The future of accountant training: AI and experience


The accountanting industry is being revolutionised by AI.

Accountancy training is no different. AI offers transformational changes for those ready to embrace it.

In this article we take a look at what accountancy training looks like in this new AI era, and what kind of career it will lead to.

In short, if you’re thinking of training as an accountant – or considering switching your career – this is a great place to start. Here’s what we discuss:

How AI is changing accounting

Over the last few years fears have been expressed about AI taking away jobs in professional services, especially at the entry level.

However, as many commentators have pointed out, this simply isn’t true. It never has been.

Whenever new technologies have been introduced, all the way back to the Industrial Revolution, rather than the total numbers of jobs being lost, new ones have emerged.

But these new jobs require new skills – and a new mindset.

According to a survey published earlier this year by Chartered Accountants Worldwide, 83% of 18- to 24-year-old chartered accountants surveyed are using AI at least once a week, for simple tasks such as data entry and general productivity.

“I think it’s safe to say there’s a mixture of excitement and anxiety, as you’d expect,” says Sarah Beale, CEO of the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT), the global professional body for accounting technicians and bookkeepers. “AI is a huge change. Not everybody understands it but there’s a huge level of positivity.”

To hear more of what Sarah has to say, watch our video below, which is part of Sage’s docuseries about the AI opportunity for businesses:

A survey published in June 2025 by AAT revealed that four in five accountants (78%) agree that automation will make their jobs easier, freeing them up from administrative burdens, while 64% believe that AI tools will enhance efficiency and accuracy in the accounting profession.

Despite fears about AI taking their jobs away, younger accountants are particularly enthusiastic with 84% of those aged between 18 and 35 saying that it’ll improve accuracy and efficiency.

AI means problem-solving and strategic advice

Even more (80%) of AAT’s respondents reported that AI would enable them to support businesses with strategic advice and problem-solving.

This figure is important because it demonstrates how anyone currently going through accountancy training and indeed, progressing through the profession as a whole, needs to think about how they can offer clients greater value.

Whereas the emphasis was once on numbers and maths, with even the most sophisticated calculations now being undertaken by AI, accountants can spend more time providing clients with holistic business advice.

It’s important for you to be able to tell a client how they’re doing financially but it’s even better if you can tell them what the figures mean and what the client needs to do next to secure and grow their business.

This means that the next generation of accountants will have to be more skilled at dealing with people – in other words, showing empathy and understanding their clients’ needs and motivations – than they are dealing with spreadsheets.

For instance, back in 2015, if you were in accountancy training, you’d be focussed on manual data entry and grinding your way through spreadsheets. You might have found yourself sampling invoices manually, using paper-based evidence for vouching during audit training, or verifying numbers with Excel tie-outs.

Today, as the use of technologies such as cloud computing, automation and generative AI becomes the norm, you’ll be reviewing exceptions and taking a more holistic, insightful approach to company accounts, rather than ploughing through whole reams of figures and data.

“The key to success with any AI tool lies in how it enhances the services we deliver to our clients,” says Sam Rumens of Streets Accountants. “We must use the right tools for the right tasks.

“One area we’re currently focusing on is around bookkeeping data capture. We’re introducing various AI-driven tools that are proving highly effective in this space.

“Early results show that automating this process can significantly reduce errors that can arise from manual entry. However, these tools still rely heavily on human oversight, due to the core data and settings, and this creates an added layer of security and accuracy that is essential whenever using AI.”

The more tailoring we do, the better the AI gets.

Sam Rumens, streeTs Accountants

AI and the career path for junior accountants

Even though AI fundamentally affects accountancy training and the work of junior accountants, they will still start in a junior role such as tax trainee, audit assistant, or accounts assistant.

But increasingly, rather than carrying out calculations and pulling together figures for a balance sheet or P&L as AI carries out manual, repetitive tasks such as data extraction and reconciliation, they’ll have the opportunity to focus, instead, on more interesting, rewarding activities – activities that AI cannot yet perform.

“This shift allows trainees to build real client skills earlier in their careers, which makes the work more engaging,” says David Kindness, a Certified Public Accountant CPA and tax expert. “Instead of spending all day keying in numbers, they get to learn how to analyse data, spot patterns, and talk with clients about what the numbers actually mean.

“Most of the young accountants I speak to see this as a welcome change because it opens up growth opportunities that used to take years to reach.

