# Will AI replace accountants? Updated October 2026 Accountants score 60 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 74%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over 20% outright, and 6% stays with people. - **20%** AI can do it - **74%** AI helps - **6%** Needs a person High exposure Higher than 91% of the 923 occupations we scored. ## Task by task We graded 29 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 6 of them today, speeds up 21 and leaves 2 to people. | Task | AI exposure | | --- | --- | | Process invoices for payment. Invoice data capture and matching is highly routine digital work. | 85% AI can do it | | Review accounts for discrepancies and reconcile differences. Reconciliation is pattern matching across ledgers; highly automatable today. | 72% AI can do it | | Prepare, examine, or analyze accounting records, financial statements, or other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards. Core digital task; AI checks accuracy and conformance to standards quickly. | 70% AI can do it | | Develop, maintain, or analyze budgets, preparing periodic reports that compare budgeted costs to actual costs. Budget variance reports are routine calculations; AI drafts commentary. | 68% AI can do it | | Prepare adjusting journal entries. Entries follow rules from known data; AI drafts, accountant approves. | 65% AI can do it | [See what AI can take on across a finance team](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-for/finance/) ## How accountants compare All occupations (923) Business and financial operations (48) **Accountants score 60**, marked by the dark line. Each dot is a score, darker where more occupations share it. The short marks show the averages, 37 for all occupations and 55 for business and financial operations. ## Pay and outlook in the US Median pay $83,680 a year, May 2025 People employed 1.4 million in the US, May 2025 Projected change in jobs +5.0% from 2024 to 2034 ## Skills to build - Hold a CPA licence and sign off on financial statements - Approve adjusting journal entries drafted in QuickBooks - Run reconciliation workflows in Alteryx software - Count cash and inspect securities on site - Scope audits and direct staff on engagements ## Safer roles nearby 5 related occupations with lower scores. - [Financial examiners49 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/financial-examiners/) - [Controllers50 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/controllers/) - [Financial managers49 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/financial-managers/) - [Budget analysts56 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/budget-analysts/) - [Financial analysts58 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/financial-analysts/) ## Questions about accountants and AI Will accounting be replaced by AI? Partly. About 5 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, chiefly invoice processing and account reconciliation. What stays with people is signing off statements, judging what the numbers mean, and answering for the result. Will AI take over accounting? AI can already do 20% of the task time in accounting and speeds up another 74%. People still do 6% of it. The US has 1.4 million accountant jobs, with a projected change of +5.0% from 2024 to 2034. Which accounting tasks is AI taking over? Invoice processing scores 85 on exposure, the highest of any task, because capturing invoice data and matching it to ledger records is routine digital work. Account reconciliation scores 72, since spotting differences across ledgers is pattern matching that AI does quickly. Which accounting tasks stay with humans? Conferring with company officials on financial and regulatory matters scores 18, because people lead the live conversation and AI only prepares the briefing. Directing staff who file and compile records also scores 18. Physical cash counts score 22 because someone has to be on site. How can accountants stay valuable? Move your hours toward review, sign-off, and on-site work. Check the adjusting entries drafted in QuickBooks before posting, and take responsibility for the reconciliation exceptions AI flags. Count cash and inspect inventory yourself, and keep the CPA licence that lets you sign statements. ## Related jobs - [Bookkeepers67 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/bookkeepers/) - [Tax preparers69 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/tax-preparers/) - [Credit analysts62 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/credit-analysts/) - [Financial advisors60 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/financial-advisors/) ## Next steps for accountants - ### Check your job Your job title is a rough guide. Your actual tasks decide your score. Paste your job description or CV and see which of your tasks AI can do. [Check your job](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/ai-exposure-checker/) [Check your CV](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/cv-checker/) ### Check which roles in your team AI can take on We map your team's tasks, show what AI can do today and build the automations that pay back first. [Book an AI audit](https://www.aigentcy.com/audit/) ## Related topics - [**Jobs AI can't replace**Cement masons score lowest, at 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-cant-replace/) - [**Jobs most at risk from AI**Proofreaders score highest, at 76.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-most-exposed-to-ai/) - [**High-paying jobs with low AI exposure**Radiologists earn a median $420,860 and score 46.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/high-paying-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Entry-level jobs with low AI exposure**Cement masons need little prior training and score 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/entry-level-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Jobs AI speeds up the most**For natural sciences managers, AI speeds up 96% of task time.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-speeds-up/) - [**AI and jobs in Malta**15 iGaming roles graded task by task.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/malta/) - [**Skills that keep work human**The skills to build in the jobs AI changes least.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/skills/) - [**Jobs A to Z**Every job we publish, by first letter.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs/) - [**AI exposure by industry**Average scores for 22 occupation groups.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/industries/) - [**Write a CV screening software can read**How applicant tracking systems read a CV, and what to change.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/cv-screening-guide/) - [**AI for businesses**The tasks to automate first in each team and industry.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-for/) - [**How we score AI exposure**The grading, the weights and every source.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/) Occupation data from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and modified by Aigentcy. O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Wage, employment and projection data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. EU occupation names from ESCO, European Commission. AI usage signals from the Anthropic Economic Index (CC BY) and Microsoft Research (CC BY 4.0). [Methodology and sources](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/). Scores © Aigentcy. Quote them with a link to the page.