Can Accounting Be Automated?

The robots are coming for all our jobs and the world as we know it will soon devolve into a dystopian nightmare involving an epic battle between humans and the machines.

OK, probably not, but now that I have your attention, let’s talk about the impact of AI on your accounting.

While AI is nowhere near being able to replace your accountant, one thing AI does really well is automating tasks, especially the ones that need to be done over and over again.

So, when it comes to the question of whether accounting can be automated, the answer is yes … sometimes.

When Can Accounting Be Automated?

The best tasks to automate are the menial tasks we have to do every week or every month. All you have to do is train your accounting software to do it once, tell it how often you want the task repeated, and you’re good to go!

When it comes to accounting, the best tasks for this are recording any transactions you have to record every month.

For example, if you have a client you bill the same amount every month, you can create one invoice in your accounting software and tell it to recreate that invoice every month on a certain date.

Expenditures can also be automated. Some examples include your rent/mortgage, and any software subscriptions you have for your business.

When Can Accounting Not Be Automated?

Accountants know better than anyone the tedium of performing the same task over and over again, especially when it’s a boring task to begin with.

That’s not why we got into accounting.

We got into accounting to help our clients get the most out of their businesses by tracking their income and expenditures, putting that data into financial reports, then analyzing the information so we can help business owners to make better decisions for their company. For those activities, you still need an accounting professional.

Some accounting tasks that cannot be automated include:

Balancing the Books

At least once a month you need to compile a list of every transaction that occurred in your business that month and compare it to your bank statement. If there are any discrepancies, it could be as innocent as a mistake in reporting, or it could be a member of your staff stealing from you.

AI has not yet reached the point where it can compare and contrast two different reports.

Financial Analysis

Accounting is more than just data entry. We also analyze business transactions, and we suggest changes that could affect a company’s bottom line based on their industry, their market share, etc.

AI does not yet have the discernment needed for such high-level analysis and custom recommendations. It’s much more likely to give generic answers that don’t take into account a variety of important factors.

A Word of Warning

Any time you automate anything, be sure to check on it once in a while (at least once a year) to make sure it’s still accurate and running smoothly.

For example, any time you raise your prices on an invoice that gets recreated every month, be sure to update it. The same goes for any price increases on expenditures your business is paying.

Robots can do a lot, but they still need human supervision, insight, and critical thinking skills. If there ever comes a time when they do not need our input, that’s when we might have to worry about the AI apocalypse.

Until then, your business still needs a Bookkeeping Doctor. If you don’t yet have one looking critically at your business transactions and advising you as to the best course of action for your company, let’s talk. Just fill out this form to get started.