I sat on on two intriguing panels recently, delving deep into the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the world of bookkeeping. The first panel was at Accountex Summit Manchester hosted by Steve Cox from Iris and the second took place online hosted by Stephen Edginton from Dext.
These discussions gave me the chance to think more about how bookkeepers can harness what AI thinkers are calling 'humanity's last invention.' I wonder what we can collectively achieve when we start to develop AI that surpasses human intelligence (cancer cures, climate change reversal) and how artificial intelligence might affect us as a species.
As we stare down the barrel into a world where AI has the capability to do a lot of our work better and faster than we can, it's clearly important that we figure out how to leverage this technology responsibly. While intelligent automation may eventually transform all work as we know it (AI startup boss
Mustafa Suleyman says AI is 'fundamentally labour-replacing'), I believe there’s a way bookkeepers can embrace AI's potential and evolve their skills to become even more indispensable to businesses.
By now most of us have had the chance to put funny prompts into
ChatGPT, the large language model (LLM) chatbot that set off a perfect storm of armchair AI enthusiasts like me when it launched last November.
From the Iris and Dext panels, speaking alongside experts from FreeAgent and ACCA as well as our very own Jo Wood C.FICB PM.Dip, I've learnt how much AI is already in use in the software we know and love. But what's exciting to see is that accounting software is now putting LLM technology into the front-end of the product too so you can start to interact with it.
Four AI developments bookkeepers should know about
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1. Google's Bard integrates with Gmail:
Bard is no longer limited to using the internet as a source. It can now search through your Gmail, GDrive documents and other google apps to find the information you're looking for. Bard is an LLM similar to ChatGPT except it has access to today's internet.
It's important to remember that LLMs continue to get things wrong, hallucinate, and have an interesting affliction called the reversal curse. This is partly to do with the fact they don't really know what they're talking about - instead they're just predicting the next most likely word in the sentence they're writing.
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2. AI available now in Practice Management software Karbon and Pixie:
Karbon gave me a quick demo at Accountex Summit North. You can use these tools to generate responses to some of those repetitive questions your clients might ask, summarise email history, or do a first draft of your outgoing emails.
Having AI in your PM software could be a great way of accelerating the training of your newest recruits. There have been a few studies showing how AI has the biggest productivity impact on the least experienced workers and lowest performing students. It seems to level the playing field.
AI also seems to be surprisingly good at uncovering 'tacit knowledge'. This is the kind of knowledge that you know, but can't really explain. It's the stuff you learn from experience and it's quite hard to codify and pass on to new team members. Because AI can analyse large amounts of data it can identify patterns and trends that humans might not be able to see.
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3. Quickbooks announces Intuit Assist in the USA:
Intuit are calling Intuit Assist ' a trusted business associate by your side' but it won't be rolling out in the UK until some time next year according to the Intuit guys I spoke to at Accountex in Manchester. At the moment the features look pretty tame but the website talks about its 'do it for me' features which suggest there's more functionality coming down the line that might give business owners a bookkeeper-like chatbot experience.
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4. Microsoft announces Windows CoPilot
Microsoft has put Bing Chat (built on ChatGPT technology) right into Windows 11. This is really cool because it means you're going to be able to use a chat interface to carry out tasks within different microsoft programs like creating Excel spreadsheets and analysing the data without ever having to put a number in a field. Microsoft says that CoPilot will “uniquely incorporate the context and intelligence of the web, your work data and what you are doing in the moment on your PC to provide better assistance.”
This kind of AI that can actually take action in your software uses something called an 'artificial agent’ and it’s safe to say it’s a bit of a paradigm shift. Or rather 🤯.
You may have used RPA or ‘bots’ to complete repetitive tasks in the past, but AI agents, like the ones coordinated under the hood of CoPilot, are turbocharging this type of function to carry out more complex tasks and solve bigger problems.
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But what does AI mean for bookkeepers?
If AI 'agents' can now actually take action and interact with your software to carry out a task, we could be entering a new era where we no longer interact with our tools through their individual interfaces. Imagine a world in which you can tell a chatbot to reconcile the bank for all your clients across all their different software packages and send you an update when it's done.
But then again would you want to let an AI agent have all the satisfaction of doing your bank recs?
Accountex Summit North panel - 'AI vs. Accountants'
(l-r: Steve Cox
Iris, Alistair Brisbourne
ACCA, Ami Copeland
ICB,
Craig Clarke FreeAgent, Ben Smith
Dext)
Accelerate success for the business, team and clients
While we’re still a way off from fully automated bookkeeping, I think it’s right to consider this eventuality and plan for it. I'm not worried about AI replacing bookkeepers just yet though, and neither should you be.
Because being a bookkeeper is about more than bookkeeping isn't it?
Making Tax Digital (MTD) shows us how much business owners (and HMRC!) rely on professional bookkeepers for support in adopting new technology. Businesses will be looking for your help understanding the new AI world order and no chatbot plugged into their accounting software is going to offer more value than you can.
You have tacit knowledge of your clients' accounts and the intricacies of their business, hopes and dreams. You know how to ask the right questions, read between the lines, and provide the advice and support businesses need.
I do see a powerful opportunity to train AI on your own systems; your documents, training manuals, operating procedures, website, emails, social media posts and accounting software. Ultimately this level of access will give your AI the 'context' it needs to multiply your output, serve your clients better and train your team faster than you could ever do yourself.
BUT!
.......the more we all start interacting with chatbots and using AI to speak to each other, the greater the value that will be placed on human interaction and the stuff that bookkeepers are renowned for, being -
trusted professionals who are easy to talk to and geuinely care.
