Rewriting the Ledger: How AI Is Transforming Accounting and Finance in Ireland

Exploring the Opportunities, Challenges, and Future of Finance in the Age of AI

AI’s impact on the accountancy and financial sectors is already undeniable. Over half of organisations in Ireland (54%) are now using AI across their finance function, and over two-thirds (66%) are implementing some level of workflow automation in financial reporting, according to a 2024 KPMG report [1]. AI adoption in the Irish accounting sector is expected to reach 100% within the next three years. Meanwhile, globally 72% of businesses are now piloting or using it, with this number set to grow to 99% over the same period [2].

As with any major technological advancement, AI brings clear benefits and clear challenges too. For those working in accounting and finance, the most stark question is: will this technology replace me? This article will explore the implications for AI in the accounting and finance sector, with a particular focus on Ireland, shining a light on its positives, negatives, and the future of the industries.

The ubiquity

According to research by investment bank Evercore and incubator Visionary Future, by 2028 Generative AI will be able to do 21% of each job’s function across the entirety of the US economy [3]. Meanwhile, the Big Four US accounting firms have already been employing AI tools increasingly over the past two years, with other firms of all sizes also adapting to such tools [4]. AI adoption is most common in treasury management, followed by financial planning, accounting, tax and operations and risk management [5]. In Ireland, AI accounts for nearly 15% of the IT budget. In three years, that number is set to double. [6]

AI’s use in Ireland is nothing new. Meta – the US-headquartered social media giant – is already several years into using AI in finance processes at its International Headquarters in Dublin. “Five years ago, we decided we were going to really focus on using machine learning to drive efficiency across our finance team,” Meta’s Majella Mungovan, FCA, told Chartered Accountants [7]. That move coincided with a period of intense growth for the company globally. “Meta achieved revenue of $100 billion faster than any other company in history, so we have gone through an enormous growth phase over the past 10 years,” Mungovan says. “When your company is undergoing explosive growth like this, speed, efficiency and scale are essential. Tasks you might be able to do manually in a slower moving environment have to be done faster and, for us, this meant looking at new technology to help us reach our goals.”

At Meta, the dependence on AI has only become more prevalent with advancements in generative artificial intelligence. Gen AI “has allowed us to really accelerate the progress we’ve been making in automation over the last five years,” Mungovan says. “Our large language models are becoming more and more helpful to us. The technology environment continues to evolve all the time. What we have now, we didn’t have six months ago. It’s quite extraordinary.”

Ireland is also producing home-grown AI initiatives. In May of last year, Numra, an AI-powered financial automation platform, announced it had raised €1.5 million to help introduce its AI finance assistant, “Mary,” to the market. The investment was led by Elkstone, a prominent Irish VC firm, with contributions from notable angel investors. [8]

The company was founded in August 2023 by David Kearney (CEO) and Conor Digan (CTO). Kearney, who qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC, previously co-founded Peblo, an invoice factoring fintech, which Wayflyer acquired for €10m in March 2022. Kearney anticipates that AI will have a transformative impact on the role of the accountant. He said: “With the advent of LLMs, what was once unimaginable is now possible. AI’s capability to ingest and process vast amounts of unstructured data enables us to redefine the boundaries of productivity in the finance department. By taking on tasks that were previously too complex to automate, Mary elevates the role of finance teams and empowers them to engage in higher-value activities that require strategic thinking and creativity.” [9]

What’s clear is that both burgeoning start-ups like Numra and tech giants like Meta can see which way the wind is blowing. The future of accounting and finance lies in artificial intelligence. It feels worth examining why.

The upsides

Let’s start with the obvious: money. Research from Sage suggests that widespread AI adoption in accounting practices could add €2 billion to the Irish economy and create 20,000 jobs [10]. It offers vast potential to boost productivity and efficiency across various functions such as finance, procurement and supply chain, marketing, human resources, product development and design, risk management, manufacturing and operations, and customer engagement and sales.

