accountants will be in their career and greater value provided to our clients.
Another expectation we can see from super-consultants is the time to specialization. When firms give entry-level accountants more capacity to spend time on value adding tasks, they inherently become more consummate and better professionals. Operating in this high development environment leads to more rapid specialization with deeper professional capabilities.
Lastly, burnout has plagued our industry for far too long, and AI offers an incredible path forward to alleviating it. Instead of asking accountants to endure a constant marathon of tasks, we task them with just the sprint of the race. But with this comes a new kind of burnout we may see from super-consultants: highest consultative zone exhaustion. Operating at a constant level of strategy can lead to even more burnout, so it is important for leaders to find new avenues for mental breaks: shorter work weeks or more time off could all be viable solutions.
Importance of embracing AI
Some may feel that AI is replacing jobs, but technology creates opportunities. For the idea of super-consulting to become a reality, firms must invest in AI as well as the proper learning and development that allows entry-level accountants to become managers of AI. Experience in this industry, combined with formal accounting education opens doors of opportunity, but we can expect to see experience combined with the use of AI to produce quality accountants and consultants like never before.
The next 10 years will be an extremely transformative time in our industry, and I’m excited to be part of the journey toward becoming an industry that uses technology to create more value for our clients. I think we can all be inspired by this generation to adopt technology at a faster pace and leverage its capabilities to become better consultants ourselves.
About the author
Richard Lynch, CPA, is the managing principal leading compliance solutions at Sikich, overseeing the team’s operational structure, ongoing growth, and contributions to the broader organization. In this role, Richard guides the strategic vision, financial plans, and operational goals of the practice.
Prior to his position as managing principal, Richard led the not-for-profit and higher education practice and the Central Illinois market. He has extensive experience providing audit, tax, accounting and management consulting services to a variety of clients, including businesses, financial institutions, public and private universities, social service agencies, private foundations, and health and welfare organizations. Richard has dedicated his career to public accounting since joining the industry in 2000.
He has served on the governing boards of accounting businesses and not-for-profit organizations throughout his career, including positions as board chair, treasurer, and chair of audit and finance committees. He is a frequent guest speaker at conferences, training sessions, and webinars.
