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The school year is ending, but for accounting professors, the challenge of shaking up a traditionally boring curriculum is just beginning, Mark Maurer reports.
I sat down with Mark to discuss his story about the accounting profession. Some say accounting is among the most vulnerable to advances in AI, which is taking over much of the routine work that is a part of auditing, tax and other services. Here’s an edited version of our conversation:
How did your story come about? What's the back story?
I’ve been covering both of the trends explored in this story: The automation of entry-level audit work and the loosening of CPA licensing laws. There remains a lingering question of what entry-level accounting work will look like, because of AI. Accounting, as we know, is considered a career most vulnerable to AI capabilities because of all the routine work. With this story, I wanted to look at what’s at stake in accounting education through the lens of the folks tasked with quickly integrating more AI-related issues into the curriculum.
Why is this story important for companies and company leaders?
Future accountants will play a pivotal role for these companies, potentially within their in-house finance function or externally through audit and tax services. Accountants’ relationship with AI has major implications for the companies that rely on them in maintaining and communicating their financial health to investors and lenders.
Do you think we'll eventually see the complete elimination of textbooks in accounting in favor of a real-time digital curriculum?
I expect we will see a continuation of the shift toward digital educational materials. Publishers increasingly allow authors to revise material in online versions of those texts in near real time, for example to reflect AI developments.
Jay Thibodeau of the University of Central Florida told me he recently revised an auditing textbook he co-authored, with a new chapter on AI for the book’s 10th edition. In just six months’ time, he might need to take another pass at it.
What kind of strategies are universities trying to get Luddites to get on board?
Before faculty members can integrate AI into their lesson plans, they have to get comfortable using it themselves. Kirsten Cook of Texas Tech University told me that professors who are traditionally Luddites or have used the same syllabus for years sometimes struggle to get out of that state of inertia. That school’s accounting program last year started paying faculty teaching innovation grants to use AI in creative ways in the classroom, a move to encourage professors to get out of their comfort zones.
What do you see happening next?
Accounting firms are piloting greater use of AI agents in their audit process this year, with some of these changes set to go into effect in the next busy season. That period will test whether the firm’s entry-level ranks have the proper skills for this new auditing era.
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