By Max Schultz and Aaron Veach.
For all the talk of how AI will transform and disrupt the accounting sector, it’s important to recognize that the assistance of machines is nothing new. In fact, it predates green-screen computers and even calculators. How far back does it go? Try 1642, when French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal invented the first adding machine—at age 19.
Yet for all the history of humans adapting to and adopting new technology, the question arises today whether enough professionals will remain to leverage it. A workforce shortage looms, as the American Institute of CPAs reports that 75% of today’s public accounting CPAs will retire within the next 15 years. That amount far exceeds the number of accountants who enter the workforce. Citing AICPA figures, the Wall Street Journal reported that 47,070 students earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in the 2021 to 2022 academic year, down 7.8% year-over-year and 15% from the 2011-2012 peak.
Indeed, those numbers have prompted cause for concern; one industry publication has labelled it “a severe crisis.”[1] In sum, the workforce is aging; veterans are retiring; fewer grads are entering the profession; and it’s become harder than ever to hire for lost skill sets at the same cost. Thus, organizations have no choice but to embrace AI and automation to operate a reliable, future-proof corporate accounting function lest they risk blowing their budgets with skyrocketing headcount costs across G&A.
But an overarching fact remains salient: Many accounting and finance departments don’t yet know what’s possible with a well-integrated automation fabric, which helps knit disparate systems data into a seamless close. Seizing those potentials is a cause for optimism, as the industry attrition runs counterbalance to the technology.
That is, AI-enhanced automation helps reduce manual workloads, easing staffing shortages and helping orchestrate a seamless close. Getting started, it’s crucial to recognize and then overcome the main barriers to AI and automation implementation.
It’s amazing, though, how many reputable businesses haven’t taken that first step. We talk to Fortune 1000 companies every single day that still operate across tens-to-hundreds of spreadsheets to tackle the ever-increasing amount of the prep work that goes into closing the books. It’s often a case of operating in discrete systems and dispersed manners (with no version control or audit trail) and, metaphorically speaking, dull pencils.
Many of these companies must collect financial data out of legacy systems, some home built. As a result, data consolidation and preparation in order to run accruals, reclassifications and provisions, for example, creates a massive manual workload. Now compare that to sitting on top of an automation platform that connects deeply and natively into SAP and those legacy systems – and can automate most of that manual work.
This would feature purpose-built SAP components to leverage all SAP-native transaction codes, as well as an ecosystem of connectors to the systems that surround it. Though this may sound like a tall order, the fact is that a highly skilled software provider can automate 70% of this preparatory phase (whereas legacy solutions may have only gotten you 20% of the way).
It’s also important to recognize that the next generation of artificial intelligence has arrived with agentic AI, which can reason, learn and make decisions with minimal human intervention. It’s also a technology that’s virtually impossible to integrate with an outdated tech stack or patchwork system.
But layering agents atop mature processes and smart integration puts a business in position for automation success and immediate return on investment. Imagine a coordinated framework that connects and synchronizes data, work rules-based processes and systems end to end—thus putting ineffective workarounds out of work.
To be sure, many CPAs and accountants fear change. When RPA (robotic process automation) was introduced in the 2010s, panic ensued until accountants realized that a) it freed them up to do high-value work, and b) it couldn’t duplicate one characteristic of highly skilled people: sound professional judgement.
Meanwhile, the next generation of accountants are shunning the drudge work that previous entry-level professionals tackled. Odds are they already know what’s possible through an integrated digital system – in fact, colleges began offering master’s degrees in data and analytics in the 2010s – and will seek out opportunities with firms that know how to get the job done through AI. With this comes the promise of upskilling at speeds their predecessors could never have imagined.
Certainly, the need for comprehensive automation will only grow. Even as organizations workloads increase, budgets rarely keep up, let alone inflows of fresh talent.
Yet smart, experienced software experts can fill the breach. Consider the track record of industry innovation: Over the years, adding machines, calculators, computers and RPA haven’t cast accountants aside. Only the roles and skill sets have changed and so it is with AI in lockstep with a good change management program.
As a recent Forrester report sums it up well: “AI isn’t just a tech investment—it’s a people strategy.” And just as people won’t go back to adding up by hand, they will welcome breakthrough technology when you give them a good why and a great product.
Max Schultz is the Group General Manager, Redwood Software. Connect with Max on LinkedIn.
Aaron Veach is the Executive Director, Finance Transformation at Redwood Software. Connect with Aaron on LinkedIn.
[1] https://www.cpajournal.com/2025/08/15/the-accounting-profession-is-in-crisis-3/
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