accounting is not just bookkeeping. Audit, tax, corporate advisory are also part of accounting. And these requires lots of judgement calls to make, and persons to sign off on the works, which AI can't do. For example, you cannot just simply upload audit data for AI to come up with an audit opinion. There still need to be working papers being prepared, signed by audit manager, then only the audit partner can produce audit opinion and sign off the audit report. The preparation of audit working papers however, we can use AI to assist. But someone who actually knows about accounting still must review and sign off on those working papers. So when shit hits the fan, there will still be person responsible on the financial statements. This is just one of the example.

As someone who is in the accounting, I will say accounting degree is still one of the safest degree that you can take. And even if you decide not to work in accounting jobs, there are other paths that you can still take with your degree such as to work as credit analyst, compliance, marketing, etc. Since almost all business fields will accept someone with an accounting degree. And as someone who is using AI to assist with my works, AI is not something that you should be worried. Many accountants are more worried about outsourcing. Although for Malaysia, it shouldn't be an issue as our wages and forex rate is weak, we are actually the destination of the outsourcing for many global companies. I'm myself working for a Singaporean company, remotely from Malaysia.

This post has been edited by iammasivers: Jun 24 2024, 04:54 PM