“Overall, AI is creating a better balance. It automates what machines do best, and it empowers accountants, even at the entry level, to do more of the thoughtful and client-focused work that drew them into the profession in the first place.”

However, regulators such as the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) are scrutinising AI’s impact on audit quality.

A US law firm was embarrassed, for instance, when it turned out that a submission to a court created by AI had simply invented evidence and case judgments.

This means that when you’re training to be an accountant these days you’ll need to learn about how AI affects controls, documentation, and ethics.

AI can take on manual work, but what it can’t take on is accountability and responsibility.

Similarly, as part of your accountancy training course, you’ll increasingly find yourself documenting your professional scepticism and curiosity and ensuring that what you’re doing complies with audit firm policies as well as industry regulations.

AI and accountability in accounting

“It’s all about maintaining accountability,” says Sarah Beale. “Putting the guardrails around what we use and making sure that people understand the limitations. Having really clear policies and being transparent about where they’re using it so that their clients and businesses are aware of it is essential.

“I think the big thing for our profession is that we need to maintain trust and confidence in what we do. So we don’t want to leap into using something that we don’t understand or that we can’t verify ourselves.

“We want to give people confidence about when they should and should not feel comfortable to use it.”

We’re starting to embed digital literacy, digital tools and ethics around the use of AI in our qualifications.

Sarah Beale, CEO, AAT

Over the coming decade, in chartered accountancy training there will be more focus on assurance of AI-produced evidence as well as an emphasis on systems thinking, controls testing, data literacy, and client-facing advisory.

AI brings with it a range of ethical and privacy issues. Accountants will have to ensure that they’ve got the right policies and procedures in place here. The good news is that there’s plenty of advice and guidance available to help you to handle these important issues.

The benefits of AI to trainee accountants

AI technologies such as Sage Copilot can provide accountants with dynamic, real-time insights so that the next generation of accountants will respond in a more agile, timely manner to changes in their clients’ businesses.

The new MTD agent AI tool has arrived just in time to reduce the workload of MTD for Income Tax.

Tools like this can easily give detailed insights revealing relevant information so that people can make decisions faster, and based on better evidence.

AI can also ensure that trainee accountants never miss a deadline for VAT returns and other important filings.

Another interesting development ushered in by technologies is that they can open up the profession to more people from different backgrounds who might be interested in training to be an accountant.

Now, AI is helping to reposition training as an accountant as a modern, tech-forward profession. As AI reduces the emphasis on arithmetic and spreadsheets, accountancy is widening its appeal as a profession.

The AAT survey revealed that automating mundane, manual tasks involved in accountancy could broaden the appeal of the profession, with two in five people saying that they’d consider a change of career to move into accountancy if they could use AI to replace these routine tasks.

More young people – and career switchers – with a wider range of skills and academic qualifications are being drawn to training as an accountant.

Not only that but the pathways into accountancy are also more varied and easily accessible now. You don’t need a degree, for a start. The apprenticeship schemes offered by professional organisations and industry bodies such as the AAT, ICAEW, ACCA, CIMA, and CIPFA, are open to almost anyone aged over 16 and they’re a great way to earn while you learn.

Careers in accounting: how AI is broadening the field

The AAT-ACA Fast Track route has been developed by the ICAEW and AAT, and it allows anyone with an AAT qualification to get onto a fast track to become a Chartered Accountant (ACA) using the learning and work experience that they’ve gained with AAT.

With most accountancy apprenticeships you’ll spend one day a week at college and the rest of the week working in an office, supporting and shadowing more experienced colleagues and putting in practice what you’ve learned in your lectures and tutorials. Apprentices are usually entitled to at least 20 days of paid holiday per year, plus bank holidays.

Because AI will never be able to replace the human element in accounting, ensuring that you stand out from the competition, improving your CV, and extending your experience is something that you’ll still need to do yourself.

This means looking out for little bookkeeping jobs or taking on a voluntary role as treasurer for a charity.

Internships and placements will be as important as ever, as will rotations in specialist areas such as tax and audit. This is where you’ll develop those increasingly essential people skills and develop the kind of industry knowledge and business experience that AI can never replace and that will be more vital than ever for the successful accountant of tomorrow.

Final thoughts

With AI advancements the field of accountancy has never been so accessible. It’s likely that career progression in future is going to be similarly wide-open, with varied skills coming to the fore.

So, you want to be an accountant? Well, there has never been a better time to start.

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