# Will AI replace bookkeepers? Updated October 2026 Bookkeepers score 67 of 100 for AI exposure. AI can already do 63% of their task time. Another 32% gets faster with AI, and 5% still needs a person. - **63%** AI can do it - **32%** AI helps - **5%** Needs a person High exposure Higher than 98% of the 923 occupations we scored. ## Task by task We graded 28 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 18 of them today, speeds up 9 and leaves 1 to people. | Task | AI exposure | | --- | --- | | Transfer details from separate journals to general ledgers or data processing sheets. Moving entries between journals and ledgers is pure data transfer. | 85% AI can do it | | Match order forms with invoices, and record the necessary information. Three way matching of orders to invoices is highly automatable. | 80% AI can do it | | Calculate, prepare, and issue bills, invoices, account statements, and other financial statements according to established procedures. Generating invoices and statements is standard automated output. | 80% AI can do it | | Prepare trial balances of books. Trial balances are generated automatically from ledger data. | 80% AI can do it | | Reconcile records of bank transactions. Bank reconciliation is among the most automated bookkeeping tasks. | 78% AI can do it | [See what AI can take on across a finance team](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-for/finance/) ## How bookkeepers compare All occupations (923) Office and administrative support (51) **Bookkeepers score 67**, 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 57 for office and administrative support. ## Pay and outlook in the US Median pay $50,670 a year, May 2025 People employed 1.4 million in the US, May 2025 Projected change in jobs \-5.6% from 2024 to 2034 ## Skills to build - Reconcile bank statements against ledgers in Intuit QuickBooks - Audit AI-posted journal entries in Microsoft Excel - Resolve exceptions in invoice-to-purchase-order matching - Count cash and checks, then prepare bank deposits - Run physical inventory counts against stock records - Hold the Certified Bookkeeper (CB) credential ## Safer roles nearby 5 related occupations with lower scores. - [Billing clerks59 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/billing-clerks/) - [Payroll clerks64 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/payroll-clerks/) - [Credit clerks61 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/credit-clerks/) - [Office clerks60 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/office-clerks/) - [Tellers53 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/tellers/) ## Questions about bookkeepers and AI Will bookkeepers be replaced by AI? Partly. About 6 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly moving entries from journals to ledgers and matching order forms to invoices. Cash handling, bank deposits and physical stock counts stay with people, and someone still has to check what the software posts. Will AI take over accounts payable jobs? AI can already do 63% of the task time in accounts payable and speeds up another 32%. People still do 5% of it. The US has 1.4 million bookkeeper jobs, with a projected change of -5.6% from 2024 to 2034. Which tasks are bookkeepers losing to AI? Data movement goes first. Transferring journal details to general ledgers has an exposure score of 85 because it is pure data transfer with no judgment involved. Matching order forms to invoices and reconciling bank records follow, since three-way matching and bank feeds are among the most automated bookkeeping tasks. Which tasks stay with bookkeepers? Physical money handling stays with people. Receiving, recording and banking cash, checks and vouchers, and preparing bank deposits by counting cash and balancing receipts, need hands and bank trips. Operating 10-key calculators, typewriters and copy machines has the lowest exposure of all tasks, at 12. Which tasks stay with bookkeepers? Physical money handling stays with people. Receiving, recording and banking cash, checks and vouchers, and preparing bank deposits by counting cash and balancing receipts, need hands and bank trips. Operating 10-key calculators, typewriters and copy machines has the lowest exposure of all tasks, at 12. ## Related jobs - [File clerks59 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/file-clerks/) - [Loan clerks64 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/loan-clerks/) - [Insurance claims clerks72 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/insurance-claims-clerks/) - [Accountants60 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/accountants/) ## Next steps for bookkeepers - ### 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.