The benefits for accountants are clear. AI tools have the ability to process and analyse vast data sets in real time, enabling accountants to deliver more sophisticated and high-value services. With predictive analytics, professionals can anticipate future trends, assess potential risks, and offer strategic insights into financial planning and risk management. The accounting profession is well-positioned to leverage these advancements and fully harness the potential of AI-driven solutions.

Additionally, AI tools provide enhanced capabilities for customising advice, reporting, and dashboards to align with the specific needs of organisations and clients. This level of personalisation can be transformative, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small and medium-sized practices (SMPs), offering them access to advanced financial insights that were once available only to larger firms.

In the financial realm, AI is evolving the day-to-day role of workers by integrating various AI tools and platforms like the Bloomberg Terminal to augment traders [11]. Able to analyse vast amounts of financial data and news in real-time, such tools provide insights that traders can use to effectively optimise their trading strategies. Meanwhile, in wealth management, AI is unlocking personalised advice and risk assessment opportunities [12].

AI can also examine vast amounts of financial transactions, swiftly identifying any irregularities and strengthening fraud detection mechanisms. By detecting unusual patterns, AI adds an extra layer of security to financial operations, minimising risks and enhancing compliance. Furthermore, AI systems can be trained to understand compliance regulations and rapidly flag any issues that could impact a client or financial practice. This proactive approach ensures adherence to regulatory standards and reduces the likelihood of costly errors or legal complications.

Perhaps most beneficially from a human perspective, AI’s ability to automate tasks frees up accountants to escape the most mundane aspects of their work and instead focus on client-facing elements. “When you look at some of the tasks that auditors were doing –– some of the boring, mundane tasks around churning data and manipulating it into a format where you can then actually do something valuable with it –– that’s where artificial intelligence can play a really big part,” says Matthew Campbell, audit chief technology officer for KPMG UK [13]. Campbell also notes that, contrary to the popular narrative regarding AI as a cause for future unemployment, AI can actually help retain staff, especially in areas where job vacancies are on the rise such as in auditing. According to a survey from automation platform DataSnipper, 86% of auditing staff agreed that AI helps cut down time on repetitive tasks –– and 83% said they’d be more inclined to stay at a company with AI initiatives in place. [14]

That having been said, fears around unemployment and AI more broadly are not unwarranted. It’s not all rosy.

The downsides of AI

Alistair Brisbourne, head of technology research at ACCA, has discussed the complexities and challenges of training and improving LLMs and the potential risks of generative AI [15]. He notes that the accuracy and reliability of AI models cannot be assumed to remain stable as they evolve. In some cases, specific capabilities may even decline over time due to the sheer complexity of training models with hundreds of billions of parameters. Demonstrating these challenges through examples, experts have highlighted the fundamental and technical limitations of AI, stressing the importance of formulating precise queries and implementing safeguards to identify and mitigate errors as they arise.

Even when models are working well, there are some things humans can do that they simply cannot. AI does not, as of yet, possess intuition or creativity. They’re limited to “learning” from past mistakes and the quality of an AI tool’s learning curve is determined by the quality of the performance feedback provided to it. There are some times when a human’s gut feel, instinct, or been-there-done-that experience will win out over the algorithm.

And yet, according to a KPMG survey, four in 10 senior audit professionals expect that the increased efficiency that AI can bring will lead to a reduction in the size of auditing teams [16]. The UK’s Office for National Statistics suggests that about 25.4% of chartered and certified accountant jobs are at high risk of automation [17], with those working in data entry, bookkeeping, and taxation most likely to be cut loose [18].

That’s the bad news. The good news is that workers have some power over their fate. KPMG’s report found that, despite the promising trends, limited AI skills and talent are the biggest barrier to AI adoption. Companies are facing challenges in finding and retaining skilled professionals who can effectively implement and manage AI technologies. Therefore, anyone looking to secure their position would be well advised to learn how to work with the technology in order to make themselves indispensable.

