"Will AI replace accountants?" The question comes up more and more often, from prospective students, parents, and practitioners alike. The short answer: no. What gets replaced is part of an accountant’s work, especially the routine, repetitive tasks. The profession itself is shifting toward more valuable roles: helping organizations make strategic decisions.
Routine tasks are affected, not the profession
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 does list accounting, bookkeeping and payroll clerks (accounting, bookkeeping and payroll clerks) among the roles expected to decline the most by 2030. But note the key word: clerk, meaning data entry, transaction recording, and manual reconciliation. These are exactly the kinds of work that are easiest to automate.
The global accountancy body ACCA, in its AI Monitor report (July 2025), describes the same direction with a fuller picture. According to ACCA, AI will bring four major shifts:
- Routine processing work shrinks as automation expands.
- Strategic and advisory roles grow, with accountants increasingly involved in business decision-making.
- Mid-level roles evolve, requiring more professional judgement and client interaction.
- New responsibilities emerge at the intersection of accounting, technology, and strategy.
ACCA’s conclusion is clear: the future taking shape is not one in which accountants are replaced, but one in which their responsibilities change.
Evidence from the field: AI makes accountants more productive
Some of the most compelling empirical evidence comes from a study by Jung Ho Choi (Stanford Graduate School of Business) and Chloe Xie (MIT Sloan), Human + AI in Accounting: Early Evidence from the Field (2025). They analyzed hundreds of thousands of transactions from 79 small and mid-sized companies and surveyed 277 accountants. Their findings:
- Accountants using generative AI served about 55% more clients per week.
- They closed monthly financial statements about 7.5 days faster.
- About 8.5% of working time shifted from routine processing to higher-value work: business communication, quality assurance, and advisory services.
- Their reports were about 12% more detailed, making them more informative to analyze and audit.
The most important finding is this: experienced accountants benefited the most. They knew when to trust the AI’s suggestions and when to step in, especially when the system’s confidence was low. Less experienced accountants tended to accept AI output as is. In other words, AI does not erase the value of expertise; it multiplies it. The researchers also noted that 62% of the accountants surveyed were concerned about potential AI errors, a reminder that human oversight remains essential.
Why professional judgement still belongs to humans
AI processes data very quickly, but accounting is not simply about following rules. There are estimates, interpretations of standards, business context, and ethical dilemmas. In its AI Monitor: Risk and Responsibility report (February 2025), ACCA stresses that AI augments human capability while raising new questions about control, reliability, and professional responsibility. Accountants do not need to be AI engineers, but they do need to understand it well enough to judge its output properly.
The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has also consistently emphasized that amid technological change, the foundations of the profession remain the same: integrity, professional judgement, accountability, and commitment to the public interest.
In Indonesia, this position is even reinforced by regulation. The Institute of Indonesia Chartered Accountants (IAI) views the issuance of Government Regulation (PP) No. 43 of 2025 on financial reporting as strengthening the role of professional accountants in the national reporting system. Financial statements must still be prepared, and accounted for, by competent professionals with integrity, not by machines.
New roles for accountants in the AI era
If machines take over routine work, where do accountants go? At least four roles are becoming more important:
- Strategic decision-making partner. Accountants turn numbers into insight: whether an expansion is viable, which products are most profitable, which risks need to be anticipated.
- Guardian of AI quality and governance. Someone has to make sure AI systems produce information that is accurate, unbiased, and compliant. This role requires an understanding of both accounting and technology.
- Data analyst and storyteller. Abundant data means nothing without people who can read it, test whether it makes sense, and communicate it to leadership.
- Steward of ethics and sustainability. Demands for sustainability (ESG) reporting and public transparency keep growing. Public trust in financial information still rests on human integrity.
What future accountants need to prepare
This shift changes what accounting students need to learn. A solid accounting foundation remains essential, because without it no one can judge whether AI output is right or wrong. On top of that foundation, future accountants need to build:
- Data and technology literacy: data analytics, accounting information systems, and ERP systems.
- Critical thinking and professional skepticism: the courage to ask, "does this result make sense?"
- Business understanding and communication: the ability to explain what the numbers mean to decision-makers.
- Ethics and an understanding of sustainability: the foundation of trust that cannot be automated.
This is why the SCU School of Accounting combines three pillars: Accounting, Technology, and Sustainability. Students learn hands-on with business tools such as SAP, Odoo, and MonsoonSim. They can choose tracks such as Digital Accounting (accountant + data specialist) or AKSI (Accounting and Information System – Dual Degree) (accountant + system analyst), and have the opportunity to earn certifications such as Junior Data Scientist. All of this rests on the values of integrity, honesty, justice, and love.
Conclusion
AI will not replace accountants. But accountants who can work alongside AI will be far ahead of those who cannot. The future of the profession is not about competing with machines at calculating; it is about what machines cannot do: weighing, deciding, and safeguarding trust.
Interested in preparing to become a future-ready accountant? Explore the five learning tracks of SCU Accounting or contact us via WhatsApp 0819-0338-5573.
Sources
- World Economic Forum. (2025). The Future of Jobs Report 2025. weforum.org
- ACCA. (July 2025). AI is reshaping the work of accountants as automation offers greater opportunities and responsibilities (AI Monitor). accaglobal.com
- ACCA. (February 2025). Accountants' professional judgement critical to success in the age of AI (AI Monitor: Risk and Responsibility). accaglobal.com
- Choi, J. H., & Xie, C. (2025). Human + AI in Accounting: Early Evidence from the Field. Summaries: Stanford GSB, "AI Is Reshaping Accounting Jobs by Doing the 'Boring' Stuff"; MIT Sloan, "How generative AI can make accountants more productive".
- CFO Dive. (2025). AI cuts monthly financial close time by 7.5 days: MIT/Stanford study. cfodive.com
- IFAC. (2025). IFAC 2025 Annual Report: Building Trust and Shaping the Future of the Global Accountancy Profession. ifac.org
- Infobanknews. (December 2025). Jaga kepercayaan pasar, ini pesan penting Ketua DPN IAI untuk akuntan [in Indonesian]. infobanknews.com