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A good friend told me the other day about how much his high school age son was struggling with his college essays. Both my friend and his wife are incredibly smart. They’ve been helping their son for over a month on his essays, and it’s been a struggle to say the least.
One day, their son showed them an essay he “wrote” using ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence-based language tool that everyone’s talking about. Their son told him he inputted what he wanted the essay to be about and how long it needed to be. My friend and his wife were stunned by the quality of what the bot spit out. He told me they couldn’t have done better themselves.
This AI tool was able to write and rewrite in seconds, something that even many well-educated humans have a difficult time doing. Ultimately, of course, they didn’t let their son submit the AI-generated essays, but the implications for society are enormous.
So, what are the implications of AI for CPAs?
We’ve seen what AI can do in literature, but what about math? Recently, ChatGPT passed the MBA exam from Wharton, one of the most rigorous math programs in the world.
If you don’t think AI is coming to your business or profession, think again. It’s not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when, and it’s hitting pretty hard. The AI tools are relatively inexpensive, highly accurate, and getting better quicker.
I’m not implying that all CPAs will be out of a job. In fact, AI is good news for trusted advisors who see technology as a tool, rather than an adversary. As I wrote in 50 shades of (CPA) gray, clients assume your numbers are correct. Where trusted advisors can provide value around the conversation is when clients ask in-depth questions, for which your answer is: “It depends.”
So, what does it depend on?
It depends on each of your client’s unique circumstances and goals. That’s something that ChatGPT and other AI tools don’t know and can’t calculate. All I hear about is how firms can’t find the people to “do the work.” AI will be a team member who doesn’t make mistakes, works around the clock, and keeps getting better.
If the answer is simply a number, all that will be outsourced to someone offshore or to a computer system. That’s the direction the profession is going. You don’t want to deal with minutiae all day, do you? Wouldn’t you rather be having advisory service conversations with clients? Wouldn’t you instead be having forward-looking conversations about the future of their business? Wouldn’t you instead be having broader conversations that involve: “It depends.” If so, the AI trend is fantastic news for you.
How often have clients asked you questions in which the answer is “it depends” vs. questions in which the answer is $9,463? The answer that’s adding real value to your client relationship is: “It depends.” That’s where you are protected and where you need to deliver. Everything else — the “numbers” — are getting done faster and cheaper.
A computer doesn’t know how to work with subjective concepts such as “It depends.” It doesn’t have those kinds of inputs about your clients. For example, let’s say one of your clients is running a business and she’s coming to a crossroads in her life. Does the computer know that your client doesn’t want to sell her business because her kids have three more years of college left, and that she doesn’t have time to do lots of exotic travel anyway?
We’re not talking about calculations here. We’re talking about complex decisions in which emotion and family dynamics are at play. Most CPAs are not asking: “How can I do more numbers and boxes?” They’re asking: “How can I constantly raise the level of service I’m providing to my clients and the level of advice I’m delivering?”
Harmit Singh, the chief financial officer of Levi Strauss & Co., recently wrote that “everything that can be automated, should be automated.” I know it’s scary to see the extent to which robots and AI are getting better and better at replicating human-performed tasks. Why not let them take over all the stuff you don’t want to be doing so you can be freed up to do what you do best: helping them make better financial decisions as their most trusted advisor?
Seems like a pretty good tradeoff to me.
What is your firm doing to leverage technology to serve your clients better? I’d love to hear from you.
