Flipboard on Flipboard

After decades stuck in research labs, artificial intelligence (AI) is ready for prime-time, transforming if not disrupting all the sectors of the economy that generate lots of data (big data), from tech to finance, communications, energy, healthcare, mobility or manufacturing. More than most other industries, accounting hasn't seen much innovation since the creation of double-entry bookkeeping – a process of recording both profits and losses – and considered one of the greatest advances in the history of business and commerce. That was over 500 years ago! However, the good news is that applying AI and machine learning technologies to bookkeeping, is becoming a reality with most of the major accounting software vendors (Intuit, OneUp, Sage, and Xero) currently offering capabilities to automate data entry, reconciliations and sometimes more. In our upcoming research report on the future of accounting, we expect that by 2020, accounting tasks – but also tax, payroll, audits, banking… – will be fully automated using AI-based technologies, which will disrupt the accounting industry in a way it never was for the last 500 years, bringing both huge opportunities and serious challenges.