Artificial intelligence is changing the way we do accounting. It automates repetitive and labor-intensive tasks to increase data accuracy using machine learning models.
Small to medium-sized businesses are adopting AI at the highest level, promising a 43% growth rate from 2024 to 2029.
Let’s look at some of the top accounting AI trends that have already been adopted by companies but are expected to grow in 2025.
What Are the Key AI Trends to Watch in Accounting for 2025?
Many accounting processes, like manual bookkeeping, are becoming outdated with AI gradually taking up more space in the industry.
In 2025, the role of AI is no longer limited to automating different accounting tasks, it’s about making every task more efficient and accurate.
In the past, we’ve seen businesses use AI-powered tools, like QuickBooks Online to automate different accounting functions, like invoicing, tracking daily transactions, and business expenses.
Yet its role was pretty much restricted to data entries and recording.
But the role of AI is becoming bigger. You now have tools, like AccountsGPT, that don’t just record data for you but also highlight problems in it and provide specific solutions.
You can use this tool to generate financial reports, using its insights to evaluate vendor performance and identify tax deductions that you qualify for.
AI tools can be integrated into your organizational workflow to reduce the workload on employees.
It can handle manual operations and simplify complex financial information for you so you can focus on building strategies and have streamlined e-commerce accounting for your business. On one hand, it will automate repetitive tasks. And on the other, it will help you avoid employee burnout.
Businesses can now use AI chatbots, powered by language learning models, to not just track and record numbers but also to understand and translate complex financial data.
So you can use AI-powered tools to summarize financial data and understand tax codes. They can be used for tax calculations and optimizing deductions to save as much of your profits as possible.
97.2% of companies are investing in big data, an AI-powered technology. In accounting, it is used to analyze past and current financial data to identify trends and growth opportunities.
Deloitte is already using machine learning models to find out cost-saving solutions and manage its investments.
How Is Artificial Intelligence Redefining Accuracy in Accounting?
The role of data accuracy is unquestionable when it comes to making business decisions.
This is a challenge for growing companies with large amounts of data being generated on a daily basis. For them, it is a challenge to process and analyze data fast and with efficiency.
You can solve it using AI’s ability to process and analyze large datasets quickly. AI can also highlight patterns and trends that are quite difficult for human beings to detect, especially at lightning-bolt speed.
You can no longer rely on manual methods to check the authenticity of data as it can be time-consuming and prone to human error.
This is where artificial intelligence shines. It can highlight inconsistencies in your financial data and report errors.
The use of optical character recognition, an AI-powered tool is an example. This technology gets information directly from the invoices and receipts for you. It takes away all the manual effort to save you time and reduce errors.
AI doesn’t just stop at automating data processing, it continues to learn and adapt as it consumes more data. For example, AI-powered tools can analyze past financial data, like your sales and payments, to help you predict future cash flow for better planning.
What Emerging AI Technologies Will Impact Accounting Systems?
Artificial intelligence has made significant changes to the accounting field. It has automated several tasks to increase speed and data accuracy.
So the tasks that took accountants days to complete now only take up about a few minutes from their day.
Here are some of the emerging AI technologies that are helping them achieve this.
Machine learning
Machine learning algorithms that are trained on large datasets are used to improve data accuracy for financial analysis and decision-making. Optical character recognition, an AI technology, is a good example of this. You can use it to process invoices.
This technology is used to get important information from invoices. It analyzes the invoice numbers, total amount, and dates. Then, it categorizes the transaction using past learnings.
The transaction is also recorded in the ledger without human intervention, eliminating manual input and speeding up the entire processing time.
Predictive analytics
Predictive analytics is an AI-powered technology that you can use to identify risk. It can be used to predict market changes so you can change your financial strategies. It can also be used to identify opportunities.
A common example of using predictive analytics is to predict cash flow. This AI technology can help you predict cash inflows and outflows to plan your expenses and avoid liquidity problems.
You can use it to make better investment decisions and adopt cost-saving solutions whenever the working capital is low.
Other technologies
- AI-powered chatbots are becoming popular in helping accountants handle routine tasks, like bank reconciliations.
- Robotic Process Automation is another example of artificial intelligence that automates repetitive tasks, like data entry and report generation.
- Blockchain technology is being used to secure the general ledger and make financial transactions more transparent.
What Are the Ethical Implications of Using AI in Accounting?
While there are huge benefits to using AI in accounting, there are ethical implications that one should be aware of.
Biases
The way AI operates is that you give it information, it could be in the form of a task, and its learning and interpretation will be based on it.
Since dataset algorithms are used here, AI receives training on your organization’s past financial data or information that had some human involvement.
When the likelihood of having subjective data in these training models is so high, you can’t help but expect distorted or biased results. This could also easily mislead organizations.
The idea is to train AI with unbiased data so you have objective results to help you make accurate decisions.
Data privacy
You’re dealing with confidential and sensitive information in accounting. It is important to handle these datasets carefully since they can easily be hijacked.
For example, Equifax’s data breach exposed the confidential financial information of 147 million clients.
It is important to install encryption software, establish access controls, and implement rigorous policies to protect your data.
How Will AI Trends in 2025 Shape Strategic Decision-Making in Accounting?
Accountants are traditionally looked at as number crunchers. However, their role in a company’s growth is redefined as they collaborate with AI.
75% of the CPAs in the current workforce are set to retire in the next 10 years. And because the rate of accountants is dropping so drastically, the role of AI is becoming more important than ever before.
If you look at the responsibilities of a bookkeeper, they are much more nuanced than handling data entries. While AI-powered tools, like QuickBooks Online, can easily automate this task, it is up to the bookkeeper to gain insights from this data.
They aren’t just managing your financial information, they are using data as insights and adding value to your business.
You can use AI-powered tools to analyze large datasets to discover patterns and gain insights for informed and unbiased decision-making.
Many accountants are encouraged to upskill and learn modern data analytical tools to stay competitive in an industry undergoing massive changes.
With AI automating most tasks, accountants should use it to add value to their companies and become strategic advisors. It also goes on to prove that AI will not be displacing human jobs, but rather, push them to make their role more crucial in a company.
The bottom line
Artificial intelligence is improving accounting for businesses.
It isn’t here to replace human beings. Instead, in 2025, you will see human beings using AI to automate and make accounting more efficient meanwhile humans focus on strategic decisions.