At first glance, the threats seem clear: One type of software will learn how to perform all manner of business functions, particularly in finance and accounting, while another will continuously validate any set of data or information. Between them, artificial intelligence and blockchain seem poised to disrupt -- or even destroy -- many of the core businesses of the accounting profession, automating or rendering irrelevant important traditional services like the audit. But while there can be little doubt that they will eliminate the need for human beings to perform many of the individual functions traditionally associated with accountants, both in public practice and in industry, they will certainly not eliminate the profession's overall role, or its importance. In fact, both AI and blockchain have the potential to help accountants actually boost their revenue, their relevance and their value -- provided they're willing to develop the necessary skills, and change their mindsets. Understanding why each of these two emerging technologies is less of a threat and more of an opportunity than they might seem requires a separate, deeper dive into each, as they're going to have different impacts on the profession, over different time horizons.

Some of the hottest fields in business call for exactly the skills that the accounting profession offers, according to IBM's Leon Katsnelson. In a keynote address on artificial intelligence at CPA.com's 2017 Digital CPA conference, held in San Francisco in early December, Katsnelson, who is director and chief technology officer for strategic partnership for data science at IBM, introduced the accountants in attendance to two of the newest professionals on the block: data scientists and data engineers. Both of those jobs are only about five years old, he said, but are already in the top ranks in terms of compensation. "To be a data scientist, you need three things," explained Katsnelson. First are programming skills – not necessarily full coding capabilities, but a familiarity with the field.

It has long been a dream of many CFOs to have within arm's reach a crack team of financial analysts who can provide rich insights on trends and possibilities hiding deep in data. Well, the unimaginable might finally be imaginable. Artificial intelligence -- or, at this moment, the foundational layers of AI -- holds the promise of extracting the kind of valuable financial information that will set companies free to confidently take chances and explore new opportunities. That promise has been foreseen by tech industry analysts and executives who believe that, while the first chapters of AI for finance are just now being written, it's nonetheless the right time to start looking at a technology that could revolutionize finance. "The ability of machines to crunch numbers is phenomenal," said Leon Katsnelson, director and CTO of analytic platform emerging technologies at IBM. "But they still try to emulate a gut feel, and it's not really a gut feel. In a way, cognitive learning is a way to build up gut feel. And you don't have to be a math scientist wearing a white lab coat to use this technology."