AI should be seen as your new colleague, says Arthur Goldstuck.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used extensively across accounting and bookkeeping, and can be implemented to limit mistakes, allowing CFOs to concentrate on other aspects of business, enabling strategy.
MD of World Wide Worx and author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To AI, Arthur, says AI is a fantastic tool depending on where a CFO wants to use it. For example, it can identify gaps in reporting and analyse numbers to tell a CFO where the team may have gone wrong.
As Arthur points out in his book, AI is not something that has suddenly been thrust on the world. “The first person to associate computers with intelligence was the legendary mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing, who played a central role during World War II in cracking German naval codes, helping to speed up the end of the war,” he writes.
AI is already available in existing accounting software, such as Xero or Sage. “Sometimes, you don’t realise you are using AI and it’s already built in.”
In other cases, Arthur adds, CFOs will need to find and deploy additional automation tools that can apply algorithms to data sets. He adds that it is very hard to predict what software accountants will be using because, by tomorrow, they will be looking for something else and it all comes down to use case.
AI is especially useful, he says, when dealing with spreadsheets and reports covering numerous rows, columns, and pages, as it’s very easy to make an error. This is where AI comes in and identifies the issue.
“Everyone makes mistakes, and those mistakes can be very expensive, if you have a comma in the wrong place.” AI should be seen as a colleague, not a replacement, because it makes those in accounting work more effectively as it’s a sense checker, says Arthur.
AI – an evolution of cloud computing – still needs a human to oversee it, he says. Because it can be used to automate payments, for example, there is the potential that there could be a glitch in the matrix. “An accountant has to run their eyes over before anything goes out. Otherwise, you're going to see errors, which could be expensive and also create reputational damage.”
An additional element of AI, beyond pure accounting, is that CFOs can delegate the task of developing research reports to it, asking tools to help them with analysis and developing graphs from data sets. “You could feasibly give that job to AI, but AI doesn't know what the context is. So, a human analyst is so critical in that process,” says Arthur.
Dealing with the monotonous
In developing reports for World Wide Worx, for example, Arthur used AI to collect pieces of analysis for each mini data set and then asked it to summarise the information based on aspects such as the important aspects and what people may be interested in. This, he explains, is not done to change the data, but to contextualise it.
At the same time, he says, AI can also be used to pick up trends, and compile conclusions and recommendations based on that analysis. “What we use that for is to give us a framework for writing our reports and analysis. But I can foresee that annual reports will be written almost entirely by AI using that kind of process.”
This saves a huge amount of time as pulling data together is where the monotonous aspects of a CFO’s day lie.
“What typically will be done, is that you will take the previous year’s annual report, feed it into the AI, and tell it to create a style sheet or prompt sheet based on the previous report. Based on that, it can create a new report with new data. But there are limitations to that approach, such as a lack of fresh insights. But, again, you use that as your framework. And then you work through it and add the fresh context.”
Yet, says Arthur, because the person doing this task is completing a project and needs the know-how in terms of using AI, they shouldn’t be paid any less. Instead, the expertise in being able to use AI should be rewarded.
Combined, all these elements – and the massive growth in AI technology – means that a CFO’s day becomes much easier, allowing them to ensure that finance is aiding in delivering the company’s strategy. “This is exactly the argument about why professionals should use AI. Because if AI does the heavy lifting for you, you can spend more time thinking about strategic or creative solutions.
“You can spend more time on creativity in the world of business. You can spend more time on strategy or on the business and ideas rather than having to look after the nuts and bolts as the primary part of your job.”
A good CFO will be one who is comfortable at working with AI to make him more effective at his job,” says Arthur. Yet, as he notes in his book: “AI is not a magic bullet.”