Today’s accountancy students are already being imbued with these tools. Dr Maggie Cooper, Associate Professor in Accounting and Financial Management at Henley Business School, says universities are already reviewing courses and the way that digital skills are taught, as well as using AI in classrooms to assess students. “We need to make sure that our students enter the workplace with an enthusiasm for AI and the digital skills to make the most of it,” she says. [19]

Who is AI for?

Meanwhile, often left out of the debate around AI is exactly whoit will benefit and who it will harm. For example, there is a worry that the hyper-personalisation of banking products could marginalise and exclude certain demographics deemed ‘unprofitable,’ potentially worsening financial exclusion and the issue of unbanked individuals. As Polly Tsang, Financial Services Manager at the ICAEW, writes: “Firms price discriminate all the time and in banking there is an argument that if you pose a higher credit risk, then a bank should be able to charge you more to compensate for that risk. Hyper personalisation takes this one step further. Instead of pricing based on a group of similar characteristics, AI will be able to zone in on you specifically.” [20]

That’s not to mention the concern that AI may have been trained on implicitly biased data and as such only accentuate existing inequalities. “If AI algorithms are trained on historical data that reflects biased lending decisions or systemic disparities, AI may perpetuate those biases by recommending or approving loans based on factors such as race, gender or location,” Tsang says. “Similarly, if the data is not diverse or representative it can lead to biased outcomes for individuals from underrepresented groups.” [21] Fixing these problems will require human oversight and continuous monitoring, but even that offers no guarantee of success.

Another consideration as regards who benefits from AI is the David and Goliath version: big firms or small? For Jennifer Wood, a partner at Bonadio Group, it’s smaller firms that are the bigger winners. “Generative AI can level the playing field between smaller and larger firms by providing smaller firms with tools that traditionally required significant investment in human resources and technology,” she says. “Smaller firms can leverage AI to offer services comparable in quality to those of larger firms, but at a lower cost and with greater efficiency. For example, by using AI-driven insights, a small firm can provide customized, high-value consulting services that could traditionally be offered only by larger firms with extensive data analytics departments.” [22]

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants agrees with Wood, arguing that when it comes to AI, “it’s the early adopters that win, not the ones with the most resources.” [23] That said, it is often the larger firms that have the resources at their disposal to adopt new technologies ahead of their rivals, so in that sense, AI could actually only serve to widen the gap between big and small firms.

The big question

As covered earlier, the big question for most people working in accounting and finance is: will this technology replace me? And though we can’t offer certainties, we can offer positives.

“Accountants don’t just run the numbers,” says Edward Tian, CEO of GPTZero, an AI detection software company. “There’s so much more to the job that requires human interaction and specialised skills…Even with AI tools that provide financial breakdowns and trend forecasting, only human accountants can fully understand a company’s vision and goals in addition to the complexities involved in hiring, for example. AI can be an invaluable accounting tool and help to improve many business processes, but a human touch is always going to be needed.” [24]

Majella Mungovan of Meta agrees. “I remember when I was training to become a Chartered Accountant, people then were asking the same questions about technology and how it would affect the future of the profession, the jobs we do and the way we work. At that time, the big focus was Microsoft Excel and how it was going to reshape accounting norms,” she says. [25]

“I view AI in a similar light today. Over time, AI as a tool will fundamentally change the role of the accountant in the same way Excel transformed how things were done 20 or 30 years ago…AI will have the same kind of impact. It won’t replace the role of the accountant, but it will become a widely used tool, which will allow us to be more effective in our jobs.”

In other words, AI is not going away. But nor are humans, at least just yet. Moving forward, there is going to have to be some kind of balance. There may well be job cuts, but it is the workers who learn to make use of the technology who will be best protected. Whether you like it or not, AI is here. How you approach it is up to you.