The Future of Accounting – Insights from AGN NextGenners

Our latest edition of Global Business Voice, The Future of Accounting, explores insights from the winning entry of the AGN 2024 ‘Road to Rome’ NextGen Challenge—AGN International’s flagship global competition aimed at fostering strategic thinking, collaboration, and innovation among early-career professionals.

How NextGenners Envision the Future of AI in Accounting

Among seven teams, each comprised of three individuals from AGN member firms across different countries, Team 5 emerged victorious. Their work showcased a visionary, practical, and deeply insightful approach to AI and digital transformation in accounting, setting a compelling benchmark for how future professionals will shape the industry.

Their two winning submissions tackled the profound implications of automation and AI in auditing, finance, and advisory services. Their thought leadership was not only forward-looking but also structured in a way that accounting firms can adopt to future-proof their workforce, service offerings, and ethical considerations.

A Vision for the Future — and the Strategic Shifts Required

The Road to Rome challenge is more than just an academic exercise. It is a window into how the next generation of accountants sees the profession evolving. The NextGenners’ vision of the future suggests that accountancy firms must make deliberate, strategic shifts:

1. From Compliance to AI-Driven Advisory: The future accountant will not be a compliance officer but a strategic AI-powered consultant. AGN support members journey to advisory with the following detailed guides and resources: AGN Migration Methodology related materials and AGN Advisory Resource Center

2. From Data Entry to Data Interpretation: AI will handle financial processing, while accountants must master advanced data analytics to deliver real insights.

3. From Traditional Risk Assessment to Real-Time Cybersecurity & AI Ethics: AI will flag financial risks in real time, but human professionals must ensure regulatory compliance and ethical AI decision-making.

Challenge 1: AI and Automation – The Future of Accounting Jobs

The first challenge asked teams to explore how AI and automation will redefine the accounting profession by 2030. Team 5 took an analytical approach, identifying a fundamental shift: the automation of routine accounting tasks will create new, higher-value roles focused on oversight, cybersecurity, advisory services, and AI governance.

Their research highlighted key transformations:

• Tasks Replaced: AI will handle risk assessment, financial report generation, audit report writing,
  document summarisation, reconciliations, and real-time anomaly detection.
  
• Tasks Added: A surge in demand for AI oversight, cybersecurity, advanced data analysis, AI-driven
  client advisory, and compliance monitoring.
  
• The New Audit Senior Manager: The traditional audit manager role will evolve into a hybrid AI expert and strategic consultant, requiring skills in AI oversight, cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, and relationship management.

Team 5 went a step further, crafting a job description for the Audit Senior Manager of 2030. They forecasted a blend of technology expertise, strategic advisory, and AI-enhanced decision-making as core competencies, rather than simply auditing financial statements.

What Can Member Firms Learn?

Team 5 – The Changing Roles in the AI Age – Audit Senior

Challenge 2: Future-Ready Leadership – A Learning & Development Roadmap for AI in Auditing

Team 5’s second challenge focused on the practical side of AI adoption: how should firms train their workforce to thrive in an AI-driven accounting environment? Their response was a comprehensive Learning & Development (L&D) Program for Future Audit Managers, structured around five critical pillars:

01. AI Systems Management
– Introduction to AI-powered auditing tools used by firm
– Managing automated data entry and financial report generation tools
– Customization of AI systems specific to firm and client needs

Key Skill: AI Software Expertise

02. Cybersecurity
– Cybersecurity threats in financial systems
– Strategies to detect and prevent cyber attacks
– Mitigation plan in case of data breaches

Key Skill: Risk Mitigation

03. Governance: Ethical and Regulatory
– Industry-wide regulatory & compliance requirements
– How to avoid algorithmic bias and ensure transparency

Key Skill: Compliance Management

04. Develop as a Client Advisor
– Provide AI-augmented advisory services
– Customizing AI-generated forecasts for individual client need

Key Skill: Relationship Development

05. Collaboration
– How to effectively lead hybrid human-AI teams
– How to foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement

Key Skill: Project management

Lessons for Accounting Firms: How to Stay Competitive in an AI World

Final Thought: The Road to the Future is AI-Powered

Team 5’s Road to Rome victory is more than an award—it is a clear call to action for AGN firms worldwide. Their insights provide a blueprint for how firms should adapt to digital transformation, ensure their staff remain relevant, and deliver cutting-edge advisory services in an AI-first world.

For AGN firms that wish to remain ahead of the curve, the time to act is now. AI is not a distant future—it is here. And if firms don’t seize the opportunity to train their staff, reimagine advisory services, and embed AI into their operations, they risk being left behind.

Next Steps: How AGN Firms Can Adapt

• Adopt a structured AI training framework, similar to Team 5’s L&D proposal.
  
• Invest in AI-powered auditing and advisory tools, ensuring staff can leverage them effectively.
  
• Reassess service offerings—AI-powered cybersecurity, digital compliance, and AI consultancy
  should become core services.
  
• Position AI expertise as part of the employer brand—Attract and retain talent by ensuring professionals see AI as a career accelerator, not a threat.

Team 5 may have won Road to Rome, but their challenge-winning insights should serve as a strategic playbook for every AGN firm looking to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving AI-driven world.

AGN Resources:

• The AGN Advisory Resource Centre
• GBV: Unleashing the Power of ChatGPT
• GBV: The AGN Advisory Migration Methodology
• GBV: Making Sense of Cryptocurrencies: Part #1
• GBV: Metaverse Part 1 – The real reality?
• GBV: Metaverse Part 2 – The business implications

For further information on this topic or anything relating to the AGN International Association of Accounting and Advisory Firms or to become an AGN member, please email your closest AGN Regional Director (see below) or go directly to www.agn.org.

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