Although it seemed for a long time that artificial intelligence was nothing more than a gimmick and something strictly reserved for sci-fi novels and Hollywood blockbusters, it is definitely here to stay. Even though its application was usually limited to the IT world, and especially stuff like digital assistants, AI is finding its way into just about every pore of our existence. By the looks of things, it could even become an integral part of every accounting firm.
According to research, 67% of accountants prefer cloud accounting, as they believe it helps to stay organized and make time-consuming tasks done faster. Not only do they get things done faster, but it also improves the quality of their services. This suggests accounting firms and CPAs are more than willing to adopt new technologies. On the other hand, the global AI market will be worth nearly $60 billion by 2025, which is a huge jump from $1.4 billion back in 2016, and now, it is crossing paths with accounting. With that in mind, let’s take a look at seven tips on how to integrate AI into your accounting business.
1. Make Room For Financial Forecasting Solutions
If you are worried about a scenario where machines and software will replace actual human accountants, you can relax, because this is not it. AI won’t replace people, but rather work together with them. Not only that, but it actually needs us to function in the first place. How so? Well, as an accountant, you need to be able to process large amounts of data on a daily basis, especially if you are helping your clients with financial predictions and forecasting.
According to EssayHave CFO, Martin Stone, machine learning algorithms can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you, but they still need data from which it can learn and then provide predictions. In order to make the most of it, you will need to rely on big data, as well as cloud computing, which enables you to share the most relevant data in an accessible way.
2. Integrate AI-Based OCR Solutions into Your Business
Sure, OCR software has been around for quite a while, and you are probably using it, but the documents it processes still need a great deal of input from you, whether it’s because of poor document quality or because you need to extract the data manually. With integration of AI into OCR solutions, the software would not just be able to turn scanned content into text, but it would also be able to identify numbers, as well as the type of document it is analyzing, be it an invoice, contract, or a receipt.
AI will even be able to identify and extract the most important data, even if it hasn’t analyzed a similar document before. Needless to say, this will save a ton of time for anyone from accountants to writers which are doing research for custom essay papers and books.
3. Adopt an Advisory Role
With AI doing all the stuff you used to do manually, such as OCR, data collection and transactions, you can focus on becoming an advisor for your clients. Instead of doing the numbers and reminding the clients that they need to authorize a particular transaction, you can dedicate your time to improving their financial strategy, providing suggestions, and making the most out of their dollars. In fact, your role will shift closer to that of a partner or even a personal CFO, which is something that would have been unimaginable a few years ago.
AI will help a variety of different businesses grow through better accounting, ranging from your average essay writing service australia to large corporations.
4. Rely on Chatbots and Smart Assistants
We are all familiar with smart assistants such as Alexa or Siri, which are able to recognize human speech and provide relevant answers to most questions, which makes them seem like the best dissertation service or research partner. However, they are still not quite there yet when it comes to their application in accounting, but rest assured that they will be pretty soon. However, you can make use of chatbots. Chatbots are able to provide ready-made answers to the most common client queries, such as their financial information or their tax liability.
5. Use AI for Fraud Detection and Prevention
AI is capable of processing, analyzing and understanding way more data than any accountant or a human being for that matter. And it is even better at detecting patterns, which makes it ideal for detecting potential fraud cases. Running your data through your AI solution would result in AI flagging suspicious transactions which you weren’t able to spot yourself, and in some cases, it may even be able to investigate it itself. That way, you can save your clients money, because it won’t leave their bank account unless the payment recipient is thoroughly checked.
6. Use It to Improve to Improve Accuracy and Reduce Errors
When you are manually processing large amounts of data and numbers, errors are pretty much inevitable. All it takes is for you to misplace a coma or a number, and before you know it, you have spent 5 five hours trying to reconcile a payment with an invoice. With AI having your back, these mistakes would be reduced to a minimum. Because of its machine-based learning ability, AI is not only able to locate an error, but also to correct it and notify the accountant about it. The result is improved accuracy and much less time spent on reviewing the data.
7. Integrate Machine Learning to Tag and Allocate Transactions
One of the most arduous aspects of accounting is tagging each transaction manually and assigning it to the appropriate ledger account. Machine learning algorithms are able to learn based on previous examples, which means that they can take your previous taggings decisions and then learn how to tag each transaction and where to assign it. But, what happens in case of more complex rules, you might ask? Well, because AI’s ability to learn, with enough examples, they can figure out these rules for themselves.
Final Word
As you can see, the application of AI in accounting is right around the corner. Apart from helping accountants and their respective firms with the most time-consuming tasks, artificial intelligence can also help them become more productive and enhance the quality of their accounting, which leads to more satisfied clients and better business. Everybody wins.
Author Bio: Scott Mathews is an E-Commerce expert and a writer of college homework help for a reputable coursework writing service. In addition to providing a custom coursework writing service, he enjoys the outdoors and spending time with his family.