What Does AI Change in the Accounting and Financial Planning Industries? Here’s What Experts Say.
Executive Summary:
Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how accounting and financial planning professionals approach routine work, client service and professional expertise. As financial professionals use AI to save time, accounting time and billing tracking software and other technology can help professionals manage their work while maintaining human oversight.
How professionals are using AI in the changing landscape
Financial planner and Director of Wealth Management at KSDT wealth management Tim A. Thielen said he uses AI as a “junior associate”.
“I use AI to cut out all the busy work or all the tedious work that goes into what I do for a living, and then focus on the highest value, knowledge-based information that I can bring to the situation that makes a difference in the client’s lives,” Thielen said.
According to a 2025 study by the Pew Research Center, 64% of U.S. adults believed that AI would lead to fewer jobs in the United States. Financial professionals have published opinions saying that AI could limit entry level jobs.
However, a study by Stanford Graduate School of Business says that AI helped accountants work more efficiently and provide better service. Accounting firms using generative AI saw a 12% increase in specificity in records. Still, researchers concluded that AI would not replace professional accounting experience.
How AI Is Changing Accounting and Financial Planning
In part, this is due to historical inaccuracies in generative AI responses. An international study by the BBC found that 45% of all AI responses had at least one significant issue, and 31% of responses contained serious sourcing problems.
“I don’t defer to it 100% in terms of the accuracy of what they put forth, but it saves me a lot of time,” Thielen said. “Rather than me spending hours and hours and hours of billable time, where the client would be paying me for my time, I’m able to generate responses to basic inquiries in five minutes.”
AI Time Tracking Software and the Human Role
AI doesn’t just differ from humans in terms of accuracy. According to Intuit, Certified Public Accountants, like Thielen, carry legal and ethical responsibility that AI cannot replace. Humans can build trust and interpret real scenarios on a personal level.
In order to maintain transparency with his clients, Thielen informs them when he uses AI, but adds his personal opinion to any suggestion it generates. He said there have been several situations when AI will suggest a decision for his client, but he tells the clients he doesn’t agree.
Why Professional Oversight Still Matters
Thielen advises young accountants or aspiring financial professionals to completely eliminate AI from their work while they are still learning in order to have a basis of skill and financial knowledge.
“Real expertise comes from being battle tested, years of experience, looking at different scenarios, having a feel for a client’s specific situation and what they’re trying to accomplish,” Thielen said. “If you have anybody with any complexity in their finances (…) that stuff is not always handled appropriately by AI, and with technology, you have to have a level of professional oversight.”
What Accounting Professionals Should Consider When Using AI
- Efficiency: AI can reduce time spent on routine or tedious work
- Human expertise: Professional experience remains important when interpreting complex financial situations, especially to avoid mistakes
- Transparency: Thielen informs clients when he uses AI and adds his own professional opinion to its suggestions
How Time Tracking and Billing Software Fits Into Accounting Work
For accounting and financial planning professionals, tracking time and managing billing can be another area where software can reduce administrative work. Time tracking and billing software can help professionals record billable time and organize the work associated with clients and projects.
Enter Your Hours provides time tracking software designed to help businesses track time and manage billing. Its software can be used to record time, organize projects and generate invoices.