It takes decades of experience and learning to become wise. That’s why there is no such thing as artificial wisdom.
I shared that thought during the Rise2040 initiative because it captures something that gets lost in many conversations about AI in accounting and finance.
Artificial intelligence can process enormous amounts of information, recognize patterns, generate analysis, and complete cognitive tasks at an extraordinary speed.
But intelligence and wisdom are not the same thing.
Will AI replace accounting and financial professonals? No.
Routine tasks will increasingly move to intelligent systems, while human professionals in accounting and finance take greater responsibility for judgment, interpretation, governance, trust, and strategic decision-making.
This is where I believe one of the greatest opportunities for the accounting profession begins.
Is the Accounting and Finance Profession Ready for AI?
I had the privilege of collaborating with AICPA and CIMA on Rise2040: Shaping the Future of Finance and Accounting, which used my Anticipatory Organization® framework as its foundation. The initiative engaged more than 6,000 professionals in a global conversation about where the profession is heading and how we can actively shape its future.
One set of responses caught my attention immediately.
When 6,000 accounting and finance participants were asked where their organizations currently stood in their use of AI, they answered:
- 58.12% — Explorers: These are professionals beginning to investigate AI applications and uses
- 30.25% — Pilots: This is where organizations are testing limited, controlled AI solutions
- 10.58% — Scalers: Those leaders successfully implementing AI and expanding its use
- 1.04% — Optimizers: Using advanced AI capabilities enterprise-wide
Look at how those percentages trickle down the closer we get to actual implementation. In other words, awareness is widespread, but genuine AI implementation remains relatively rare.
AI capabilities in accounting and finance will continue to advance, whether organizations are ready or not. That’s why the lower numbers of optimizers and scalers concern me. The opportunity is to move beyond experimentation and put AI to work in ways that deliver measurable value.
What Happens When Accounting Automation Accelerates?
Through my Anticipatory Organization® Model, I teach leaders to separate Hard Trend future certainties from Soft Trend future possibilities. The latter of those two are assumptions that can still be changed.
The continued advancement of AI capabilities is a Hard Trend without question. So is the increasing automation of routine work.
Rise2040 participants identified several implications already coming into view. AI will increasingly become embedded in workflows and core platforms. Agentic AI will execute more end-to-end processes. Real-time reporting will increasingly replace periodic cycles, and audit will become more continuous.
The strategic question is this: How will accounting and finance professionals use the time, capacity, and insights AI and automation create to anticipate client needs, guide better decisions, and deliver greater value?
Why Does Human Judgment Become More Valuable With AI?
Consider what happens when intelligent systems can produce answers almost instantly.
Someone still has to ask:
- Is the answer accurate?
- What assumptions produced it?
- Does the recommendation make sense in this situation?
- Can we explain and defend the decision?
- Who is accountable if the system gets it wrong?
That requires professional judgment from an individual or group of individuals who think critically about the industry itself.
Rise2040 describes wisdom as knowing when data is telling the wrong story, understanding what a client needs but has not articulated, and having the ethical judgment to say no even when the numbers say yes.
As AI becomes more capable, human judgment and accountability become more important. The future of accounting and finance depends on professionals who can apply machine intelligence responsibly, protect trust, and turn insights into better decisions.
What Does “Human in the Lead” Really Mean?
I personally believe one of the strongest ideas emerging from Rise2040 is Human in the Lead.
This does not mean humans continue doing everything while AI sits beside them as a sophisticated calculator. We want to be allowing intelligent systems to perform work they can do extraordinarily well while keeping human accountability where it belongs—with humans.
The report points toward a future in which AI handles more data processing and analysis while professionals supply judgment, interpretation, relationships, ethical oversight, and trust.
AI can generate an answer. Wisdom determines what we should do with it.
And as organizations become more dependent on intelligent systems, trust in AI becomes a business issue rather than simply a technology issue.
What New Opportunities Will AI Create for Accounting and Finance Professionals?
This is where I want finance leaders to look beyond efficiency and be Anticipatory in their viewpoints on implementing AI in the industry.
If AI creates new risks involving accuracy, governance, transparency, and accountability, those risks create predictable needs. Rise2040 identifies opportunities including:
- AI assurance and validation
- AI governance and ethical oversight
- Continuous audit and real-time reporting
- AI-powered anomaly detection
- Continuous fraud and risk monitoring
- Predictive intelligence
- Data governance and expanded assurance services
We are moving beyond protecting and defending traditional finance and accounting work. These observations point toward areas where the profession can create completely new value for human beings in the industry.
How Can Accounting and Finance Professionals Act Now to Get Ahead of AI Expectations?
If your organization is among the Explorers or Pilots mentioned earlier in this blog, don’t mistake an early position for a permanent disadvantage.
The Soft Trend is how quickly and effectively your organization responds.
Don’t ask where AI can simply reduce costs and call it a day. Start asking where intelligent systems can increase your ability to provide foresight, strengthen assurance, identify anomalies earlier, and make better decisions.
Then identify the human capabilities that must grow alongside the technology.
The accountant who pairs AI fluency with professional judgment will have an advantage over the accountant who develops either one in isolation.
The goal should be putting intelligent systems in place while keeping humans in the lead.
Will You Prepare for AI and Help Define What Comes Next?
The Rise2040 findings suggest a profession with significant choices ahead. We can focus primarily on which existing tasks AI might take from us, or we can identify the new responsibilities and opportunities its advancement makes possible.
I know which conversation I would rather have.
Download the full Rise2040 report to discover how more than 6,000 accounting and finance leaders across 25 countries envision the profession’s future. Then turn insight into action with my Anticipatory Organization® Transformation Accelerator for Accounting and Finance, where you’ll learn to distinguish Hard Trends from Soft Trends, anticipate client needs, and become a trusted anticipatory adviser.
